Bad Press for "older" divers

[Al Mialkovsky]

Well so far I've avoided voting for whoever Donald Sutherland tells me to vote for and now I'll contintue to participate in an activity that Donald Sutherland tells me to avoid

 

[Dzscubie]

Let's see.... Donald Sutherland says he learned to dive for this movie.. hummmmm .... and now from his vast amount of knowledge and experience he says he should not have been diving. I will bet his "learning to dive" was less than a resort course and sound like the dive master was pandering to a "star" and not willing to tell him he that diving is not an E-ticket ride but can be dangerous. I am 53 and have been diving for 32 years and don't plan to stop. I believe that if you stay healthy and in shape and pay attention to detail you can dive until "you" decide to stop. Remember .."plan the dive, dive the plan".

Shawn

 

[AbyssalPlains]

When you're a diver and you get to a certain age, you can do one of two things: You can put your gear out on a garage sale on your 50th (or 60th, or 70th, or 80th...) birthday, and take up golfing, waiting to be struck down by cardiac death like millions of other retirees (how lame is that?) or, you can strap a tank on your back and venture into a world that 95 percent of human beings never get to see once they're gone forever, and you keep doing that for as long as it works. Pretty easy choice, huh??
I also don't understand why people are so obsessed with the fear of injury or death while scubadiving, and at the same time we gladly spend hours each day in traffic where the odds of dying are hundreds, if not thousands of times higher than under water.

 

[Zippsy]

not only was there a lengthy discussion elsewhere (as noted above), but I find it really humorous that the story is now being quoted by CDNN rather than the much much, much more respectable British tabloids. To paraphrase what someone said in the other thread: never, never, never take medical advice from a newspaper or an old actor. Getting it from a newspaper planted PR story story quoting an old actor is even more absurd. Getting it from a website known for making up stories for the fun of it who stole it from a British tabloid is simply insane.

 

[Digger54]

John Glen went on a Space Shuttle mission at age 70 or so.

Many of us 50+ guys bristle at someone telling us there are things we "can't" do.

Here's to you, Sutherland -- :mooner:

 

[Seadeuce]

Stop diving at 50???????


Hell, I tell people of that age they should take UP diving to prolong an active life!


The person who stated the top comment probably never even stuck his head underwater in the bathtub as a child, let alone snorkel/dive.

That person's loss to be sure -

So ...

I say we should counter that absurd claim by shouting:

"Freedom at Fifty!" - What Scuba can do for you ...

50 years
50 dives
50 feet
50 meters
50 sites
50 wrecks
50 fathoms

... don't be a Slave to Gravity!!



Seadeuce

 

[covediver]

I saw the movie, it should have been one of those direct to dvd releases

If the bad acting hasn't killed him, I don't see how scuba can do any further damage.

 

[Dayo Scuba]

Someone should send this to Hal Watts for comment. I think he may have a few years on Sutherland and dives to depths greater than 200 feet often.

 

[BKP]

I didn't *begin* diving (sadly) until 48.

Considering the training I've had (an order of magnitude greater than you get driving a car <or my boat>, planning your diet, doing an intense workout, or just climbing a ladder), I consider myself better prepared for, and more knowledgable about, diving than most "ordinary" efforts.

Besides... when I die, it won't be sucking oatmeal through a straw...

 

[Mawg]

Once again I will post an article I authored eight years ago for my column "Dive Bubbles" for my local newspaper. It answers some of the problems active participation in diving as a geratric.

sdm

Read your article. Was hoping it would answer the question. It didnt. Wasted my time.