Boat diving.Do we have it all wrong?!

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jale

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Hi
I was reading a thread about the incompatibility between a passionate woman learning tech diving and a boat which have a policy of not helping anyone to come back on board. I am sure you know the reference.
I don't understand why people think you should be able to board back a boat on your own in order to be "allowed" to tech dive.
For a lot of people, including boat operators, a dive boat is a taxi boat which take you to the dive site and back and that is it: the dive starts on the boat and ends when you are back sitting on the desk having done everything in between on your own.
We have also a lot of threads about DCS and we all know the dive is not yet over even when you are back on the shore as your body is still desaturating. One main point about saturation is to avoid extra useless hardwork.
So why do people make a condition of being able to climb a ladder with all your stuff in order to be able to techdive?
It is not safe. Fullstop!
People who realy define themselves as "techdiver" should refuse to be defined as their capability to manage weight above water. If a diver is able to do what (s)he needs to do underwater, why should we care about his/her strengh capacity of climbing back a ladder.
There are solutions ro manage weight and
a diving boat, should take you to the dive side, help you, as needed, to splash and help you, again as nedded, to go back to the desk using crew or an elevator or whatever.
When you cave dive and you need to go through a dry passage before you can dive, don't people use sherpa and team mates.
Don't even people use a cart or whatever to take their gear.at water edge?
Then, a real diving boat should give you the option of being "sherpaed" in and out of the site.
What do you think?
 
Since you asked, your observation about carts, double tanks at a lot of dive ops are required to be transported on some kind of cart.

Being able to get on a boat unassisted maybe required in an emergency when there are no crew available to assist and every diver needs to get on the boat, pronto. Why this would only apply to tech divers is beyond my ability to understand. I wouldn't jump off a boat unless I knew I could get back on unaided.
 
I was many years a tech diving captain.

I understand why a captain would require a diver to be 100% self sufficient. My worst crew injuries were from helping divers back up in less than optimal conditions. Maybe the boat has insufficient crew to take care of tech divers, maybe the site is a hot drop, maybe the boat isn’t big enough, and maybe the captain just hates tech divers, as we are a bunch of prima donnas who really don’t tip well for the extra service required.

With that all said, yes, tech divers must be assisted back aboard. It’s hard enough to come up the ladder with 90# of backmount doubles, much less 2 slung 80s. Add to that a tremendous nitrogen or helium load, it makes no sense physiologically to “punish” the customer. If you get a reputation as a boat for getting bent divers, you’ll have a hard time with repeat business...
 
Somewhat anecdotal but in the UK the tech diving "revolution" was closely followed by the lift "revolution", whereby many boats ditched ladders and installed lifts as hits increased potentially attributable to shifting loads post dive.

I'd be very wary of a ladder equipped boat for deep or long exposure dives, too much risk of over exertion for me.

Unfortunately no such luxury in the mines locally, so profile, kit and deco choices have to be manipulated to suit the exit.
 
Somewhat anecdotal but in the UK the tech diving "revolution" was closely followed by the lift "revolution", whereby many boats ditched ladders and installed lifts as hits increased potentially attributable to shifting loads post dive.

I'd be very wary of a ladder equipped boat for deep or long exposure dives, too much risk of over exertion for me.

Unfortunately no such luxury in the mines locally, so profile, kit and deco choices have to be manipulated to suit the exit.
Inspected vessels in the USA, like in the UK, may not have lifts, as it is considered an elevator which has a ton of inspection requirements. I know of a couple uninspected boats in both the US and Canada with lifts, and think they are brilliant.
 
Rec or Tec ... if you can’t get yourself and your gear back on the boat you shouldn’t be diving off that boat on that day. Otherwise it’s unsafe for yourself and others. If you can’t do it at all you shouldn’t be boat diving. That may seem harsh but no one HAS to dive. It’s a hobby and if you can’t do it self-sufficiently than you need to pick a different hobby.
 
I estimate that out of all the rec boat dives I've been on, probably 50% of the passengers could not/did not get back on without some sort of assistance. Most of those also never even touch their dive gear in the course of prep. They sit around enjoying the view while captain/mates swap tanks, turn on valves. There have even been occasions where I've helped my course instructors gear up/lift tanks.

Tech diving is different than rec divers who are just paying for a leisurely vacation dive. If the boat crew has to help a tech diver get in or out, that's not a good sign of what could happen when SHTF.
 
That may seem harsh

Hi Jim,

I understand your point, and to some degree I agree with you. Would you temper your admonishment if someone paid for extra help?

I am a fit 60 y.o. I was a professional blue water mariner. I know boats and the ocean. I appreciated the assistance that I received on Rainbow Reef vessels last week when they helped me during my ingress and egress from the water by walking me from, and back to my station. Our last day had seas of 2-3 feet with an occasional 4 footer rolling through. The current caused the vessel to be athwartships to the seas.

Do you mind the assistance I received in that situation?

It is all about degrees in my opinion, would you agree?

cheers,
m²V2
 
If the boat crew has to help a tech diver get in or out, that's not a good sign of what could happen when SHTF
It’s not a matter of having to help the diver, it’s a matter of the diver doing physical labor while highly loaded with gas. That is not an optimal situation.

When we ran recreational trips, our staff to diver ratio was 1:4. On tech trips the ratio was 1:1. But we adjusted the price accordingly as well.
 
Hi Jim,

I understand your point, and to some degree I agree with you. Would you temper your admonishment if someone paid for extra help?

I am a fit 60 y.o. I was a professional blue water mariner. I know boats and the ocean. I appreciated the assistance that I received on Rainbow Reef vessels last week when they helped me during my ingress and egress from the water by walking me from, and back to my station. Our last day had seas of 2-3 feet with an occasional 4 footer rolling through. The current caused the vessel to be athwartships to the seas.

Do you mind the assistance I received in that situation?

It is all about degrees in my opinion, would you agree?

cheers,
m²V2

I too appreciate assistance when it’s offered. There is a difference between appreciating and accepting assistance and requiring assistance. That is where the differentiator is I believe.

if you are truly unable to get yourself back onto the boat with all of your equipment on than you shouldn’t be diving off of that boat on that day.
 
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