Skill or Stupid Stunt

[NineGill]

Hi All,

I'm an inexperienced diver (5 post-cert dives) and don't know how much I don't know yet, so please be gentle.

Since my last dive in January (honeymoon in Cozumel) , I've been swimming twice a week at a local YMCA with some dive friends to stay in shape until the water gets warm enough for us to dive locally. The last few of weeks, we've put on scuba gear to practice skills and play in the pool. I don't own my gear yet, so I usually borrow a bcd, reg, weight belt and tank from a friend who is a new DM (DiveMaster).

Last week, we did some pool work. There was me, my dive buddy who got his OW with me, but is now a RD (Rescue Diver), the DM and his girlfriend who is AOW and working on RD. While my DM friend was helping his girlfriend prepare for her upcoming RD class, my dive buddy and I were at the deep end of the pool (12') practicing skills and playing around. We got bored and decided to swap gear underwater. Just to be clear, we didn't plan or discuss this above water, we just started doing it.

My dive buddy has integrated weights, so he had problems with being bouyant while we swapped bcds, but we actually finished and then ascended to the surface. We were greeted by one very annoyed DM friend. He chewed us both out for doing an advanced skill without training. My dive buddy questioned him a little and was told that he shouldn't be doing anything that advanced with a inexperienced OW diver like me and that there was a huge liability problem since I was in the DM's gear. He said I could hurt myself with my own gear, but I better not do it in his.

Everyone was edgy, so I just apologized and went on, even though I felt I did not fully understand the danger. I totally understand if anyone feels they are in legal jeopardy, so I'll be more careful when using someone else's gear. My question is were we doing something truly unsafe if it was my own gear?

I know from anecdote and this board that people are hurt and killed in pools, but I had lung over-expansion in my mind the whole time and was prepared to immediately exhale if bouyancy got out of hand. I'm also aware that an exercise like that should be planned better, but I didn't see the problem in the pool. I have removed and replaced my bcd/reg/tank undedrwater more than a few times, so adding weights, fins and masks didn't seems like a big stretch. I'm very comfortable in the water and in scuba gear, so I'm worried that I'm completely missing something that I should know.

I respect my DM friend a lot , but I really don't want to talk to him about this, since he feels strongly about it and I have an annoying tendancy to question people to death.

So was this a stupid stunt? A valid skill to practice? Something else?

 

[pipedope]

The big risk is financial and liability.

In years past exchanging gear underwater was a skill done during the basic OW class.

Now, I don't know when they teach it but they don't want you doing it until they teach it.

 

[NineGill]

Thanks Pipedope for the speedy reply.

I read you loud and clear about the liabilty, which is why I won't do anything with someone else's gear that they don't want me to.

I'm still not seeing the actual risk, though. For instance, we didn't practice shooting a SMB, but after drift diving in Cozumel and reading this board, I really want to get one and practice this on my own. Although I plan to be cautious, I probably won't wait until I can have an instructor demonstrate this skill before I do it on my own.

I really don't mean to be annoying; I just want to be aware of potetial danger underwater.

BTW: My DM friend said they do the gear swap skill in the PADI DM course; we only removed and replaced our own BCD kits while breathing our regulators in the PADI OW class.

Thanks,

 

[MSilvia]

I did it in my PADI OW course, but if they don't teach it at that level anymore, I can see where someone who teaches for that organization would be edgy about it... especially if they're newly minted, as it were. Liability, etc. Personally, I don't think you did anything wrong.

I see more value in learning to deal with that stuff, and getting more comfortable in the water under controlled conditions than I do in playing it safe until something serious happens that you aren't prepared to deal with. I'd encourage you to practice things on your own (with a buddy)... not all diving knowledge can be aquired through PADI instruction.

 

[Stirling]

I have to say that I don't get it. I don't think there is anything very dangerous about removing and putting on gear under water, or in exchanging gear with another diver while doing it. It's actually a pretty fundamental skill (not the exchanging part - but that's just a detail), and anybody who is certified ought to be able to do it, in my opinion, *without* requiring any additional instruction.

 

[H2Andy]

it's a valid skill to learn.

the problem was, your DM friend is very sensitive to possible liability, even
where none *may* exist (but some *may*).

he's just covering his behind, and rightly so, in this day and age.

it's not so much that you shouldn't practice the skill; it's just that you shouldn't
involve him in possible litigation by using his stuff or doing it while he is around.

just pick a time with your friend and practice. the pool is the place to do it.

 

[redacted]

it's a valid skill to learn.

the problem was, your DM friend is very sensitive to possible liability, even
where none *may* exist (but some *may*).

he's just covering his behind, and rightly so, in this day and age.

it's not so much that you shouldn't practice the skill; it's just that you shouldn't
involve him in possible litigation by using his stuff or doing it while he is around.

just pick a time with your friend and practice. the pool is the place to do it.

If the DM were rationally conserned with liability, he should not have been lending his gear in that manner. The threat of liability has become such a shroud in scuba marketing that many no longer know when it is real and when it is an excuse to make more money. Unfortunately, I'm sure he really believed what he was saying.

That exercise in a 12 foot pool is probably safer than crossing the street with the light. And it is a good exercise to develop and demonstrate confidence and understanding. It is not a skill you will likely ever need or use.

 

[TekDiveGirl]

Well -- I think it is cool you guys are taking the time to work in the pool and gain time and skills practice. A lot of people don't ever do this at all.

Personally - I really don't see an issue with what you guys did. So what - you removed your gear - you swapped it. You are in 12' of water in a pool. This is the time you want to get comfortable checking things out - so when you are out in the real world and the excrement hits the rotating atmospheric accelerator you are a cool cucumber.

Keep practicing and diving.

Kimber

 

[H2Andy]

If the DM were rationally conserned with liability

yup... "if" and "rationally concerned" are the keys there

there's so much litigation now a days that a lot of people in the industry are
afraid of shadows

i can't say i blame them

 

[TekDiveGirl]

yup... "if" and "rationally concerned" are the keys there

there's so much litigation now a days that a lot of people in the industry are
afraid of shadows

i can't say i blame them

If he was so concerned - then he should not have had them down at the pool at all.

Plain and simple. Or give them a rigid set of rules of what they can and can not do.

Kimber