Do people lose gear all the time?

[Ana]

I just read a thread about someone getting an old knife. Most of the replies recommended to not use it, to avoid losing it.

Through the years I've found knives, watches, masks, dive belts, gauges, compass, slates of all types, truckloads of snorkels and a bunch of clippies and things that I've seen in dive shops but have no use for them. Besides dive gear I've also found things that were probably dropped from boats.

Now I'm not specially good at finding things, is just a matter of being at the right place at the right time and do it often.

What makes me wonder is that I haven't lost a thing for very long time. (Of course after writing this I'll probably lose something on my the next dive). Back when I first started diving I lost a bunch of stuff; if it wasn't glued to me, it was gone. However I lost stuff underwater as much as topside. But I got over it, I still get in the water knowing that I can lose what I take, but I come back to the boat with all my stuff and some days with dinner.

So do people keep losing things even after years and years diving?

Is it the general opinion that if something is very valuable you don't use it, even if it is dive gear?

 

[Katamuki]

I have lost two things in the last couple of months, both with the big blue H on them. Ouch. Hurt even worse when I had to replace the smb and liftbag with more H products. Good stuff though.

 

[binobanana]

yeah my friend lost his 160 flash light and i found an otherone lol

 

[a22shady]

Have not lost anytihing yet and not looking forward to it. I try to check to make sure everything is on and cliped properlly before I get in the water.

On the other hand I have found a clip and compass

 

[binobanana]

a clip is $15, gear most time more than a $100 !!!!

 

[Sas]

I've been pretty lucky. I've lost one knife (which was free with my drysuit anyway and was large enough to make it look like I was compensating for something, if I was male) and one compass ($90AUD), which I accidentally threw over the side of a boat. I nearly lost my replacement compass ($80AUD) two weeks later, on the same boat but my buddy heroically dived to save it rolling over the side (tks mate).

My buddy lost a camera of mine :\ But it was only $70AUD so not too bad.

But yea I think if you have something valuable no point in not using it. I buy the cheapest clothes out there but at one point I was gifted with a $1500 leather jacket so it is by far the most expensive item of clothes I own. Everyone said to save it for special occassions but I wear it all the time, no point in it sitting in the closet. Buttons are looking ratty though

I would be severely cut to lose some items of my dive kit, but yea it is a risk you take, and just try to be as careful as you can. I was adding up what I wear for doubles diving the other day after a guy I was getting fills from (a non-diver) was talking about how crazy it is that the other day he heard that for cave diving some of the guys have $8000 of kit with them on a dive (probably a big under estimate in many cases ). It works out to about $5600AUD (and I still need to buy proper lights, thermals and a stage)... if I lost all that OUCH. But yea, no point in spending that cash if they're just going to sit at home. This attitude seems to be shared by a lot of my buddies too as I don't know any buddy who leaves kit at home because it is "too expensive".

 

[Atomic_Diver]

I've lost a mask before, but thats because I decided to jump off a pier with it...

 

[Sas]

I've lost a mask before, but thats because I decided to jump off a pier with it...

What did the jump have to do with it? Finish the story!

 

[covediver]

I have developed Coverdiver's steady state theory of lost dive gear. The amount of gear in the water at any time is constant, when a piece if found somewhere in the world at that instant someone has to lose a similar piece. At the end of the dive day debits and credits must balance.

I knew a guy who had more money than sense. Twenty years ago he entered the water at a state park in southern California with a Nikonos V, which at the time seemed to define the state of the art in underwater cameras. He lost the camera during his exit. As far as I know, he never found it, but someone must have.

I have lost a knife (Blackie Collins Wenoka Sea Style blunt tip, one of my favorites, a couple of snorkels, and a light. Not bad for nearly three decades of diving. I have found weights, a light, and other odds and ends. The breakwater at Casino Point at Avalon is like a dive gear swap meet with as much use as it gets.

 

[gcbryan]

I've lost a dive light and found a dive light, lost a dive knife and found a dive knife and then recovered my lost knife as well. I've lost a Nikonos V through flooding as far a losing functionality but the camera still sits over my mantel. I've lost both a compass and a dive computer.

I've not lost anything for a long time but the items I did lose weren't due to newbie mistakes. A ratfish bumped the bungee mounted compass on a night dive and unbeknown to me at the time knocked it off my arm. I took my gear off in the water to get back into a RIB and a bungee mounted computer popped off. The dive knife came off due to a broken sheath. The dive light had to do with a night dive and a change in how I carried the light and I let go of it by mistake. I lost (and found the next day) my dive fins while walking out of the water due to cold hands and not realizing that I was only holding one fiin.

If you dive enough you will lose, flood, or break things. The key is to pace the contributions to the dive gods and it feels better if a contribution comes after a particularly good dive (which was the case with the dive computer)!

The most expensive lost (of function) was the flooded Nikonos V.