Thinking to solo dive ???

[Cacia]

Just for argument's sake, let's just ask ourselves if there could be people out there that "face their fears" and become better divers and possibly safer. Of course I am not agreeing with the strategy per say, but if you are using stats, you have to realize that the divers who do NOT die/panic because they did "X" are out there.--and possibly better for it.

For example, I spent much of my life terrified of sharks. I'm not anymore. Diving with sharks multiple times "cured" the irrational component. If a shark had attacked me on my first elected shark dive, does that mean that strategy would be a bad one for others?

Obviously, diving alone was a miscalculation for given diver (being hypothetical) but how do you account for all the divers that might be stronger for it?

 

[Rick Murchison]

Seems he suffered from panic attacks and wanted to get rid of them by facing them solo.....

Doing a solo dive to face your demons?

Not a great idea. ...

I can't for the life of me imagine why anyone would want to face demons. There's enough demon-facin' in life without seeking it out. It isn't pleasant - I for one try to minimize any contact with demons while diving...
That said, it is one of life's paradoxes that one can't be a "real" cave diver/aviator/rock climber/white-water kayaker etc until they've had the dragon climb their back, and beat it!
Rick

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Just for argument's sake, let's just ask ourselves if there could be people out there that "face their fears" and become better divers and possibly safer. Of course I am not agreeing with the strategy per say, but if you are using stats, you have to realize that the divers who do NOT die/panic because they did "X" are out there.--and possibly better for it.

For example, I spent much of my life terrified of sharks. I'm not anymore. Diving with sharks multiple times "cured" the irrational component. If a shark had attacked me on my first elected shark dive, does that mean that strategy would be a bad one for others?

Obviously, diving alone was a miscalculation for given diver (being hypothetical) but how do you account for all the divers that might be stronger for it?

Absolutely possible ... even probable.

Wouldn't want to face the "demon" of a panic attack underwater though ... especially not alone ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[captain]

Not necessarly a demon, but any situation in which we may have doughts about facing.
I had operated small boats offshore for twenty years but until the day I had to face a storm with 50 knot winds and 15 foot seas I really never had complete confidence in my boat handling abilities. Since then seas that before made me nervous don't really bother me at all.

 

[GDI]

If fear is to be overcome, that is facing the demon, a diver I believe can use it to become a better diver. Fear can mean to have respect as much as it indictates being afraid of something.
People take up diivng for many different reasons. I have had students for example during the class not realize they have a fear, an instinctive reaction to breathing under water or the typical mask removal skill. We work until the fear comes under control and soon becomes null and void. Then we hit the open water and a new environment unlike the pool. Here some apprehension is present and just like in the pool the student gets through it and soon realizes there is no need to fear this, instinctive reaction, they have defeated their demon. Part of this apprehension is of course due to the "testing syndrum".
Another example as mentioned is cave diving. In cave diving the bar is raised for expected skill and knowledge levels. Here instructors start by using accident analysis, looking at worst case scenarios. In some students you can see a form of respectful fear (RF) develop, in others there is only an extra element to their education. This RF both counters and compliments the instinctive fear of the cave's darknss, as we learn more we fear or rather respect and understand more with the difference of having control over it. Each student is different in their reaction and in cave diving will be instructed based on their individual threashold levels with the concept designed to develop a RF to the cave improving their chances to survive and preserve the cave environment.
Solo divers need as part of their development a respective fear and to learn to use this to better prepare them for the dive or dives they are planning. A more skillful solo diver will be less obvious in detecting any fears (read respect here) where as a lessor skilled and experienced diver may demonstrate a varying degree of apprehension and still safely conduct the dive.

How was that put? We have nothing to fear but fear itself! That being said it is best IMO under controlled environments to develop the respect of ones demons. Diving is a sport that truely the more you know the more fun it is.

 

[Doc Harry]

I flew into Fort Lauderdale this past weekend for some diving.

I felt more FEAR FOR MY LIFE driving the streets of Fort Lauderdale than I ever have during any one of my 50+ solo dives.

And I dive to 75-100 feet in dark, cold freshwater reservoirs where the viz is less than 20 feet.

Pick your poison!

 

[Doc Harry]

I can't for the life of me imagine why anyone would want to face demons. There's enough demon-facin' in life without seeking it out. It isn't pleasant - I for one try to minimize any contact with demons while diving...
That said, it is one of life's paradoxes that one can't be a "real" cave diver/aviator/rock climber/white-water kayaker etc until they've had the dragon climb their back, and beat it!
Rick

Even the ancients knew that only in adversity do we learn our own self worth.

 

[hudson]

I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.

There is a difference though, between getting yourself into a situation where you will, in all likelihood, survive (such as boarding a plane or tandem skydiving) and one where the fear may itself easy result in a fatal mistake (such as a panic attack underwater).

 

[Nemrod]

I solo dive exactly like this to any depth I want within reason both from shore/beach or boat completely alone and have been doing so for something like 40 years. You guys over do things and over science things to the point of absurdity on this board. No BC, single tank, single double hose Aqua Master, SPG, depth, watch compass and nowadays a sausage and finger reel and good sharp knife. Don't need a card, don't need a book, don't need approaval. It is going to be a great year ahead of solo diving--to the limit--totally alone and on my own, just like always.

Minimalist diving, the new wave, reduce your carbon footprint, leave it in the store.

N

 

[Zinc]

So, regarding SOLO DIVING:

Consider the following passage...

"But I like the inconveniences."

"We don't," said the Controller. "We prefer to do things comfortably."

"But I don't want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin."

"In fact," said Mustapha Mond, "you're claiming the right to be unhappy."

"All right then," said the Savage defiantly, "I'm claiming the right to be unhappy."

"Not to mention the right to grow old and ugly and impotent; the right to have syphilis and cancer; the right to have too little to eat; the right to be lousy; the right to live in constant apprehension of what may happen tomorrow; the right to catch typhoid; the right to be tortured by unspeakable pains of every kind." There was a long silence.

"I claim them all," said the Savage at last.

Mustapha Mond shrugged his shoulders. "You're welcome," he said.

--from Brave New World by Aldous Huxley