Advanced Diving - The Experience Paradox

[DevonDiver]

I wrote this for technical divers, but it's equally informative for advanced/recreational divers, so I posted it here. It looks at the paradox of how acquiring more significant levels of experience/training doesn't correlate to a reduction in diving risk.

Technical Diving - The Experience Paradox

Another new article on my site was posted in the Technical Diving section. It's equally applicable to recreational divers: The Biggest Risk in Technical Diving (and how to avoid it)

 

[EricTheDood]

Nice article.

Complacency can be disguised, so identifying it is half the battle. I read about an experienced diver who was overly eager to get in the water, as the boat had to abandon the first dive site due to bad conditions. Gear had already been setup and checked prior to arriving at the first site. When he finally got in the water, he was overweighted and sank like a rock. His tank valve was closed and he drowned. This was a simple matter of skipping BWRAF, which is about as elementary as it gets. Maybe he did check everything prior arriving at the first dive site but closed his valves to prevent a slow leak (which IMHO is a very common, very bad habit). Nobody knows. Apparently he didn't inflate his BCD either, which would've caught that problem.

On a lighter note, an inanimate object was drowned due to my own complacency, my iPhone. This would've never happened here in California where I wear a 7mm wetsuit. It happened in Hawaii because I was wearing board shorts, and more importantly on that fateful day, a two pocket board short rather than my usual one pocket. I didn't check my left pocket and took the phone down to 100ft. Here's the surprise of the century - the phone didn't survive.

 

[UnixMarine]

I rather enjoy your articles. I actually read this on Facebook the other day. One day I hope to get to the Philippines and give your shop a try.