Jim,

The problem is that the "hard-headed, dumbass divers" out there think that 
this is exactly what you want.  They don't understand that this is exactly 
what we are ALL trying to stop.  I have been here before, more than once, 
and shit like this makes me wonder if I should laugh or cry.  I still don't 
know so I sit here numb for a while before I can start screaming again.  It 
does make you wonder though if Tony ever heard any of what was posted here 
and chouse to ignore it or if he never got the message.

It's time for the rest of you to wake up.  I no longer care who I offend 
any more.  If we don't get this shit stopped soon my c-cards, my 
experience, and all the yelling in the world won't matter.  They are going 
to pull the plug on the whole fucking sport.  I have kept my mouth shut for 
the last year because I wanted to do nothing to jeopardizes my Instructors 
cards.  I no longer give a shit about that because I can see it all coming 
to an end with a couple more of these high profile deaths.

I predicted Roost's death to the dive trip.  No one listened.  I predicted 
Brad's death and attended his funeral that fall, a diving related 
death.  No one listened.  Half a dozen people predicted Tony's death with 
this bull shit rig and a dozen morons step in to defend him.  Personal 
Preference is dying all around you, LITERALLY,  and all we hear is it must 
have been this or that.

IT IS THE BULLSHIT, CONVOLUTED, FUCKED UP GEAR AND INADEQUATE FUCKING 
TRAINING THAT IS KILLING PEOPLE AND THE AGENCIES THAT TURN THEIR FUCKING 
BACKS!!!!!!!!  And because I CHOUSE to point that out I run the risk no 
longer being able to train divers who WILL live.  WAKE THE FUCK UP 
PEOPLE!!!  Either get with the damn program or get the fuck out of the water.

To the instructors out there,

Just because a student pays you does not mean you HAVE TO certify them.  I 
fact just because the damn phone rings you are NOT under any obligation to 
train them.  CHOUSE YOUR STUDENTS CAREFULLY!!!  You will be rewarded with 
students who live!!!  Word gets around that you only take the BEST students 
and before you know it you have more of the best students than you can handle.

To the Charter Operators,

Just like the Instructors you are under NO OBLIGATION to take money from 
someone.  When you see someone with convoluted bull shit gear, TURN THEM 
AWAY.  When someone shows up with air to do a 200' dive, TURN THEM 
AWAY.  When someone shows up who looks like a heart attack waiting to 
happen, TURN THEM AWAY.

This has remained a self regulating industry because the industry has 
regulated it self.  That no longer seems to be the case.  I don't remember 
the last time ANYONE asked me for a fucking c-card before I got on a boat 
or got an air fill.  For that matter one of my instructors, who did not 
even know me at the time, never asked me for a c-card before or after he 
agreed to take me into a class.  I know instructors who have given out 
cards with a lecture over dinner, did inadequate confined water and never 
even saw his students in open water.  I know of instructors who have no 
idea HOW to teach a class but some how they are now instructors..  Any of 
us can get on a boat or show up at any popular dive site and see certified 
divers who haven't even begun to grasp the basics of proper kicking, 
buoyancy control or skills far more important like mask clearing and reg 
recoveries.  Who the fuck is regulating this crap???  Students from basic 
open water, to cave, wreck and trimix are being pushed through without 
proper training and with piss poor skills.  It is no wonder people are 
dying.  If someone had properly trained Tony so many years and $100,000 ago 
would he have run out of gas on the dive that started his spending 
spree???  Would he have ever started down the path that lead to his 
unfortunate death???  The problem did not start with the $100,000 
rig.  That is where the story ends.  God I feel sorry for his family.

If this shit does not stop soon we will all be filling tanks from the 
Craftsman compressor in the garage to do 20 minute dives in the fucking 
bathtub because the industry will be regulated out of existence.

I swear to god my OW instructor found a dozen or more ways to help me to 
loose my mask before I was certified OW.  Someone was asking about the 
SCUBA equivalent of fight club...  THAT WAS MAY FUCKING OW CLASS.  It was 
three years before I would turn my back on my OW instructor.  He felt his 
job was to prepare me for ANYTHING!!!  EXCEPT FOR HIM!!!  With his help I 
have done, and seen, things I never expected possible when I first walked 
into his OW class.  Now I look in amazement at "twenty year veteran divers" 
who don't look as good in the water as the his divers and mine do during 
their OW checkout dives.  I never feel any better than when a student comes 
back to me and says " I thought you were a prick in class but.....  Thanks 
for the training!"

I was trained to be a quality diver not just one of a quantity of 
divers.  It's time to point this shit out and make everyone aware of the 
crap that is going on.  Let these people know what a shitty job their 
instructor did.  Make them question why they gave him their money in the 
first place.  And most importantly get a stack of business cards from the 
best instructors you know and hand them out!!!  Support the good ones and 
turn away as many as you can from the bad ones.

Time to get off the soap box but damn this just burns my ass.  Now all I 
need to really fuck up the week is to hear that Janet has a fucking heart 
attack while looking for Tony's missing gear.  I'm praying not!!!



At 09:15 AM 8/3/00 , Jim Cobb wrote:
>I really don't like it when divers die. This saddens me greatly.
>
>I hope that the lesson is not lost here, but with all you hard-headed,
>dumbass divers out there I'm sure it will be.
>
>    Jim
>  -------------------------------------------------------------------
>  Learn About Trimix at http://www.cisatlantic.com/trimix/
>

Bill (aquadart) Bott

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