Thoughts on Deep and Wreck Diving

[LavaSurfer]

So this guy has a "revelation", becomes a "convert" and now not only makes his living teaching "the way" but considers it his smug "calling" to bring attention to any fatalities as being a direct result of not being a "true follower".

Speak to me when it all stops being such a religion and I'll listen. Good God!

Smug, Maybe, some Drama for sure but it seems like a good message.
As far as "religion" it dores seem that way at time from those preaching it.
It reminds me of the days of Voodoo Gas (I was,'t around, reading only). Nobody wanted to switch because it was different, maybe in 10 years everyone will be diving DIR, or not!

There have been some interesting and enlightening thoughts here
Thanks everyone.

Scooter

 

[JEScholz]

25 years ago when I started diving the wrecks of the Jersey coast out of Barnegate Light, there was a crowd of hard core wreck divers who taught us newbies a lot of things. These were the guys who were diving in "trash bag" dry suits with double 72's and every kind of pony bottle imaginable. Harley or Storman Norman would dive solo and set the hook, pop a styrofoam cup to the surface and the dive was on!

One day they brought this blue "brick" with an LCD display and called it a dive "computer". (Eventually it became the "edge") We all tought they would get bent but we would surface after our 30 minutes@ 90' and they would keep on diving. One day Chuck W. left his doubles outside the wreck and squeezed through this little hole in the hull with nothing but a light, a bag, a pony, and 25' of hose on his second stage.

These guys know thier limitations and pushed the envelope. Did some of them die along the way, I don't know, I moved to Michigan and lost touch. My point is that the "Old Crew" tried new things that have led to the tech and recreational diving of today. If there were not people who were willing to push the envelope and do what others thought was dangerous we would still be diving with the same gear and techniques as sea hunt.

 

[JEScholz]

I agree whole heartedly! I plan my dive for me, not my buddy. We each need to be self suficient. If one of of gets in trouble, the other is there to help but I don't rely on them being there. I carry more than enough air for me, but I am not going to let there be 2 of us as fatality statistics. That is why I stopped diving with my brother and my son. The temptation to stay so long that both of us don't make it is too strong.

 

[TheRedHead]

I can see both sides of the team vs. individual approach. When diving with a team or buddy, you must be on the same page and dive together frequently, certainly no insta buddy situations. That's why DIR has Rule #1, IMO.

If you look at the impressive cave penetrations of WKPP., they could not have done those dives without a well-trained team. Personally, I dive always with the same buddy and we are on the same page about everything.

 

[JEScholz]

Diving with the same buddy is great unless you want to dive somewhere they don't. I often group dive but we will split up and go our own way. We keep an eye on each other but might be on opposite ends of the wreck. Is it the safest way and would I teach it to a new diver? no, but it works for me and my dive buddies. Other times, we stay on a 6' teather to each other. It depends on the dive and the individuals. "
To Each Their Own"

 

[GoodToGo]

I believe we've evolved in diving because of boundries crossed ... as with anything we have the desire to explore. But in the diving world we also need to have full knowledge of our individual limitations regardless of what we have been taught or think we know. I enjoy diving with a buddy (especially my wife) .... but the state of awareness is always your best buddy.
Just my humble opinion.