>I am also a new subscriber and was wondering.......just what does it 
>take to be a stroke? Are there certain guidelines that must be followed 
>or can just anyone be a stroke? 
>>From reading the forum lately I've become very confused am having a hard 
>time distinguishing just who is or is not a stroke.
>
>Serious replys only please.

Douglas-

As near as I can tell being a stroke is doing multi-stop =
decompression "technical" dives using unsafe gear configurations =
and/or techniques. What is an unsafe gear configuration or technique? =
This is where the controversy starts and probably will never end.

There are some very experienced divers on this list (one rather =
strongly opinionated person springs to mind) who, through many dives =
and years of comparing notes, have come up with gear configurations =
and techniques which are standardized and proven to be effective by =
both logic and practice.

A good way to see if you are a stroke or not is to contact George =
Irvine and obtain his "Doing It Right" video which gives some very =
good hard won advice on how to configure your gear. 

But, if it will save you some time, some dead giveaways of "strokism" =
are:

-Using a pony bottle and a single tank for multi-level decompression =
dives.
-Using a dive computer for MLDD's.
-Using one of the new "tech" BCs which are festooned with 20 D rings.
=8BAttaching the battery to your light to the bottom of your tanks.
-Using a dual-bladder rubber-wrapped BC.
-Using a short hose for both your primary and safe regulators
-Using the short hose as your primary and attaching the long hose to =
the side of your tanks.
=8BConfiguring your hoses so they stick out out in the breeze like =
howdy-doody's ears.

And many more. Keep in mind that the discussions on this list refer =
to multi-level decompression diving possibly utilizing various gas =
mixtures to 130' and way beyond. I suppose if you dive florida reefs =
at 40' you could pretty much hold a tank under one arm and breath off =
the valve and get away with it.

A problem of the latest craze with "tech" diving is that the =
marketeers have gotten into this arena. As a result there is a lot of =
gear being introduced which has the "tech" look but is functionally =
useless for real extended diving. It might be OK to do your local =
reef dive looking like Joe Techdiver. But in a real wreck dive maybe =
one of those 20 D rings could get caught on some wreckage, killing =
you. Or that "tech" light fail under pressure due to poor design. =
What happens is you buy this stuff and, if you survive, realize it =
sucks and then dump it at a loss to some poor sucker, and then =
purchase the correct gear. At least this is the "Cobbian" way of =
doing it right.

I was guilty of being a stroke and probably am still one compared to =
George and his dudes. But as I slowly reconfigure my rig to =
"horgartian (doing it right)" standards and I do see the wisdom of =
his ways. The neat thing about doing it right is that it actually =
costs less and is more effective than most of the overpriced junk on =
the market today.

Hope this helps-

   Jim

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