46 years of diving averaging 100dives per year
What makes you an experienced diver?
- Thread starter befee
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Mike Cianciosi
Registered
What makes you an experianced diver ? That fact your alive after diving makes you experinced. lol
. No really I have way over 5000 dives under my belt (used to work in business) and i really dont consider myself experinaced. because the minute i do i relax too much and that makes me dangerous. I have seen so many differant kinds of divers and attitudes most i would not give the time of day because of EGO. I agree with everybody here and thier wisdom-read and learn. As a MSDT (master diver trainer) I am still learning everyday (at 50). And the best "experinced diver" is one with humilty/common sense/cool head and a sense of humor.
. No really I have way over 5000 dives under my belt (used to work in business) and i really dont consider myself experinaced. because the minute i do i relax too much and that makes me dangerous. I have seen so many differant kinds of divers and attitudes most i would not give the time of day because of EGO. I agree with everybody here and thier wisdom-read and learn. As a MSDT (master diver trainer) I am still learning everyday (at 50). And the best "experinced diver" is one with humilty/common sense/cool head and a sense of humor.
irishsquid
Contributor
I have enough experience to know I have a lot to learn.
In terms of mastery, I have to agree with the many that say it's environment specific. Give me Maine shore dive and I'm all over it. Put me on a boat and I'm a novice. Done Ice but never really been in a cave or wreck and I have no delusions that one overheads makes me universally experienced, they are all very unique.
In terms of maturity as a diver however I think you can take a more generic stance. Knowing your limits and comfort zones comes with experience. That experience translates to other environments where you are less prepared. That same experience leads to intelligent dive or don't dive and training decisions. I have said that experience teaches you to think like a diver and access situations appropriately. It's a mentality that we take back with us into everyday life where the objectivity can drive associates mad. That is a very valuable experience metric.
Pete
In terms of maturity as a diver however I think you can take a more generic stance. Knowing your limits and comfort zones comes with experience. That experience translates to other environments where you are less prepared. That same experience leads to intelligent dive or don't dive and training decisions. I have said that experience teaches you to think like a diver and access situations appropriately. It's a mentality that we take back with us into everyday life where the objectivity can drive associates mad. That is a very valuable experience metric.
Pete
Unfortunately in my experience the majority of male divers do not exhibit the character traits you have pointed out, which makes most males susceptible to massive egos and delusions of grandeur.
This is not only true amongst divers but also amongst my fellow pilots.
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To add to my post-- I think we are confusing experienced with being good at something. That's why all this debate comes in. I figure being experienced means you have done something a lot (ei. logged a lot of dives, driven a car for 3 decades--how many people have driven that long and are still very experienced lousy drivers?). It doesn't really have anything to do with being good at those things. Therefore, if you have dived a lot, you are an experienced diver. Again, how many dives is "a lot" is debatable. Perhaps the question on the profile should not refer to "experienced", but maybe something like whether you consider yourself an average diver, a good diver, a great diver, etc. Semantics maybe, but "experienced" really tells one nothing much about the diver.
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The problem is that folks go diving, and as long as everything goes right they have no idea of what their limitations are. So they prudently and slowly advance along ... and then something goes wrong; and then maybe a second thing does too; and now they find themselves way out beyond their limits, even-though they were doing the sensible thing and not pushing it. You need a backup that you can depend on, a much more experienced buddy or a redundant gas supply or great freediving skills, or perhaps ... all three and then some.
I'd also like to add this:
As simple and silly as it sounds, in it's most simplistic and basic terms, an "experienced" diver is a diver who returns safely to the surface with his, or her, buddy (unless you are trained properly to dive solo and do so) every time they go diving; without injury or incident (unless something happens that was out of their control - ex. equipment failure (and NOT because it was not maintained properly but because it was just a random failure and broke)
Everything else is relative and only YOU can judge for yourself.
IMO, experience is knowing that you never have to ask because you have ALL the answers.
And again, IMO, you should NEVER have all the answers and you should ALWAYS be learning.
If you DO have ALL the answers, and you are DONE learning .......
PLEASE, for the love of God, do us ALL a favor and STOP DIVING immediately before you kill yourself or your buddy and we all have to read about it in the accident forum, because you are a RISK to yourself, your dive buddy, and everyone around you.
USVet
As simple and silly as it sounds, in it's most simplistic and basic terms, an "experienced" diver is a diver who returns safely to the surface with his, or her, buddy (unless you are trained properly to dive solo and do so) every time they go diving; without injury or incident (unless something happens that was out of their control - ex. equipment failure (and NOT because it was not maintained properly but because it was just a random failure and broke)
Everything else is relative and only YOU can judge for yourself.
IMO, experience is knowing that you never have to ask because you have ALL the answers.
And again, IMO, you should NEVER have all the answers and you should ALWAYS be learning.
If you DO have ALL the answers, and you are DONE learning .......
PLEASE, for the love of God, do us ALL a favor and STOP DIVING immediately before you kill yourself or your buddy and we all have to read about it in the accident forum, because you are a RISK to yourself, your dive buddy, and everyone around you.
USVet
DevonDiver
N/A
Yes and no. I agreed with what Thal said earlier. It's easy to miss-assess your capabilities for as long as nothing goes wrong. Nothing goes wrong in 99.9% of dives. Thus, it's incredibly easy to over-estimate how good you are.
Getting to the surface safely - regardless of any unplanned issues - is the mark of an experienced diver.
Nothing should be "out of a divers' control" - if they are properly trained, practised and have the experience to deal with it.
The mark of a good diver is how they deal with the unforeseen, rather than their performance on a 'perfect' dive.
As a military guy - I am sure you can appreciate the difference between performance on a staged training exercise and performance under fire. The first does not guarantee the later. Who'd you rate as more experienced, the guy with 10 years of peacetime soldiering in barracks at home, or the guy with a couple of active tours under his belt? The same applies to diving.
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