My first solo dive

[shoredivr]

Just opened my UK Diver magazine. There on the cover is "PADI solo course". The article is a review of the PADI Self-Sufficient Diver course.

The development of this course is being credited in the article to SB's very own AndyNZ. Cool. Requirements for the course are 100 dives and redundant gas supply among other equipment needs.

 

[captain]

I explicitly said I don't make recommendations concerning solo diving and won't comment on your questions. I only say how it approach and that is just as I approach any other open water recreational limits dive buddy or not. Noting changes, I use basic open water gear, no redundancy other than cutting tools.

I also am a self trained machinist and freely admit that what I don't know what I don't know about machining is probably a bunch but I dive regulators that have replacement parts I machined. Does that mean I am being reckless.

 

[DevonDiver]

I explicitly said I don't make recommendations concerning solo diving and won't comment on your questions. I only say how it approach and that is just as I approach any other open water recreational limits dive buddy or not. Noting changes, I use basic open water gear, no redundancy other than cutting tools.

But you do realize that your 'advice' (for that is what it is, when given as a response to a question from a stranger) flies in the face of every training agency.... and even the recommendations of solo diving courses?

You advocate (again, that is what you do, by stating your opinions) that solo diving is fine for any diver, at any time, with no special training or equipment. Based upon what? Your experiences. Fine...that's valid.... but that's also a sample size of 1. A sample size of 1.... that forms advice which directly opposes the recommendations/limits/requirements advocated by the rest of the scuba industry. An industry who base their opinions on a sample size of millions. An industry that has to substantiate what they advocate in a legal environment.

 

[mdax]

solo diving can be less dangerous with the right experience level and equipment.
Neither of which you have.
Seek out additional training.

 

[captain]

Again I am not giving anyone advise. I was one of the first here to suggest a solo section but I am sorry I did for the reason we are having this discussion and I usually refrain from commenting.
One of the other members, Nemrod, who also was one of the first to suggest a solo section just to get away from this very issue in the basic and advanced section is seldom here anymore. I suspect for the same reason. I originally wanted a stand alone solo section rather than a sub section of the tech section but mods chose to put it in tech.
I read but stay out of any discussion in the other so called tech forums. Why, because I don't do that type of diving but in the past I probably have done dives that would now be considered technical by current definition but it is none of my business how someone chooses to dive.

Start a solo section in Tech to Tech and you can knock each other out over there.

We will just have to agree to dis agree.

 

[SeaHorse81]

Captain, I recently subscribed to this forum specifically to find non-preachy discussion relevant to solo diving. I'm doing solo training this weekend. Hopefully, a cert will result, but I'm looking forward to the training in any event. I've got a different mindset already just from reading the text, and am looking forward to learning more. How much I'll actually solo dive, I don't know; I just want the knowledge and the ability.

I think I see in some of this thread a split between establishment and anti-establishment types. Clearly, I'm an establishment type since I'm taking a course, but I realize others may see the establishment as perhaps too controlling and judgemental. Some seem to be taking exception to the right we all have to do whatever, including taking dumb risks if we want to, which has perhaps distracted from the real topic which I believe to be the safety of the OP. He certified four years ago, did nothing in the interim, then got in the water alone with an unjustified level of comfortable confidence. That isn't about solo diving in my mind, that's about somebody with limited knowledge and skill putting himself in an edgy situation, apparently without really knowing it.

I've participated in a number of really fun, enjoyable, challenging hobbies, all of which would be described by someone or another as dangerous. In every instance, the presence of a newbie doing clearly dangerous things, in apparent ignorance, has always resulted in the more knowledgable witnesses trying to help the newbie see the problem with what they're doing. Some people want to learn and appreciate it, while others figure they already know what they need to know and probably find the process intrusive.

I think the main point is that Fox is taking a needless amount of risk, with barely any experience, and the hope is that he'll re-evaluate his approach. I'm guessing he won't, given what he has written, but at least he's had the opportunity to hear the concerns, and personally, I think that's a good thing.

Fox, I hope you stay safe.

Captain, I hope you stay around because this doesn't seem to be a very busy forum, and it would be great if those with knowledge to share would stay.

 

[captain]

Captain, I recently subscribed to this forum specifically to find non-preachy discussion relevant to solo diving. I'm doing solo training this weekend. Hopefully, a cert will result, but I'm looking forward to the training in any event. I've got a different mindset already just from reading the text, and am looking forward to learning more. How much I'll actually solo dive, I don't know; I just want the knowledge and the ability.

I think I see in some of this thread a split between establishment and anti-establishment types. Clearly, I'm an establishment type since I'm taking a course, but I realize others may see the establishment as perhaps too controlling and judgemental. Some seem to be taking exception to the right we all have to do whatever, including taking dumb risks if we want to, which has perhaps distracted from the real topic which I believe to be the safety of the OP. He certified four years ago, did nothing in the interim, then got in the water alone with an unjustified level of comfortable confidence. That isn't about solo diving in my mind, that's about somebody with limited knowledge and skill putting himself in an edgy situation, apparently without really knowing it.

I've participated in a number of really fun, enjoyable, challenging hobbies, all of which would be described by someone or another as dangerous. In every instance, the presence of a newbie doing clearly dangerous things, in apparent ignorance, has always resulted in the more knowledgable witnesses trying to help the newbie see the problem with what they're doing. Some people want to learn and appreciate it, while others figure they already know what they need to know and probably find the process intrusive.

I think the main point is that Fox is taking a needless amount of risk, with barely any experience, and the hope is that he'll re-evaluate his approach. I'm guessing he won't, given what he has written, but at least he's had the opportunity to hear the concerns, and personally, I think that's a good thing.

Fox, I hope you stay safe.

Captain, I hope you stay around because this doesn't seem to be a very busy forum, and it would be great if those with knowledge to share would stay.

I guess what really got me going over Fox's post is his blog is almost a mirror of how I started diving and he seems to even have my adventurous but not reckless view of life. I believe he will do just fine.

 

[Slamfire]

Fox,

What quarry was this in? Gilboa? Twin Quarries? A few years ago I tried getting some solo dives in Gilboa. Before trying it, I asked the owners about it and they told me they would not allow me to solo unless I had a solo cert. I asked if my technical certifications coupled with my logbook and dive computer logs showing solo staged decompression dives in dark, cold waters with strong tidal currents of the Canadian west coast open ocean would make any difference for them. They insisted a solo certification was necessary. I did one dive with insta buddies and then went on my way.

Like the captain, I won't give you a hard time about going solo. That's how it was done in the olden days. That's how my grandfather and my father started. And that's how my dad initiated me into scuba. There were other vigorous swimming, skills and mindsets that are no longer part of the typical OW training today. Comparatively speaking, those skills and mindset provided you means for managing risk, while today's mindset seems to delegate that degree of self-reliancy onto extra equipment, buddies, and additional cert cards. But that's another topic.

Back to the topic, while doing my research for dive sites in Ohio, it seemed that a lot of quarries there are private property. I only thought it would respectful to first check out with the owners if they are ok with me going solo, rather than just show up and jump in the water. If it's an ocean, no prob. This is a free country and there is no law preventing me from diving solo in whatever manner I wish to do so. Private property is another matter.

I guess what really got me going over Fox's post is his blog is almost a mirror of how I started diving and he seems to even have my adventurous but not reckless view of life. I believe he will do just fine.

 

[DevonDiver]

I guess what really got me going over Fox's post is his blog is almost a mirror of how I started diving and he seems to even have my adventurous but not reckless view of life. I believe he will do just fine.

It does beg the question, what options did you have when you first started diving in 1957?
Did you choose to self-educate, or were there simply no effective alternatives?

I see that the OP is in a very different situation to the one that you were in when you made the decision to dive solo and self-educate in 1957. The OP has the choice to source a buddy, or mentor, to help him acquire knowledge and experience in a safe, progressive manner - the diving population, frequency of diving and availability of resources, clubs, buddies is vastly larger and more easily accessible now. He also has the option of sourcing suitable training, that would be convenient and cost-effective to address his needs.

I see a very different mindset between the 'pioneer mentality' of the diving community in the 1950's.... and the OP who, in 2011, is/was making an active decision to shun the diving community/industry, abandon the safe option and expose himself to unnecessary risk purely out of convenience and over-confidence.

I strongly suspect that in 1957 people did what they could to dive as safely as they could, given the resources, knowledge and equipment available at that time. There was a need to accept greater risks, because the alternative was not to dive. That isn't the case now. There's simply no need to accept greater risk, because the alternative is to seek easily accessible tuition, supervision and progressive development.

In 1957, you were a pioneer. In 2011, the OP is fool-hardy. It's a matter of context. His activity may be a replication of yours, but because of the context, his mindset and reasoning obviously is not.

The simple fact that we are having this discussion, on this thread, on this forum... illustrates a lot of issues. The OP has access to diving-specific social media (i.e. Scubaboard). He found this site and chose to use it to show-case what he's been doing. He could have chosen to use it to educate himself, to seek buddies, to ask questions, to find a mentor, to source appropriate training. He didn't.

 

[Ragnar]

Seems to me there is a fundamental flaw in thinking that if that's how it was done in the olden days and someone is still here to make that statement that it is somehow good enough. Forget "good enough".....how about being a bit more progressive and using the things now available such as better training! I'm already over the Solo hump, but I wouldn't recommend my route to a new diver, it's not the optimal or safest way.