others setting up your gear

[Iruka]

Generally speaking, I allow/expect all my customers to set up their gear...whether their own or rental. If I DO offer to set it up for them, I usually have a specific reason....1) they're setting it up wrong, in which case I'll QUIETLY bring this to their attention and show them how it's done correctly or 2) they are having some physical problem...usually seasickness or whatever & prefer to huddle in some corner, hoping to die, rather than set up their gear. I CERTAINLY have no problem with setting up divers' gear...just as I have no problem with divers setting up their own gear. I TRY to keep my customers happy, which means making some judgement calls on what they like, but I'm not psychic...still working on that! Some divers want/need "just someone to drive the boat"...and when I'm on vacation, that would pretty much describe me. Others want to do the dive and if someone else will ....1) carry the tanks 2) set up the gear 3) wash & hang all the gear 4) fill out their log book for them....they're very happy.

Even little cultural things to be aware of...I'd say most American divers, when they hit the boat ladder at the end of the dive, prefer to take off their own fins....while Japanese expect the guide to take off the fins for them, and hand them up to the crew.

Like I said, I generally let competent, healthy divers take care of their own gear....but I'd hope no-one would growl at me TOO much if I guessed wrong & offered to do it for someone!

 

[Charlie99]

Ron Brandt once bubbled...
I kind of freaks me when a DM asks whick way my reg goes.

No foolin,I run my reg inverted so as not to be higher than the tank valve and therefor , upside down. They allways double check with me as to which way it goes.

I also run my reg inverted, and to further complicate things it is an Atomics B1 with a swivel, so there are some more options as to hose routing.

I've never had a problem. There is only one combination of rotation and up vs. down for which all the hose routings make sense with normal location of SPG and octo.

The DM / boat crew can't figure it out, they are inexperienced.

 

[perpet1]

Cave Diver once bubbled...
I set up my own gear, even if it's only a 40 ft reef dive. I may have a trusted buddy double check hose routing or let the DM do the same under my close supervision, but unless I specifically ask for help, then I don't want any.

I have my own routine for setting up my dive gear and performing checks and I like it that way. It's done quickly but efficiently and I never have to worry that I forgot a step when I do everything myself.

Call it a control thing.....

 

[kwesler]

as much as a part of getting my focus on diving together as anything else-call it a physical mantra...

I just got back from Saba, and my buddy and I were the only ones who insisted on doing our own gear. 1 or 2 divers "checked" in a way that made me think it was essential to them that they have their gear set up for them.

I have seen divers in the Florida Keys actually get testy when they were told they had to do their gear themselves, even when the DM explained it helped him understand their comfort level.

It is almost one of those situations where the only people who COULD have their gear set up for them, are the ones who NEVER would allow it.

Ken

 

[dc4bs]

Iruka once bubbled...
Even little cultural things to be aware of...I'd say most American divers, when they hit the boat ladder at the end of the dive, prefer to take off their own fins....while Japanese expect the guide to take off the fins for them, and hand them up to the crew.

WHAT?

I can get someone else to take my fins off at the ladder?

Why didn't anyone tell me that before now?

I dunno if it's really a PREFERENCE. More just our ignorance of this service even being available...

------

I can't recall a single dive I've ever done where I didn't set up all my own gear.

Even in OW class. Our instructor showed us what to do and we did it for ourselves. We could ask all the questions we wanted and he'd demonstrate it as many times as needed but he wouldn't do it for you...

Then again, he gets really annoyed when anyone touches his gear without asking him first... For ANY reason.

 

[Diver0001]

Wendy once bubbled...
Ok I started thinking about this after reading another thread. How do you guys feel about having the boat crew setting up your gear? What if its rental gear from there? Your gear?

I personally won't let anyone else touch my gear. This one time I was on a charter and the 15 year old boat boy walked around and was making sure everyone's air was on and I stood there and watched him turn mine off! I asked him he was planning on making me dive with my air turned off and I made sure that he didn't touch my gear the remainder of the trip.

Theoretically *if* the crew were to set it up I would just go and double check everything anyway. The whole idea of someone else setting up my gear for me seems foreign.

R..

 

[diverbrian]

Iruka once bubbled...

Even little cultural things to be aware of...I'd say most American divers, when they hit the boat ladder at the end of the dive, prefer to take off their own fins....while Japanese expect the guide to take off the fins for them, and hand them up to the crew.

We had a boat captain up here who tried taking my fins off at the ladder. He got politely told that my fins stay with me (I take them off and loop them over my wrist, as I was trained to do from my first pool session.) until I am safely on the boat. Actually he liked the idea.

If I lose my grip on the ladder and wind up back in the water, I can get my fins on and be able to swim to the boat even in a current, not be a swimmer carrying a bunch of gear in need of rescue. I have helped too many people already back to the boat in moderate surface currents who have let go of the ladder. I have heard horror stories of divers in heavier currents who have done the same.

 

[ColdH20diving]

I let students set up my gear during pool sessions, but that's it. When it comes to open water I do it myself. While diving in Australia the boat crew set up our gear, it was nice having someone change out cylinders, however, we always double checked our gear.

 

[WaterDawg]

Big-t-2538 once bubbled...


I can think of a few other things I'd like the boat crew to do outside of my gear.....but this is a family board....and the price of trips would probably increase a little.

Ha! I bet thats included in some Thailand boats!