Drinking & Diving

[BgDadddy]

Not a problem. I've never been the party-going type and, like I said, I don't like being around people who are drinking. It makes me uncomfortable.

I don't like being around people who are flatulent for similar reasons...

 

[Paladin]

I don't like being around people who are flatulent for similar reasons...

Yeah. Beer f***s. Eewwww!

 

[dmoore19]

Yeah. Beer f***s. Eewwww!

They can be especially impressive if you combine beer and pickled eggs

 

[Paladin]

They can be especially impressive if you combine beer and pickled eggs

Isn't there a HazMat placard for that?

 

[Thalassamania]

I wish that everyone would read my original post. I'm not talking about being knocked out drunk. It is 1 BEER with, say, a burger and fries and then doing a dive 3 HOURS LATER. It is not that I HAVE to have a beer with lunch but I enjoy a Corona (or what ever the taste of the island might be) with a burger, especially on vacation. As I mentioned before, I hydrate myself with a lot of water all day long.

I appreciate what you are saying Tortuga68. You seem to have the handle on this thread.

I WILL SAY ONCE AGAIN... WHY CAN'T I HAVE 1 BEER, WITH A BURGER AND FRIES @ NOON, WHILE STILL DRINKING WATER, AND THEN DIVE 3 HOURS LATER????

As I stated earlier.. If someone was drinking all night long and stopped at 1AM and went for a dive at 8AM, how would that be different then someone having a beer at 12AM and went diving at 7PM?

No one has yet to really answer these questions.

I would appreciate facts not necessarily personal opinions.

I stick to "24 hour rule," not because it is the best but because the best advice I could get suggested that it is appropriate ... give me more data concerning hydration and perhaps I'll change my mind.

I can see your point, but let's keep it in perspective ... the majority of people reading and participating in this thread wouldn't be doing those things. They'd be kicking along a reef somewhere with a single AL80 on their back in relatively benign conditions. And the thing they'd most likely be fumbling with would be their camera.

I doubt that one beer three hours before a dive is going to have any effect on those people at all.

Now, if you're considering a 200+ foot wreck dive ... or something inside a cave ... then I'd say that zero-tolerance is a pretty critical rule, because it is an indicator of how seriously you're taking the risks involved ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

An emergency can always turn a pleasant day's outing into the physiological equivalent of a 200+ FSW dive ... that will call your hydration level into question. I do not what to be (or have anyone on my team) in that situation.

Just for clarification. You won't dive with anyone who drinks....? Or who drinks before diving?

The former would certainly limit your buddy choices I'm thinking. The latter seems very reasonable.

Personally, I don't think that one beer 3 hours before a dive would have much impact, but I choose not to find out. I do however think that AFTER 2 or 3 dives, there's not much more enjoyable then a cold beer.

Everyone here is, IMHO, overly focused on inebriation, that is not what I am worried about ... hydration and DCS is the issue.

I personally wouldn't dive with someone who doesn't drink. If you haven't been drunk, how are you going to react to being narc'ed?

Besides, I don't like uptight, goody-goody people. :mooner:

That's a downright stupid view, I know many divers who are abstemious and yet handle narcosis just fine. Again, this is not a question of drunkenness, it is a question of diving physiology.

I'm really struggling to see the relevance of an analogy comparing professional sportspeople playing a game for points in a championship in front of a paying crowd, with sponsors, TV advertising etc - to recreational divers doing fun dives

No similarity. To the pro athlete it is just a game, to the amateur diver it may well be a matter of life and death.

That certainly is your prerogative, Paladin, but as the realm of alcohol and drug use fall within my area of clinical expertise I must say I find this comment sweeping, summary and conclusory. You have made no accommodation for or taken any consideration of the vast continuum that runs from complete abstinence to diagnosable substance use disorder.

There are many, many people who drink modestly without getting "drunk" and there are illegal substance users who do so without becoming "stoned," both terms which generally mean such things as "to stupefy or excite by the action of a chemical substance" and "incapable of acting as an ordinary prudent and cautious person would act under similar conditions." Prudent users of alcohol and recreational drugs often manifest no readily observable features of inebriation or intoxication. They are in good control of their faculties and behavior. Among substances users, for obvious reasons many of their friends and acquaintances well may have no knowledge of their situation.

Assuming that you are even able to identify who these users are, if you're going to steer clear of every person who drinks a beer or takes a toke on occasion you're likely to have a very limited social life, indeed. For example, see --> U.S. Drinking Rate Edges Up Slightly to 25-Year High and NIDA - Publications - NIDA Notes - Vol. 23, No. 3 - Tearoff.

Regards,

DocVikingo

Thoughts on dehydration and blood chemistry in general?

 

[billmosel]

What 24 hour rule?? 1 beer and you are done diving for 24 hours?? Thats ridiculous. If you watered down 1 beer with a gallon of water do you think that would be enough hydration? The effects of the alcohol would be less than taking cough meds if so needed. If you had 1 beer and then drank a gallon of water in say a 3 hour time period, would that be enough water to hydrate you? Again with that 1 beer while eating and hydrating with water...24 hours??

 

[bracko]

For those who have been on liveaboards with such drinking rules...
How late and how much will the crew allow a customer to drink at night?

I can see how drinking too much or too late the night before...and then waking up to do an early morning dive might not be a good idea. In fact, depending on several different factors, it could be worse than having one beer at noon and then diving 3 hours later.

I believe for mike ball it was if you consume a drink after midnight, then you're watching the first dive of that morning.

>As I stated earlier.. If someone was drinking all night long and stopped at 1AM and went
>for a dive at 8AM, how would that be different then someone having a beer at 12AM and
>went diving at 7PM?

>No one has yet to really answer these questions.

it's not [primarily] a medical decision, it's a decision made by insurance companies and risk analysts who are fed some data about alcohol and diving, or even more generalised data. You are right, and any liveaboard trip manager will probably agree that the rules aren't decided in the best logic or data, given the situation you have presented above, but they are the insurance requirements of the company and therefore the company will abide by them. Also for the first situation, you are back to the point of being a certified diver and ensuring your own personal safety with the knowledge that you've aquired on your various courses.

one might say that for every condition it should be up to the individual to ensure their safety, but Australian laws require [and i assume most countries] the operator to reasonably ensure the safety of all clients above and beyond all applicable acts and regulations. this is one mitigation for doing so. it doesn't stop anyone hiding a bottle of booze in their cabin and necking it at every opportunity.

also i think you mean 12PM or midday, 12AM usually refers to midnight.

 

[Tanked]

What 24 hour rule?? 1 beer and you are done diving for 24 hours??

Damn! If that was the case I would never be able to dive on vacation!:shocked2:
And for the most part, I wouldn't be able to dive at home either

 

[vladimir]

How would you feel if the players on your favorite basketball team all had a beer 3 hours before their game and then lost?

Roughly equivalent to the way I feel when they pass up performance-enhancing drugs and lose.

 

[Thalassamania]

What 24 hour rule?? 1 beer and you are done diving for 24 hours?? Thats ridiculous. If you watered down 1 beer with a gallon of water do you think that would be enough hydration? The effects of the alcohol would be less than taking cough meds if so needed. If you had 1 beer and then drank a gallon of water in say a 3 hour time period, would that be enough water to hydrate you? Again with that 1 beer while eating and hydrating with water...24 hours??

The question is what is the length of time after a drink that you must wait until the risk of DCS is the same as it would have been had you not had the drink?

Damn! If that was the case I would never be able to dive on vacation!:shocked2:
And for the most part, I wouldn't be able to dive at home either

You might consider that, to most appearances, you seem to have a drinking problem.