:w-t-f: Weren't we just saying that the rants of the past need to stay in the past? That every person has the right to their method / agency way of doing things? How did we transport to the past again?
Is this guy smoking something or is he on to something?
- Thread starter randytay
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
Blackwood
Contributor
It's a moving piece whenever it was written. I constrain myself neither to the past nor the present. Information is pertinent from both.
dumpsterDiver
Banned
- Messages
- 9,003
- Reaction score
- 4,652
- # of dives
- 2500 - 4999
You can't understand the present or predict the future if you don't know the past.
All this nasty talk of GI3. For years I used to read the Aquacorps (or whatever it was) bulletin board and I read EVERYTHING that guy wrote and saved a bunch of his stuff to my hard drive (that died not too long ago, damn it).
He was definitely opinionated and smart and I even got to watch him and a few of his team dive in the Ocean a few times. I was honestly surprised that a number of the things they did were dangerous and stupid, but when we got in the water, I had to admit they were pretty smooth on those big ass scooters. Nothing earth shattering, they moved with an ease and grace that I had seen exhibited by dozens of other extremely experienced divers. It was also pretty evident that he really liked to dive, he was still enthusiastic and animated.
Anyway, based on reading probably ALL the stuff he wrote (and understanding probably 90% of it on some level) and meeting him a few times and diving with him, I got the very disticnt impression that he really cared about diving and safety and equipment configuration. Rather than simply ego or pride, he was heavily motivated by ANGER.
Anger at the idiots who killed themselves and others by doing stupid crap. He had the least tolerance for instructors who taught practices that were dangerous and that resulted in diver deaths. I think he really, really hated recovering bodies of dead tech divers and I remember him getting more and more angry and hostile and impatient and ill tempered as he was forced to repeat "I told you so" after some of the fatalities that began to exhibit common threads.
He definitely came off as a prick on line, but in person, his demeanor (at least around me) he was far more humble and down to earth.
I guess my point is that he isn't Jesus, it ain't a religion and the organization seems to have become pretty far removed from this one guy by now anyway.
The Deco Stop used to have two articles by Lamar English and Bill Gavin that included the same story from a decidedly different point of view. I was going to link them here, but they seem to be gone.
Their description is less moving.
kanonfodr
Contributor
Even though I know none of those folks personally, nor have done any cave diving, that story always makes me sad.
Peace,
Greg
OkiMike
Contributor
This is the funniest one I've heard in a long time. Must use!
So true. In my experience, there seems to be a different "humor" ethic amongst those cave divers who began diving earlier on back when cave diving was still in its relatively early years. I've also noticed it amongst certain members of the British tech diving crowd that I've had the pleasure of meeting throughout the last few years and, at least personally speaking, once acclimatized, it makes for some very pleasant dive partners.
I seemed to have come into the sport at a time and place where there were more serious American crowds who, while I know enjoy their dives, don't seem to rely on ego-destruction of their partners as much for fun. I don't know if it's a matter of personal humor, disposition, nationality, or something that can be self-corrected, but I've always felt that we could all use a lot less sensitivity when it comes to creating those mental lists of things that offend us.
Found it.
Actually, I find Bill Gavin's descriptions very moving indeed, but from a different perspective.
Setting it straight - The Deco Stop
It's still all there if you can be bothered searching through it: Aquanaut Mailing List Archive Service
seaducer
Contributor
2 things. First, among friends it is quite common to put each other down and no one takes offense. At least in my circle of friends, maybe I have a warped sense of humor for an American. Once you get outside that circle though, it can be seen as an attack, some people ignore them, some can't let it go.
Second, it HAS become fashion in this country to claim offense to anything you do not like anymore. I see this as a direct attack on one of the very core values our country was founded on...freedom. Think about it, freedom is not needed if all you do or say is fine with everyone else. Freedom protects our right to do and say dumb things. And I like being dumb.
Of course! I love diving with my techie friends, and giving them h3ll about their getup: "Ooh, black - how original!" "Doubles today, eh? Planning on selling tank fills underwater?" "I wish I could afford one of those fancy knives" [referring to the chopped-off steak knife] "Planning to lasso you some grouper with that long-a$$ hose?"
Of course, you can't give without receiving, and I take plenty of ribbing for my bright colors, splits, Air2, taking my pony along on 15' sharktooth dives (because I *always* dive my pony), lagging waaay behind the group on drifts (which I do on purpose, so the reef life comes back to photograph - I'm one of those "I don't start my dives solo, but I usually end them that way"), etc. Even my preference for "frilly" reef dives over "manly" wrecks, I catch h3ll for.
To me, it's just a fun part of diver camaraderie. But I need to remind myself that it doesn't always translate online.
Similar threads
