1. I have read (in this thread) about the horrible 90's and the fatalities. Did cave diving certifications exist in the 1990s?[/quote]
The true era that was so bad was the early 70s,which led to cave diving almost be outlawed. This is where you got the advent of accident analysis,and training we understand now. The 90s themselves weren't really that bad as far as accidents were concerned,but the 90's is when you saw any discussion of nitrox at DEMA being banned,to sudden acceptance of technical type diving. With commericialization and recreationalization of tech diving,you saw an explosion of certification agencies,and instructors. The internet became a factor in the 90s for recreational scuba. The internet and tech forums allowed discussion on a level never seen before,and this led to unrestrained flame wars,finger pointing,and any level of name calling usually reserved for the preschool level.
The 70's was the era of untrained cave diving fatalities. The 90's in cave diving is when you saw the true recreationalization and commercialization of the sport. Most gear at that point was homemade or modified OW gear,but now you have manufacturers catering to the tech crowd. You also had a record number of people becoming certified,and conversely a record number of instructors,with some making a living at teaching cave diving. Were some people poorly trained? I can't answer that,but if you have someone traveling 1000 miles to be certified,paid their money,what would their reaction be if they were told they didn't pass and you need to come back.
The original founders -Gavin,Main,and English ,and the next generation GI3 and JJ were certified by either NACD or NSS-CDS. In fact JJ taught NSS-CDS. During the 90's Hogarthian configuration was taking hold,and was out of Bill Main's desire to simplify and streamline,but at this point Bill wasn't active WKPP,just his personal ambition. This Hogarthian philosophy was causing some uphevel in the cave diving community in the 90s,because there was some strong opposition to changing from configurations they were used to. This gradually gained acceptance,and has evolved into a further extension which is now DIR. The WKPP have perfected their technique of team diving,which has led to a pretty good safety (I say pretty good because it isn't perfect,just not publicized),and they had some good innovations ie breathing stages but not touching back gas etc. There were some crazy ideas that GI3 used to expouse,like using your inflator hose as an emergency regulator (people I knew who practiced that almost drowned). GUE and DIR have left an after effect,which I think some is good-cave certs that expire ,to not so good-one configuration for all types of diving (ie people who feel they must breathe off stages only will carry 3 stages in somewhere like Peacock,and beat the hell out of the cave)
With all things there is an evolution,and cave diving has experienced several. All have left an impression,and hopefully we have become savvy enough to reject the negative,and accept the positive. Discussions like this and on other forums are good because it allows us to see what is crazy ie people who openly discuss creative gas rules to the more important. As a history minor I learned if you don't understand your past then you are doomed to relive it,so bringing up the 90s and earlier helps us to see some of our follies,and not want to repeat them.
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