How do you define what makes a good diver

[TSandM]

TSandM, I'm assuming you will not make a dive unless it's with a 'regular dive buddy'...Am I correct???...

No, not at all. One of my particular joys is going out with new divers. And I frequently play hostess to visitors to the Puget Sound.

But I am blessed with some wonderful regular dive partners. My training buddy is one of those people Ber is referring to when she talks about people who are simply beautiful in the water.

 

[Diver0001]

I'm jumping into this thread a little late and I can't add much to what I've seen so I'll add a new persepctive.

What you need to have going in to *become* a good diver:

- You need to be the kind of person who, when someone yells FIRE, starts looking for a fire extinguisher. Those to start to scream and push their way to the door are unlikely to make good divers.

- You need to be the kind of person who learned to swim because they *wanted* to and not because your parents made you. People who had to be forced into the water as children are an unlikely (though not impossible) match for underwater sports.

- You need to be an active type of person. Diving is a time intensive sport and you have to have the energy (and fitness level in the sense that one does not necessarily imply the other) to put into it if you want to get anything out of it.

- You need to be the kind of person who knows who Maslow was, understands a bit about what he was on about and tries to put it into practice. People with no desire to better themselves will be unlikely to try bettering their diving and they'll end up looking like perpetual beginners.

I suppose in terms of character traits those cover a big part of what good divers have in house. It would also help if you're sociable, laid back, playful, optimistic, young, gorgeous (.... oops.... we weren't suppose to mention the marketing...) but those are mostly skills you need for the "apres-plongee"

R..

 

[Walter]

That is an awesome quote.

It is. You should read the entire book.

 

[ClayJar]

Thank you for the thoughtful replies so far and also thank you to the person who rated this a one star ie terrible thread! What was I thinking asking what makes a good diver on a diving web site!!

[...]

I really am curious and would like those who think this is a terrible thread to express why?? Perhaps we can learn from your wisdom

Actually, leah, it's not you. There's some doofus on ScubaBoard who rates almost *every* topic one star. (Whoever you are, please don't tell me. I wouldn't want your idiotic little quirk to make me discount any good posts you may very well make. )

 

[Spady]

A good diver is someone who will share air with me if my regulator malfunctions

 

[Thalassamania]

It's the ability to not panic that makes a good diver.

If



If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat these two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: `Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!
​

-Rudyard Kipling​

 

[DoItRite]

Sure, a diver that has great buoyancy and trim, and strong skills are something that is desired in any diver. But, I'm always looking for the determined student. The student that has a true zest for learning more. If a diver has a proper attitude, then the skills will fall into place. I've had many a student that came into the class and looked like a manatee on crack in the water. But, they kept on trying. Those are usually the divers that end up going from OW to DM with me.

 

[Diver0001]

Oh man... Rudyard Kipling described the essence of the scuba diver before scuba diving even existed....

Brilliant quote brother Thalassamania

R..

 

[deepblueme]

I guess I am not a good diver.

I have no clue who Maslow is/was!!!

 

[Thalassamania]

Oh man... Rudyard Kipling described the essence of the scuba diver before scuba diving even existed....

Brilliant quote brother Thalassamania

R..

Yeah, but it does not always work that way Comrade Brother Diver0001. My Dad and I used to race Midget Ocean Racers out of San Francisco Bay. I was about 17 and we arrived back at the dock after a particularly hairy race. My Mom was there and she saw me first and asked how it was. "Great!" I said with enthusiasm. She looked at my Dad, he was grey and wan, she said to him, "What's wrong?" My Dad muttered, "If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs, there's a pretty good chance that you don't understand the severity of the situation."