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Paul,

Great assessment. In many of my presentations on tech diving and
decompression illness. (I do a fair amount of public speaking) I always
discuss the concept of 

"Is this dive worth getting bent on or entangled or lost, or dead"  Now these
may be the extremes but they start an intersting discussion of how to asses
risk. Me I am a chicken shit --- i have had my body tossed from the ladder of
the boat trying to get back on in 10 footers -- I wont do that any more --to
mee its not worth it -- 5-6 not a big deal. 

In all the diving I have done and the people I have worked with  have always
said that if today is not the day to do the dive then just stay on the boat.
There is no shame or humiliation in that -- its just common sense. If you
dotn feel "right" then dont do it. 

Much of this also comes from assessing the risk. Its interesting that the
more one knows the less they feel they know in the big picture. My position
is very unique in the diving world -- I have a magazine that has given me
access to the worlds great diving minds and explorers -- there is litterally
no-one I cant speak to --- I am fortuante for that -- Everyone of them whe we
have discussed the subject of risk has the same attitude --- Assess the risk.
Now sometimes when these people are being paid to be somewhere to film
something or look at something they are in a different mode of opperation.
 And the risk is part of the opperation which is why they were chosen for the
job in the first place. But they assessed the risk.

I got a 12 year old son and a beautiful wife I plan to spend a lot of time
with. I no longer wiggle my svelt body into holes I cant easily fit into ---
I dont do stuff I am not comfortable with --- I also have one simple line I
say just as I step off the boat. "I will be back in XX minutes"  ---- and I
mean I will be back. 

All of the assessment comes back to who you have back on the dock waiting for
you. If you have no friends , no famliy, no one who loves you or who you love
--- hey go take the risks that are onthe edge. But if there a re little
children waving goodbye to daddy as he leaves the dock and people that
youcare about --- ya just gotta stop in the name of love and determine if the
minor reward of some dives is worth the risk.

Safety is a non-competitive issue.

Joel Silverstein
SUB AQUA JOURNAL

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