Diving like this is fun?

[ThatsSomeBadHatHarry]

Fun is in the eye of the beholder. Some divers like to just mess around in the water and not go past a certain level of training and comfort. Others get their enjoyment from by pushing their training as far as it can go, and dive in places that others can't or wont. And to achive levels of control far beyond the standard. Some folks love their mini van, some drive a Viper. It's all good, as long as it's fun, and you dive safely.

I rock climb (more frequently in the past than lately) and all my roommates climb. one in particular really gets after it. If anyone is familiar with the numerical rating system, he consistently trad climbs 5.12. Once you get to that point, its pure pain and adrenalin. granted, when you are scared out of your mind to make the next few moves, the pain is the last thing on your mind. The point is there are so many people where i live that maintain at a steady level of training and dont progress past their comfort zone, dont learn any new knots or gear placements, stick to the same crags, and never really venture to anything harder. on the other hand there are climbers that push themselves constantly to improve and keeping the sharpest mind possible in that field, like my roommate. This is relatively the same idea with diving. life is at stake. some people enjoy the thrill of seeing just how far they can go and get satisfaction out of progress. Check out a climbing magazine. the big time trad climbers are carring about twice their own weight in gear for big walls. technical knowledge of this kind does not come easy and is a real goal for some. same idea can be applied to our sport. some just need more and pain is a strange form of enjoyment for them.

any time i go climbing with my roomie, he asks me what rating climb i feel like doing that day. he takes that into advisement and takes me on one rating higher. now i wouldnt go along with this if i didnt completely trust his judgement but his favorite saying at times like these is "if it isnt that hard and it doesnt hurt, we'd never get any better!"

 

[Cacia]

Henryville, I think you misunderstood me.....never mind.

the movie comment was totally unrelated, there were a couple different discussions going on.


I am learning not to ask questions like is it male dominated? I thought after looking at all the sites it was a pretty obvious observation. Sorry if I offended anyone.

Anybody that thinks I was insinuating anything, let me assure you I wasn't saying tech divers are all gay or anything like that. I was saying that it seems a little like traditional male activities like "going hunting, going fishing, etc". And that tropical diving is more co-ed. I feel like I just stumbled into a place where everyone is reading between the lines. It took me a minute to figure it out.

My point was that different personalities gravitate towards different specialty types of diving. Thats it. Nothing more sinister than that. Living in liberal places forever make me unaware of certain attitudes. if they were more power to them, but that was not my point.

 

[Henryville]

The funny thing is, you are generally right about diving, but in a national context. I dive about half the time in the US, half in Japan. In the US, I'd guess 70% of the divers I see are male, more like 90 - 95% in the Northeast ocean diving crowd.

In Japan, it's almost the reciprocal. I'll bet 70% of the divers there are female. Not much tech diving going on there, but of that I participate in, it's also mostly men, though not exclusively so.

 

[Peter Guy]

but I also know they [surgeons] do it for the rewarding $$$ results

When I met Lynne she had just finished her 3rd year of residency -- so I got to miss the intern/R2 hell years -- but I got to watch others go through them. Just as I got to watch her go through her last two years of residency and then actually go out there and BE a surgeon.

I'm sure some of them stuck it out so that they could make the big bucks -- but, I really think more of them (that I saw in her University program) did this because THEY COULD CUT PEOPLE! They, and only they, could literally cut someone open, hold a heart in their hands and put it all back together.

They weren't in it for the money -- they were in it for the adrenaline -- the money was just a very nice side benefit. At least that's what I took away from my exposure to the "surgeons to be."

Lynne just read this and responded, "I don't want people to think we are thrill seekers at someone elses' expense." They are not -- they are the people who love the challenge and know that "theirs" are bigger and brassier than everyone elses' -- especially the trauma surgeons (which is where/how she trained). They are a special breed. Is it any wonder why she wants to dive caves?

 

[Kim]

I was saying that it seems a little like traditional male activities like "going hunting, going fishing, etc".

Oh dear! I can't help feeling that a comment like that might dig you in even further!
I think these days the 'traditional' barriers are breaking down and there are lots of ladies who do all sorts of things that 'traditionally' they maybe weren't supposed to!
I know I saw a thread on TDS once that was about putting together a team of female divers to dive the Doria. There were a lot of ladies interested as I recall. That puts them a league above me in that respect! eyebrow

 

[do it easy]

No worries, Catherine. We just like to pick on the grrls so that the sport maintains it's high male population.

The motivations behind diving fascinate me. I would take classes where the first question is always- why do you want to dive deeper/inside wrecks/under ice etc.? I could never come up with an answer, so I would always repeat what the person before me. I honestly don't understand what draws me to diving. I do know that I would rather spend 2 hours lubing o-rings and drysuit zippers than read 2 pages of tax laws. I would rather lift heavy tanks repeatedly than sit in a comfy chair in my cube all day.

My mind finds peace when I'm underwater- the only world that exists is what I can see before me, and for that brief dive, nothing else matters. I don't think about bills, work, or what I'm going to eat for lunch. Yet I can't articulate what is fun about it. Perhaps it's easier to think of as a addiction, although the sociopath ethos seems to fit as well. Not that I'm dangerous to society, but I just don't understand how some people can live their quiet lives of desperation. I think that I am afraid of dying of boredom.

 

[H2Andy]

I just spent a week diving with JJ,... and his gorgeous girlfriend. .

well.... she's alright looking

also, don't forget his sister

 

[Cacia]

I will be moving along after stepping in all that. Whew.

 

[Blitz]

I dive deep for the same reasons that I was a ranger in the Army and a paramedic: I wanted to be different. And I wanted to see if I was tough.

 

[Cacia]

Personally, I think that is a very good reason. Why won't more people admit that? Thats what makes me crazy. "oh, we do it to be as safe as possible". God forbid you say something macho. or macha.