Down South Story

[deepdiver5by5]

OK
I just got back from Coz., have not been there in 10yrs and how has it changed. (had a great time) Was diving and socializing with some very experienced and older divers from up state NJ. One night we were have some cocktails and one of them told me he has done over 10,000 dives over his 40+ years of diving and he figures about 40% of them he was pissed. Now this made me do a double take and ask him again what he said and the group agreed about 30-40% of their dives over the years they have been drunk on.
I am not making this up.
Now here is the question, is this common, what is really wrong with diving in this state physiologically?
I am serious, because they got me wondering about it, I have not done it nor do I believe I will do it. But what is the answer behind this because a lot of people dive on their holidays down south and most places I have been (Coz.) it is PARTY TIME.
DIVE DEEP
deepdiver5by5 :doctor: :boom:

 

[tektom]

Dude,

If you don't know what's wrong about diving drunk, I think you have to go back to your OW books and read some. These people who boast about diving drunk are idiots of the lowest order, about on a par with numbskulls who boat or drive drunk. What is wrong with diving on booze? Plenty. Alcohol is a diuretic - it dehydrates the body. Dehydration is a contributing factor to DCS - c'mon, we all know that. Alcohol interferes with higher brain functions, and we all get narced at depth even when we're sober. Think about going to 90-100 feet after having hoisted a few. The narcotic effect is going to amplify the booze effect and if ever the **** hits the fan, you're going to be that much less able to deal with it. Heck, even on the surface, if you're pissed, who says you're going to set your gear up properly and plan the dive with a minimum of sense.

Party time is a fine thing in its place, but when you start drinking, the diving is over until the body is sober and rehydrated. I wouldn't hang out with anyone who dove drunk, let alone dive with them.

 

[Warren_L]

There's what they tell you and then there's the truth. Who really knows?

 

[cobaltbabe]

I have heard stories of very experienced divers diving drunk. I don't agree with it at all, for obvious reasons. I myself don't drink the day before a dive because my body can't handle it, some people are fine doing this. After the dive is a different story but never before or during the dive have I been drunk.

 

[vlada]

Diving after a glass of wine or can of beer is kinda accepted in a lot fo places in Europe/Red Sea - at least the few that i visited

It is viewed same as smoking during the SI

I don't subscribe to either and would not dive with or in the vicinity of those who consumed alcohol before the dive

Vlada

 

[deepdiver5by5]

Warren_l trust me they were dead serious about this. Tektom dehydration is a result of drinking and it is possible to be hydrated and drunk at the same time. Being hungover and diving in my opinion from a dehydration point of view is worse. I have seen this happen a lot of times before.
Let's set the record straight, I do not even drink, they are not a 100% sure what causes narcosis, your highly educated instructor who is an expert as soon as he/she becomes an instructor told you so because he/she was told and just because you read it in a book that does not make it correct (PADI 1.4ATA for CNS and 1.6ATA for contingency or %CNS table is a 24hr value in PADI NOT) oh sorry spoiled that PADI Nitrox course!!!
Maybe the question was tabled wrong. I am not agreeing with what they said or do, what I am wondering about how truely dangerous is it. From the first drink to the punk on the boat the next day.
I am not a fan of drinking any time, but it is part of our culture and I am just wondering how widespread is it? I have meet a lot of pissed up people down south.
DIVE DEEP
deepdiver5by5

 

[Warren_L]

deepdiver5by5, I am not doubting you, but as serious as anyone ever is, you never really know exactly how much BS they are passing your way. I've known some pretty serious BSers in my day.

The fact that these people actually admit to this and discuss this openly says volumes about them, whether true or not. I'm no Mr. Rogers when it comes to diving, but I do take safety seriously, and I would be seriously pissed if I found out that I had just dove with someone who was impaired (voluntarily that is) for whatever reason, be it drugs, alcohol, whatever. There are enough things to be aware of when diving and voluntarily adding something that could put you at a disadvantage is just plain stupidity. I can't think of anything worse, other than perhaps actually talking about it as if it were a great achievement.

 

[tektom]

deepdiver5by5 once bubbled...
Warren_l trust me they were dead serious about this. Tektom dehydration is a result of drinking and it is possible to be hydrated and drunk at the same time. Being hungover and diving in my opinion from a dehydration point of view is worse. I have seen this happen a lot of times before.
Let's set the record straight, I do not even drink, they are not a 100% sure what causes narcosis, your highly educated instructor who is an expert as soon as he/she becomes an instructor told you so because he/she was told and just because you read it in a book that does not make it correct (PADI 1.4ATA for CNS and 1.6ATA for contingency or %CNS table is a 24hr value in PADI NOT) oh sorry spoiled that PADI Nitrox course!!!
Maybe the question was tabled wrong. I am not agreeing with what they said or do, what I am wondering about how truely dangerous is it. From the first drink to the punk on the boat the next day.
I am not a fan of drinking any time, but it is part of our culture and I am just wondering how widespread is it? I have meet a lot of pissed up people down south.
DIVE DEEP
deepdiver5by5

Dude, you crack me up. Yup, diving with a hangover is just as dumb - no argument there, but when do you see people who booze up drink water to keep hydrated? Rarely if ever. They get progressively de-hydrated and by the time you've pissed out three beers, you're already part-way there. Check out your rescue manual: booze is a factor in de-hydration. By the way, nitrogen narcosis has nothing to do with CNS toxicity. Time to re-check that PADI Nitrox course manual again You have your PPO2 right, but that's part of a whole different discussion. It's always dangerous to start throwing flames on the internet - you never know who's going to call "bull****" on you and what knowledge/experience they have.

Dude, the people I hang out with down south don't dive drunk - that's why I hang out with them. On all the trips south I've been, the heavy drink & dive crowd have been (mercifully) a minority. And I just called "bull****" on your knowledge of diving physiology :tease: We do know what causes nitrogen narcosis from a phyisological point of view.

 

[seahunter]

Excellent thread and great, accurate information.

Before you universally condem all 'older divers', realize that diving 30 years ago was not the sport it is today. The information we have today was not available then AND the public attitude about many social practices was very different. Smoking was very acceptable, getting drunk on Friday night was the thing to do, in fact, your ability to perform while under the influence was considered a measure of your competence.. Don't gasp!! It was a different world - not better or worse, just different!
Remember, Elvis was alive, beetles were bugs, PADI didn't exist, all the divers in Ontario knew each other, we had our own homemade compressors, no seatbelts, no safe second, no SPG's, no BC's, etc.
Maybe this well-worn one-liner will help - "I remember when sex was safe and scuba diving was dangerous!"

Not for a moment would I try to justify or defend what we did, but I'm certainly not going to deny it. At the time, it's what we all did! I suspect that in 30 more years, divers of today will be taken to task for some of the current, accepted, diving practices!

However, it does annoy me that this 'senior' diver did not also qualify his statements with a similar caveat. He certainly has done nothing to enhance the image of divers who were pioneers.
I also think that maybe he has a loose grasp on the truth from the outset. 10,000 in 40 years is 250 per year on average. Let me get this straight - from the age of 15, he made a scuba dive pretty much every day of the year for 40 years? in New Jersey? on 4,000 of those he'd been drinking?

As you know, continual consumption of alcohol does destroy brain cells. May I suggest that he was bragging a bit, maybe pulling your leg?

With the knowledge we have today, scuba diving in anything less than perfect physical condition, free from adverse influences of any sort is dumb.
With the changed public attitudes of today, it is acceptable if not mandatory to shun, embarrass and isolate divers who pose a threat to their safety, their buddy's safety and to the sport.
Simply refuse to dive with them AND tell them why!

 

[Doppler]

Interesting thread... I think the guy was full of **** and you bought it... 10,000 dives! Man that's some serious milage. As for what's wrong with diving drunk, well, I think you know the answer to that one. And I think Seahunter's post sums things up nicely... times have changed.

To illustrate that point

One of the pioneers of cave exploration was explaining to me one of the techniques he and some of his peers -- luminaries in the cave diving world -- used to combat narcosis... serious 300 foot narcosis.

Essentially, they carried a rock of cocaine in the nose pocket of their masks and snorted it at depth. "It straighten us out and brought everything into focus," is about how he explained it.

Did they think it was safe? NO! Did they encourage anyone else to do it? NO! Do they do that now? No... sometime in the 1980s I guess they found out about helium and started into using it instead.

Interesting though.