The burn! (Negativity towards tech divers)

[bl6394]

On one occasion, I did a did a series of dives in Key Largo , Key West with a group of divers I knew only slightly. Most were Recreational - and generally nice folks. But there was this DM / Instructor who took a serious disliking to my kit... She worked the counter at an LDS and when I tried unsuccessfully to by a bootless SPG from her - I might not have made the best impression. (She didn't know what a bootless SPG was.)

Anyway - while on the boat, it takes me about 90 seconds to slip into my BPW, position the necklace backup regulator and wrap the long hose primary. But she made a big deal of wanting to get into the water first - because she didn't want to have to "wait for me to get all my complicated gear assembled."

Later she complained about how much my backplate, D-Rings and Bolt Snaps rattled.

Finally - she told me i REALLY should be doing these dives (Spiegel Grove, Vandenberg) in a Jacket BCD. Her annoyance was palpable.

I just smiled and thanked her for her advice. God Bless.

Bjorn

 

[TSandM]

Later she complained about how much my backplate, D-Rings and Bolt Snaps rattled.​

Love it! That's way too funny. I'm pretty sure that, when my gear is fully assembled, I have precisely ONE boltsnap that is free to rattle, which is the spare I carry to clip my light off when shooting a bag.

 

[smellzlikefish]

I may be guilty of said tech-hate, but given the situations it rears its ugly head, I feel it is warranted and reasoned. There ar two situations where the hate arrises.

The first is when I have to help haul somebody else's double 120's onto my boat only to have to wait as the diver dresses up in a full dry suit (in Hawaii), long hose, stage bottle and what not. I've waited at the surface for 10 minutes (or more) as this gearing up process slowly unfolded like a slow moving car accident. I have other things I could be doing than waiting to descend. The argument for the superfluous gear is always that the stuff is no more of a hassle than with a single 80. If it wasn't such a bother, then why am I so annoyed?

The other instance is when my gear-geek buddies try to convince me to take my set of doubles on dives where it really isn't necessary. I really don't like the extra weight, extra drag, and extra nuisance of doubles if it can be avoided. My favorite diving is with a backplate (no wing), harness, single tank, and reg because it is simple and about as streamlined as possible. Tech divers seem to thrive when they have hung as much gear off their harness as possible which is pretty much the antithesis of my preferred style of diving.

Tech diving has its place and purpose and I have even toyed with the idea of going deeper the right way with technical diving (thus the doubles), but for the dives my buddies and I normally do with max depths of less than 130, it just doesn't make sense. I know the solutions (find new dive buddies), but I rather like the buddies I have, we just don't ALWAYS agree on the proper approach to a dive.

 

[ajduplessis]

Lack of knowledge and understanding is always a disabling factor.

 

[Mike2Fst]

At my local dive site, usually rec divers show interest and ask questions which I'm happy to answer, what gets me as a sidemount diver is that the back mount doubles folks seem to think think it is their obligation to turn me on to the "proper way" to dive doubles. More power to them, let's just dive and have a good time!!!

 

[rlynch]

We don't see too much of it in RDU area, NC, mostly likely b/c I run the FB divers group locally and normally dive my doubles and dry setup (pick one config that you will use for most of your "real" diving and learn to rock, is my motto). We dive with mixed groups with everything from side mount to fresh OW grads in rental gear with out any issues. we also don't push any style of diving either but will answer any questions people may have about our doubles setups, etc. My only experience with negativity has been from a fellow student in my DM class, which was actually kinda funny to me. Root cause in that case was it was different than what they were doing so inherently wrong I believe. Either way a whatever moment for me. I have had a few people remark comment on how easily I can keep my "heavy" rubber fins off the bottom (i'm normally in the trim position ) and one suggest ankle weights to help me keep them down. Both brought smiles to my face and a polite no thank you. We will see what Hawai'i brings later this summer for comments off the boats (singles GUE spec setup with lights etc, but a wetsuit I think just for ease of getting ready, all my dives will be in a single tank right now since that's the customer base i'll be diving with)

 

[Randy43068]

Perhaps it's a reaction to how you carry yourself.

Just come across a bit of negativity towards tech divers and tech diving in general.
Anyone else catching a bit of this attitude out there?
I know not everyone will be your friend but because you dive a certain way?
The world is not as an accepting place as I once thought, !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously though I have noticed some vibe out there at local watering holes.
I have tried to not enter in to the beating of any level or agency of divers but yet get lumped into the group I look like!
So be it.
This is not a B&M thread just wondered it anyone else having this issue other areas?

CamG Keep Diving....Keep Training....Keep Learning.

---------- Post added May 8th, 2012 at 09:48 PM ----------

Love it! That's way too funny. I'm pretty sure that, when my gear is fully assembled, I have precisely ONE boltsnap that is free to rattle, which is the spare I carry to clip my light off when shooting a bag.

Ha! I always carry a spare double-ender. Can't tell you how many times I've either dropped the one while "spooling" and I've sent one up with the bag a time or two. So now I carry a spare.

 

[randytay]

Not exactly negative towards tech but more towards the agency I'm affiliated with. An LDS owner told me literally he was uncomfortable with me in his shop because he was trying to promote TDI but his instructor there are is not streamlined in the water....

 

[Allison Finch]

Just initiate a positive conversation about the benefits of Spare Air, they'll soon be buying you drinks and back-slapping

You know....that is the attitude that starts a lot of the angst against tech divers. As a former tech diver who did penetration cave diving in the late 70's early 80's, giving it mostly up in the late 90's...I see way too much diving arrogance from my fellow techies. I found it unpleasant enough to drift away from it. The "holier than thou" falls hard on people who have been diving longer than some techies have been alive when they are treating extremely experienced divers like dirt because their gear is rec gear.

 

[randytay]

You know....that is the attitude that starts a lot of the angst against tech divers. As a former tech diver who did penetration cave diving in the late 70's early 80's, giving it mostly up in the late 90's...I see way too much diving arrogance from my fellow techies. I found it unpleasant enough to drift away from it. The "holier than thou" falls hard on people who have been diving longer than some techies have been alive when they are treating extremely experienced divers like dirt because their gear is rec gear.

Actually no. My experience with "experienced" divers, especially those who have been diving for longer since I was alive, is that they treat us like dirt because we sought advanced training beyond what they could offer, and besides reminiscing about what they have done which they call "experience", they have neither the skills nor knowledge to back it up. Case in point: a very experienced diver who was recognized by a certain agency and given a recognition plaque for doing more than 10,000 dives, who was diving before I was born, has no idea what a p-valve is, assembled my doubles with the isolator pointed downwards while insisting that it is the correct way to do it because he was experienced, who cannot stay 3 inches off the bottom without kicking up silt, and forget about being still in the water column while doing a safety stop. Yet, he will take every chance presented to take a jab at me and my buddies. Go figure.