Equipment V's Capabilities

[RobbieTheHun]

I just received the spring 2006 issue of Quest Magazine and came accross a very interesting article written by John Grogan (a founding member of the UK DIR team). The title of the article is:

"Is better, more trustworthy equipment encouraging divers to stretch their capabilities.

Rethinking risk in contemporary technical diving"

John writes;

"In the past, equipment was less reliable, and thus more prone to failure. Although this may have resulted in more aborted or spoiled dives, the very real possibility of failure ensured that divers paid far more attention to their equipment maintenance and were thus far more familiar with rescue and recovery procedures; thier skills were honed from practice, occasional rescues and other assorted incidents".

He goes on to conclude;

"While diving equipment has become safer and more reliable, our perception of risk has become somewhat skewed. The real risk is that equipment reliability may lull us into a false sense of security or ability. To put it another way, when dives go well, divers are likely to think that it is due to their skill and ability. When dives go wrong, it's just bad luck; we had a bad day".

Hopefully, John or Quest wont sue me for reproducing part of their article here but I thought that this would make an interesting topic for discussion, and I would certainly be interested in hearing the views of my peers regarding the above.

The question is;

Do you think the superior equipment available today breeds less prepared divers?

RTH

PS. Thank you John and Quest, great article.

 

[dbulmer]

Robbie,
I'm not DIR and since this is a DIR forum I shall try to give an opinion based on my experience diving with DIR blokes.
In the DIR context (please note I said the DIR context) I would suggest that the answer to your question is No. My own experience of UK divers and DIR blokes in particular is that the diver is expected to own their own kit and learn how to use it safely and part of this is ensuring that the diver gets familiar with basic maintenance procedures. Now some people are naturally more talented with maintenance than others and with the team aspect of DIR you can sometimes pester someone else to help you

Since GUE training starts with basics and progresses in difficulty as you move up the GUE curriculum (based on reading and some in-water experience) I would suggest that those trained by GUE have a mindset that actively seeks to prevent issues from escalating into something more serious whether that be a kit issue or a skills issue.

For example, in the UK there is a DSMB commonly used by non-DIR people which uses a separate cylinder to inflate the DSMB. DIR folks would be unlikely to use this DSMB because it is bulky and concerns that the a valve failure might cause accidental inflation of the blob. The only person I have ever heard of having a problem with this bit of kit is funny enough John Grogan. IIRC he was inside a wreck when it happened and all was ok. When he got to the surface he threw it away.

Now my point here is that a lot of non DIR folks in the UK use this bit of kit to make DSMB deployment easier whereas the DIR folks would opt to use a DSMB with a spool using either primary reg as the inflation method or by using a drysuit inflator hose.
(depending on the type/manufacturer of DSMB). The DIR approach appears to assume it will go wrong so let's assume we can avoid the problem and solve it thru skill - other Non DIR people might assume it won't fail (I'm thinking of the cylinder inflation mechanism) and trust the kit implicitly and fail to consider what they could do to solve the problem ie neglect to practice manual inflation for example.

(as I wrote this, I was also thinking of dive computers too but I'll leave it at that)

Outside the DIR context or the techie community I suspect that the general answer might be Yes (I'm thinking of the vast number of divers out there who perhaps dive infrequently rather than the local diver).

 

[David P]

interesting question. I am not a DIR diver, my scheduling continously conflicts with Funy classes... however I have been on dive boats with DIR folks and have watched them run through their S drills and all the good skill drills. Because of this (apparently)ubiquitous mindset I would have to say that no, better quality equipment does not make for more unprepared divers. However speaking for the dive comunity as a whole, thats a different story! I recently finished my Rescue Diver course. I thought excelent skills were taught, and I could see how these skills could easily get rusty if not practiced. So again I say that I have seen people practice OOG scinarios but besides in a class, when was the last time you've seen anyone practice approaching a paniced diver, DIR or not? I would think MOST divers do not, I would go on to say that MOST divers only go diving a couple times a year, they are more interested in seeing the pretty fish and then having a beer on the deck of the dive boat afterwords and not even think about what could have been done better on that last dive. MOST divers just trust their gear will work fine "Hey it was just serviced a few months ago" and MOST divers are fine thinking that way. I personally am not like MOST divers. After (sometimes during) every dive I debrief myself and think what did I do correctly, what did I botch, and what could I have done just a bit better. I am the diver that takes 3 full breaths off my primary while watching my SPG, then take another few breaths off my backup, on every dive. I am the diver that rinses and soaks everything (I soak my fins, why? a quick dunk and they would be fine...) I inspect all my equipment before and after a dive trip. I am also the diver that on my own dime went to PSI and became a certified inspector, I am also Scuba Pro certified tech. We (Scuba Board/diving junkies) are NOT like MOST divers. Too bad for them.

 

[RobbieTheHun]

Thank you for the responses guys, I felt that this question may have solicited a few more comments by board members, but I'd rather have quality than quantity anyday. I may have posted this in the wrong forum but it was an article written in a DIR related publication.

Safe diving

RTH

 

[TSandM]

I don't know if it's related to good equipment or not, but I do know that many people don't keep their emergency skills up. When I took Rescue, the first pool night started with the instructor saying, "We're going to do self-rescue first, starting with air-share drills. I would bet none of you has practiced air-sharing since Open Water . . . " and then he looked at me and said, "Oh, I know YOU have." And it was true that my husband and I were the only ones who had done this.

We often do an S-drill at a stop during ascent. It almost always elicits comment from somebody else in the group, asking, "What was with you breathing off his octo at the safety stop?" (A quotation from last weekend's dive) My husband is NOT DIR and refuses to be converted (or assimilated), but he has recognized the virtue of keeping such skills sharp.

So I think the first answer was probably right on -- Many divers don't keep emergency skills sharp, whether or not this is due to better equipment, but DIR divers do.

 

[Reinoud]

So I think the first answer was probably right on -- Many divers don't keep emergency skills sharp, whether or not this is due to better equipment, but DIR divers do.

Oh yes I do. During our weekly pool dives (my diving club has rented a local swimming pool on wednesdays) I allways try to do an out of air at the worst possible moment. Last week we were doing a trim excersize so we were handing over a wehight belt while staying in trim. At one moment my buddy had the lead belt in one hand and was clearing his mask with the other. That was the moment ";-)

(Of course I expect him to do the same to me ";-)

 

[cool_hardware52]

I just received the spring 2006 issue of Quest Magazine and came accross a very interesting article written by John Grogan (a founding member of the UK DIR team). The title of the article is:

"Is better, more trustworthy equipment encouraging divers to stretch their capabilities.

Rethinking risk in contemporary technical diving"

John writes;

"In the past, equipment was less reliable, and thus more prone to failure. Although this may have resulted in more aborted or spoiled dives, the very real possibility of failure ensured that divers paid far more attention to their equipment maintenance and were thus far more familiar with rescue and recovery procedures; thier skills were honed from practice, occasional rescues and other assorted incidents".

He goes on to conclude;

"While diving equipment has become safer and more reliable, our perception of risk has become somewhat skewed. The real risk is that equipment reliability may lull us into a false sense of security or ability. To put it another way, when dives go well, divers are likely to think that it is due to their skill and ability. When dives go wrong, it's just bad luck; we had a bad day".

Hopefully, John or Quest wont sue me for reproducing part of their article here but I thought that this would make an interesting topic for discussion, and I would certainly be interested in hearing the views of my peers regarding the above.

The question is;

Do you think the superior equipment available today breeds less prepared divers?

RTH

PS. Thank you John and Quest, great article.

I had this very discussion with a well known Tech Instructor. This instructor recieves and compiles the accident reports for a Cave Training agency.

In his opinion it's the much wider participation in Tech Diving today, often by people you don't dive enough to maintain their skills that is the root of the problem.

In the relatively recent past most "Tech Type" diving was practiced by a small group of highly motivated, highly active divers. This had three effects. The first was well polished skills. The second was eventual exposure to real emergencies. The third was well worn equipment.

The combination of these, i.e. Dive experience, First hand experience with emergencies, and first hand experience with well used equipment resulted in a deepseated respect for their own limits, and a understanding and respect for the limits of equipment, and the impacts of equipment failure.

Put another way, how many old time cave divers can't fix a reg? Not many.

I'm all in favor of improved equipment, but the lessons of past need be remembered.


Tobin

 

[kidspot]

Oh yes I do. During our weekly pool dives (my diving club has rented a local swimming pool on wednesdays) I allways try to do an out of air at the worst possible moment. Last week we were doing a trim excersize so we were handing over a wehight belt while staying in trim. At one moment my buddy had the lead belt in one hand and was clearing his mask with the other. That was the moment ";-)

(Of course I expect him to do the same to me ";-)

If you ever visit over here, remind me not to do drills with you j/k - out of curiosity, how did it go with all that task loading?

Back to topic ... I would also wonder if in this mix there is an element among DIR divers that their team preparedness may give them a little "breathing room" (pardon the pun) in an equipment failure...

All I do know is that some DIR divers I've met take very good care of their gear, and others do not (just like everyone else). Speaking with a shop tech some time ago I asked how often he recommended servicing regs. He told me, that if he didn't see the IP drop (along with a visual inspection), then he just returned it at no charge as they are made so well now, if there was no problem in that area, putting in a new parts kit was just a waste of the customers money (this is only regarding annual servicing, not dealing with specific issues) ... no matter if you agree or not, this would seem to echo the sentiment of that article...

Aloha, Tim

 

[Reinoud]

If you ever visit over here, remind me not to do drills with you j/k - out of curiosity, how did it go with all that task loading?

very good. I got air and my buddy never lost trim. (and he did not drop the lead belt in his hands). Of course this is not something I would do with a new buddy. But we have a lot of fun trying to do things like this to each other. But only during pool sessions when everybody knows we are practising.
I think tonight we will be doing some laps backwards again ";-)

 

[kidspot]

very good. I got air and my buddy never lost trim. (and he did not drop the lead belt in his hands). Of course this is not something I would do with a new buddy. But we have a lot of fun trying to do things like this to each other. But only during pool sessions when everybody knows we are practising.
I think tonight we will be doing some laps backwards again ";-)

Sounds great... Congrats on a successful airshare, that would have been impressive to watch.

off-topic, but one of my favorite parts of diving with TSandM when she and Peterguy come to Maui is the opportunity to practice some OOA drills etc... have not found others interested in practicing that regularly