Experience diver?

[EastEndDiver]

"When are you not a beginner any more? You are no longer a beginner when you are an active diver who can, with no one's help, properly maintain and assemble all your gear, check it for proper operation, weight your self properly, don you gear properly, and plan and carry out a safe dive in an environmentally sound manner (with good buoyancy control) with a buddy but no other supervision. And they carry, know how to use, and use a compass on every dive."

This describes my basic open water class back in the 70's.I did not consider myself experienced for a year or two (100 dives per year average) of Northeast (NY/NJ) diving including wreck diving and then into what is now called "Tech" diving.

 

[knowone]

Someone that appreciates the tighter radius manoeuvreability of
driving moderate speeds in reverse, who is invisible on the boat

 

[TSandM]

I think when newspapers say "experienced diver" they can mean anything up to and including the simple fact that they were certified.

When we use it in discussions on forums, I think it's generally used to mean that the diver should reasonably have been expected to be able to handle whatever the normal challenges of the dive he was doing would be. It's used to contrast with the diver who is diving well beyond his training or personal experience.

Accidents involving novice divers often involve panic, or an inability to maintain basic diving procedures in the face of unexpected task loading (eg. the diver in Puget Sound who could not execute an air-sharing ascent, rejected the donated reg, and embolized on the way to the surface). Accidents involving experienced divers are more likely to involve complacency, which could be manifested as any one or combination of the factors listed in the original post.

 

[cloudflint]

For me an experienced diver is someone who knows nothing as opposed to amateurs who i have found tend to know everything

 

[freewillie]

After all the post this year on the accidents section I saw that some of them said "he was an experienced diver". So what's an experienced diver?

License to do what ever you want?
Dive solo ?
staying away from your buddy during the dive?
Ascent alone with out your buddy?
Break you depth record for fun?
no need for safety accesories?
Almost empty your tank to have more time diving?

Almost all the accidents have something related with the list above...

for me experience diver is the one who respect all the rules and stay close to your buddy..

"Experienced" in the context above may simply refer to a diver who is not fresh out of OW training. But the level of experience is misleading. Strictly speaking simply means the person has "x" number of dives.

That doesn't mean that the diver on one of his/her dives suddenly has an epiphony and becomes a safe diver who is a the ideal dive buddy. Technically speaking that should have happened in OW training before the diver was even issued their c-card.

Predive routine with buddy checks should happen on all dives regardless of "experience."
Not exceeding limitations of training and skill should happen on all dives regardless of "experience."
Carrying appropriate safety gear should happen on all dives regardless of "experience."

 

[rivers]

I have a blog post from Septemebr that gives my reply to the question, When are you no ,longer a beginner? It is the same as asking , When are your Experienced? Here is what I posted:

When are you not a beginner any more? You are no longer a beginner when you are an active diver who can, with no one's help, properly maintain and assemble all your gear, check it for proper operation, weight your self properly, don you gear properly, and plan and carry out a safe dive in an environmentally sound manner (with good buoyancy control) with a buddy but no other supervision. And they carry, know how to use, and use a compass on every dive. The fact is, most divers never reach that level or even want to, and that's fine. I love leading divers on tours of interesting sites, some even quite challenging. But what I love the most is planning and diving with my buddy without a crowd around. By my definition, there are people at all credential and experience levels who are still beginning divers, and there are people at all credential levels who are not beginners. My wife Debbie, the Scubadiva, has an open water certification and is the best diver I have ever had for a buddy on recreational dives. My entire response in this thread is of course focused on recreational diving. Competent "techies" are in their own class. There are no beginners there. Its not about credentials, it's about competence in and out of the water. Any questions? (end of blog post)
When I read that an "experienced diver" was involved in an accident or incident, I never assume the news story writer means the same thing I mean in using the term "experienced." Often the writer means simply that it was a certified diver as opposed to a student. Sometimes the term means no more than the diver had dove before. Experienced divers who are not active and current can become victims of their own lack of planning and safety consciousness. I encourage all of us to remain active divers, planning and executing safe dive profiles, and maintaining or having our equipment properly maintained.
DivemasterDennis scubasnobs.com

I would say this is mostly spot on, with the exception of the compass bit. While it is definitely handy to know how to use a compass, not every dive requires a compass. There are many dives that do require a compass, but there are many dives that do not.

 

[DevonDiver]

I think when newspapers say "experienced diver" they can mean anything up to and including the simple fact that they were certified.

Newspapers normally follow that statement with some reference to the "diver's oxygen bottle". Which tends to illustrate how truly clueless they are...

 

[TMHeimer]

There was a fairly recent thread asking the same question but not listing some stuff that breaks rules, etc.
I agree with all of the above replies.
--experienced doesn't necessarily mean safe.
--you can be very experienced in some types of diving/locals/conditions and a newbie in others.
--it is logical to say that someone with many (100s?) of dives is experienced--he is. But: I have known many fellow clarinet players with almost as much or more experience than me (48 years) who stink. They, too, are very experienced.

 

[Bob DBF]

Someone that appreciates the tighter radius manoeuvreability of
driving moderate speeds in reverse, who is invisible on the boat

Although I agree with the sentiment, being invisible on the boat may, at the end of the day, leave you with a longer swim than you were expecting.


Bob
--------------------------------
I may be old, but I’m not dead yet.

 

[knowone]

In order to promote further thought, frustration or anger
on the every dive chance, that one would wind up out of
visibility range a compas is invaluable in reacquiring the
invisible divers redundant boat