Faking Logbook Entries Fact or Fiction?

[SadiesMom]

Hmmm...I'm a DM, been diving for 2 1/2 years, log all my dives (except pool dives) but very few of mine are signed off on by my buddies or dive ops. I never even considered faking a log book - just don't see the purpose. It cheats *me* out of the experience of the dives necessary to get where I want to go. But honestly, it never occurred to me that anyone would question my log book because my dives aren't signed off on... hmmm.

(Since most of them are local, and I dive regularly with the same buddies, I could easily go back and have them sign off on my log, but I've never really seen a need to before...)

 

[Solitude Diver]

My hope is that the fakers who end up in above their head get exactly what they deserve... what comes around goes around... might sound harsh... but that's life.

That is harsh. They may (or may not) deserve it, but I don't know if I'd say I'd hope for it.

 

[Doc Intrepid]

Logbooks - in my opinion - are worthless.

Logbooks - in my opinion - are used by very few real divers.

The next most common person carrying a logbook is the faker.

But most real divers have stopped logging stuff long ago... it just takes away from the diving.

I have personally done more than 1200 dives... and I can honestly say, I have never went back and read my logbook in the last nine years....

You're welcome to your opinion, Ghost, but I disagree with you. Logbooks are far from worthless. And real divers use them. They can be as valuable or as worthless as the diver filling them out.

Divers who dive all over the world, in different water temperatures using different gear rigs, often find that what works for one set of environmental parameters doesn't work well in a different environment. Undergarments and amount of weight needed come to mind, but it also goes to reels, SMBs, types of surface rescue items carried, and other variance.

If I have a trip to Florida or Palau coming up, I scan the log to note what I used in terms of gear and weight the last time I was there, which may have been 8-9 years ago or more, to plan for current expected conditions. Its way different in either place than here along the northern Pacific coast. My rig changes accordingly.

I log all my dives. For trips I write trip reports, detailing diving costs, transportation options and arrangements, captains/boats, phone numbers, gas prices, GPS coordinates, cost of helium/O2, fill sources, addresses, cost of food, which restaurants sucked and which were great, transit times, miles on vehicles, hours on scooter batteries, etc. I use that data when planning future trips.

And when I sat down to interview Advanced Trimix Instructors, all three of the guys I interviewed asked to see my logbooks. In at least two cases, that I know of due to questions we reviewed some days later, the instructors read the logbooks as well...they didn't simply glance at them.

So Ghost,..."real divers" do use log books. Real divers log stuff. Real divers don't want to re-learn the same lessons nine years later that they should have remembered from the last time they flew to the south Pacific.

The fact that YOU don't use your log book doesn't make logging dives a universally worthless procedure.

Dive safe,

Doc

 

[Fish_Whisperer]

Life is harsh. Look at life in the ocean, jungle, forest, or even your pet kitty as it goes out and hunts moles, mice, squirrels, lizards, and birds. It's a good reminder that, just like there are no born pilots, there are no born divers. What we are doing is unnatural, hence all of the gear and training and the constant learning and re-learning.

Everytime we dive, we enter a potentially life-threatening situation. With proper training and proper gear and proper inspections of that gear, the risks are minimized significantly, but everytime we fly or dive, we are entering an environment where carelessness is fatal. Period. Nature doesn't give many second chances.

So yeah, the people that shortcut their experience, lie about it, or pretend to be something they're not: That's all well and good on the boat or at the bar at the end of the day, but when we hit that actual environment, we are undergoing an exam with Mother Nature as a stern and unforgiving teacher. Those who are prepared will pass. Those who have cheated and lied will eventually reap what they have sown. Yes, it's harsh.

Life is harsh.

My tuppence worth...

-Frank

 

[fairybasslet]

I just upload my dives from my computer onto my pc and print them out. It's hard to fake that. And yes, I do bring my log book with me on trips and operators have looked at them.

 

[pt40fathoms]

Logbooks - in my opinion - are worthless.

-snipped-

Logbooks - in my opinion - are used by very few real divers. Newbies use them because they are taught to use them... and generally use them until they reach whatever level of certification they are trying to obtain.

-snipped-

The next most common person carrying a logbook is the faker. The person who sits at home and fills the book with all kinds of crap they've never done... then they use it to progress faster then they should be - or better yet - just to show people how awesome they are.

-snipped-

But most real divers have stopped logging stuff long ago... it just takes away from the diving. The proof they were there was the photos or videos they took and they long ago stopped keeping track of depth, time, remaining PSI etc... because they know how deep they can go and for how long without any damn logbook - or even a computer or dive watch for that matter.

Boy! Where do I start?

I'll be short and to the point here.

You are wrong in your thinking, your perception, and your view of divers and how they choose to keep track of the dives they do. Your generalizations are offensive and show a complete lack of knowledge and experience beyond your own back yard.

Divers do in fact log their dives, either on paper or electronic format, far more frequently than you clearly realize. With the exception of a small group, whose numbers are small enough to not warrant even statistical analysis, divers do in fact keep quite accurate accounts of their dives. It’s a matter of pride and accomplishment, and they would shudder at the thought of making false entries.

I know of only one person whose log book appears to be “padded”. That person was observed logging dives by going to 20 feet and sitting their for 16 minutes repeatedly. He fooled no one and his in water skills clearly showed it. But that is one person out of a few hundred divers I know personally.

In closing let me finish by simply saying that divers who continue to log their dives past your personal benchmark of 200 dives tend to be happier and more at ease, simply because they are proving absolutely nothing. Rather they are documenting yet another great experience and ensuring that in the years to come they can go back to those stained log book pages and glean a little smile at the memory they just stimulated.

 

[TheRedHead]

Divers who dive all over the world, in different water temperatures using different gear rigs, often find that what works for one set of environmental parameters doesn't work well in a different environment. Undergarments and amount of weight needed come to mind, but it also goes to reels, SMBs, types of surface rescue items carried, and other variance.

So true, dive logs are invaluable and mine often contain a detailed narrative of sightings, likes and dislikes, problems encountered on such a personal level it would be hard to fake. Comments like, "No more chips and salsa during SI, reflux sux!" If I were checking logs, those are the kinds of things I would be looking for.

The diver described in the article needed 100 dives for his technical diving class and some dives below a certain depth. Without a log, one would not be able to take the class without reconstructing a log from memory and probably embelishing it as well.

I also download my dives from my computer and keep a seperate log in my database.

 

[waynne fowler]

The guy I roomed with at IDC didn't have the required 100 dives in (I can't recall at the moment the number he had but 40ish seems to stand out) when we started the class..I didn't go snooping I just happened to see his open logbook on the table one evening. Amazingly enough over the course of the next 5 days he somehow did something like 80 or so dives (I can't recall exactly right now). I know this as I made a point of asking him how many dives he had towards the middle of the IDC.

Amazing stuff.

 

[MikeFerrara]

I don't log all my dives but I log a lot of them. I log cave dives and wreck dives mostly. I make note of conditions. I keep track of where we went in the cave or wreck along with any information I might want to refer back to about those areas. I note gasses used and sometimes decompression schedules. I note what oporators we used for the wreck dive and sometimes motel locations and numbers when we're diving in the middle of Misssouri someplace. I keep track pf who we dived with and whatever else comes to mind. And of course when I was teaching I logged EVERYTHING right down to which stucents were doing which skills and who the DM's were and what their tasks were during the dive...at least as much as I could think of to write down. If anything, I don't write down enough because sometimes I go back looking for something I think I would have writen down and it's not there.

The other problem I have is that I don't know where all my logbook pages are. When you have to cycle them out of the book you carry they can turn into just something else to fill boxes with and stack in the atic.

Log books can be useful, it just sometimes takes longer to learn how to use them than it takes to learn to dive. It does not do much goot to write down DIVE#32 50 ft 45 min. LOL

 

[joe rock]

Boy! Where do I start?

I'll be short and to the point here.

You are wrong in your thinking, your perception, and your view of divers and how they choose to keep track of the dives they do. Your generalizations are offensive and show a complete lack of knowledge and experience beyond your own back yard.

Divers do in fact log their dives, either on paper or electronic format, far more frequently than you clearly realize. With the exception of a small group, whose numbers are small enough to not warrant even statistical analysis, divers do in fact keep quite accurate accounts of their dives. It’s a matter of pride and accomplishment, and they would shudder at the thought of making false entries.

I know of only one person whose log book appears to be “padded”. That person was observed logging dives by going to 20 feet and sitting their for 16 minutes repeatedly. He fooled no one and his in water skills clearly showed it. But that is one person out of a few hundred divers I know personally.

In closing let me finish by simply saying that divers who continue to log their dives past your personal benchmark of 200 dives tend to be happier and more at ease, simply because they are proving absolutely nothing. Rather they are documenting yet another great experience and ensuring that in the years to come they can go back to those stained log book pages and glean a little smile at the memory they just stimulated.

What he said! :bang: