How safe do you feel when you dive?

[spoolin01]

Safety is obviously a big concern for all of us when we dive but how ho safe do you guys actually feel when you go diving?

1. Is safety a big concern to you when you go diving? Very big. I find the risks stem mostly from where the diving takes place and as such, vary significantly. Given a locale, since I don't dive deep or risk substantial separation from my point of egress, scuba itself does not introduce more than an incidental increase to risk, that I have found.

2. Do you take care of your own safety or do you rely on others to guide you? Both.

3. Have you ever thought about how you could make yourself safer when going diving? Of course, which has lead to considerations of technology, education, experience, and planning.

4. If a new technology was available that could make you safer would you use it?If it represented an improvement in existing technology and addressed some aspect of experienced risk.

5. Can you think of a technology that could make you feel safer whilst diving?Better signaling and communications devices for emergencies, such as aerial flares and radios/rescue beacons designed around diving. A reliable and effective underwater homing system would also be much appreciated convenience.

 

[Reku]

1. Is safety a big concern to you when you go diving?
Yes it is.
2. Do you take care of your own safety or do you rely on others to guide you?
I take care of myself.
3. Have you ever thought about how you could make yourself safer when going diving?
Yes and I've taken it into account.
4. If a new technology was available that could make you safer would you use it?
New technology needs to be proven first - I will not be a lab rat.
5. Can you think of a technology that could make you feel safer whilst diving?
No.

 

[kr2y5]

Safety is obviously a big concern for all of us when we dive but how ho safe do you guys actually feel when you go diving?

1. Is safety a big concern to you when you go diving?

2. Do you take care of your own safety or do you rely on others to guide you?

3. Have you ever thought about how you could make yourself safer when going diving?

4. If a new technology was available that could make you safer would you use it?

5. Can you think of a technology that could make you feel safer whilst diving?

Safety in diving is largely about situational awareness, so I would look for technology that helps to increase it. In the kind of diving I do, the primary safety concern seems to be a medical emergency underwater. In that context, I would definitely be interested in technology that helps me be more aware of what's happening with my body. Some things, like heavy breathing or one's emotional state, are easier to notice, but for all I know, there are plenty of subtle processes that occur in your body that aren't, and maybe that's just where a future technology could help, to help you stay tuned to your body. I would be willing to spend money on it.

 

[CT-Rich]

When I started diving you used tables for calculating everything and you had to remember to set you watch bezel at the start of the dive. Computers have made much of that obsolete. The cost of technology has also fallen and there are technologies that are available to day that I would never have thought of back in 1980, like nitrox and practical rebreathers (I still feel that technology has a way to go before I am going to sign on (cost aside)). What is the next big advance? I have no idea, diving is extremely safe for the average recreational diver and I am not a huge fan of adding more crap to drag into the water, so it will have to something really simple and reliable.

Underwater navigation might be an area ripe for technology. A homing beacon that is integrated into a dive computer that will give you direction, distance and time back to the transducer would be something that would have value. A diver could swim out and drop it just off his exit point on a shore dive or attach it the anchor of a boat so they could find their way back even if there is a sudden change in current or visibility. With a technology like that they could monitor turn point in the dive and use the same technology to find points of interests. The old ship's anchor is 100' from the anchor on a bearing of such and such. It would make low visibility search patterns easier and line free.

If you do not feel safe doing a dive, I would recommend that you dial it back a notch until you are comfortable in the water. Technology is there to enhance the dive and safety, not to replace competence. No technology should be a substitute for confidence in your abilities.

 

[tlj3071]

Even with a computer, I still set my watch bezel at the start of every dive.

 

[drbill]

After 54 years on SCUBA, I feel pretty safe while diving... but never 100% of course. I only use highly reliable gear. I must admit that I've been pretty negligent lately and often dived solo without a backup. Not something I recommend. Although I've done some fairly risky diving over the years, my current profiles are generally well within recreational limits. I go for bottom time so much of those profiles is within 40 fsw of the surface. Since I am usually solo, I am responsible 100% for my own safety.

I think the only thing I'd change about my current diving is to attach my pony bottle each time I dive. I have been negligent on that since I had hernia surgery, but that shouldn't be an excuse for diving solo without redundancy (especially since my gills occasionally dry up these days).