ScubaDiving Mags Lessons for Life

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Nick Steele

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I'm a Fish!
Didn’t post this in basic because I wanted feed back from more experienced divers.

So I was curious as to what other divers thought of the “Lessons for life” section of ScubaDiving magazine website.

I’ve always read these lessons for life post even months before I started diving myself. I have always found enjoyment in reading about dive accidents or “near misses” when I’m not able to get into the water to help further my knowledge.

I understand that these stories seem to be over exaggerated or even somewhat “guessed” upon what happened. I don’t take them as real accounts of what happened but I believe they give me some things to think about.

How does everyone else feel about these “tales”.
 
The one that I remember reading recently, about a fatality during an unplanned wreck penetration, was just silly, with a diver getting about twice the bottom time out of a single tank at 100' as the laws of physics would allow. I just looked at another one describing a diver carrying a 90 cf tank. As far as I know, there is no such thing, certainly not in common use. Even if the author is using fictional stories to make a point he could invest some effort to make them credible, but for whatever reason, doesn't bother to do so.
 
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@rongoodman
Yeah the 100’ one stuck out to me as fiction from the get go but it is based from a story in Cali.

Also there use to be al90s from what I could find until the 1990s so I’m sure there are still some out there but like you said not common.
 
If it makes you think: it's good. The conclusions can be taken with a grain of salt or the whole shaker, but getting you to think is awesome.
 
If it makes you think: it's good. The conclusions can be taken with a grain of salt or the whole shaker, but getting you to think is awesome.
Agreed. I am sure there was a prior SB thread questioning the validity of the stories. My memory is that the stories may lack factual correctness, but they serve a purpose to make people think.
 
I know of at least one story that was true, back when the lessons were being written by Mike Ange. The long story short is that the main person in the story was someone I had taken a class with at my LDS and I had heard the story from a mutual aquaintenance before I read the lesson for life - when I read the lesson for life, it took me a while to figure out why it sounded so familiar and then I realized I had already heard the story.

And it was a very hard-to-believe story! But I knew it was true.
 
...How does everyone else feel about these “tales”.

I can tell you that they are not 'tales'. Each is an actual event but out of respect for the family, the names are changed.

IMHO the most important section of Scuba Board is the Accidents and Incidents section. It's very similar to other "accident" listings/stories/articles/etc. The reason to keep reading these items is that it is a "constant reminder". It's no different than if you have to take continuing education units (CE units) if you hold a certification and are required to complete so many CE's each year (nurse, lawyer, cpa, etc). Even though it's the same lesson over and over, It keeps you reminded and safe.

No different from driving your car and I'm guessing you are a very SAFE driver. But once a week you see another person drive completely stupid and say to yourself " I'd never do that". You get that "constant reminder" of learning from other's incidents so that you will stay safe.

Keep reading, keep shaking your head, keep being reminded NEVER to repeat others mistakes.
 
@Johnoly I didn’t mean “tales” as complete fiction but I see some of the detail are stretched or thought of and not known to be true or false. But I do see most stories and details to be true.
 
Even if they are 100% factual, they're always a fun read when you can't get in the water in the winter months.
 
Lessons for Life was one of the few things I really liked in Scuba Diving magazine before I canceled my subscription. They were written in an engaging manner, which is what I figured you meant by referring to them as "tales."

The DAN magazine, Alert Diver, has something sort of similar: a "DAN was there for me" feature. I did not find the recent issue's tale of "A Rash in Roatan" quite as engaging as those Lessons for Life.
 

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