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George, > Everyone knows that narcosis exists, so there is really no reason to >intentionally subject oneself to it as a matter of a course in >"technical diving", since the reason we are taking courses in technical >diving is so we do not have to dive deep on air. -------------------------------------------------- I agree that this should be unnecessary but there is a huge contingent of non believers out there. Those young fools who will never die because they can handle anything. I encounter quite a few young divers like this. Military guys around Panama City and Pensacola are notorious for this kind of attitude. Perhaps if they can see just how impaired they are it will wake a few up. I have also been on expedition boats where experienced divers were doing 240 on air in blue holes. It would have been hard for the young and easily influenced to resist going along for the ego trip just for the log book entry. Maybe demonstrating this effect should be up to the discretion of the instructor. I had 30 years of diving experience under my belt before I took trimix; I could have taught the course and there was no need to show me narcosis but I can see the potential benefit in some cases. Another indicative example of a serious problem with training in general is the following: Within only a few weeks I happened to be diving with two new open water divers off the northern Gulf. Both were appalled to realize that they were just following my lead and had no idea what their bottom time was when I left the bottom. Both were into decompression according to the tables on which they were diving and had no idea till I signaled to surface. One had to share air with me for a long safety stop. It must have made quite an impression on them because both went out the next day and bought computers to make up for their lack of situational awareness. Neither considered learning to dive as opposed to relying on a gadget to do the thinking for them. The recreational system does not teach divers to think and plan - only to do business with them and their affiliates in a manner that reduces their liability risk to a minimum. Chuck -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send list subscription requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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