Yukon tangent thread

[Jax]

Well, this could be quite true-perhaps that is why I prefer to Solo dive. I do maintain my cars and bikes but, maybe, not dive buddies, In one case, a diver ripping my reg from my mouth-that was a diver I had been diving with about 150+ times, a USMC officer, very well fit, ran out of air while looking for a final legal ab off Pt. Loma. He just lost it and went on to my reg like his Mothers Teat. I made a free ascent. We stayed friends, maybe that was my bad choice. On another occasion an engineer with a major SCUBA company was testing a new 1st stage at about 120-140 FSW off Grand Cayman, his test reg failed, he came and sat on my head, taking my primary-one of his companies regs, by the way-I went to my secondary, an old Poseidon Cyklon 300, we got it all sorted out and made it to the surface. No real harm done. We had a nice dinner that evening.

Stories like this is why I went to donating my primary and having the secondary on a necklace. I appreciate learning from you and others like you.

 

[D_B]

"Allowed to dive in a way he was not prepared for"

in your opinion what other dives should boats not allow and how do they go about this?

... how about dives to a wreck with non wreck certified divers? ... what if they go inside .. maybe they should only be taking wreck certed divers to that site .. or maybe a cert card is not enough (I thought the diver who perished had a solo cert cart)

 

[Oside Jimc]

Is it common for boats in CA to refuse to allow divers to dive solo? Do they actually look for solo certs, or just go by an assessment of the diver's skill sets and who's a familiar face?

Out of the four boats I've been on out this way, only one attempted to make sure everyone was buddied up with someone.

It is quite common at least in San Diego. And frankly after some of the "insta-buddies" I've had I assume that I'm diving solo and hope for the best.
The boats here are not like to tourist cattle boats say in Hawaii. They are there to facilitate your dive, transportation, air, food, etc. If you want a private divemaster they will provide one on request for a fee, and all the boats recommend just that for divers inexperienced with our local conditions.

They are not the dive police, and I pray that it stays that way.

 

[ScubaSteve]

Maybe the mods are deleting the posts where I have very clearly stated that I have nothing against solo diving under the right conditions.

And if you were to stop posting on here, people might believe you. But as long as you keep posting, you keep contradicting that statement so the ball is in your court.

 

[TheEngineer]

Although I'm beginning to think this guy is "The Engineer" of the Troll Train, he asked:



(And I'm sure the snide tone that I percevie in your request is purely unintentional or misinterpretation on my part.)

Survey says . . . p. 2.27 of the current S&P (which has an initial copyright date of 1996, renewed as recently as 1/09):

Swimming. Confined or open water, no equipment.
• Swim a distance of 225 yards (207 m) nonstop, using any stroke.
• Survival swim for 10 minutes.
• Underwater, swim 50 feet (15 m) on one breath with no push-off or dive. The use of weights is permitted for students having difficulty remaining submerged. The use of a mask is permitted for students wearing contact lenses.

I will freely concede it's 225 yards, not 200 yards and if you'd like to quibble about that, quib away.

- Ken

I was actually curious because nearly a decade ago they switched to the following:

"Demonstrate novice level swim stroke proficiency in any of the following strokes: crawl, side, breast, elementary back or back stroke. Classic stroke combinations are not necessary to meet this requirement as long as forward progress is achieved. , e.g. no particular kick or arm action is necessarily required and alack of either is also acceptable. Students shall complete at least 15 continuous stroke cycles while being evaluated by an instructor. A stroke cycle is considered to be either arm or leg action or a combination thereof resulting in forward movement until repeated."

In other words, if thrashing in the water results in forward motion, you can be a scuba diver. If they have changed back (and I hope they have), it was only in the last year or two. The good news is that I don't know any NAUI instructors that use that standard. They all adhere to the 225 yard requirement, or 200 m, which is probably what you were thinking of when you stated 200 yards. The flip side of that is that I don't associate with bad instructors. And there are plenty of them around.

 

[mrfixitchapman]

There. He said 'strokes'. Your Honor, I rest my case.

DC

 

[TheEngineer]

And if you were to stop posting on here, people might believe you. But as long as you keep posting, you keep contradicting that statement so the ball is in your court.

Care to find an instance where I said solo diving is always a bad idea? Maybe you would like to refer to my 5th post where I stated that not only isn't it always a bad idea, but that I do it from time to time IN THE RIGHT CONDITIONS. Seems pretty simple...

 

[TheEngineer]

Other than for my professional certifications. I have had my log requested exactly once in my life, and it would have been no big deal if I had not had one.

I get the sense from your posts, that you regularly dive among some people very different from my experiences. In fact, I would say the vast majority of your experiences are quite different from anything I have ever seen in my life.

Take a look outside when you get a chance. What color is the sky?

I don't have an astrophysics degree. I am not qualified to comment on the color of the sky. Or that is the gist of what I have been told my the mods on this board...

Anyway, the last boat that requested it was the Spectre out of Ventura. I haven't dove that boat in some time, so maybe that has changed. Most of the boats I have dove since then have been operations where I was familiar with the staff of the boat and they were familiar with my history, but they would request it from new divers, especially if they were unknown with just an OW card.

 

[Jax]

I was actually curious because nearly a decade ago they switched to the following: <snipped>

I don't have an astrophysics degree. I am not qualified to comment on the color of the sky. Or that is the gist of what I have been told my the mods on this board... Thank God, I though you were still rudderless . . .

Anyway, the last boat that requested it was the Spectre out of Ventura. I haven't dove that boat in some time, so maybe that has changed.

So have you done any diving or training recently? Everything seems "a while ago".

 

[California Diver]

I don't understand what you people expect from a dive boat. Do you want the crew to dive for you also?? Why can't you grow up and take some responsibility for yourself. Noone should have to hold your hand and tell you whether or not you are ready for anything especially when the boat is going to something like the YUKON, a wreck in which any certified diver should be able to safely dive on.