Stress and situational awareness

[CamG]

Greetings TSandM and great thread. I can relate so very much on several occasions this past spring when my neck seal leaked it was horrific. The ice was still on most of the quarry water temps were in the 35º range and air temps were in the 40º's.
Unpleasant and dangerous! First dive was a short burst down through chest to the groin. Next dive was massive shot of water that instantly turned the dive.
The coldest I have ever gotten in my entire life and mental reasoning was impaired to a drastic level. It was a mind over matter to proceed to do our 5 min. stop and exit.

This OW experience taught me that when your environmental protection is compromised the dive is turned and diving is over till it is repaired or replaced.
While I was working on my Intro in FL I was strangely comfortable in my DS even with a little damp. But I can fully understand that my dive times were short compared to Full Cave dives.
Awareness is a serious topic and any stressor requires serious attention.
Wisdom prevails and sound judgement is golden while determining when to opt out of diving. I have opted out of more dives this season simply because I physically did on feel well. In the past I would have altered the dive plan to accommodate a less stressful simpler dive. I have changed my mind after my Intro coarse.

Dive another day and be extra conservative, absolutely no COMPLACENCY.
Advanced dive planning and gas management have made safety top priority.
While on this topic in your opinion collectively I have changed my training schedule to reach Full cave. I am not interested in the zero to Full race but rather focused on training to achieve the proper awareness necessary to master the skill sets and be a good "Cave" diver. I do not want to be a yankee card holder who pretends a few times a year.
I am considering taking Apprentice separate from Full to allow more training time "dives" to take place. Is that a bad idea? I am thinking that it would allow more time for some real dives.

CamG Keep diving....Keep training....Keep learning!

 

[Scott L]

I have lots of comfort factors I pay attention too on every dive in a cave. Like Rob it does not take much for me to call the dive. I usually turn a dive off what I call my fun meter being full, doesn't matter where I am on 1/3rds, when its time to go its time to go.

So true, so true. For non-professionals the sport is supposed to be practiced in the name of fun....

 

[Kevin Carlisle]

So true, so true. For non-professionals the sport is supposed to be practiced in the name of fun....

I think if more people would pay attention to it we might read about fewer bad experiences. To me its simple,its a lot easier to deal with things when your head is fully in the game. Ever new cave diver needs to understand that sooner or later they will be in a position where the environment will not be their friend. It will be a lot easier to deal with the issues if they have not violated their comfort zone or any rules for the dive.