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Wow! This is unbelievable! Four messages from a George Irvine in my box and not ONE of them contains the foul language, brutal insults, rantings, ravings and ill-tempered flames to which I have become accustomed. Who are you and what have you done with the real George Irvine? Not that I'm complaining...it's such a refreshing and (dare I say) polite change. Welcome to civilization, George. I look forward to reading your words of wisdom and knowledge without cringing and having to ask my wife and kid to leave the room. G. Irvine wrote: > > The flawed concept? Wait a minute for that. The three bad > instructional practices: > > 1) Deep Air > > 2) Putting bottles with different mixes on different sides as > as aid to identification, instead of marking the > bottles correctly in the first place and doing it right. > This is > in the same category with putting different colored regs on > to identify gases, or any other convoluted scheme. > > The correct way? Mark the operating depth on the bottle > the way WKPP does and leave it turned off with the reg > parked on the bottle until ready to use. Unpark the reg, > from the marked bottle you want, put it in your mouth > turn that bottle on. IF YOU CAN BREATH, YOU ARE BREATHING > THE RIGHT GAS. > > Any other scheme is dangerously flawed, and I invite anyone > to argue this with me. > > 3) A new one: using quick releases on harnesses, or useing > convoluted harnesses. The dive harness should be made of > one continuous piece of webbing, with a separate crotch strap. > See the "Doing It Right" video or webb page, which you can > locate from the WKPP web page at wkpp.org. > > NOTE: if the harness is not weaved properly, the shoulders > will slip tight when you stand up, causing the gear to be > hard to don or dof. Any instructor should know this, > especially the ones who claim so many years of experience. > > A harness failure underwater from using separate pieces of > webbing, plastic pieces, or quick disconnects is a death > sentence. > > THE FLAWED CONCEPT: > > The concept that there is a solution for every self-inflicted > problem, which is itself a problem , is flawed. For example, > putting in a quick disconnect because you rigged the harness > wrong is not the answer - it creates a bigger problem. > Putting bottles on either side to try to compensate for not > marking them properly, or adding the insanity of special regs > is a complication and convolution that adds risk to the > situation, WHERE THERE PREVIOUSLY WAS NONE. > > WHY THE FLAWS? > > Several things contibute to flawed logic. The first one that > comes to mind is that we have people teaching diving and > running agencies who do no real diving themselves, and are > only involved as instructors. Another reason is they all want > to be big heroes and reinvent the wheel when they clearly are > not thinking things all the way through. They are at the same > time constantly preoccupied with covering their asses from > previous mistakes, and to cover the fact that they are or > were lacking the knowedge at the time. They hold hands to > try to fight guys like WKPP who have long since learned > better methods, and are willing to bring them to divers while > pointing out where we wre wrong and why and why the changes. > > I CHALLENGE THE DIVE INDUSTRY TO MEET THAT STATNDARD > > They are trying to teach people to do things they should not > be doing, rushing people inbto more an more courses. Tech > diving means doinog it right in any situation , including > instruction. > > AN EXAMPLE > > An incident comes to mind in Ft Lauderdale where an instructor > tried to take an overweight novice on a deep wreck dive, only to have > the person panic , loose a fin, drop the reg from its mouth, and go > appaplectic and refuse donated air. The student had to be cut from its > gear and taken to the hospital. The solution: put quick diconnects on > the studnets's gear - this is what we have out there. Here is the best > part - the "student" is an INSTRUCTOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! > > The ultimate flaw comes with the instruction of DEEP AIR. The new > line of reasoning from instructors is that deep air gives the student an > appreciation of gas. My son is getting his drivers license. Do you dive > isntructors , and deep air advocates, think I should have him drink some > vodka and go for a drive so that he will appreciate driving sober? > > Let me tell all of you something: you can all band up and cry > about me all you want, the fact is that IF I WERE NOT RIGHT, YOU WOULD > NOT BE SO WORRIED. Come on out here and take me on, I will not use any > bad words or call you any names, and that, my friends is going to be > YOUR worst nightmare - me on my good behavior, and I will do whatever it > takes to take you out or change you, even do it nicely. > > George Irvine > Director, The Woodville Karst Plain Project > Zero Tolerance > -- > Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. > Send list subscription requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'. -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send list subscription requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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