No Joke

[scubafanatic]

There is a difference between "touching" someone else's gear out of possible interest, and active tampering. Laying hands on someone else's gear without permission is a misdemeanour, turning someone else's gas valve off is a felony: it's attempted murder. I'd certainly be very very vocal and public when I found out. Not only would I broadcast to everyone on the boat, but probably everyone in the local dive community. I'm upset just reading this thread. The diver who did this is a moron and the more other divers and captains who know it, the better.

Totally agree! Too many people on this thread consider it 'cute' (boys will be boys, just take the 'hazing' like a man and shut up, like we did back in the 60's!, stop being such a p*ssy!). Worse, this captain is enabling the behavior by not banning him from his boat, like every other boat/dive ops who isn't insane already has! DUH !!!

 

[scubafanatic]

Give me a break. This was a set of doubles with independent first and second stages. At no time was Trace in any peril. Trace? Do you feel like if you had jumped in the water and breathed off your closed down primary that there would be ANY chance of you not surviving? Or would you just reach back and turn your gas on or grab your necklace?

If Trace thinks he would be in real danger, please quit teaching now. You are not confident or skilled enough to have new divers learn from you.

I know Trace personally. This wouldn't have even raised his heart rate. Cut brake lines? Murder? Get real.

I think you miss the point. I was certified in 2001, so I no longer need to prove to anyone I can dive, so unless I'm in a paid training class, nobody has my permission/legal authority to decide to 'test' me to see if I can catch/handle scuba gear sabotage. I'm not a Navy SEAL undergoing combat hazing ! If anyone 'tests' me in this manner I promise I will 'test' them back in a time and place of my own choosing.

 

[Trace Malinowski]

I really regret starting this thread now. A boat captain and diver who I think is leagues above many is being turned into the bad guy. The prankster didn't turn off the gas of an open water diver. He turned off the gas of a former training director and current cave and tech instructor trainer evaluator. Let's hope the dive industry hasn't become as inept as we accuse it of being here on SB where a tech/cave ITE can't be trusted to reach his right manifold knob. If he had done that to just any diver, I'm sure my buddy would ban him for life.

 

[Trace Malinowski]

By the way, here I am fixing a post failure not just reaching a knob. So, let's cut the prankster a bit of a break and leave my friend's reputation unsoiled as a captain. The joker may simply not have realized the implications.

 

[scubafanatic]

I'm glad you have faith in me, Pete! The offender believed the same. He wasn't trying to harm me. He had confidence in my ability to handle a closed post and assumed it would just be a funny joke. I was more perplexed by the breach of etiquette. We are taught not to touch anyone else's gear. Had I found it shut in the water, I would have just opened it. The only scenarios I could imagine the prank posing a legitimate threat would be some sort of rapid rescue or having to donate a reg on the way down. Unlikely, but messing around with other people's equipment and air supply has long been considered a giant faux pas. It's almost an unheard of breach of conduct. The diver just needs to learn that there is a time and a place for practical jokes.

For those who think the guy should be harmed or banned from participating in the sport, I was invited out by a friend who is a captain for a competing dive shop. I spent two days having an absolutely awesome time on a boat that I used to patron quite frequently before I started working for the shop I am currently teaching at. Sure. My friend could kick him off the boat, but then the diver would never have a mentor who can get him squared away. I would rather see him on my buddy's boat, learning from my friend who is a great guy, great captain, and diver. He's the third generation of a legendary diving family here in the 1000 Islands and nobody better for the prankster to learn from and perhaps grow into a diver who will become more thoughtful and responsible. We certainly aren't experts in mental illness, but I don't think the culprit is crazy. He's very well-educated academically, but not from the USA and I think his problem is that he's just young, dumb, and full of ... surprises.

The captain has a higher duty to the ethical/safe operation of a dive boat than to attempt amateur psychotherapy, and this rogue is not a 1st time offender, but a repeat offender banned from other boats, with deep seated cultural/mental differences incompatible with scuba. When a person has been kicked off/banned from other dive boats for rogue behavior outside any acceptable norms (at least in our society), what makes you think the light bulb is suddenly going to go off under this particular captain ? And does this captain have the right to gamble with innocent victims lives during the rogue's learning curve ?

 

[scubafanatic]

Nobody should touch other people's stuff unless asked. The jokester was 100% wrong. But at the end of the day its your responsibility to make sure your stuff is in working order before you splash.





Just wondering why you two feel superior to the guy who shut off the valve? Do you think violence is the answer to this problem? Would you going to prison over this really make any of this better? Or are you guys just internet tough guys?

There are subtle, sneaky ways to do payback, not just overt violence...I prefer the 'you won't even see it coming' approach.

 

[scubafanatic]

Times change. What used to be considered a prank or team building is now considered hazing.

50 years ago...if someone shut your air off like that...I'd assume they were just joking around or trying to teach you a lesson. These days...I'd assume that person is a moron and/or a psychopath.

Ah, the good 'ol days.....Gladiatorial games....genocide......Spanish Inquisition...when men were MEN! , nowadays we're all just a bunch of PC sissies!

 

[scubafanatic]

The lesson here is that you should NEVER skip your pre-entry check off, and that check off should be thorough.

The only diver this "prank" would hurt is a poor one. Just don't be that one.

A prankster worth their salt could easily turn off your air after you'd done your pre entry check off, which would make you one of those 'poor' divers who really don't deserve to live anyway, poor divers deserve bad things to happen to them, right ?

 

[Trace Malinowski]

The moral of this story is not about the offender. He is just "that guy" and as Trace mentioned, he has been banned from multiple shops and boats in the area, to include the one I work for. But "that guy" doesn't have to be an obnoxious prankster with poor judgment. It could be a curious OW student, your own brain fart, or maybe a jaded ex.

The real lesson here, is that a man with 8000 dives, 1500 of them in caves, and the list goes on (see www.scubacoachtrace.com)...... This guy still does a complete gear check every time he dons his kit.

Trace's safety was not in jeopardy. It was what I would consider a safety violation, but anyone who has ever been trained by Trace knows he is an expert at being OOG. In fact, I've never witnessed him finish a dive on his own gas . Just today (training dive with simulated failures) he OOG'd me at 130' and then OOG'd me during deco, then gave me a left post failure non-fixable just before OOG'ing my deco bottle and finishing the 10' stop buddy breathing.

Truly, his performance in trimix class today was perhaps the best ever in a tech course. After a beautiful team descent down the pipeline in Alexandria Bay into the shipping channel at 130 feet, I pulled an OOG at max pen. To save student gas, I stayed on my own regulator, but routed the student's long hose as if we were sharing from his tanks. We returned cross current to a wall and ascended on time and target, led by the student, with me pretending to be both disengaged and engaged in the deco. You know the drill. Two divers signaling like, "Level off. Deco. 2 minutes. Hit the timer." Sometimes, I was rock-paper-scissoring it with the leader. Other times, I was distracted as a stressed diver might be when OOG. We shared to the gas switch and went to dummy Nitrox50 at 70 feet. Our shop compressor is getting repaired so we ran a mock square profile 21/35 with 50 switch using air and nitrox32. PSAI standards want dive one of trimix 1 to be performed on air between 100 and 130 then we use helium for the next 3 to 5 dives. I cached the Nx50 bottle and the student donated the deco reg from his mouth. We traversed the pipes beneath the pleasure boat traffic. Once safely near the swim area manned by lifeguards, I failed his left post and necklaced reg by air gunning it. I signaled it was broken. After which, I went OOG on his deco bottle. We buddy-breathed the old-fashioned way by passing the long hose reg back and forth for the last 3 minutes of planned deco at 10 feet. During the buddy breathing, procedure, I stowed his deco hose to clean up. Throughout the entire dive we hovered in current without using a line. Beautiful! Except ... I got the full deco while my otherwise brilliant student forgot he was only on back gas and ended up "bent." During the debrief, he replied, "You asked me, 'What deco?' I told you 7 and 3 which was YOUR deco. I knew mine." LOL! Cough ... cough ... bulls**t ... cough.

 

[scubafanatic]

Dude it's not a "fluctuation myth" and duh of course the spg needle won't fluctuate if the valve is full open, that's the whole POINT of doing it. If the valve is closed, the spg needle will drop when the diver takes a breath off their regulator during the predive check. That's how you confirm your valve is in fact, OPEN. It's a REALLY simple concept.

This may not be such a simple concept, if one's IQ falls below the average, um, .........Banana !