Appears so.Did the OP change his name in the middle of this post?
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Appears so.Did the OP change his name in the middle of this post?
... Matt, you need some better training, or some focused practice. You should be able to do all those things for yourself by now...
I am glad you added, "or some focused practice" - it is not always the training.
Did the OP change his name in the middle of this post?
Yes. It's like when you first get a driver's license. There's a period of time when you have a training license, and aren't supposed to drive without an experienced driving in the car with you.
I don't think anybody who has only done OW is qualified to dive without a DM. Not me, and not anybody else either. And SB members are welcome to tell me I'm incompetent, or dumb, or didn't pay attention in class, etc. But I disagree. Nobody fresh out of driver's ed is qualified to drive with only another fresh driver, and nobody fresh out of OW is qualified to dive only with another new OW graduate buddy.
And even if I said that everybody who graduates OW is qualified to dive only with a buddy, then I would still say that it's safer to do so with a DM. Does this mean I'm not accepting responsibility for my own safety? I don't think so. In fact, it means I'm accepting more responsibility for my own safety than someone who thinks that, because he's finished OW, he doesn't need a DM.
At Cozumel this week my DM suggested I add air to or subtract air from my BC a couple of times when I was finning a lot to maintain my buoyancy. That advice was well taken. He also helped me locate my buddy when I forgot to keep track of where he was and misplaced him a couple of times. At one point along a wall I inadvertently descended from 80 to 97 feet rather quickly, and my buddy (not the DM) swam down and grabbed me before I had descended further. I knew I was at 97 feet, and I was watching my computer. But it probably wasn't a good idea to be down there when the rest of the group was at 80. At no time did I feel in any danger, and at no time did I feel that the DM was really necessary for my safety. But I don't think that it's a bad idea to have the DM there just in case. And when I say I'm not qualified to guarantee my own safety, I mean that I might easily have made a mistake. Losing track of my buddy was a mistake that could prove fatal, though perhaps not when you're swimming in a group. Fatal for my buddy perhaps. That's not good. And I shouldn't have done it. But I did. What if a down-current had caught me on the wall and taken me down to 120 feet? Lots of things could happen where a DM would be good to have around, it seems to me. Especially for a newby like me. Does this mean I shouldn't be diving? No. It just means that somebody with my experience is safer with a DM watching out for him.
I had asked Pete if I could change my handle. Nothing to do with this thread. He changed it for me today. In any case, I don't think changing my handle would be an effective way of avoiding criticism on Scuba Board.
"...pay your money get your cert".