Is horizontal position really better?

[The Chairman]

When I see videos like this

Patience is essential. When I bought my first Jet Fins in 1969, one of the benefits was that "you can kick the crap out of the reef and not hurt the fin!" This is a direct quote from one of our legends in diving, Hal Watts, and is something he would never, ever say today. When I reminded him of it, he flat out denied ever saying it but in a moment of introspection admitted it sounded like something he would have said. Things change. People change. Policies change. I change. Well. I evolve. Most people do change for the better once they understand the benefits.

A preacher once told me back in my religious days "Being hated for being a Christian is OK. Someone hating Christianity because of you is not". I try to set an example every time I get in the water, with or without students and I never share my opinions without being asked. I've lost count of the times I've been asked "How do you do that?" I don't mind telling them even if they fight the answers. When I see people on SB completely missing the point about horizontal diving, I try to respond kindly and the older I get the gentler my response. I believe decrying every stroke I see ala GI3 is counterproductive. It's proven so and we still have to deal with the battered egos of guys hurt because we think their diving skills are sub-par. People dive to have fun and you can't have much fun if you're out of control. Patience is essential and it will win out in the long run.

 

[The Chairman]

Here we go again!
BEST!
It does not matter whether it is a joke or not.

It's just an opinion. Why get upset over an opinion that differs from yours? If everyone thought the same, there would be no improvements and this would be a boring place. If you want something to be truly mad at, there's a fascist waging war in Ukraine.

 

[Dody]

Here we go again!
BEST!
It does not matter whether it is a joke or not.

It is a joke. You have as many chances to see a megalodon underwater than a scuba diver from south sahara.

 

[Centrals]

It's just an opinion. Why get upset over an opinion that differs from yours? If everyone thought the same, there would be no improvements and this would be a boring place. If you want something to be truly mad at, there's a fascist waging war in Ukraine.

1. It is the "wording" used.
2. South of Sahara(excluding S. Africa) covers a lot of countries and some of them(Mozambique and Zambia) do offer scuba diving.

 

[Centrals]

It is a joke. You have as many chances to see a megalodon underwater than a scuba diver from south sahara.

There is a big difference between South of Sahara(#304) and South Sahara(#308).

 

[Dody]

1. It is the "wording" used.
2. South of Sahara(excluding S. Africa) covers a lot of countries and some of them(Mozambique and Zambia) do offer scuba diving.

Yes, I know. I have been in Mozambique. Even though almost if not all divers were expatriate. It was a (poor?) joke. Chill out! Man. It was meant to say that there are not divers there so they are the best as they do not kick silt or destroy coral. Even though I am myself 100% from South Sahara in addition to 100% from France.

 

[Miyaru]

Basic scuba forum.
And I'm reading stories about technical diving, cave diving.....

To all new and basic scuba divers:

If you have managed to read every single post until here, congratulations! I can image the Open Water manual was a lot easier to go through. Except for the knowledge reviews, which are not applicable here.

Everything you have read until here was simply not true. There is no need at all to be horizontal in the water. You simply choose a position that is comfortable for you. After all, it's your dive.

Simply swim upright. As you have probably figured out by now, navigation is a big massive headache underwater, and Google Maps still doesn't work down there. So create a silt trace while you're swimming out, and you can always find your way back!

If there's no nice layer of mud on the bottom, for example on the coral reefs, you will see that the sand you whirl up, settles rapidly and makes your navigation a lot harder.
But don't worry, there's another secret to coral reef navigation! First, look for a trail from previous divers. You will recognise a trail by the path of broken corals. Swim next to your buddy over the path. This ensures the path will stay clear of any new coral growth: simply kick it down with your fins. That stuff grows faster than a jungle anyway, so don't worry about it.
No path? Create your own!


By the way, if navigation is your eternal nightmare, consider cave diving. None of those muppets know how to navigate, and they're not ashamed to admit it! They just follow a line, which has arrows on it that point to the nearest exit.

 

[The Chairman]

None are as offended as those who see offenses where none were intended.

 

[tmorg]

That’s funny, I hope people can recognize sarcasm .

 

[Adobo]

@The Chairman

When I see videos like this
I'm not especially optimistic that change is happening.

Given that it took PADI 9 years from the publishing of John's article and changes being made for scoring in IEs, I'm not optimistic.

GUE will always be a small organization. Logistically, it would be hard to provide their level of quality control if they were to be even 1/10th the size of PADI.

I know you have been teaching through NASE for years and I like what you describe. I put more hope in RAID due to my perception of greater exposure.

I greatly appreciate them putting their content online for all to see. Training materials isn't like stealth technology. Hardly a secret. I especially like how they provided an instructor guide that includes a good method for weighting and if I remember correctly, it included discussion on weight distribution. I've never seen that addressed in my current and past agencies.

So as I've said many times, I hope they continue to grow by both new business and also crossing instructors and dive centers over.

That video is incredibly painful to watch. Its like hearing someone scratch a chalkboard.