>On Sun, 24 Oct 1999, Dave Sutton wrote:


>> On a NE salt water dive boat, the relality is if you dawdle at the ladder
>> you are going to get smacked up. We have no -support team-.
>> We cannot simply tread water at the side of a ladder heaving
>> 10+ feet and unclip our stuff and hand it up. Sorry!


>That's what an equipment line is for.



OK.... I see. I was taught to be a diver before I stood up from
the box (IE: mask on, reg in mouth, etc..) and to be a diver
until I was sitting back on the box (IE no mask on forehead,
reg still in mouth, etc.). I've  seen way too many guys topple
from the ladder and it's nice to still be a diver when you
re-enter the water when not planning to do so. I'm not
taking my gear off next to the bottom a ladder that's
describing a 15 foot arc through the water as the boat
rolls, fergedaboutit. You have at it. Not me. I'm probably
not the only guy waiting for the ladder, and I'm not more than
30 seconds from ladder approach to sitting on the box with
the ladder clear for the next guy. In my experience, I've seen
far more accidents at the ladder than on the bottom. -MANY-
more. Ranging from broken ankles to lost teeth. I've seen
guys hung up on their light cords. I've seen guys hung up
on long-hoses that were not in place (mine is in my mouth,
thanks..). Just my 2 cents. Feel free to do differently. Also
feel free to be harassed by your shipmates when you clog
the ladder and they are all waiting for you to unsnap your
stuff. As they sit on the granny line, all tired and sore,
they'll appreciate your techniques, I'm sure.

There's more than one way to skin a cat. You use
a knife, and I'll use a chainsaw. Both result in a dead cat.. ;-)
Yer way may result in a prettier dead cat, but they are
still both dead cats.


>> If I quit now, I'd still have more time in deco than you surelyhave
>> diving total. I do not mean this as a put-down at all. Far from
>> it.
>
>You seem to rely on this "non-put-down" quite a lot. What is the point of
>ragging on about your experience if it isn't meant to disarm someone less
>experienced than you?


It's meant to establish that I'm not some newbie that just popped up
out of a PADI course. My opinions (which are quite subject to change
as information is presented) is based on years of widely diversified
diving under the most extreme conditions including NJ wreck diving,
open ocean saturation diving, Antarctic research diving, Experimental
Diving Unit research diving, hyperbaric chamber operations, etc.
All of those experiences add up to A: an opinionated diver, and
B: an experience one that takes all in what may perhaps be a larger
contextual background than some others. Nope, I've not been
everywhere, nor done everything. Never claimed to. Not a
demigod or thane. Just an experienced diver with an excellent
safety record, diving off of the oldest running NJ dive boat and
have been doing so since the 70's. And we have never had a
diver killed, -ever-. So all this nonsense about 'techniques that
kill' are just plain absurd.

I defer to those with more knowlage on the subjects in which they
are expert. I'll not comment on cave diving, for example. But I defer
to very few when it comes to bluewater wreck diving. You may have
a way that's as good a mine. Maybe better, who knows. But nothing
that is a quantum leap over what we have been doing for years.
Surely, the guys with the most to share are the Channel divers
from the UK. We are going round and round about nonsense
and they are doing some -really- neat stuff. Not invented by
WKPP either..... ;-)

I have been enjoying our discourse greatly. Most interesting.
(and yeah, feel free to criticize my spelling... it's somewhat of a joke, I
know.)


Best regards,

Dave Sutton










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