How much does dive count tell you?

[dumpsterDiver]

But there IS a way ... and in fact, I've personally known a couple people with 20 (or less) dives that I could honestly say were way stronger divers ... both mentally and physically ... than a whole bunch of 100-diver folks I've known.

Depends on a lot of things ... the four most important (IMO) being ...

- your in-water comfort level prior to taking scuba lessons
- your natural aptitude for the skills
- your mental approach to planning and executing the dive
- your desire to become a better diver

Someone who has a fairly good comfort level in the water, puts a lot of effort into their classes, and is motivated will very quickly surpass someone who only seeks to get by with minimal effort, or who struggles to get comfortable in the water. Supervision or lack of same plays a lesser role than one's own aptitude and attitude.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

I agree completely. There are people that are "naturals", often they are already accomplished freedivers, but this is not necessarily true. Also, some people are simply athletes, and they have the strength, endurance and coordination which provide them an advantage that some people will NEVER catch up with.

I've dove with people that have hundreds of dives and they still suck. You can just watch them move underwater and the fluidity is not there. I spend a lot of time directed at catching things and shooting fish with a speargun. This is actually a resonable metric to use to judge the skills of a diver (assuming that this is something they desire to pursue). Similarly, I imagine that there are not many good underwater photographers that are not accomplished divers. Productivity and the accomplishment of the stated goals is a better metric than simply number of dives.

The number of dives is not necessairly a good metric of the divers skills, however if they have a lot of expereince at the exact type of dive that you are going to do with them, then it can be very useful information. If they are doing a dive that is outside their experience, then number of dives might mean little. When I worked as a divemaster, I would be more interested in knowing WHEN the diver last did a dive similar to the one we are going to do, rather than how MANY dives they did over the last 10 yrs.

 

[TSandM]

Also, some people are simply athletes, and they have the strength, endurance and coordination which provide them an advantage that some people will NEVER catch up with.

One of our good friends is, and always has been, an athlete. When he learned to dive, he was simply disgusting -- at nine or ten dives, his trim was perfect, he was quiet in the water, he had fantastic situational awareness. I recently did his first cold water dive in a drysuit with him, and it was the same thing -- He had maybe one quick bobble of buoyancy as we headed up, got it under control, and otherwise looked as though he'd been diving his whole life.

What he doesn't have is the experience, yet, to have had things go wrong and have managed them, or to have had to assess conditions or events and make good strategic decisions. He is technically a very good diver, but he is still a novice diver, and he knows it.