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In a message dated 98-08-07 18:26:19 EDT, wwm@sa*.ne* writes: << I never would have conceived of such a thing as the Captain's Dozen except for the fact that the training agencies either have not, will not or cannot do it right. F >> May I submit that agencies or instructors do not make the diver, but that diving in itself makes the diver. Yes, instructors open the door, i.e. the card that gets one on the boat, but then the person must go diving----must learn about using the skills taught..must get them into muscle memory.....must decide what is BS for the type of diving being done...... must learn about their own personal stress levels....where their own llimits lie, what their own personal panic levels are, meet them and surmount them....must master the very basic gear which hopefully they are starting with and then go on to increase gear complexity in relation to dive complexity.....must be able to make mistakes and learn from them.....must hear about others mistakes and learn from them...... and this can only happen by going out on boats on a constant basis..... When I got certified, I was going to be a Carribbean diver, going on vacation a couple of times a year. The shop I used happened to have a new crew member on a new boat in the area and all he could talk about was wreck diving....to be honest the photos looked like crap, but I decided to go give it a look one weekend.....so after maybe 10 dives in Long Island Sound, I went to the South Shore, dove the Oregon and became hooked.......no, I did not have enough experience, not enough of anything by your standards......but I sucked it up by going out 2,3 times a week, week in and week out in all kinds of conditions and, at first, all kinds of boats. Through trial and error I found the boats that suited me....that really dove and worked the wrecks, that let me go diving in all kinds of conditions on all kinds of wrecks....that talked and analyzed dives and diving....that continually worked on and modified their gear and techniques.....that allowed me to listen in ..... so that,over time, I became a diver......no, I am not a KPP'er, but I am a wreck diver. I looked around the boat this weekend and saw divers of every possible skill level....people with single bottles, people with 4 bottles....this wasn't a deep dark and scarey trip, just the regular 110 to 130 ft wreck that we happen to have. There were divers with 80 minutes bottom time and complicated or intense penetrations....there were divers thrilled to be doing maybe 12 minutes on the site.....that is the reality of charter boats up here and the reality of what diving has become. I remember when the boat only had rows and rows of double 80's No, the boats are not instructors, I am not going there, but they are the all important learning ground.....diving is not learned from the outside in....you can't read the manual and go....it is learned from the inside out....it is acquired one dive at a time....so if the Captains dozen goes into place, where does the diver acquire these skills and knowledge? Not in the quarry, not in the pool, not in the Carribean..... -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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