Is "learning the hard lesson" necessary?

[TSandM]

boulderjohn, you are so right . . . I almost started another thread, about under what circumstances you have found yourself making significant errors. For me, the biggest one is being rushed. I need to take a deep breath and say that I can take as much time as I need, because when I hurry, I make mistakes. Breaking the routine frequently results in errors, but if I'm not hurried, those errors will be picked up in the pre-dive sequence, so they won't impact the in-water experience.

The other situation where I make mistakes is when I am diving with people I perceive as being very superior to me, who aren't going through the whole dive planning/dive check sequence. I'll defer to them, and then find myself doing stupid stuff like descending on turned-off stages. You would think I would learn that checks are checks, and if my superiors are skipping them, I ought to correct them; but I'm a hierarchy-prone kind of person, and find that hard to do.

 

[boulderjohn]

The other situation where I make mistakes is when I am diving with people I perceive as being very superior to me, who aren't going through the whole dive planning/dive check sequence. I'll defer to them, and then find myself doing stupid stuff like descending on turned-off stages. You would think I would learn that checks are checks, and if my superiors are skipping them, I ought to correct them; but I'm a hierarchy-prone kind of person, and find that hard to do.

I think this is a very common problem with newer divers in more ways than just pre-dive checks--it certainly was for me when I was a new diver. Everyone on the boats seemed so much more with it than I. Everyone was so sure of themselves and so experienced. They showed me what the real world was like. Buddy checks? Nope. Dive planning? That's what that DM is for. Calculating pressure groups and surface intervals? No reason for that, and it's another DM responsibility anyway. Throw your tables away. Stay near a buddy? That's just for beginners.

Fortunately, I did not get all that far in my diving before I learned to ignore those more experienced divers and return to what I had been taught. It is that stage of my growth as a diver I always think about when I read the posts on ScubaBoard urging new divers to skip further professional training and learn instead from the more experienced divers they meet.

 

[TjRjn]

Side note: I have been considering creating a printed checklist (like I use when flying) for my scuba gear, one side with my post-assembly checklist, the other with my pre-dive checklist, and attaching it to my harness so it's always there and I can always use it to help reduce human factor errors.

There's a list in the back of your AOW manual. Pg 362

 

[slugdiver]

Well Devon, let me explain it this way.
Started snorkeling at about six. Diving by 1970. Certified Basic in 1974. Instructor in 1986. Extensive cave diving experience, extensive deep diving exceeding 150' on air, wreck diving, night diving.
Was there running a dive boat when "tech" and nitrox for the masses came on the scene.
So after forty years plus years of playing in the water I will stand by my words...if a person completes any level of training and has confidence in their ablities and is very comfortable in the water they are much better prepared when something does go wrong. Experience makes for a better diver, not experiencing underwater calamity.
And by the way, the slogan was quoted from my IDC instructor, a Norwegian that taught diving to the Norwegian military. So I guess it does spill over into the military.
Oh, and she was a girl!!!!! So I hope that is acceptable to everyone and doesn't negate what I may wish to say.

 

[DukeAMO]

There's a list in the back of your AOW manual. Pg 362

There's also a free SSI app for the iPhone (at least), called diveSSI. You don't have to be a member of SSI or anything, and it includes some nice checklists, hand signals, tables, etc.

 

[Tyger]

They showed me what the real world was like. Buddy checks? Nope. Dive planning? That's what that DM is for. Calculating pressure groups and surface intervals? No reason for that, and it's another DM responsibility anyway. Throw your tables away. Stay near a buddy? That's just for beginners.

I saw the same thing with rock climbing. When I was taught proper technique there, there was a protocol similar to the buddy check to make sure everyone was tied in properly. Probably half the people I see rock climbing ignore it. However the group that I was usually rock climbing with, initially, were very picky about it being done right, so I learned to be picky about always doing the safety checks.

There's also a free SSI app for the iPhone (at least), called diveSSI. You don't have to be a member of SSI or anything, and it includes some nice checklists, hand signals, tables, etc.

They have it for Android as well. (https://play.google.com/store/apps/...sMSwyLDEsImNvbS5kaXZlc3NpLnNzaWFuZHJvaWQiXQ..)