Mailing List Archive Mailing List Archive
Ronnie Bell <rbell@cp*.or*> wrote:
> I obviously need to add a little detail to my comment.
> First I will say this is Tech Diver NOT scuba-l. I'm not trying to be
> elitist but I had the idea that 200 foot dives were the norm rather than
> the exception with this group.
I wasn't JUST trying to give you a hard time, Ronnie, really. I am
actually trying to learn something. It's not the "three 200' dives"
I have a problem with. It's the "inadvertently" that worries me.
I'm not a "real" techdiver yet. I'm working my way towards it,
slowly. As I do that, I hear, over and over, how much MORE important
dive planning becomes once I leave the realm of "shallow" open water
dives. I hear about doing S-drills and bubble checks and such on every
single dive. I have tables and contingency plans and gas consumption
calculations, and I'm told how important it is to find the right numbers
and stick to them.
But from reading this list, and from conversations and "war stories"
I've heard elsewhere, it seems that "real" techdivers don't necessarily
take all of this planning and safety nonsense so seriously. I suspect
some of this is because more experienced divers have a lot of the info
they need in their heads at all times, making the planning simply less
visible to others. Some of it, though, seems to be divers just tossing
dive planning out the window. The former I would like to achieve someday.
The latter scares me.
> Again, I mentioned the dives only in passing. It's nothing to
> brag about, nothing to be ashamed about. It was just interesting to me
> that in retrospect we had done the dives without realizing they were all
> in a 24 hour period and that we had NO problems due in no small part to
> our liberal O2 use.
My concern is simply whether situations like this (making 200' dives _with
little/no planning_) are the norm rather than the exception, and, if so,
do I really want to get into that end of the sport? Will I be feeling
pressured to just jump in without knowing what's down there? Will I have
a hard time finding people to dive with if I _don't_ succcumb to this
pressure?
--tab
--
Tracey Baker tab@pa*.co*
*** NJ SCUBA Diving Info at http://www.panix.com/~tab/scuba.html ***
"I don't think safety is the main issue here...
You'd be stupid not to be safe." - J.Comly
Navigate by Author:
[Previous]
[Next]
[Author Search Index]
Navigate by Subject:
[Previous]
[Next]
[Subject Search Index]
[Send Reply] [Send Message with New Topic]
[Search Selection] [Mailing List Home] [Home]