"I refuse to dive with him!"

[SharkRider]

There are many people I wont dive with... here is My Letterman TOP 10 list of People I won't dive with:

10. Anyone wearing cheap brands of scuba gear... this tells me they're not serious divers... and I don't want to be there when the equipment fails
9. Anyone that looks like they dive into doughnuts more than they dive into water... I don't want to be there when their heart fails
8. Anyone that talks like he is the worlds greatest diver... believe me... if they talk about themselves, they are insecure and I don't want to be there when they panic
7. Anyone that has to ask to borrow gear... this shows they are not prepared for anything... and I want to dive with people prepared for anything
6. Anyone that wears one of those goofy looking neoprene beanie hats with a brim on it or a shark fin on top etc... these people make me look like an idiot to other serious divers
5. Anyone who edits posts on Scubaboard. If they don't like what you post enough and delete it or even worse ban you forever... it's not a far stretch to think they would turn your air off underwater to shut you up permanently
4. Anyone who thinks stuffing other peoples BCD pockets with sausages or steaks when doing a shark dive is funny. I've seen this go wrong and I really don't want to be the next one to have a Hammerhead slam into my chest
3. Anyone who shows up with an Advanced level C-Card and has less than 50 dives in their logbook. They bought an advanced cert... they didn't earn it.
2. Anyone who doesn't pay attention to dive briefings... this shows me they are not even intelligent enough to care about their own life... much less mine
1. Dive Masters!

 

[Ber Rabbit]

Diving with newcomers can bring fun into the most boring dive and for me that's worth sacrificing some bottom time. R..

AMEN BROTHER! A friend had a student who was going for his night/limited visibility certification. The student's daylight dive proved challenging due to a newish drysuit and a bit of time since his last dive; I overheard the student tell the instructor he wasn't going to do the rest of the dives. I told my friend I would dive with the student since the group wasn't as large as expected and he didn't need me to assist. He talked to his student who agreed to do the dusk dive after being convinced that his apprehension wasn't going to ruin my dive. We had a nice conversation pre-dive and I told him we would only do what he was comfortable with even if that was hovering over a 5'x3' platform at 20 feet for 20 minutes getting the feel for the drysuit. We ended up hovering for 5 minutes or so before he indicated that he would like to go explore around the airplane. We had a great dive and he was glad he went but when time for the actual night dive rolled around he came by and said he was really stressed and was going to call the dive. I said, "Look, don't call the dive here let's get in and go to the platform. If you're not comfortable after 5 minutes there we come back up and abort." He said the dusk dive was a bit stressful and he was afraid of what a full darkness dive was going to be like. I told him it would be better and got him to agree to get in the quarry. We hovered over that platform for 10 minutes and then he indicated he wanted to go look at a nearby car, we hovered over that for another 10-15 minutes looking at baby Yellow Perch. When we came up he said it was the most awesome experience and he was glad I had made him get in the water. There just isn't a feeling like that anywhere else!
Ber :lilbunny:

 

[NadMat]

Thanks ... would you like the whole document? I could use a good editor ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Not sure if I qualify as good, maybe as average or fair.

And you would have to excuse some of my reactions to DIR, I am not DIR, although I have tried to study the principals and equipment and learn from it, I sometimes get tired of the more 'enthusiastic' members knocking on my door
So can get touchy about comments like Horizontal is the only way to dive and BP/w uber alles.
especially when their reasoning goes along the 'it's right because it's DIR and and if it's not DIR then it is wrong' even more so should they continue with 'and so are you' :shakehead

But would be interested to read the rest of it as have found there is always something more to learn, and prefer to do it the easy way than the hard.
What you posted was very good advice and the horizontal stuff was nit picky, which is my theme for today.
And will try to suppress any bp/w or dir flames in any suggested changes :lol2:

 

[Rick Murchison]

I have wondered for quite sometime why they haven't come up with a "dive buddy" course.

I spend a great deal of time on buddy skills in my OW courses, teaching new divers to both be a buddy and use a buddy. Indeed, the SSI curriculum calls for quite a bit of buddy skill emphasis in addition to buddy checks and emergency procedures.
But... you do bring up a good point, I think, because what I see in the general diving public testifies to less-than-satisfactory industry wide attention to buddy skills (among others).
(Let's stick to instabuddies, though, or this thread will head off into 47 different directions).
Rick

 

[The Chairman]

I concur with Rick. I spend an inordinate amount of time on Buddy Skills in an OW course.

 

[SDdiver1]

Wow....I just read the rest of this thread. There sure is a lot of frustration out there about people's buddy skills.....

.....but who *are* these buddies.....? It's us.

You know....I think we need to stop writing about the other guy and bring this home..... We need to write about what *we* can do to be better buddies.....

R..

It's great that there are instructors that stress "Buddy Skills" but, most do not. At least not like years past So, as experienced divers we have to show a little patience and mentor the new guy. I have said it before, I had one who wound up being my mentor and long time buddy, 20 years. Cut them a little slack, don't come at them with arrogance. Show them if most are willing to listen and learn. It'l be a great experience for both.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Not sure if I qualify as good, maybe as average or fair.

And you would have to excuse some of my reactions to DIR, I am not DIR, although I have tried to study the principals and equipment and learn from it, I sometimes get tired of the more 'enthusiastic' members knocking on my door
So can get touchy about comments like Horizontal is the only way to dive and BP/w uber alles.
especially when their reasoning goes along the 'it's right because it's DIR and and if it's not DIR then it is wrong' even more so should they continue with 'and so are you' :shakehead

But would be interested to read the rest of it as have found there is always something more to learn, and prefer to do it the easy way than the hard.
What you posted was very good advice and the horizontal stuff was nit picky, which is my theme for today.
And will try to suppress any bp/w or dir flames in any suggested changes :lol2:

LOL - no worries ... I ain't DIR either ... I'm just a diver who happens to have taken the Fundamentals class and prefers diving in a backplate. How other people choose to dive isn't something I spend a lot of time worrying about.

The article is about gas management anyway ... there's nothing in it about DIR.

Send me a PM with your e-mail addy and I'll forward you a copy ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Storm]

I could use a good editor ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

I do it for a living. Send the article my and I will have a look at it for you.

PS I could also use the information to help me with my diving.


Cheers!

BTW...
I'll be a better buddy when I learn how do control my bouyancy, and air consumption properly.

 

[Ken abucs]

For example, any body reading the new posts in general recently probably knows of TS&M having found such a thing.

What is TS&M?

 

[Rick Murchison]

I do it for a living. Send the article my and I will have a look at it for you.

That ain't very good advertising there, Storm
Rick