Do you REALLY know how to scuba dive?

[Thalassamania]

Experience changes perspective... as already mentioned.

An illustration from the CCR world is that after about 20 hours "on the unit" most individuals think of themselves as a newbie. After 50 hours, they are an expert. After 100 they achieve guru status. However, when they have logged 150 hours they understand they are still a novice; and after 200 they settle into the realization they are an experienced beginner.

And for what it is worth, Crush, I think this is a perfectly good question to provoke some thought.

An interesting analogy. For what it's worth I suspect that I was a much safer rebreather user back during my first 50 hours. I might not have been able to do much more than maintain position in the water and stay alive, but I was far more vigilant and safety conscious than I am now that I have settled comfortably into being an "experienced beginner." I don't think that open circuit/open water is quite the same.

 

[Crush]

This thread has reminded me of one of my instructor's old sayings: the most dangerous belt is the white belt. Upon reflection I realized that he referred not only to lack of control in sparring, but also to the mindset of a white belt who actually thought that they knew something.

 

[50Fathom]

Driving, for example; you don't have to be Sterling Moss (a name nobody younger than I am will even recognize) to "know how to drive".

30 years old here and as an auto enthusiast with high-test running in my veins, I recognized it.

Greatest driver to have never won a world championship.

(Pssst: not trying to be TOO pedantic, but it's "Stirling".)


On-topic, I think the analogy to flying is appropriate which is that the "500-hour pilot" is the most dangerous out there. The total n00b pilot with only a handful of hours is WELL aware of his limits and often plans and flies within them. The more hours he gets, he figures he got this flying sh*t all figured out, so he starts getting ballsy. This happens around the 500-hour mark or so. If he and his ego can make it past 700, give or take, he'll realize how far he has to go, and hopefully calm down and chill out.

What's the old saying? "Making good decisions comes from wisdom. Wisdom comes from making bad decisions."

And the complaint about comparing scuba to guns, LE, the military or motorbikes and flying? It may not be apples-to-apples in every case, but there ARE similarities in training, mindset and execution.

 

[rk288]

Here's an interesting concept: We still don't know what we don't know...

 

[TSandM]

50Fathom, thank you for the correction! I'm embarrassed; that's what comes of posting when you've been up over 24 hours . . .

 

[Thalassamania]

30 years old here and as an auto enthusiast with high-test running in my veins, I recognized it.

Greatest driver to have never won a world championship.

(Pssst: not trying to be TOO pedantic, but it's "Stirling".)


On-topic, I think the analogy to flying is appropriate which is that the "500-hour pilot" is the most dangerous out there. The total n00b pilot with only a handful of hours is WELL aware of his limits and often plans and flies within them. The more hours he gets, he figures he got this flying sh*t all figured out, so he starts getting ballsy. This happens around the 500-hour mark or so. If he and his ego can make it past 700, give or take, he'll realize how far he has to go, and hopefully calm down and chill out.

What's the old saying? "Making good decisions comes from wisdom. Wisdom comes from making bad decisions."

And the complaint about comparing scuba to guns, LE, the military or motorbikes and flying? It may not be apples-to-apples in every case, but there ARE similarities in training, mindset and execution.

The real problem with the comparison is that, for example, every flight requires a landing ... some are worse than others, but none are automatic. Most dives can be made on automatic, and 5,000 such dives will teach you little but how to assemble and wash your gear.

 

[Crush]

The real problem with the comparison is that, for example, every flight requires a landing ... some are worse than others, but none are automatic. Most dives can be made on automatic, and 5,000 such dives will teach you little but how to assemble and wash your gear.

Someone once told me that BSAC requires their divers to dive in a broad range of conditions, from warm to cold to murky to... so as to become well-rounded divers. This may or may not be true. Regardless, I like the idea. To me a diver who has 50 dives in waters that are warm, cold, in strong current, and in limited visibility is a better and more well-rounded diver than one who has 200 dives in crystal-clear warm water with little or no current.

 

[Thalassamania]

I can show you, literately, hundreds of divers with a couple of dozen dives that are head and shoulders above most instructors. But everyone one of those dives was specifically designed to teach several specific lessons.

 

[DMDavid]

Always learning something new even after 35 years of diving.


Posted from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Dr Wu]

Experience changes perspective... as already mentioned.

An illustration from the CCR world is that after about 20 hours "on the unit" most individuals think of themselves as a newbie. After 50 hours, they are an expert. After 100 they achieve guru status. However, when they have logged 150 hours they understand they are still a novice; and after 200 they settle into the realization they are an experienced beginner.

Agreed.

OC has the same thing at work.

You commonly find threads like this when a Basic OW diver trains to a new certification level.

The truth is: mastering a simple and new set of skills may create a desire to use that experience to "distance yourself from the pack".

Learn as you go of course. We all do that.

But when these newer divers question: "Do YOU REALLY know how to scuba dive"...that is when asking the question becomes a need to feel superior.

Just dive. It's not a contest.