Has anyone ever seen any recommended guidelines regarding drinking alcohol before diving?
Many tests have shown that even small amounts of alcohol can have a measurable negative effect of performance (judgement, coordination, impairment of memory, etc). There is also the dehydration effect that can increase the risk of decompression issues.
Many boats and resorts that I have stayed at have a rule, if you have a drink you're done diving with them for the day....it's their operation so they can set the rules. However, those same operations often do early morning dives and divers will board the boat who have been pounding many drinks until the wee hours, and still have a pretty high blood alcohol content.
US Navy aviation has a 12 hour rule, no drinking with 12 hours of a flight.
DAN website has some discussion about this Divers Alert Network
but unlike the diving then flying issue, seems to offer no recommended guidelines.
For the record, I and most of my buddies love a cold beer (or 2+). Don't want to see "scuba police" enforcing rules. This should be a judgement issue just like diving and flying.
However some reasonable reference guidlelines might be nice to help people make an informed judgement decision?
Many tests have shown that even small amounts of alcohol can have a measurable negative effect of performance (judgement, coordination, impairment of memory, etc). There is also the dehydration effect that can increase the risk of decompression issues.
Many boats and resorts that I have stayed at have a rule, if you have a drink you're done diving with them for the day....it's their operation so they can set the rules. However, those same operations often do early morning dives and divers will board the boat who have been pounding many drinks until the wee hours, and still have a pretty high blood alcohol content.
US Navy aviation has a 12 hour rule, no drinking with 12 hours of a flight.
DAN website has some discussion about this Divers Alert Network
but unlike the diving then flying issue, seems to offer no recommended guidelines.
For the record, I and most of my buddies love a cold beer (or 2+). Don't want to see "scuba police" enforcing rules. This should be a judgement issue just like diving and flying.
However some reasonable reference guidlelines might be nice to help people make an informed judgement decision?