I just don't get it, do you?

[scuba=dude]

you know I put one of those cheep mirros in the bottom of the pool is I can see my trim. I live miles and miles from diving that I don't have to sneak into and the idea of having my gear taken is way more then I wish to go. I'll tell anyone, if you think you have your NB down do it in 4 feet of water (pool is 6 feet deep) I was sure that me and the Zeagle had it down Pat........well I do now

 

[scuba=dude]

The PADI vids are a bit of a joke. The guy doing press-ups in dbls is not helping the PADI Tec/Rec image. But they are clear and cover the information.
Not as dry; but still pretty dry are the IANTD tecnical diving encyclopedia (old version, not the horrible Tao of Underwater Survival) and Kevin Gurr's Technical diving from the bottom Up. However some great articles in their on equipment configuration.
The TDI (haven't seen the SDI ones) manuals, I thought pitched themselves to0 far towards a PADI model, but without the photos. They are trying to make tech diving more accesible, but I think a lot of stuff gets missed in their manuals.



Nice. Good luck, you and Doug

Seriously though, it's a good idea to run through ideas.

Yeah that guy in the tec/rec vid.............However I realy like the hose routing ideas and have done the same on my rig but with 1 80 and a tank mounted 13 pony, I also mount my 50bls lift bag and reel the same way they do on that video
Thank you for the names of the manuals! It was realy hard when I first started to ask around about reading matter on the subject.

 

[DevonDiver]

The problem is you seem to be pushing this idea only in relation to solo diving when it really applies to all types of scuba diving. I have yet to see anything that makes me believe solo diving is inherently more risky than buddy diving overall. Certain aspects clearly have different risk factors and many of them have means to mitigate those risks. Other have reduced risks like being drawn into an incident by the actions of some buddy.

You contradicted your own point there.

My post that was quoted earlier in this thread, regarding medical conditions, was probably the single factor that substantially differentiates solo and buddy diving. Just about any danger can be mitigated by training and experience except for onset of a non-diving related medical condition. i.e. heart attack. That cannot be mitigated by any diver, at any time (other than by not diving, if you question your health). THAT issue is determined by the availability of immediate and competent rescue. If you have a buddy, then you stand a chance of rescue. If you are solo then you don't.

Anyone who wants to accuse me of being a flamer, or a troll, might notice that I'm not levelling any other negative issues. I do believe that stuff like entanglement, OOA etc are factors that can be mitigated - thus not anything I'd consider as a barrier to solo diving providing that the diver concerned has the proper training and experience.

Call it what you want! Are you saying you came here to overstate the obvious? We understand the inherent risks and accept them. Personally after some of the divebuddies I have been stuck with on charters I am much safer solo!

It's surprising that you feel confident, or entitled, to speak on behalf of every member of this group.

btw... safe solo diving isn't about accepting risks.... it is about mitigating them. As others have mentioned - mindset is everything.

Carry on...

 

[scuba=dude]

as for myself I don't think that Devondiver is truly a troll......just at times can be quite blunt, like a hammer and like a hammer he has a way of driving home a point ( some times it feels like it's in the top of your head like a nail) But I do believe him to be squaired away.
I come and I go from here I don't realy get to Hooked-up for long (to many things to do so I can do the things I wish too) I get bord with the bickering.......However ever time I do come back here I see some of the same folk's that are 1) giving of themselfs 2) those that seem to take offence to anything and every thing. These two things seem to be the hardest for me to filter, I do believe that every one has a voice and should be able to speak with out the fear of being shouted out.
On the other hand some folk's trully say some things that give me the willys....................and I'm not inferring anyone or anything other then what I just typed

 

[cruiser]

There is a large contingent in this sport at all levels that depends more on dogma than understanding.

Spot on, Akimbo. I'm putting that in dive book along with other sayings from the board that are particularly apt.

 

[w ripley]

I realy don't understand why non solo divers come to this forum . . . have nothing to add . . other than, how we are going to die. . .

I don't think it is surprising at all.

SB seems to have a large number of followers, so increase the viewpoints of the audience and you increase the likilyhood of just about any response.

SB seems to have a larger number of newly certified divers, so the experience base necessarily limits how broadly the audience can approach a seasoned response. (BTW, it does please me to see that there are so many newer divers and that SB attracts so many daily posts.)

Most newly certified divers - and a large number of their instructors, IMO - have been indoctrinated as to what is safe and what is not safe in diving. Instructors who never leave the world in which they teach are forever locked into what they were taught and what they now teach. No excuse for that. But a newer diver, who is encouraged to post on places like SB, has his or her entire life to grow outside of their training and most, if they stick with diving, will. And one very important part of that growth will come from seeing how other people are diving.

I remember the first time I did a tech dive. It was to 140 or 150 feet, and I was extremely anxious because it had been drilled into my head that going over 130 feet wasn't safe. Up until that point I would have probably replied to a SB thread concerning depth (if I had been on SB) that anything over 130 feet was stupid and dangerous.

Same for my first cave dive, my first dive over 300 feet, my first solo dive, and my first solo cave dive.

It's just normal for people to tell you their opinions and for their opinions to be rather narrow until they have had time to mature in their diving.

Personally, I find all of the solo discussions on all of the diving boards to be pretty low key these days, as it seems almost every experienced diver is doing them, and they don't pack the "it's new" punch they use to. Let me say that I have every bit the same respect for an experienced diver who isn't doing them, up until the point that he or she starts telling us why solo diving is so stupid and dangerous. You will just never weed those people out of a forum, only from your diving friends.

Going back to the Scuba=Dudes' original comments, it's just natural for the non-solo divers to jump on a solo diver's post. Still, the more they see that agencies are teaching solo diving, the same way they teach OW diving, the more they will get it. The more they hear people like me talking about 5 & 6-hour solo dives as being routine, the more it will click that there is more to diving than they have probably considered up to that point.

So, let's encourage the inexperienced and the experienced doubters to jump in and take another look at what the world of diving really looks like. Even if they never become solo divers they will necessarily become better and, hopefully, safer divers.

 

[aquaregia]

I'm not convinced that there's more newer dives here than IRL. When I joined ScubaBoard, I thought a hundred dives was a huge number -- I'd only met a few people with more than that and they were instructors or had 5-10 years experience.

 

[Rubber Duckie]

Quote Originally Posted by DevonDiver View Post
The issue remains; if he had a buddy, he might have been rescued and resuscitated. Unanticipated medical conditions can be a death sentence to the solo diver.

" I don't get it either. But what can you do- you even have SB staff trolling around flaming solo divers (Check out the other thread ("RIP solo diver")). -->

Unanticipated medical conditions is a death sentence to many people. For the people that go into sudden cardiac arrest, CVA, seizures, ect hope luck is on your side and you are not driving, diving, or sitting at home alone when it happens.