Sometime – It’s Just One Things After Another

[DandyDon]

call if offensive if you like, but SCUBA already has enough risks involved without someone just making it worse through lack of thinking on the surface.

Could I have expressed it more "gently" ? possibly. Should I have? Maybe not.
I still dont see any evidence that the original poster is doing any more planning or has changed his habits. scary.

SB's Terms Of Service (TOS) were updated somewhat last night. You may obtain details here if you'd like, where you will find another link to the regs, where you may find possibly find guidance for postings. If you feel that a Mod's actions were unfair, such can be appealed. I have a great respect and gratitude for the oversight and actions of the Mods, tho, even if I personally don't like a call or action, so I attempt to accept and rethink in even such times.

I'll be glad to admit that my diving skills are not as good as I would like, and even more so admit that my original attitude when I opened this thread was very unfortunate and dangerously cavalier. I offered the thread as a sharing so others could learn from my mistakes and challenges, and I have as well, today hoping that I am a much better diver as well as striving to become better with every opportunity. I don't get as many dives as I'd like, living over a thousand miles from good diving, but I am making efforts. I am glad that I could bail out the divers I have at times over these past 4 years, I am grateful for the assistance I received the time I needed to be saved from this chain of events, and I continue to be grateful to those who want to help me thru positive suggestions.

I have no current reason to believe that you are qualified to judge me, tho. You come on this thread with absolutely no credentials or dive information in your profile and you have not offered any such evidence. It can be challenging to weed out the beneficial suggestions from the background noise here. I fail to see why you think you know how I dive, why you think you are qualifed to criticize me even if you can find courteous words to do so, or why you think I neither learned from the experience and the previous discussions here. It may be that you just enjoy criticizing? Some do, I can only guess about you.

To all others who have been helpful to me, and the Mods patiently watching this thread - thanks again.

 

[headhunter]

Since Don has brought up the new TOS here, I thought I'd quickly address it and help raise awareness of the new rules.

For those of you wondering what part of the new TOS "workplace friendly" rules might apply, here is the paragraph that is probably most applicable to a thread like this:

Harassment, threats and personal insults: Posts that contain direct or indirect threats of a physical or non-physical nature along with posts that contain personal attacks or insults are not allowed. Users are also expressly forbidden from engaging in activities that may be seen as harassment. This includes targeting other users with a personal attack, intentionally responding to all of a particular user’s thread in a negative manner in order to discredit them or otherwise seeking to intentionally anger, upset or continuously attack another member (trolling). Constructive criticism of other members and debate is encouraged as long as it does not turn into a personal attack. In the event that either party feels a debate is no longer constructive, we ask both parties to respectfully disengage before creating a disruption of the thread.

Note that it's always OK to respectfully disagree or even constructively point out specific behavior that you disagree with, but that it crosses the line when as you point something out you do it "in a negative manner in order to discredit them or otherwise seeking to intentionally anger, upset or continuously attack another member (trolling)".

So while newly defined, personal attacks and trolling have always been against the TOS in the past and will continue to be against the TOS in the future.

Hope this helps.

Christian

 

[bluwolf]

Whew, what a long thread. After reading the many comments of the truly learned divers and their recommendations on gas management, I now have a new dive plan. Should work for most dives, I think.

1. Put on gear
2. Check pressure - 3000 psi
3. Enter water
4. Descent to 15' - Check pressure
5. Do 3-5min safety stop - Check pressure
6. Ascent to surface with adequate air supply.

Now, if I can just figure out how to truly guarantee I will not have a heart attack while under water, I will truly be a "safe" diver.

 

[DandyDon]

Whew, what a long thread. After reading the many comments of the truly learned divers and their recommendations on gas management, I now have a new dive plan. Should work for most dives, I think.

1. Put on gear
2. Check pressure - 3000 psi
3. Enter water
4. Descent to 15' - Check pressure
5. Do 3-5min safety stop - Check pressure
6. Ascent to surface with adequate air supply.

Now, if I can just figure out how to truly guarantee I will not have a heart attack while under water, I will truly be a "safe" diver.

:lol:​

Well, it's got to be slow ascent, as the biggest relative pressure changes are in the shallows. I was hanging at 20 feet on a mooring line Friday off of Utila when I saw one of the newbies in the group float up with a DM. She was starting to drift up too fast, so she hit the the button on her BC - but hit the wrong button. The cork ascent!! Two DMs chased her, ascending too fast themselves - which they shouldn't do, and brought her back down for 7 minutes. I took a few pics. You don't see divers eyes that big very often. I told her on the boat I remember when that happened to me still, and that's why avoid that button in the shallows, using the various dumps instead.

Oh yes, I take aspirins the mornings of any diving, but then at my age - need it for my cowboy knee anyway. I also remember the pregnant heifer that did that to me. :11:

 

[Doc]

I offered the thread as a sharing so others could learn from my mistakes and challenges.

That's what this is all about. Thanks for starting a good source of discussion.

 

[Wreck]

Thanks a bundle for sharing this - if it wasn't for the mishaps of others AND their willingness to share it, a lot of divers might be cluelessly diving on as usual, oblivious to real risks they are taking. The community owes you and everyone else for having the guts to share these incidents.

Despite the best plans, I've never had what I would call a perfect dive. Murphy's Law has been involved in every single one in some minor way shape or form and I never expect that to change, no matter how "safe" a dive is. Murphy is basically my invisible third buddy, and I spend dives anticipating what he could throw at me next. The KISS principle is the best defense against him.

I don't want to drag a technical diving mentality into this thread but IMO, solo diving is a branch discipline of technical diving. Others may not agree with this classification, but I think even they would at least agree that it's on the very threshold of technical diving. As such, I personally would not consider diving solo without a technical gear configuration and all the relevant training and experience that usually accompanies it.

One thing I'd like to emphasize was that the original poster crossed over the threshold into technical diving when he went into deco. This diver was not trained and certified for deco. If you find yourself brushing up next to these types of technical thresholds, you should get trained for it, even if you never intend to make dives involving that training. That training will come in handy when you land yourself in those situations AND it will make you a better, safer diver.

Spend your money on training instead of life insurance - I hate it when I see Darwin and Murphy high-five over a body bag.

Safe dives~

 

[DandyDon]

Thanks Wreck...

Yeah, I really screwed up on that one, and learned a lot from it - much of it on this thread.

I have been trying to get with my Tech Instructor all year, and if it was just a matter of him being too busy - I might consider going to Dallas-Ft.Worth or Houston for the training. (See map below, I'm at the bottom of the Panhandle.) Another one in the Panhandle has been recovering from a devastating plane wreck for 3 years now, and has a ways to go yet.

He broke his leg badly, tho, has had a few surgeries, and needs one more. He is diving some, tho, and I spoke with his wife at the LDS today about this actually. He hopes to work with me on Deco and other issues in September or October before surgery in November.

But here you can criticize me if you life: I am unable to dive with a regular buddy, and the vast majority of dive buddies I have experienced have been undependable liabilities. I almost always feel safer alone than with a boat pick buddy, and increasingly try to allow for this risk. One of the issues we will be working on further...

 

[Wreck]

If possible, I'd pick an instructor who is a fairly active tech diver, been in a wide variety of dive environments, and loves to share what he/she's learned. I've seen technical instructors who basically run over everything in less than an hour, and then go out and do the checkout dives. This may be OK if the instructor thinks the student is already prepared, but there's so much extra that can be shared. Experience is what really counts though.

There's lots of very good instructors in the larger coastal cities although I'd ask some of the technical folks around here for recommendations. You could plan a vacation to one of these cities, take a course, and dive while you're there. Just an idea.

Good luck!

 

[grazie42]

Dandydon...
I don´t know if this is within TOS but if you want an honest, concise and "unsweetend" evaluation of what you did wrong on that dive, the thoughts you had about contingencies and other related issues (perhaps even your Utila dive) I´d go to www.thedecostop.com The folks over there will also be able to give you good advice on how to best adress your "gaps"...

Good luck and may all your dives be safe ones

 

[DandyDon]

Thanks, but no thanks Grazie - I do not think I have to go to that site to find criticism. I seem to get enough on SB - and mostly from the same people...