Relative risk in diving

[Bob DBF]

The legal term is "derepmet visibility"... Where you can only read tempered backwards in your mask.

And that's only if your light is against the glass.

 

[tursiops]

If the SPG had existed way back when, I suspect the multi-tank shutoff system and the R/J valve would not have been invented.

 

[Bob DBF]

If the SPG had existed way back when, I suspect the multi-tank shutoff system and the R/J valve would not have been invented.

They, or at least one of them, for the same reason they are still in use today, if one works in zero viz it's good to switch to a reserve, and using a single tank limits the solution. Cousteau had a valved solution for multiple tanks, but the modern valved manifold as we know it now did not exist until well after the SPG.

J-valve was introduced in '51
SPG in '58 Cost, the j-valve, and the unbalanced regulator slowed its adoption by recreational divers.
Modern valved manifold in '70

 

[Celt]

The SPG will be here for a very long time because the vast majority of divers will not go into or be in a zero viz environment on purpose.

Cheap torches that could withstand the pressure changed everything, the Q-light was a marvellous thing although I destroyed a few of them too. Even today I’ll avoid using lights as it ruins your night vision and ability to work in poor vis.

 

[The Chairman]

Even today I’ll avoid using lights as it ruins your night vision and ability to work in poor vis.

If I'm diving in the dark w/o using lights, I'll close my eyes and shine my light on my SPG and the turn it off. Many of my SPGs are glow in the dark and don't emit enough light to ruin my vision.

FWIW, I almost always have one or two lights on me. There have been a few exceptions, and I always had wished I had one along.

 

[Wibble]

A decent backup torch using alkaline batteries, such as the Ammonite LED1, is an easy and almost permanent solution to a backup. It's on the bottom of the RH shoulder harness, clipped to the chest D-ring and with a couple of "Snoopy loops" to hold it in place.

As with the best of things, it just works. Should you need to see and your main torch as given up the ghost; reach down and there's a trusty spare.

 

[Fin kicker]

Perceived risk changes with age. Especially in men.
You only need to look at Motorcycle fatalities, or MTB injuries / cliff diving / Drink driving / Pub fights etc.

As I've got older, my perceived risk is exaggerated, probably brought on by the fear driven media economy that we live in.

At 53 after nearly 30 years of diving I manage risk by training across multiple disciplines.
I wouldn't Scuba dive without being fit enough to Ocean swim though surf for a half mile.
I also cycle a lot, and know my cardiovascular fitness.
So, I'm hedging for the inevitable incident.

At 25 I would solo dive at night with Sharks, sometimes I did this during a shark feed whilst working as a DM after a night dive.
Bounce diving after breakfast to 200 feet on air, was also not uncommon.

So young people push their limits.
Years later, I worked in Hospitals, and saw at least 6 dead cyclists, through head injuries, lying in the morgue.
That hasn't stopped me cycling, but it has developed a defensive mindset. A defensive mindset is what will keep you alive, on the street, underwater, and on a mountain.
Those who don't think like this can end up out of their depth.

 

[TMHeimer]

Risk is very personal. Actually, I don't THINK I was one of those young people who pushed the envelope at age 18-20. I also never got in trouble in school, never cut classes, had great marks, yet wasn't labeled a Band geek because I was on the basketball team. I was lucky.
Now, age 68 I dive solo almost exclusively. I just like doing my own thing on my own timeline. But, my thing is (though I do violate it on rare occasions in places I know well) a 30 foot depth limit. I know I can easily do a CESA from there and practice it maybe every 3rd dive. My figuring is the deeper you are, the harder it is to surface if you have to (lots of threads on deep CESAs and on practicing them in general). Also, any buddy I do have on a boat dive will be an "instabuddy", so I'm not in the securest of situations there.
About heart attacks at my age-- Not concerned. Because A. I do my best to not cover large areas and exert myself too much and B. I spend a couple of months alone in a trailer each summer and 2 weeks alone in a cabin in Northern Canada, and was alone most of the time until married at age 41. It's more likely I'd die from a heart attack when alone in these places and no one finds me for many days than on a 45 minute shallow solo scuba dive.

 

[100days-a-year]

I have a close friend who is an actuary, he tells me relative risk isn't rocket science to quantify as it is the business plan for all insurance companies. Diving is probably not even top 10 most dangerous as a hobby. All the sky sports will come first, followed by people attempting to propel themselves into the sky.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Perceived risk changes with age. Especially in men.
You only need to look at Motorcycle fatalities, or MTB injuries / cliff diving / Drink driving / Pub fights etc.

As I've got older, my perceived risk is exaggerated, probably brought on by the fear driven media economy that we live in.

At 53 after nearly 30 years of diving I manage risk by training across multiple disciplines.
I wouldn't Scuba dive without being fit enough to Ocean swim though surf for a half mile.
I also cycle a lot, and know my cardiovascular fitness.
So, I'm hedging for the inevitable incident.

At 25 I would solo dive at night with Sharks, sometimes I did this during a shark feed whilst working as a DM after a night dive.
Bounce diving after breakfast to 200 feet on air, was also not uncommon.

So young people push their limits.
Years later, I worked in Hospitals, and saw at least 6 dead cyclists, through head injuries, lying in the morgue.
That hasn't stopped me cycling, but it has developed a defensive mindset. A defensive mindset is what will keep you alive, on the street, underwater, and on a mountain.
Those who don't think like this can end up out of their depth.

Younger bodies can take more abuse/recover faster

When I was in my 20s, I spent most weekends skiing in Tahoe in winter. One weekend, it dumped several feet of snow. So my buddies and I headed to Kirkwood where we were skiing off the upper cliffs over and over.
The next morning, my back was super stiff. I had to roll out of bed and I couldn't stand until after 10 minutes of stretching.

At 25, I was too old for that kaka.

No wonder a lot of the extreme skiing stuff I see with kids who are a buck 40 at most.