I was wrong...

[Blackwood]

Next, in general, I tend not to post any trip reports anywhere. I'm not sure why. I posted one on the Hawai'i O'Hana after a trip there a while ago, but that was at NetDoc's request for the Newsletter. I also posted a report on a tech trip that started with a failed attempt to dive the Oriskany and ended up doing caves instead. I posted that in the Rocky Mountain Oyster forum, not here, because I had a reason to post there. It is the same reason I post about a number of tech-related stuff there--I am trying to drum up local interest.

Yah. While I'm certainly not at the level of those folks Bob mentioned in his post, when I post dive reports, I tend to do so in regional forums.

See Rainer's post here for links to some recent trip reports, some tech, some not.

 

[rjack321]

And so, before I post about a recent 21/35 deco dive at Rock Lake, NM, looking at some selenite Gypsum crystals in the silt, with the highlight being spotting some near-microscopic amphipods flitting around in that silt, animals we had never known existed, I ask myself, which of these dive experts here would care? Who wants to know the details about what for many people is just another training dive from some beginning techster with a long way to go?

I would love to see pictures or video of both the crystals and the amphipods embedded into an overall dive report.

Finally, being a UTD diver in what appears to be a GUE-centric forum, I have even more doubts. I just learned from one of you in a recent thread that the only value in the UTD program is its marketing, so I guess I'm on only on the DIR JV team, and the only people who care what happens in the JV games are the player's parents.

Eh, I avoid playing this game. Nobody who's "doing the dives" really gives a damn about who's card is in your wallet. Good diving is good diving, we all know it when we see it.

 

[danvolker]

OK, I am going to take a wild stab at one reason that you don't get more tech dive reports here, just some thoughts based on introspection. In other words, I have never posted one, and I tried to think about why not.

First of all, I never posted a fundies report, because I never took the class and don't know how it feels to do it. I received roughly the equivalent training through my tech instruction with another agency and then crossed over to UTD. I had to do some stuff to fill in the gaps, but for all practical purposes I crossed over at the T1 level. I have thus never had that elated sense that I see in people who post about that experience.

Next, in general, I tend not to post any trip reports anywhere. I'm not sure why. I posted one on the Hawai'i O'Hana after a trip there a while ago, but that was at NetDoc's request for the Newsletter. I also posted a report on a tech trip that started with a failed attempt to dive the Oriskany and ended up doing caves instead. I posted that in the Rocky Mountain Oyster forum, not here, because I had a reason to post there. It is the same reason I post about a number of tech-related stuff there--I am trying to drum up local interest.

So now I think I'm getting to the point.

As elated and proud as I see people feel when they post their fundies experiences, I feel more the opposite. Before I started this training, I thought I was a pretty good diver. That sense died quickly. I am now a far, far better diver than I was back then, but I feel the opposite. I know I have a long way to go to where I need to be. I am Tech 2/Full cave, but I feel like something of a beginner. Ironically, I think I feel less sure of my diving skill now than I did when I really didn't have much skill.

And so, before I post about a recent 21/35 deco dive at Rock Lake, NM, looking at some selenite Gypsum crystals in the silt, with the highlight being spotting some near-microscopic amphipods flitting around in that silt, animals we had never known existed, I ask myself, which of these dive experts here would care? Who wants to know the details about what for many people is just another training dive from some beginning techster with a long way to go?

Finally, being a UTD diver in what appears to be a GUE-centric forum, I have even more doubts. I just learned from one of you in a recent thread that the only value in the UTD program is its marketing, so I guess I'm on only on the DIR JV team, and the only people who care what happens in the JV games are the player's parents.

Personally, when I read a trip report, what I like is to hear about "adventure dive potential"...a place and a dive that sounds like it would be really cool to dive there.

The real issue with our tech diving is getting the BIG ADVENTURE DIVES in....I like it when the trip report is on point with this.

The fundies reports are good, because it is like a "training ride on your race bike"...you have to be good here, or you can't race...

....but the light at the end of the tunnel is the cool dive you have wanted to do...have trained to do...and finally did!!! That's the real trip report!

It's not GUE verus UTD..that is irrelevant, as far as I am concerned.

Regards,
DanV

 

[danvolker]

Let me provide an example of what I think would be cool..a dive to plan for..a dive to train for, to post what you are doing as prep, and then the dive itself.

About 10 years ago George Irvine, Bill Mee and I did a dive on a deep reef off of Jupiter..this was NOT the ledge the hole in the wall is on, but one that drops off at about 235 or 240 and falls straight down to 260 or so.....It is incredibly hard to hit...there were 3 different big currents we hit on the way down--a big surface current going north at 3.5 mph, then one lateral offshore going fast, then a reversed south on the bottom....it may be variations of this on many days, but the deal is, you have to go down at like 200 to 300 feet per minute to hit this reef or you are off in the sand and will not know where the main body of it is.
You need perfect trim, and perfect propulsion, in order to get to the reef. Once on it, the current is easy....the getting to it is hard.
The reef itself.....Big ledge for this depth, over 20 foot vertical with massive rocks and huge growth.....we saw Snowy groupers, warsaw groupers, and massive schools of baitfish and basically a pristine and unspoiled ecosystem. Stuff was on this reef you just don't see!

So....you want to do this reef, you need to train for it...you need cardio. You need perfect trim...you need a descent poitential like a falling brick. You need to know your ratio deco, because the bottom depth will always be an unknown, and you may be all over the place following the contour of this reef, and the cool stuff that it has built in to it...you will come up over a mile from where you started, and your deco will need to be decided on the fly.
It is a dive worth training for. It is a dive worth bringing a u/w photographer on as a dependant buddy, and getting some spectacular shots ---great stuff to go with your trip report!

Regards,
DanV

 

[PfcAJ]

I like reading reports of cool dives from just about anyone, pick your letter combo.

But I like poking fun at people too

Today's favorite class is...
Scubatics - Unified Team Diving

 

[PfcAJ]

I like reading reports of cool dives from just about anyone, pick your letter combo.

But I like poking fun at people too

Today's favorite class is...
Scubatics - Unified Team Diving

Smile everyone, its just for fun

 

[ucfdiver]

Smile everyone, its just for fun

Lots of it, too...Andrew is producing a comedic gold mine!

I'm working on my "using an al40 to see if there's a cave" course. It will be 3 days and cover clipping off a AL40 to power snorkel. Cost should be around $750. Of course, a PSAL40 rig will be required, should hit the shelves sometime around Jan, and be a UTD signature series item (made by someone else).

 

[TSandM]

....but the light at the end of the tunnel is the cool dive you have wanted to do...have trained to do...and finally did!!! That's the real trip report!

Oh, Dan, that's SO true. And it doesn't really matter if that dive is down to 100 feet to see Beto's Reef in Monterey, or your 250 foot reef dive, or going to the Blue Abyss -- the essence is that you saw a need for some skills, went and got them, and then did a kick A$% dive as a result.

 

[Anti-Hero]

The more training I have received, the less confident I am in the water. It's weird, but what used to be no big deal, no brings on all sorts of anxiety.

Must be getting old...

 

[laurin]

The more training I have received, the less confident I am in the water. It's weird, but what used to be no big deal, no brings on all sorts of anxiety.

Must be getting old...

I've noticed the same effect. For cave diving it's lessened quite a bit after getting dives done post-certification, but wreck penetrations still feel much more scarier - I wouldn't repeat some of the stuff I've done in the past. Which is probably for the good. Doing dives does feel great, though - it's just that at the planning stage the "is this really what we wanna do?" gets asked more often.

And yeah, getting old might also play a part, I think I used to be invulnerable once.

//LN