In defense of Casual Divers

[TSandM]

What do DIR divers think of the rest of the diving world?

Peter and I did several dives with Mike Severns in Maui the last time we were there. We were lucky enough to be on a boat full of good divers. Everybody on the boat had good buoyancy control and good trim; nobody touched anything with their fins, or silted out any of the sites. They were fun people to dive with, and even more fun to talk to during surface intervals (several were marine biologists!) I thought they were all great folk and very good divers. Not a single one was remotely DIR.

One DIR wannabee's take on the question.

 

[BHB ScubaTroll]

Dead divers are bad. Hard on the families, bad press.

Plus DIR divers are only legend anyway. And they don't believe in computers so they can't really post on the internet.

Now, THAT'S the sense of humor I like!

Very good come back answer!!!

 

[Rick Murchison]

maybe the guy could say the same to him if the situation was reversed.

Indeed...
Rick

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

What do the DIR divers really think of the rest of us? (My guess is that they think we'll die. They may even think that we are so low on the evolutionary scale that its ok if we do die

Well, actions speak louder than (internet) words ... every time I organized a newbie/mentor dive, the majority of the mentors who came out were DIR-trained divers ... they were very happy to take a newly-certified OW diver on a tour, show them a fun time, help them adjust to their new environment, and never ... not once ... did I hear of any one of them ever saying anything judgmental.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[pir8]

Its late but I wanna check this thread out later so to make it easier to find then I am leaving this rambling post.
GOODNIGHT

 

[ItsBruce]

Do you really feel that way? I'm not a DIR diver, BTW.

My real thought is that they feel the same way I do about boat owners who have not had much training and experience: They'll probably be ok unless the wind comes up or they have a mechanical problem, in which case they'll die.

 

[ItsBruce]

Well, actions speak louder than (internet) words ... every time I organized a newbie/mentor dive, the majority of the mentors who came out were DIR-trained divers ... they were very happy to take a newly-certified OW diver on a tour, show them a fun time, help them adjust to their new environment, and never ... not once ... did I hear of any one of them ever saying anything judgmental. ... Bob (Grateful Diver)

They may not have said anything judgmental, but they probably thought it ... which is just how it should be on both counts.

 

[k4man]

ok, I've read the entire thread from yesterday (or was it two days ago?). And yes, I'm a new member, but I have 2 comments...

1--It seems that some of those posting to this thread have forgotten about when THEY were new divers (in fact, maybe some of you got started doing your OW at the sunny beach resort on vacation)

2--Some of those who start off as 4 to 6 dives-a-year-divers eventually come around. :14: Actually, for years I never touched the water of a lake, quarry, or anything else...and that was fine for me. While I'm still not an expert (yes, I admit to still being able to learn something new from others), I did decide to go through the typical steps of AOW, rescue, Master Diver, and eventually over to the professional side of things. BUT, I remember where I started my diving. Do you?

Kevin

 

[lamont]

Interesting numbers. However, that does not mean that once-a-year-warm-water-vacation divers are at a greater risk. It could simply be because the ranges where fatalities occur are the ranges where most diving is done. I don't know the statistics for gas mixtures, but I'd guess that far more than 88% of all dives are on 21%, that less than 6% of all diving is on rebreathers or trimix; that more than 60% of all dives are at less than 60 feet, etc. If we had those numbers, we could see where fatalities are most likely to happen.

You're missing the point, we're not addressing relative risk and you don't need to divide by the population. We're addressing who is dying while diving and 88% of the fatalities are diving 21%. That fits with what we've been seeing in the PNW.

And I left out that the leading issues involved with fatalities are OOA and bouyany control issues.

These are not people who are technical or professional divers who are pushing their limits and getting hurt. These are predominantly people who do less than 20 dives a year, dive air, dive generally above 60 fsw and predominantly above 90 fsw and they have buoyancy control issues and they run out of gas.

If you want to reduce diver fatalities you need to go after those people. If you stopped all the technical or rebreather fatalities you'd only make a 6% difference which isn't significiant.

I do, like ehuber's point about the OP relating to the fact that "arrogant know-it-all types frustrate and scare away more casual, recreational divers." That is how I read it. I also read it to say that the more hardcore divers should lighten up on the once-a-year-warm-water-vacation divers.

They seem to be doing the largest amount of dying in this sport. If we educate the ones that stick with it and scare away the ones who can't be pushed beyond looking at the pretty fishes, then we could make a dent in the fatality rate. Personally after my recently experience I'd rather see fewer divers in the sport and a lot fewer needless deaths.

Sure we owe it to them to alert them to things that will surely kill them. But, do we need to tell tham that if they don't have a safety sausage, whistle and mirror, they'll die? Or that if they don't have a bp/w, they'll die?

That's pretty asinine. I've already outlined what I think they need to be taught.

What do the DIR divers really think of the rest of us? (My guess is that they think we'll die. They may even think that we are so low on the evolutionary scale that its ok if we do die

And that's just stupid.

 

[Cacia]

Peter and I did several dives with Mike Severns in Maui

He is great, you should check out his book on diving Hawaii, if you haven't. His x-wife is a nudibranch lover and wrote an ID book I think.