Who is responsible for what?

[Cod]

Great Info

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Great thread Jim. You get the serious nature across without scaring the c&^@ out of a new diver. Hopefully. Thanks!

Sometimes scaring a new diver a bit is a good thing. Especially when their instructor has dropped the ball on coveying the seriousness of this sport. Unfortunately it seems to be happening alot these days.

My opening classroom line to new divers is "Welcome to Scuba. This sport is fun, exciting, relaxing, exhilarating, educational, and if you stay within the limits of your training and experience, safe. Go outside of that too far or too fast without proper preparation and if necessary more training, then it has the potential to hurt or even kill you in some very nasty ways!"
"In this class we WILL learn how to avoid that and how you should expand your limits safely!"

 

[D_B]

yano .. no one bitches at NASA for the long training that every astronaut gets before each planned space walk

scuba, while admittedly not as dangerous as a space walk, is a foreign environment that we need to be prepared for any contingency's that arise because many of them could kill you, or your buddy
... being flippant about an environment that can kill you is foolish and especially has no place in this forum for new divers and those considering diving

 

[ScubaSteve]

... being flippant about an environment that can kill you is foolish and especially has no place in this forum for new divers and those considering diving

Sadly it is most often (not all times) the new'ish divers that are flippant about it because they have a couple dives under their belt and believe they are invincible - after al they "mastered" the skills . Sadly, it takes a tragic event to shake some people of this attitude. Others lose it with experience.

Many people do not realize how little they actually know early in their dive career and just how dangerous a cocky attitude is underwater. Many divers are only still diving because nothing has ever happened to them......not because they are prepared for what could or will eventually happen to them.

 

[mksmith713]

As in life.....we are responsible for ourselves.

 

[bsumner]

Very well said!

There is a 'golden rule' in tech diving, that is equally applicable to recreational diving.

Any Diver Can Abort Any Dive At Any Time.

You undeniably did the right thing... not because it was the right or wrong option, or because of which alternatives were available... but because it was what you felt most secure doing.

 

[tc]

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A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

Some flaming posts and responses to them have been deleted.

The new divers forum is not the place for that.

From the special rules for the new divers forum:

This forum has special rules. This forum is intended to be a very friendly, "flame free zone" where divers of any skill level may ask questions about basic scuba topics without fear of being accosted. Please show respect and courtesy at all times. Remember that the inquirer is looking for answers that they can understand. This is a learning zone and consequently, any off-topic or overly harsh responses will be removed.

It's OK to disagree about a concept or idea, it's not OK to attack a user.

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[Scubadam]

I thank you for this, and I completely agree with you in that people are sometimes clueless when they first enter this sport. For example when I first started diving, PADI was the only agency I had heard of, but now I know of SSI, CMAS, NAUI, and SDI. I have also broaden which shops I go to and look at, I am more open now than when I first started diving.

 

[skubacat]

what you have said here is great. it seems to reason that all divers should be trained to be self aware. if all divers were traind to the solo diver level even if they dont dive alone there would be far fewer accidents.

 

[ItsBruce]

For some unknown reason, I just found this thread. It is wonderful.

The thread forced me to think about skills and instructors and dive buddies in a new way:

To read Jim's essay and other comments and many other of his posts on SB, it would appear that he is a top notch diver and instructor. My gut tells me that he is just that, if not better. (The same goes for many others on the board.) However, I've never dived with Jim. So, I can't be sure about his actual skills in the water. And, even then, I may not be qualified to judge someone else's skills. The reason I mention this is that it applies to EVERY diver. It is easy to talk the talk. Just because an instructor or insta-buddy talks the talk, that does not mean he or she is skilled. Just because someone has posted a lot on SB does not mean the person is a good or knowledgeable diver. Make your assessments on a case-by-case basis and on actual performance as you see it. Be a critical evaluator at every stage of your dive.

And, to anyone who does not personally know me, take what I've just said with an appropriate grain of salt.