Diving and alcohol

[Cheekymonkey]

Lol Sparticle, I dont take drinking laws half as seriously as drinking and diving common sense . Drinking at home and not driving doesnt put me at quite the risk

 

[CompuDude]

I don't know what Liveaboard company it is, but their rule is, NO DIVING AFTER DRINKING. They will allow you to snorkel, but no diving.

Personnally, I agree with it. There are just too many things that are too important (like surfacing alive) that I am not willing to risk by having any alcohol in me.

I agree with this policy 100%. Most local SoCal boats have the same policy, from what I've seen. First drink of the day = you just had your last dive of the day.

Drinking the night before, however, is a curious situation. Obviously you're screwed if you're still drunk the next morning, but if not... I suppose that would depend on the individual.

 

[Cheekymonkey]

Yea people tend to forget a hangover means you might as well have been drinking that morning.

 

[Vayu]

Anyone who drinks and dives is a moron and dangerous to anybody who dives around them.

 

[beejw]

No drinking on the day of, before diving, or at the SI. Drinking moderately the night before, provided you get re-hydrated suffciently before diving is fine. If you can drive yourself home legally the night before diving, your okay to dive the next day, pending 2-3 glasses of water, or a gatorade....

Most ex-pat techies ive spoken to, mostly in thailand swear by taking one disolvable aspirin and chasing that with a beer then sleeping for 3 hours after doffing gear after a long deco dive. A cup of coffee, or even a chocolate bar will dehydrate you more then a can of beer (with 5.4% alc. content).

The reason you shouldnt have any alcohol before diving is that under pressure, the effects of the alcohol can be greatly increased, presenting with symptoms similar to being 'narced, except it doesnt get better when you ascend.

That one of the first things my insructor told me. Most boats i go out on here dont even provide beer or any alcohol, but in thailand they dont put the beer in the cooler until the last diver of the boats feet have hit the water, so its cold when you get back from that harrowing encounter with a leopard shark

 

[brutus_scuba]

I am about to throw a log in this fire, and probably accumulate a long list of people who wont' dive with me. I've never gone on a dive drunk. I've never gone on a dive while I felt I was dehydrated or hung over, but I will have a drink or two on my surface interval. I do not prescibe to the first drink of the day means last dive theory. When I'm diving for the weekend I make sure I'm drinking more gatorade then beer and will drink a gatorade or two between my last beer and my next dive. At one quarry locally the max depth is 22 feet and at anot her the max is 75 but the average depth is probably 40 fsw. I think this rule needs to be applied with common sense. If I was doing a technical dive into a cave or one that required stage decompression (neither of which I would do b/c they are a few years in my future) I would probably be more strict to this rule.

Obviously I dont' think diving inebriated is at all tolerable, but a beer or two isnt' bad as long as you hydrate.

 

[brutus_scuba]

According to your profile, you're 20. :no

This is offtopic to the thread, but I dont' like people judging others behaviors. It's not like someone committed murder. I think the drinking age being 21 is a good idea but only b/c I think if 18 year olds could buy alcohol it would get in the hands of 15 year olds. At least by the time you're 21 you've moved past being friends with such youngins' but I dont' think some 20 year old having a beer is a bad thing. I think if your 18 you should be able to drink a beer or buy an open container at a bar or restaurant, but you should need to be 21 to buy a closed container that is going to be drank away from the place of purchase.

 

[Drewski]

When I ran a larger boat for offshore trips, we had a "rules" policy that everyone signed before they got on board. It VERY clearly said, "NO drinking then diving." Each diver always got a copy of it when they purchased a boat ticket at the shop. We kept the original copy, they got the duplicate. The form also had directions to the boat, the Captain and DM names, weather and contact instructions. The rules policy was briefed AGAIN by the DM before we left the dock, along with dive safety procedures, buddy policy, etc.

Using this approach, we never had a problem with between dive drinking even with 3 to 4 HR surface interval times on deeper offshore sites (time before EAN). Of course it helped to have plenty of alternatives instead of booze. Our standard "stock" out for each dive was several cases of soda, two large "cans" of Gatorade and plenty of cold water. It was ready for everyone as soon as they took off their tank. Sometimes the DM or crew would even hand returning divers a drink. We also stocked 2 cases of COLD beer for after the hook was pulled and people could always bring their own beer for the cooler. The return trip was sometimes as much as 3 HRS. All of the drinks on the boat, including the beer we provided, were FREE.

At the time, it probably cost us $50 for all of this stuff, but I found that we sold a TON of gear the next day after we treated people like GOLD when they went diving with us.

"Dive on Sunday, sell on Monday..." always used to work.

Just my thoughts...

 

[CompuDude]

This is offtopic to the thread, but I dont' like people judging others behaviors. It's not like someone committed murder. I think the drinking age being 21 is a good idea but only b/c I think if 18 year olds could buy alcohol it would get in the hands of 15 year olds. At least by the time you're 21 you've moved past being friends with such youngins' but I dont' think some 20 year old having a beer is a bad thing. I think if your 18 you should be able to drink a beer or buy an open container at a bar or restaurant, but you should need to be 21 to buy a closed container that is going to be drank away from the place of purchase.

I tend to agree. Plus, while not the case in this particular instance, this IS an international board, and not all countries have a 21 YO age limit. It's perfectly legal for the poster in question to grab a beer in Mexico, for instance, and many other countries.

 

[Cheekymonkey]

Yea well some people just don't like poor cheeky ...

But seriously drewski, was the beer available only after the last dive, or was it available to them at all during their surface interval, i'm a bit confused by the wording there.