Do you log ‘gear test’ dives?

[tomfcrist]

I just don’t log dives. The nice thing about modern dive computers, is that they leave you a digital log that can be updated with REAL data..

Paper dive logs are only as accurate as the integrity of the holder. I’ve had divers tell me “all about” how experienced they are, only to prove to me within 30 seconds that they shouldn’t have passed an ow class.

 

[Tug]

I don't see why arbitrary thresholds like depth, time or the observation of marine life should keep a dive out of your log book. People log for all different reasons, but the idea is to keep track of your diving. For example, if I were to get in the water with a new or rebuilt reg, and it were to have an unstoppable free flow at 5 feet and I thumbed dive after 10 seconds, I would absolutely want to remember that and keep that information with all of my other diving data. I have had very brief dives where there was a problem that I had to solve, and that's relevant to me.

Your log is your own personal record of diving. If you are going to "fake" it by doing 20 shallow bounce dives in a day so that you can qualify for some course or something, who is that hurting other than yourself? And if someone actually did that, how would it be different from just entering any number of fake entries in the log?

I have never encountered any situation where someone (dive operator or instructor) wanted to actually see my logbook. I'm not saying it never happened, but I just don't think it's as big an issue as it is implied to new divers.

+1 on all of this

Sometimes if I do a few quick dives in a row testing equipment or if I have to return to shore or the boat for some reason, I’ll count it all as one dive but that’s just me.

 

[Lorenzoid]

What I have been doing for the past couple of years is keeping separate logs for my different areas of endeavor. The log I started out with is now relegated to vacation diving--resorts, liveaboards, etc. Another entirely separate log is for training: courses, practice sessions in the lake or springs, etc. I would probably include gear testing dives in that log. If and when I start cave diving, I'll keep a separate log for that. The format of each log is different, because the same information isn't equally relevant. I couldn't care less about keeping a running total that counts every time I breathe underwater--that would be pointless.

 

[DerekR]

Either do, or do not. I haven't logged in decades, but "back in the day" I logged everything that blew bubbles.

 

[Kayakingphotos]

Part of this is that I want to take training that requires 100 dives.

There is no requirement that you have to take the class when you have JUST the 100 dives. You need to look at your experience on the dives you have done and make a judgement call as to when you take the class, maybe you will feel like you need 125 dives before the class. If you are honest with yourself, logging a dive that somebody else would not, there are no issues.

Patrick

 

[boulderjohn]

Anything less than 20 feet for 20 mins is not a dive.

A lot of people think this is a rule, but there is no such rule. People look at the training requirements agencies have for training dives and assume that it also regulates what is considered a logged dive. There is no relationship. You can log anything that is meaningful to you.

I had an interesting conversation with Shearwater just about an hour ago on a related topic. One of my computers is having some repairs, and the technician warned me that it would erase my logs. I didn't care. I don't pay attention to the computer logs, which is the opposite of how many people feel. I told him that if he was really bored and looked through my logs, he would see that the hundreds of dives on that computer included a bunch of 1-3 minute dives. Those are dives where I have set up something for a class, staged deco bottles, etc. Some instructional dives are shallow, with lots of skill work, and it is common to go to the surface, talk for a couple minutes, and then go back down. I don't want to log those setup dives, and I want to combine the segments of the training dives. If I were to maintain a computer log system, I would have to go in an delete or combine all of those, which in itself is more effort than I want to put into this process. I have a simple paper logbook, really just a blank notebook, in which I record the minimum details of my dives.

In contrast to someone else who posted in this thread, training dives are the ones I am most certain to log. If nothing of note beyond the training occurs on that dive, I want a record of that in case someone makes an erroneous claim later on.

 

[AfterDark]

I've always used my logs to record conditions at various, temps, tides, wind directions etc.... I'd log that dive you did generally, location, time, date, depth, temp, vis, tide, duration and any other noteworthy information, boat traffic for example; also the performance of the regulator. I use my logs in part of dive planning, information is valuable.

 

[Marie13]

Part of this is that I want to take training that requires 100 dives. I know it’s up to me what I log but I’m interested to hear what others do. I was only at 9 feet yesterday which hardly felt like a ‘dive’, but at the same time I learned about a dive site and visibility, got more practice with shore entries, and had the unknown of a newly rebuilt reg.

Solo class, I bet. My OW/Advanced/Rescue instructors who also teach Solo said they go through solo students’ logbooks, very closely looking at the types of dives done.

I log both on paper and electronically. Paper is for dive site, exposure protection, buddy names, weight used, any type of notes. Electronic logs are for dive profile and that sort of thing. Both serve different purposes.

 

[lowviz]

I did a dive yesterday to test a new (to me) regulator I rebuilt. It ended up being a short dive because visibility was really bad. I was technically underwater on SCUBA for a few minutes but I definitely don’t want to ‘pad’ my dives...

Log it if you have anything substantial to say about gear/weighting. Those are the only dives I've ever gone back to check.

...//... I particularly dislike when people brag about how many dives they've done, and then you find out the number isn’t really legit.

What do you do?

I don't care what other people claim, a dive log is a personal thing and theirs has no relevance to me. Long ago, I quit logging all but the most important gear balancing dives. So don't expect my dive count to go anywhere anytime soon...

 

[boulderjohn]

Although I certainly do require the students to have the required number of dives before taking a class with such a requirement, I don't believe I have ever had a student try to use dubious dives intentionally to get there. But let's say you had someone who had in mind to cheat their way to the requisite number. As I see it, there are two ways to accomplish that.

1. Include dives that maybe don't meet someone else's minimum requirements for a logged dive.
2. Create fictional dives that would meet anyone's requirements. If a cheater really wanted to take a class, and one of the requirements was for 16 dives of over one hour each in the Red Sea, how long would it take for those dives to appear in the log book?

Which of those two options would a cheater find more appealing?

The number of dives required to start a class is not that important in the long run. What really matters is the student's performance in the class.