why hate safety devices?

[SDAnderson]

Back in the day, you weighted yourself to be neutral at your operating depth and kicked hard to get down. In cold water, this was a reasonable effort. At the end of a dive you simply rose back to the surface - no three-minute safety stop.

A scabillion years ago when I was learning to dive in cold water, you could always tell if a dive site was popular by the little piles of rocks or lead that would get ditched at 15 - 30 feet after the 1/2" foam suits collapsed. Pretty regularly people would miss them on the way back out...

 

[Dr Wu]

No - their posts make it clear that they have not understood the OP, or they are opposing a statement which I have not made.

And your posts make it clear that you're trolling. You have a history of choosing words that are intended to incite or misdirect, then you sit back and nitpick when people attempt to engage you in conversation.

I won't be bothering with any more of your "questions" ... I don't think you are really all that interested in the answers anyway.

As of now, you're on Ignore ... go "entertain" yourself at someone else's expense ... there's too many other people in here who are a better use of my time ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[mkgriesinger]

I dive with Analog and Digital. I have a Analog Depth Gauge and Pressure gauge. My dive computer is not air integrated. Every 15 mins or so i check my Analog Gauges. I know that after a hour or so its time to head up. If my dive computer ever failed i would abort the dive, do a 2-3 min deep stop and finish with my safety stop. I doubt both gauges / dive computer would fail. Plus i always dive with a buddy, so if in extreme emergency i could use his stuff to safely abort the dive.

 

[Paladin]

I have a question. If you are equipped with both a set of traditional instruments (depth, SPG and a watch) and a digital computer, why abort the dive if the computer fails?

 

[Dr Wu]

Every 15 mins or so i check my Analog Gauges. I know that after a hour or so its time to head up.

How do you "know" this?

A lot can happen in 14 minutes.

 

[BoltSnap]

... and so how many divers today do you think would be able to dive without a BCD? I'd guess not many ... in which case the BCD did, in fact, replace the skill ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

What skill?? What about regulator? What skill did it replace? We sure don't need fins. We can swim just as well with our own feet.

Give me a freaking break. God forbid we use innovation, technology or new knowledge to our advantage. Let's all go back to our caves and stay there. You can argue about every possible new tool or piece of technology that it replaces skill and thus we should just throw it away. Tell physicians to stop using their X-rays, MRI's and the like since they need to go back to using their skills.

Enough is enough. You can argue that fins are also not reliable as well and thus let's stop using them or carrying a spare on us while diving.

 

[peterbj7]

In almost 6000 dives I've had two computer failures. One with a Suunto Eon hosemount integrated, which suddenly started giving erratic air pressure readings. Turned out the QR near the first stage had let go. The other was when my DiveRite Nitek Plus suddenly went out during a dive shortly after a new battery had been fitted. Turned out the battery hadn't been fitted correctly and had slipped out of position. I've had other equipment fail of course, including computers, but those are the only computer failures I've had underwater.

 

[Crush]

What skill?? What about regulator? What skill did it replace? We sure don't need fins. We can swim just as well with our own feet.

When in Hawaii I found that many locals preferred the more traditional (in Hawaii) free-diving+fishing to scuba. I don't know - perhaps the purists eschew fins and a wetsuit too.

 

[Paladin]

The skill Bob is talking about is proper buoyancy control. A diver who practices good buoyancy control can enter the water, dive to the desired depth, conduct his dive, and return to the surface without needing to use his BC. With this level of skill, the BC becomes an aid and not a necessity.

Fins, mask, snorkel, regulator, depth gauge and watch are the necessities of SCUBA. Virtually everything else is an aid. If one has mastered the basic skills of SCUBA using the necessities, then the failure of one of the aids does not constitute a catastrophic occurrence.

No one here has said anything about ignoring technological advances. The point being made is that these advances should not replace the basic skills for which they are intended as aids.

 

[peterbj7]

A diver who practices good buoyancy control can enter the water, dive to the desired depth, conduct his dive, and return to the surface without needing to use his BC

Not necessarily. If he's wearing a thick wetsuit it'll likely compress so much he'll have to use air in his BCD at the bottom.