Can I really cut myself out?

[Cacia]

yes, very provacative. (evocative?) anyway, I had two thoughts besides the obvious.

I can't help but wonder if my position of not ever diving in viz under 40 ft is not also reasonable. We seem to all agree that poor viz is more dangerous and assuming solo diving is also more dangerous, what is flawed about the reasoning to occasionally dive alone but never dive in poor viz? Is it not just a matter of prefering one set of benefits over the other? I would really miss the time I get to spend alone....I personally see no point in diving if I cannot see, so that is an easy one to eliminate.
And, I would not ever, under any circumstances consider diving in 1' viz for an anchor. EVEN if my name was UP.
The other question I have is about Snowbear's comment that your spouse should agree. I guess that really surprised me.....for those of you that agree, how far do you take that? Having always been with risk taking men, beginning with my father, it would be inconceivable to me to demand that they change their own personal risk/benefit analysis for me. Would that not change who the person is, at a fundamental level? I cannot fathom wanting to do that to someone, especially a person I loved. A parent, a child, a husband, a lover. That is having your wings clipped, with the tool of choice.

 

[tribaltim]

How many people really get caught up or entangled in stuff I mean I have only been certified for about a year now and have only dove Okinawa but their isn't anything I would ever get tangled up in.......not to mention the low vis issue, why would anyone dive in low vis?

 

[RiverRat]

How many people really get caught up or entangled in stuff I mean I have only been certified for about a year now and have only dove Okinawa but their isn't anything I would ever get tangled up in.......not to mention the low vis issue, why would anyone dive in low vis?

The more dives you get in, in more places, the more you will see what can happen. If you start diving wrecks, even in fairly clear waters like North Carolina, you'll be amazed at what can collect on a shipwreck. Even the "easy" resort wrecks, with resort swimthroughs there is a slight risk of entrapment or entanglement. You just never know for sure. I don't really enjoy low vis diving either. But I do like to dive and train in local lakes and quarries just to keep my skills up and have fun in between dive trips. Would be nice to live in Hawaii or the Keys and dive clear water all the time. But it's just not an option for me just yet. Another point on vis, in some places you can start a dive with stellar vis and have it go to nothing by the end of the dive. Point is never get complacent, and it can't hurt to have skills learned in other environments that could come in handy someday. When divers are put in stressfull situations that they have not trained for and are not prepared for, they sometimes panic and get hurt or killed.

 

[LI Diver]

OK you guy's are scaring me. Mainly for my 2 children that I've just introduced into scuba. From what I gather here is that it is nearly impossible to free yourself from a mono gillnet and only a slightly better chance with a buddy who should have been within 3 feet of you and probably got tangled as well. Did I lead them into the lions den? As for myself if something happens while I'm diving and I don't come back.. well I was doing what I loved and I've had a good run. For them they have their whole life ahead of them and put their total faith and trust in me to keep them safe. What can be done to minimize the risk of this particular danger? Would it be safer to only dive with large groups that are led by a DM where many divers at slightly different depth and position are around? Are there areas in the world that have less risk of net's?

 

[Gary D.]

How many people really get caught up or entangled in stuff I mean I have only been certified for about a year now and have only dove Okinawa but their isn't anything I would ever get tangled up in.......not to mention the low vis issue, why would anyone dive in low vis?

I’m glad you’re enjoying diving in Okinawa. I did while I was there.

While reading your post I started thinking that you must not carry a knife of shears. With nothing to get tangled up in, why carry them?

Not everyone has the luxury of good visibility. Even Okinawa can have its good and bad days. One person’s idea of good vis is another’s poor vis so it is just what you’re used to and are comfortable with.

Now back to the entanglement issue. What makes you think you don’t have a think about entanglement and why do you think your area is tangle free?

If there is water there are people that will fish it, legal or not. A lot of people who fish will conveniently toss fishing line overboard. Yes there are those people out there. A few inches here and there is not a problem for a diver. But when they start re-spooling reels with several hundred feet it can be life threatening.

The line doesn’t have to be dropped where you are diving but might be carried in by currents, snagged on the bottom and ready for a passing diver. Some of these lines all but totally disappear in the water. Others are almost impossible to cut with a knife.

Smaller nets can be brought in by unsuspecting boats coming into a dive area. They snag one and drag it for a while until it either comes off on it’s own or is cut off. Either way it could end up being positioned to create a hazard to an unsuspecting diver.

Some of these smaller nets are made up of fishing line. They can be almost invisible in the water and actually poise a bigger thereat that the big commercial nets made from large lines.

Do a little re-thinking about your tangle free waters. I will only agree that you dive site is tangle free if you are restricting your dives to the bathtub or your swimming pool and then there still might be some questions about it.

Gary D.

 

[Snowbear]

The other question I have is about Snowbear's comment that your spouse should agree. I guess that really surprised me.....for those of you that agree, how far do you take that? Having always been with risk taking men, beginning with my father, it would be inconceivable to me to demand that they change their own personal risk/benefit analysis for me. Would that not change who the person is, at a fundamental level? I cannot fathom wanting to do that to someone, especially a person I loved. A parent, a child, a husband, a lover. That is having your wings clipped, with the tool of choice.

So you understand and accept the risks they take and would not ask them to limit those risks for your sake. Turn it around.... lets say you also have 2 young children. You have discussed your love for solo diving with your spouse. You have fully explained and acknowledge that in the dives you do solo (within whatever limits you set) are minimally risky as for monofilament line or the deadly monofilament gillnet, but that the risk is present even on a minimally fished 30' Hawaiian reef with good viz, and that an inadvertant entanglement is potentially .... actually, I have to say probably ... deadly. So... your spouse accepts the risk you take and accepts that solo diving is important to you and understands that you might not come back some day. Do your kids? My point was that if you are going to add the level of risk that comes with diving solo, you should think through the consequences and how those consequences would affect those who depend on you.

If I had a spouse rolleyes: ) who didn't want me to solo dive, I would encourage him to learn to be the best buddy possible so he could actually minimize rather than increase my risk.... oh.... and he would need to be willing to do a lot of diving

 

[H2Andy]

My point was that if you are going to add the level of risk that comes with diving solo

you're making too assumptions:

1. that there is an increase of risk with diving solo; and
2. that that increase is significant

as to 1, youre probably right. there is some increase of risk.

but as to 2, i think you exaggerate the risk. it's not that
much riskier to dive solo, if one has the right mindset and skills.
basically, all diving is risk management. solo diving is no
different.

same could be said of diving caves, or wrecks, or deep diving.
they're not signigicantly riskier so long as one has the right
mindset and skills.

basically, diving solo in 60 feet of water is probalby safer than
diving with a buddy in a deep, multi-stage, wreck dive.

yet i think you would embrace the later, while preaching against the earlier

eyebrow

seriously, forget the hype. solo diving for the skilled diver is not much
of an increase of risk compared to other types of diving people do
without batting an eyelash.

 

[Snowbear]

...yet i think you would embrace the later, while preaching against the earlier...

You are wrong.

As you well know, I am an ocassional solo diver. I am not 'preaching' against solo diving. I am advocating knowing the risks and being willing to accept the consequences. That could apply to cave, wreck, deep, new buddy, whatever diving as well.

 

[H2Andy]

no, i didn't "well know" you are an ocassional solo diver. LOL. in fact,
i thought as a DIR diver you didn't do solo dives at all...

read my sentence in context, and you'll see that i thought you did not do solo dives

as for knowing risks and being willing to accept consequences, i totally agree with you

do you continue to solo dive to this day? do you plan to solo in the future?

 

[Rick Inman]

seriously, forget the hype. solo diving for the skilled diver is not much
of an increase of risk compared to other types of diving people do
without batting an eyelash.

Right. Because, "other types' is ultra inclusive of all kinds of diving - much of it not so smart.

I remember this thread very well from when it first came out because it really put a damper on my solo diving. You can't believe how many possible entanglements I started seeing around my local pond once I started looking for them.

And yeah, I think about my wife, my kids and my grandkids when I dive, and it has effected my behavior.