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Anthony -- you said:
>Consider that the two main advantages of the Goodman handle relative to
>head-mount are being better able to signal, and not blinding your buddy
>when you turn to look at him.
Yes -- exactly! That's why I noted that helmet-mounted lights are still
common (as seen in the vid), "wondered" why, and as a possible answer to
this question, then made the (small) joke about the countries known for
being very expressive with their hands -- and that this is perhaps why
goodman handles are not yet universally seen in Europe: an attempt to
conjure up an image of 3 or 4 French and Italian divers, all wearing
goodman handles, and trying to comunicate u/w using their hands -- the
conversation would look like a chaotic laser-sword fight from Star Wars. I
hope they're not overly sensitive and appreciate what is intended as
good-natured humor.
>Consider that these are both non-issues
>when diving solo.
Exactly -- understood. I pointed out that, since Euro passages are often
very low viz, tight, single file, and divers are often solo, that perhaps
helmet-mounted is actually useful/not a problem -- as you say, possibly a
non-issue in those cases, and certainly so when solo.
>If somebody were to put as much work into developing a consistent solo-
>diving system as WKPP has put into the team-diving Hogarthian approach,
>it would be interesting to see the result. It's quite possible the
>Europeans are close to this point.
I'm sure they are -- and could tell us many interesting, useful experiences
about their more common (relative to the US) solo cave diving. The hog
concept couldn't do anything but improve safety/ease for a solo diver -- or
any diver. The hog concept is tremendously important/useful *for all
diving* -- and it's a matter of time until it becomes universal, I hope. We
should consider too that cave divers and wreck divers all over the world
have been very successful for many decades without the benefit of this new
"religion." However, the hog concept results in the best basic rigging so
far.
>One other consideration, though, is that if the Europeans sometimes work
>as a team, then certain team-diving elements (like Goodman handles) would
>be appropriate, and one doesn't want to change major elements of one's
>system between one dive and the next.
Yes -- adopting new/different-from-traditional methods requires teams to
change and practice them together -- until gradually everyone is up to
snuff (in rigging and techniques/practices) and mutually compatible. A
truly meshing dive team works *away* from idiosyncratic rigging and towards
uniformity ("a la WKPP", which, translated means, literally, "WKPP with
ice-cream on top"), and I've never argued otherwise. But then you have team
players like the Dennis Rodmans of the world (for non-US readers: extremely
successful basketball player, where "idiosyncratic" isn't a strong enough
word: he dyes his hair in neon colors and dresses in womens clothes betw.
games ), so go figure.
Euro divers and the rest of the world are, thanks to the Net, now in
constant communication with divers pioneering/proseletyzing the best
results/discoveries of new techniques. IOW, info about advances in safety
and technique are spreading farther/faster than ever before.
Unfortunately, the best answers to innocent/honest questions, about such
things as the elegent and logical hogarthian concept, are often preceeded
with "You stupid fucking moron Shit-Head (Tete du Merdre)" -- which has
done more to obscure/create resistance to the message, in the US and
abroad, than to help spread it.
Thanks for the dialog.
Christopher A. Brown
The Technical Diving Video Library http://www.nettally.com/techvid
(US & Canada): 1-800-373-7222 Outside US:904-942-7222 Fax:904-942-1240
Life is short -- this is not a rehearsal.
--
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