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Jammer, I certainly do understand and appreciate your freedom loving and "kill em all and let the creator sort em out" attitudes. Having been a member of a signficant diving project for some years now, I am afraid that I can't subscribe to this viewpoint. The WKPP is as much a training ground as it is a environmental dive project. People come to the WKPP from a wide variety of backgrounds and training experiences. Everyone comes with an open mind and a willingness to learn the DIR methods of which I know for a fact that you are very familiar. Not only will you not get in the water if you are even vaguely out of character, but you want even get out of the parking lot. Every member on or assoicated with the team makes it their responsiblity to see that others do things responsibly and safely, because that is the very essence of the WKPP. I.E. "your team is your life support". This has worked very well and makes for a better time for all involved especially when the spectre of death or serious injury is mostly a distant possibility. In the case of the boat captain, he or she is part of your team and has a responsibility for your life and safety, both morally and legally (according to many maritime laws and traditions). The boat deck is like the beach at Wakulla and the Captain is like the Surface Support Director (Dawn Kenagis). If Dawn allows anything and everything to go, then you are right back to the chaos of the early years of cave diving where most exploration dives either started or turned into cfs. Technical diving started out in the US with the best intentions and now we are seeing the fruits falling alarmingly close to the tree. The training agencies have not taken the hard line of enforcing their standards nor have they been willing to make the needed changes to their standards when safety issues would obviously dictate this situation (i.e. the bottle marking MOD issue). This may shock you, but I am a strong proponent of limiting all socalled "technical" training to the sportdiving limits (130ft). Every single one of the basic skills should be mastered under circumstances which will not be fatal if a problem occurs. I also believe that "air" as a breathing gas is useless for any diving. Jammer, I think the solution here is for you to buy your boat and dive whenever, with whomever and wherever you want unencumbered by enforcement or regulation. Really, what I am doing here is suggesting that "technical" dive operators take the proactive role, that the training agencies do not, in assuring that you and the divers have the greatest possiblity for safe and enjoyable dive experience. To do this they have to be willing to "just say no" to a handful of fairly obvious practices and methods. Bill Jammer Six wrote: > > On 8/6/98 14:43, Kent Lind, Kent.Lind@no*.go* posted: > > >Keeping them off the boat to begin with is the > >best place to start. > > Uh-huh. > > Slippery slope, and Americans hate slippery slopes. > > Who decides who dives? The Captain? Forget it. It's not HIS ass. > The DM? Laughable. > > Why are you shifting the responsibility? > > I'll give you guys a hint. > > The responsibility can't be shifted. > > Darwin will never, ever, no matter how you bitch and whine, hold me > responsible for what you do underwater. > > The only thing you can shift is the ILLUSION, and like all illusions, it > is false. > > You guys are kidding your bad selves that you are preventing anything, > and you're creating the illusion of a safer sport. > > Let 'em die. All of 'em. > > It's up to them. > > Really. > > "C'mon, you sons of bitches, you want to live forever?" > -First Sergeant Dan Daley > "Who wants to live forever?" > -Freddie Mercury > "I swear, I'm going to live forever" > -Jon Bon Jovi > > -- > Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. > Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'. -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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