But, just to make it clear are we saying touching a cave destroys it? Are we saying there are SCUBA police that dictate gear choice? Are we saying these are not public resources? Are we saying that education is so narrow that there is only one way? I have never seen a yoke knocked off, although I am sure it can happen, but not as easy as stated! All the redundancy must mean nothing and as a Cave diver I don't need a buddy, but thanks for the offer! As an aquifer are you peeing in your wet suit? Just wondering as inquiring minds want to know!
Papa Bear, you seem to end most of your sentences with a ! or a ?. If you could please put some .'s in there from time to time, it would really, really help the wanted-to-be-a-writer-before-I-realized-it-couldn't-support-my-diving-hobby side at ease.
Now, to answer your questions.
1. Touching a cave does wear away the limestone, or sediments. However, the cave was formed by water destroying the rock and sediments. Most touching has such a low "marginal cost" in terms of rock/sediments harmed, that it is less than the "marginal benefit" of allowing a diver access to this wonderful resource. But, the goal should always be to minimize touching and cave damage of other sorts. The issue here is, your statements about cave conservation being a "joke" can be taken to mean that you do not support individual efforts to not damage a cave. Whether you meant it like that, I do not know, but that is how I interpreted what you wrote.
2. There are no scuba police that dictate gear choice. There are "rules" of accident analysis that dictate common sense gear choices. It is generally accepted that DIN regulators are more robust in terms of the impact force required to put them in a state where they do not deliver you air, and I don't see the point in arguing that it's ok to use yoke in a cave environment only because there are no cave police. Two of my very good friends died in part because they felt they could do whatever they wanted, since there are no scuba police.
3. Caves are generally considered to be public resources. However, without restrictions on consumption, people have a tendency to over consume a good. This is a generally accepted principle in the economics world, and can be demonstrated in a multitude of industries, such as fishing. Cave diving certifications used to act as a was to reduce overconsumption of the cave, but we are now certifying so many people that the caves are being damaged. Another example of this is the fact that more fatalities are occurring among trained cave divers. In the past, very few trained cave divers died. However, I fail to see how the public good nature of a cave has anything to do with the fact that you use too many ! and too many yoke regulators in a cave.
4. A good education will show a user multiple ways to do something. However, in many cases, there is only one way that makes sense. For example, every teacher will instruct students to use a hose to deliver air to the second stage. I have already explained to you, as have others, why a yoke regulator is a bad idea in ANY overhead environment. I feel that a yoke regulator is never the best choice for a regulator. There are no benefits to using a yoke regulator over a din regulator. The best education on this matter is seeing a yoke regulator destroyed by a 2' fall.
No offer was made, and you are certainly aware that being a cave diver does not make one unanswerable to the laws of needing-to-breathe-in-an-emergency or the law of hit-a-yoke-reg-and-break-it.
I am not an aquifer myself, and if you do not understand what an aquifer is, I certainly do not feel you belong in a cave environment. I figure the slight amount of urine I introduce into the aquifer is negligible considering the amount of septic tanks draining into the aquifer.
PapaBear, I respect you as a SB user, I really do. Can you please answer just one question for me?
Question: What benefits does a yoke regulator have over a din regulator? This is a fundamental, very basic question. In other words, I am asking you, that if we have one laboratory and two regulators and two tanks, and the regulators and the tanks are identical, is there any benefit to doing a dive in the laboratory swimming pool with the yoke regulator and tank combination, as compared to the din regulator and tank combination? An answer that includes a statement such as "yoke are more generally accepted around the world" is pointless, as I am only asking about this specific case, where there are only the two tanks and the two regulators. I am sure that if you can give a mind blowing answer, Rox, Pfc, UCFDiver and Litehedded will get off your back.
