What solo cert do you have, has it ever been turned down?

[happy-diver]

View attachment 652162 View attachment 652163
I just scanned the card, and cannot tell what number is there, if any. There is a number hand-written in the lower right corner of the front of the card, but I cannot tell if that's my number, or Roy France's instructor number. We had to "import" Roy from California to come up to Salem, Oregon to do the pool work and classroom work. Then he went to Newport, Oregon to give us our open water work under the Yaquina Bay Bridge.

SeaRat

Magnificent!

This is going to twist some knickers, but if I'm headed out on a boat with others (others with any or all levels of competence) then I need to be reassured that NONE of them will become my responsibility. Otherwise, I won't book a seat.

IMHO, to evaluate your own solo mindest, (not @Doc Harry) one should go to a secluded back bay and learn how to dive the high tides with nobody in sight. Nobody in earshot. No hope of a random passer-by. Zero chance of a first responder. You and you alone.

This is the essence of solo diving. A solo diver knows that there will NEVER be anyone who could possibly help in any way. On the other side of the coin, you will NEVER be responsible for anyone other than yourself.

And this includes the captain and the crew

Magnificent!


Solo where you are able to devote all your efforts to any situation you may find yourself!

 

[scubadada]

View attachment 652162 View attachment 652163
I just scanned the card, and cannot tell what number is there, if any. There is a number hand-written in the lower right corner of the front of the card, but I cannot tell if that's my number, or Roy France's instructor number. We had to "import" Roy from California to come up to Salem, Oregon to do the pool work and classroom work. Then he went to Newport, Oregon to give us our open water work under the Yaquina Bay Bridge.

SeaRat

Wow, thanks for sharing

 

[HandsomeJohn]

Then why did you take them into open water? Hopefully, they didn't get a cert card if they were that bad.

Early on as an assistant instructor working with other instructors I didn’t always have pool time with every student before diving. Always discussed any problems after dive with other instructors (they weren’t stupid though and usually noticed during the dive and asked afterwards) We did deny certification to a few people, not a frequent occurrence. We have people that don’t make it past the pool, and we try to catch problems there. I think sometimes people don’t have enough space to really show that they might not be the best dive buddies in a small pool.

 

[Doc Harry]

IMHO, to evaluate your own solo mindest, (not @Doc Harry) one should go to a secluded back bay and learn how to dive the high tides with nobody in sight. Nobody in earshot. No hope of a random passer-by. Zero chance of a first responder. You and you alone.

This is the essence of solo diving. A solo diver knows that there will NEVER be anyone who could possibly help in any way. On the other side of the coin, you will NEVER be responsible for anyone other than yourself.

I agree.

I spent 40 years rock climbing and mountain climbing. We used bush pilots to fly us onto glaciers in the interior of Alaska, and told the pilot to return for us in a month. This was back in the day before satellite phones and cell phones. We didn't even carry a radio.

I used to spend 4 days rock-climbing solo without a rope. I never told anyone where I was going. Sometimes I even spent weeks backpacking in the mountains alone. Likewise, I never told anyone where I was going. No radio, no cell phone. Full-on solo.

 

[scubadada]

Like @Doc Harry, I spent weeks and weeks solo backpacking in California's Sierra Nevada, much of it on the Sierra High Route. This was from about 1968 until I moved away from California in 1980. Obviously, this was well before cell phones and GPS. I did tell a few people generally where I was going and when I would be back, often +/- a few days. I would often not see another hiker for days at a time. Clearly, if anything serious would have happened to me, I ran a good chance of being a goner.

I loved every minute. Some of us like spending time alone, enjoying the serenity and independence. I started solo diving a few years into my second period of diving, somewhere around 2003-4. I did not get my SDI Solo Diver certification until 2013. I currently have 620 entirely solo dives, and counting.

Solo diving is certainly not for everyone, for some of us, it is the natural progression.

 

[Edward3c]

Just renewed my life insurance. If I was to do solo (qualified) the loading was 50% on the premium. Don’t declare it and the policy is void if I died when solo.

This was with a specilist diving insurer.

 

[MichaelMc]

Just renewed my life insurance. If I was to do solo (qualified) the loading was 50% on the premium. Don’t declare it and the policy is void if I died when solo.

This was with a specilist diving insurer.

This seems like an interesting and separate thread.
Do they have statistics to back up an apparent actuarial statement that a person's overall risk of death through the year is 50% higher by solo diving?
Edward, I forget, do you solo dive?

(Edit to fix doubled to 50% higher)

 

[Edward3c]

This seems like an interesting and separate thread.
Do they have statistics to back up an apparent statement that your overall risk of death through the year is doubled by solo diving?
Edward, I forget, do you solo dive?

No, I don’t. But even if I was qualified solo the premium penalty is still 50%. Diving with wreck penetration is only 15% loading.

 

[MichaelMc]

No, I don’t. But even if I was qualified solo the premium penalty is still 50%. Diving with wreck penetration is only 15% loading.

As a specialist diving insurer, do they say where they got their statistics from?

Edit: I also may have missed the extent of coverage. Was this coverage only for diving deaths?

 

[tkaelin]

Last time I converted some life insurance policies it was a non issue. I believe the response was as long as you are diving within the parameters of your training and certification there was no coverage. rate or conversion issues. Not sure converting as opposed to an initial purchase was what made any difference.