Log Books - Totally an Honor System

[durian]

is it true for all certifying groups that any diver can sign your log book?

Is there any regulation on this. What constitutes a "dive"?

Can i go down 5 meters for 5 minutes and have that count as a dive? Of course I would not do that, but could someone???

Could 2 divers decide to sign for one anothers phantom dive?

It seems that it is an honor code that we dive by.

 

[NINman]

That is correct it is an honor system and to me logging phantom dives is putting your name on the Darwin Award list IMO. Especially when you are doing that to allow yourself to go on an advanced boat where you can endanger yourself and others.

Personally I do not have my logs signed, if my computer counts it as a dive I log it no matter if it is 2 - 180mins. I might not write a novel on it, but I do log it. Remember SCUBA is a sport that is self regulated.

 

[durian]

i agree that lying on dives to get a higher status is a very silly and dangerous activity. Up to now I have had each dive signed by an instructor.

 

[DORSETBOY]

everytme I get wet I log it as a dive, I can go in for 10 mins in a couple of metres doing training drills but I log this and clearly state in the log book what I have done drill wise, what max depth and time. This doesn't mean though that I try to pretend that this is a dive as such but it's handy to keep a record of training that I do.

 

[Iruka]

There are certain requirements for TRAINING dives (for example, with PADI 5meters/15' for 20 minutes) but I guess no-one can tell you what a dive is if it's just a dive for fun.

Chris....4,901 dives, virtually all of them 20'~130'+, 30~70 minutes.
(by the way, these are all "logged" on my PC....but I don't bother to put them on paper anymore. Save a tree or two that way....& I could print them out if I had any reason to do so.)

 

[Charlie99]

is it true for all certifying groups that any diver can sign your log book?

Is there any regulation on this. What constitutes a "dive"?

Could 2 divers decide to sign for one anothers phantom dive?

It seems that it is an honor code that we dive by.

Why the above is true makes more sense if you think about the purposes of logbooks. One purpose is to show an instructor that you have adequate experience to begin a class. You could fake the required dives, but you can't fake the experience.

The other purpose of a log is to record things like your proper weighting in various gear combinations, and to record info on a dive site to help plan future dives there. Whether or not your log has any signature at all is irrelevant for these purposes.

 

[HammerNoMore]

There are certain requirements for TRAINING dives (for example, with PADI 5meters/15' for 20 minutes) but I guess no-one can tell you what a dive is if it's just a dive for fun.

Chris....4,901 dives, virtually all of them 20'~130'+, 30~70 minutes.
(by the way, these are all "logged" on my PC....but I don't bother to put them on paper anymore. Save a tree or two that way....& I could print them out if I had any reason to do so.)

I have logged all of two dives under 20 minutes, in one case I had an o-ring extrude from my HP hose at the first when I hit 60'. In another, I spent 5 minutes with an OW student who just couldn't get her ears cleared. In both these cases I logged the dive because I wanted a record of what happened so I could refer back to it.

Now Saturday when I was working as a safety diver and dropped down for all of 2 minutes to bring up a buddy team that didn't hear the lightning recall, I didn't bother to log that.

James

 

[Spectre]

What is the logbook for? It's -for- you. Log what -you- consider a dive.

 

[yknot]

I've never been asked to show a log book to dive anywhere so that tells me that a large part of the industry doesn't consider them necessary but that may not be true for all divers and/or locations. I have met a few divers that will ask an instructor in the group to sign their log, even though the dive wasn't instructional, implying that they consider the dive to be more valid because and instructor was involved. Has anyone had any experience with any of the awards cards such as SSI issues, which are kind of based on the amount of dives and not extra training? I wonder if any of those are recognized by ops that want to see an advanced cert for a more challanging dive site.

 

[DORSETBOY]

Unfortunately, if someone you dont know turns up at a dive shop and shows you their log book you have to take what it says with a pinch of salt, you never know a diver's abilities until the first time you see them dive.