Do you ever break the rules?

[charlesg3]

I guess I break a few rules:

Solo - I never intentionally dive solo, however often when we're hunting lobster we get separated with low vis and don't always meet back up (this is generally in <30 fsw).

Dive Flag - The law states that we're supposed to have 1 per diver but we generally bring 1 for the group of 4 or 6. It's a little bit of a pain to carry around but we trade off who is responsible for it. It is nice for when you get separated.

Also I don't bring a snorkel and put my mask on my forehead because I don't think those rules compromise my safety.

 

[Garrobo]

Rules? Whatzat?

 

[Rhone Man]

To paraphrase Barbossa in Pirates of the Caribbean - I look at them more like "guidelines".

 

[angielink]

I'm a very cautious diver. I am not trained in wreck dives but I have done 3 of them. I took them slow and easy and with a rescue trained diver. I am more of one who plays by the rules because I feel like the rules will help keep me safe. I use the dive flag, buddie system and I return to the boat when I am suppose to. I would either be a perfect dive buddy or I would get on your nerves. But one thing is for sure if something happen to you under water you can be sure I would follow the rule book and get you safely back. lol

 

[SelkieDVM]

I did a few solo dives prior to being certified or equipped for them. But then I have done more than a few "buddy dives" that might as well have been solo dives.

"I say these things lightly of myself but would have no other say them of me."

Doesn't it really all come down to what you consider the rules to be? Not trying to be argumentative, I was just raised in a atmosphere that encouraged respectful dinner table debate.

 

[AndyNZ]

I tend to agree with others who have suggested that the "rules" are more guidelines. The way I look at said guidelines, they are about managing risk for people who don't think abouot risk themselves.

As for the guidelines that I sometimes choose to not follow:

1. Solo: Less so now, but I have done a lot of solo diving. I don't see solo diving as bending or breaking the rules - but I have done solo dives (a long time ago) where I wasn't neccesarily as prudent as I could have been. I have my own rules now - anything deeper than 10m needs a redundant air source and so on. I don't break those self-imposed rules.

2. Deco & depth limits: I certainly do dives beyond my current certification limits - but experience counts as well. I think the intention of training is to provide a framework for extending your diving.

3. Caves: I do a little bit of cave diving beyond the cavern zone, and am not cave trained. The caves that I do dive in are known ventures, mainly single passageways - one way in, one way out.

I struggle with the same issues as you, Bob. How can I justify what I do when not actually teaching. The only real answer I've ever come up with is "am I being safe?", in the sense that have I thought about all the risks that are implicit in the dive and addressed every single one. If I have, I'm ok with it and will happily talk through the dive with a ex-student/student/potential student and explain all of the planning etc that has gone into the dive.

 

[300bar]

Gee, did a solo today,again

 

[shoredivr]

Gee, did a solo today,again

Quit rubbing it in, I had to work today.

I don't always tow a flag for the same reasons others have mentioned: unaware boaters and PWC operators using it as a slalom.

Before I got my solo card I had been solo diving for 8 years.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

This thread reminds me of how I often describe myself; brutally honest, sometimes to my own demise.

What about the rules broken during training dives? How would it sound if an instructor admitted to taking more than 4 non-divers on an intro dive? Or taking an intro diver into a shallow overhead to see resting sharks? Or perhaps taking an intro diver deeper than 40' for scarlet shrimp teeth cleaning?

I'm sure many instructors have abandoned students at the surface and/or on the bottom while conducting CESA's. I've seen many OW classes negotiating a swim-through or short lava tube. And how about tearing up a medical release with a yes on it and having the guest/student fill out another one without a yes? Or accepting a medical release that has obvious lies on it (obese person with a puffer in his or her bag)?

I know of instructors who have worked at resorts for years, even decades. Some of their return non-divers have over 40 dives under their belt, with said instructor, so that entire intro paragraph concerns non-divers who are better divers than many certified divers.

I know of dive shop owners who's new instructor orientation is mostly about the fact that there will be no assistants for the open water training dives. I even had a phone conversation with a corporate training administrator about CESA's and I could practicaly hear him turning his back on the question.

Those are just a few situations that come off the top of my head. Oh wait, here comes my favorite; conducting the intro dive according to an agency that has not said NO to the instructor taking photo's, and then using that dive as the first dive of the Open Water course for an agency that has said NO to the instructor taking photo's on the intro dive???

That last one happens nearly every day just 5 minutes from where I live!

 

[Walter]

I try not to break rules. On the other hand, a rule must be made by someone with the authority to make the rule. An agency has the authority to make a rule that covers teaching their classes. If I'm not teaching a class, they have no authority to make a rule for me. Dive flag rule - that's a law and I do my best to obey it. Solo? There's no law against it and I never dive solo when teaching a class. Dry suit rule? You must be joking! Wreck penetration? I've never taken a class on it, but I've taught a few, does that count? Bottom line, a rule is only a rule when the people making it have the authority to make it.