What do you consider new?

[Hickdive]

Any diver, regardless of experience or certification, is a "new" diver when diving in an environment or conditions they have not experienced before.

The amount they have to learn to cope safely in that new environment determines just how "new" they are.

 

[nolatom]

35 dives?? New diver.

36 dives?? Not a new diver.


I'm surprised how few of you have learned this.





;-)

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

My answer is that it depends. As a recreational diver, I'm certainly not new, but as a technical one, I am. Whenever I talk shop with people with far more experience and training than me, my become aware of how much more I know that I don't know (I won't touch the topic of not knowing what I don't know ).

With whatever kind of diving you do (as there really isn't a limit), it comes down to your confidence, ability to handle problems, your control of your body and your mind, and so on. When you plan and execute and any problems are resolved smoothly, that's when you stop being new.

 

[Hickdive]

Yes, I was forgetting that traditionally a "new" diver is a diver with one less dive than me.

 

[beester]

... you don't need fundies to develop good basic skills ... you do, however, need decent instruction and a reasonable example of what those skills should look like ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

You are absolutely right Bob. I just posted what I did to shake the tree a bit ;-)

Many don't know what is possible, or what is important because they just didn't encounter the right instructor or buddies who could show them.

 

[Neilwood]

Chronic overweighting is the consequence of training new divers while on their knees. A properly weighted diver isn't going to be kneeling as easily as one who's carrying extra pounds of lead ... and since most OW students spend more time kneeling than they do finning in the water column, their instructors weight them accordingly.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Hopefully this is now getting better with at least PADI having revised standards to push better buoyancy within the OW course.

 

[CT-Rich]

I'm going to say it I'm always learning. Since it isn't a race, I'm going to put it a little differently. Experienced versus inexperienced. I am an experienced recreational NE diver, because that is
what the majority of my dives have been. I would be an inexperienced deep diver, because most of my dives are above 60 fsw.

New is just a very generic term. You can have a old car that has been sitting in a garage for 40 years.

 

[Bob DBF]

Any diver, regardless of experience or certification, is a "new" diver when diving in an environment or conditions they have not experienced before.

The amount they have to learn to cope safely in that new environment determines just how "new" they are.

Ain't that the truth.

What I do when going to a area, outside of NorCal, is find a ScubaBoard member in that area and try to set up a dive. So far it has worked out well, and I look forward to doing it more in the future. Also it is interesting to have screen names as dive buddys in my log.


Bob