Arrogance and humility among divers

[mdb]

The separation, over the last ten years or more, from simply Scuba Diver to "Tech" and other categories
seems to have created a certain sense of elitism, warranted or not.

Perhaps some sense of arrogance comes from that, I don't know.

I have been diving since 1973 and I feel very fortunate to still be diving.

Most of my diving is solo. Boat diving, usually, is on Southern California boats which
are not at all rule rigid, just great platforms for Channel Island diving.

I have, in the last years, seen divers kitted out in long hose regs, side mounts, high watt lights
etc. going on peaceful dives off Anacapa Island, Oil rigs off Santa Barbara and other offshore dives.

Perhaps they were/are practicing for more challenging upcoming dives.

I dive with the minimum amount of equipment; Just the gear necessary for the dive at hand.

Diving is great, since even old divers, such as me, can continue to dive and enjoy the U/W world.

 

[2airishuman]

Many people have earned the right to be proud of what they've done. Nobody "earns the right" to be arrogant. There's a difference, usually pretty clear, sometimes a fine line.

Let's try some examples.

1. You will know that you might be an ******* if you are buddied up with a new diver and refuse to play along with the BWRAF checks that they've been taught to use every time they splash.
   
   
2. You will know that you might be an ******* if during casual chats with new divers you mention that you are proud of the times you exceeded recreational depth limits without proper equipment, training, and procedures.
   
   
3. You will know that you might be an ******* if you refuse to discuss equipment choices, dive sites, etc., with a new diver because they are not yet certified.
   
   
4. You will know that you might be an ******* if you exaggerate the difficulty or safety risks of your favorite dive site because you don't want more divers to use it. Bonus points for enumerating the unique skills and background you have that makes the site uniquely safe for you and no one else.
   
   
5. You will know that you might be an ******* if you behave as though your low SAC rate gives you higher social standing.

 

[Steve_C]

this might be a goal thing. How do you become a doctor if you don't have the chutzpah to be a pre-premed student? So is it arrogance or wishful thinking amplified by poor communication skills and/or youthful exuberance??? I wonder if he ever made it???

I am all for goal setting. I work in an academic setting and at this point have had conversations about goals etc with hundreds and probably thousands of students at both the graduate and undergraduate level. Often they are unsure of what might happen. I always tell them to go for their dream. The worst thing that can happen to a person is to spend the last quarter of their life wondering what if. If you try you either succeed, in some sense, or get rid of the risk of the "what if" fate. Premed is a challenging curriculum, not the most challenging in my opinion, at our school I would choose maybe chem eng (I am not in chem eng.). In the particular conversation I was mentioning, the student was implying that their choice was better and that they had more status than the other student but they in fact had not done any of the program. Just checked a box on a form.

 

[The Chairman]

You will know that you might be an ******* if you behave as though your low SAC rate gives you higher social standing.

Now you're meddling!!!

 

[george_austin]

What is the big deal? Just walk away or find a new way to laugh at them. It sounds like you're being a priss.

"Nobody earns a right to be arrogant"
Someone else's behavior really has nothing to do with you.

 

[kelemvor]

1. You will know that you might be an ******* if you behave as though your low SAC rate gives you higher social standing.

I must admit, I am envious of someone with a sac low enough to even consider bragging about. This one's particularly prevalent on scubaboard where some divers like to tell everyone how they can dive to 120' and stay for a week on a spare air and still have gas for deco and a safety stop on top. Seriously though, I am a little jealous of divers with super low SAC's.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

When did we meet???

Bonaire, 2005
Philippines, 2016

... and it was a blast both times ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[mdb]

I am not jealous of any other diver-well maybe a good looking lady diver.

I just do not want to hear about how cool or "tech" or "trimmed" they are.

Please just let me splash and enjoy our U/W world.

Very few people on the planet do what we do.

That is "arrogance" enough for me.

 

[BDSC]

I asked one of my dive buddies once if he thought I was arrogant. He said, "Not at all. You're perfect but haven't learned to deal with it well."

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I must admit, I am envious of someone with a sac low enough to even consider bragging about. This one's particularly prevalent on scubaboard where some divers like to tell everyone how they can dive to 120' and stay for a week on a spare air and still have gas for deco and a safety stop on top. Seriously though, I am a little jealous of divers with super low SAC's.

I dive with a lot of new divers, and most of them have a tendency to obsess about their air consumption rate. One thing I like to tell them is not to worry about it ... breathe for comfort, and as you become more relaxed in the water the problem will self-correct. Of course locally the solution is to just have them on a bigger tank ... then the limiting factor becomes getting cold or having to pee ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)