Pet safety peeves--no debating

[nyprrthd]

yea, I want him in ...the cult.

Cult!?! What cult!?! How do I join!?!

Now to the peeves:
1. DM's who take admitted newbies on "trust me" dives
2. Divers who go on "trust me" dives (guilty, but it won't happen again)
and.....
3. DM's who take off on a tear, especially when they know they have told newbie divers to trust them.
4. Experienced divers who treat newbies as if they had the plague; even if the newbie has asked for input to help improve. Luckily, many are willing to share their knowledge.

I agree that some people just don't react well to criticism. I've been very involved in boating, and find that some folks will tell you to go do something unnatural to yourself if you make a suggestion.

To avoid confrontation ask, "Would you be open to a few suggestions / some input?" If the answer is no, go on with your day. If it's yes, make sure that your comments are constructive, and that you give the reason for your suggestions. I'm talking about common sense reasons, not agency specific dogma.

 

[Hank49]

What I really hate is....uhhhh....wull, and then there's.....uhhhh....and what really pisses me off is......uhhh....are you kidding? I can't imagine being out on any boat going diving and bothering to be pissed off anytime.

 

[Rick Murchison]

2. Divers who cannot reach their tank valves.

That's my #1.
Rick

 

[dherbman]

Give me 5 more just like Hank49 and let's go diving!

 

[engdiver]

1. Buddies that want you to follow them during the dive and never check back the whole time to see if you are there while swimming to cover as much distance as possible during the dive.

2. Dive boats that expect you to be satisfied with 12" of bench for yourself and all your gear.

 

[TheRedHead]

What about people who believe you can dive in a place like Cozumel without doing something of a trust me dive? You have control of your depth and making sure you surface with enough gas, but you aren't "planning" this dive in any real sense.

People who believe that tropical divers are only vacation divers and that you can't be a real diver unless you dive in cold water.

And people who have made the above statements without ever diving in the tropics.

 

[Cacia]

I wish that someone would analyze all this by making a list of concrete things like "be able to reach tank valve, carry safety sausage, get through surf zone fast, etc"
leave off all the "people that know everything, bashers, etc" anything sorta vague would not make the list. the list might be a crash course that would be like a cheat sheet for eager, struggling new divers. Then, we could all feel like we channeled this into something good and that "hey, we are too helpful"!



Then, we could make a second list called "prevailing attitudes" and list generalized stereotypes like 1. Solo vs Bad idea 2. DIR vs non-DIR etc
I don't know about you all, but I was sort of struck by how new divers must feel just starting out....
Reminds me of this day a cross boat captain snapped at this customer as he struggled with the door hatch to the head. "Lets see if we can be smarter than the door"!
to which I replied later, you know, xxxxxxx, that guy flys 767's so I bet if you were in his cockpit, you might not know everything either. He looked at me like that had never occured to him!
Even I do it. Why did that person bump my camera?!!@#$$%##. anyway, thats what I got from the thread mainly. Except there were maybe six or seven new points that made me have a light-bulb moment. (reach your valve, get through the surf zone, etc)

 

[dherbman]

I wish that someone would analyze all this by making a list of concrete things like "be able to reach tank valve, carry safety sausage, get through surf zone fast, etc"

Hey, it's your thread....

So, when can we expect to see 'the list'?

 

[Ishie]

1. DMs that lead like a shark is chasing them when they're diving with a group of slug-slow photographers.
2. Resort divers that have technically logged more dives than you (off a boat in tropical waters drift diving) who act like the pros from dover when diving Monterey, despite doing everything wrong (no gear check, emergency ascent while dragging me up, tumbling in surf).
3. Buddies that do the big ditch.
4. Buddies that park on your fins.
5. Buddies that try to pass off like nothing's wrong when something's wrong (ear problems, low air, lost, etc).
5a. Buddies that don't want to terminate the dive early, thus don't bother giving you a "halfway" sign, and don't tell you until they're at 400psi, then requiring an 800 yard surface swim, when you'd have no trouble doing a 40 minute dive providing you got the option to TURN AROUND at 20 minutes.
6. Harbor seals that show up when you're at 550 psi and start acting cute and photographable to try and tempt you into going OOA. Psychotic little demons.

 

[Vayu]

1. Not securing the tank.
2. Not clipping off gear.
3. Not diving frequently.

-V