when to 100'?

[tech108diver]

Ok Stop! I personally know and dive/climb/ride sportbikes with crazy fingers. It has been my past experience that of the groups that we climb/dive/ride with he is usually the one making the plans and saving OUR asses. Look the guy does not have a death wish and has no immediate plans to end his life.... You guys are WAY over the top. Prhaps I should spend my first 10 dives diving in waters less then 6 feet. That way If **** hits the fan I can you know...just stand up. maybe we should start a petition to get hookah systems set up at most major reefs and wreaks so that the diver has another "out". Look I'm not seasoned pro but I have a good share of dives under my belt. I dont want to die either but the fact is there are agencies that OW cert to 130ft RIGHT OFF THE BAT. If the poster of this thred was saying that he was interested in going to 150ft after a few dives then ok, yeah get on the guy. but not going past 60' because your cert card says NO NO is insane.

 

[Codyjp]

That couldn't have been said better Terry! A lack of education results in an unsafe sensation of bliss.

 

[Thalassamania]

Ok Stop! I personally know and dive/climb/ride sportbikes with crazy fingers. It has been my past experience that of the groups that we climb/dive/ride with he is usually the one making the plans and saving OUR asses. Look the guy does not have a death wish and has no immediate plans to end his life.... You guys are WAY over the top. Prhaps I should spend my first 10 dives diving in waters less then 6 feet. That way If **** hits the fan I can you know...just stand up. maybe we should start a petition to get hookah systems set up at most major reefs and wreaks so that the diver has another "out". Look I'm not seasoned pro but I have a good share of dives under my belt. I dont want to die either but the fact is there are agencies that OW cert to 130ft RIGHT OFF THE BAT. If the poster of this thred was saying that he was interested in going to 150ft after a few dives then ok, yeah get on the guy. but not going past 60' because your cert card says NO NO is insane.

I quite agree with your basic sentiment, but at under 100 dives, with all due repect, you've hardly got, "a good number of dives under your belt." There are many on this board who, as working divemasters, do more than that in a single month.

 

[Desert Pirate]

Ive dove over 100 feet only twice, they were in Lajoya California. they were safer and more comfortable than the 60 foot, 50 deg. way fast current through the lava rocks 2.5 ft vis dive in the snake river up here in Idaho. Yes reputable training is important, but the point I would like to make is the nuber of dives to me is irrelevant as is the how often and what have you been diving. I have dove with ppl who have over 60 dives over the last 15 years, and dove with ppl with 25 dives in the last 2 months. The latter have proved to be more competent with their skills.
just my oppinion,
Clay

 

[boat sju]

I quite agree with your basic sentiment, but at under 100 dives, with all due repect, you've hardly got, "a good number of dives under your belt." There are many on this board who, as working divemasters, do more than that in a single month.

This is the kind of attitude that disappoints me. But I should quit posting because I don't have enough experience to have any valid comments anyway - with all due respect.

 

[Thalassamania]

This is the kind of attitude that disappoints me. But I should quit posting because I don't have enough experience to have any valid comments anyway - with all due respect.

That's not what was said, with all due respect. The chap to whom I addressed that comment was, I felt, waxing sarcastic and thus missing making the point on a topic that I happened to agree with him on. Is that convoluted enough? Thought so .. Truly sorry.

 

[Tigerman]

Ok Stop! I personally know and dive/climb/ride sportbikes with crazy fingers. It has been my past experience that of the groups that we climb/dive/ride with he is usually the one making the plans and saving OUR asses. Look the guy does not have a death wish and has no immediate plans to end his life.... You guys are WAY over the top. Prhaps I should spend my first 10 dives diving in waters less then 6 feet. That way If **** hits the fan I can you know...just stand up. maybe we should start a petition to get hookah systems set up at most major reefs and wreaks so that the diver has another "out". Look I'm not seasoned pro but I have a good share of dives under my belt. I dont want to die either but the fact is there are agencies that OW cert to 130ft RIGHT OFF THE BAT. If the poster of this thred was saying that he was interested in going to 150ft after a few dives then ok, yeah get on the guy. but not going past 60' because your cert card says NO NO is insane.

If there is agencies whos OW cert goes to 130 feet, then maybe the ones diving to 130 receive the proper training first? Or do the instructor just throw them in the water "here, do a 130 feet dive"?

 

[TSandM]

We were all new divers once. And I would be willing to bet that, for most of us, a common denominator is that we had no idea what we didn't know. The frightening part of that is that, with those enormous gaps in knowledge, we make decisions about what is safe to do and what is not. Later on, with a lot more information and experience, we can look back on those decisions and shudder, and try to advise others NOT to do what we did. It doesn't work, any more than trying to counsel one's teenage children not to do what we did works.

Diving is amazingly safe, until it's not. When it's not, the difference between survival and death is, as I believe Thal pointed out earlier, binary. There are very few scuba "injuries". There are successful dives and deaths, and a very small number of DCS cases.

I didn't think about any of this when I was a new diver. I just wanted to go underwater and see cool stuff. A fatality locally this spring was a huge wake-up call (although I'd already started to get better training and better information). A class I took in October was another light bulb experience. That class was an entire three day, eight hour a day educational effort aimed simply at readying us for dives in the 100 foot range. We studied gas management and emergency management. We practiced air-sharing ascents and SMB deployment and keeping a team together under stress. We didn't do terribly well. We learned that a real problem at deep depths was going to be stressful and dangerous. Perhaps also unlikely, and how you decide what you are willing to do certainly depends on your risk-aversion.

When it is possible to mitigate risk, I would prefer to do so. Learning to cope with malfunctions and issues at depth takes training and practice and is absolutely within the reach of any of us. Diving deep WITHOUT that training and practice is to me like driving a car with bad brakes. You're just counting on not getting into a situation where it will be a problem.

 

[SparticleBrane]

The issue with people who say that diving to 100ft early is that they've never experienced a real emergency. Had they done so I believe they would reconsider what they previously said.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

If the poster of this thred was saying that he was interested in going to 150ft after a few dives then ok, yeah get on the guy.

... but that is exactly what your friend recommended ...

http://scubaboard.com/showpost.php?p=2463681&postcount=95

Seriously, you don't need to be on the tit of a DM. Just get out there, go do it. Realize the consequences of screwing up increase exponentially with depth. Then choose to accept the risk and do it! Forget about what your certification says. That 60 foot limit or whatever PADI comes up with is just so they can make you take another class and then try to sell you more shiut. If you want to dive to 130, then dive to 130. If you want to try 150, then try 150. Just pay attention to air, nark level, NDL, the condition of your equipment, and your buddy. Don't F it up.

I don't think either one of you guys has either the experience or the expertise to be handing out that sort of advice. Nor have you spent ... as I did last night ... time with someone who lost a dive buddy and friend following exactly the advice your friend gave in the quoted paragraph.

He's wrong ... and hopefully you will both come to realize it before that casual attitude ends up getting you or someone you're diving with killed ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)