Do you REALLY know how to scuba dive?

[Frosty]

A couple of points came to mind reading this thread The first comes from motorcycle rider/racer training. (editited to diving)
When you dive you have $1.00 to spend You always have $1.00 to spend. What changes as you gain experience is the amount of that $1.00 you spend on the basic mechanics of diving. You start out spending about 95c in every $1.00 on breathing,gear,boyancy etc The perfect world has the mechanics costing you 10c in every $1.00 then you have 90c left to focus on other stuff.
The second point came from a workshop manager- Some mechanics come here saying they have 10,15 or 20 years experience but in my book if they aren't learning new things they have one years experience repeated 10 times.

 

[DaleC]

When I read older texts about the pioneering era of skin diving I am often intrigued by how little the participants seemed to worry about how "well" they dived. Their concerns mainly focused on such qualities as poise under pressure, the ability to endure hardship, the ability to make do in less than optimal conditions and a certain single pointed tenacity in accomplishing what they set out to do. I would add having a good sense of humour as a desirable quality to the mix myself. I imagine that this is at least partly due to the fact that they saw scuba as a means to an end and not an end in itself.

When scuba becomes an end in itself I think the focus shifts towards the mechanics of diving, and while I think that's healthy, I also think it can become overemphasized to the point of becoming an abstract concept.

To each their own though. It's not a "one size fits all" activity.

Oops, forgot to answer the question. Yes I really know how to scuba dive. What I'd actually like to learn is the fine art of MkV hardhat diving.

 

[elmer fudd]

What I'd actually like to learn is the fine art of MkV hardhat diving.

I'd like to learn that myself.

 

[Dr Wu]

Millions of dives are successfully completed every year by all levels of practitioners.

Scuba is really not that difficult. In fact it is pathetically easy. This site alone has fully quadriplegic members.

If scuba still retained the same "extreme sport" cache it had years ago you would not see the endless and tiresome posts regarding motorcycles, flying, the military, firearms and law enforcement.

Those are subjects pointlessly added to the discussion to supplement the posters need for recognition as "hard-core".

It would make things easier if posters stuck to diving rather than jamming those topics into every thread they come across.

But of course that itself is "off topic".

 

[Crush]

It would make things easier if posters stuck to diving rather than jamming those topics into every thread they come across.

But of course that itself is "off topic".

Two questions:

1. Have you seen my sig line?
2. Are you suggesting that this thread is inappropriate? If so, please feel free to report it.

Cheers

 

[drbill]

Making as many successful ascents as descents. After almost 50 years, I'm still not sure I have all the details worked out though.

Defining a successful SCUBA diver is a bit difficult IMHO. There are many different types of diving and success at each type is not necessarily the same. I guess I judge my "success" in terms of whether I could maintain the attitude (physically, not mentally) that resulted in bringing home the best possible video of marine critters to share with my readers and viewers. By necessity that usually means having decent buoyancy skills (unless filming while kneeling or lying on the bottom) and not stirring up so much sediment that it obscures my subject.

 

[TSandM]

How can somebody object to the idea of defining "knowing how to scuba dive" as being able to do it without having to think about it? I think that's in the definitions of competency levels that Thalassamania likes to quote, and if you think about it, the things you really know how to do, you do that way. Driving, for example; you don't have to be Sterling Moss (a name nobody younger than I am will even recognize) to "know how to drive". But if you are still having to think through the steps of shifting gears (something else young people may not recognize ) then I would posit that you have not really learned to drive yet. When you can juggle a BigMac while shifting gears and watching the merging traffic at the same time, THEN you know how to drive

Same with scuba. If you are having to think constantly about buoyancy, and adjust and readjust, or yoyo; if you have to work all the time to stay upright, or to get where you are going; if you can't stop and look at anything because you're too unstable, then you have not yet really learned to dive. Basic stuff like that should be handled without having to think about it.

 

[Crush]

Scuba is really not that difficult. In fact it is pathetically easy. This site alone has fully quadriplegic members.

...

Those are subjects pointlessly added to the discussion to supplement the posters need for recognition as "hard-core".

Spoken with the ease of a diver who has never challenged himself beyond guided dives in tropical waters. It is different when a DM is not holding your hand...

Your posts imply a degree of diving experience, and certainly in other posts you degrade others for a perceived lack experience, whether it is relevant to the topic or not. Would you care to share a brief synopsis of that experience with us?

Of course not. Would you share something positive and constructive at least?

 

[CT Sean]

How can somebody object to the idea of defining "knowing how to scuba dive" as being able to do it without having to think about it? I think that's in the definitions of competency levels that Thalassamania likes to quote, and if you think about it, the things you really know how to do, you do that way. Driving, for example; you don't have to be Sterling Moss (a name nobody younger than I am will even recognize) to "know how to drive". But if you are still having to think through the steps of shifting gears (something else young people may not recognize ) then I would posit that you have not really learned to drive yet. When you can juggle a BigMac while shifting gears and watching the merging traffic at the same time, THEN you know how to drive

Same with scuba. If you are having to think constantly about buoyancy, and adjust and readjust, or yoyo; if you have to work all the time to stay upright, or to get where you are going; if you can't stop and look at anything because you're too unstable, then you have not yet really learned to dive. Basic stuff like that should be handled without having to think about it.

To me, that implies a level of skill beyond knowing how to do something. Granted it's just my opinion but being able to demonstrate a skill basically unconciously is well on the path to mastery versus simply knowing how to do it.

For example, I know how to sew, but I probably couldn't do it watching TV or talking on the phone. Does that mean I don't know how to sew?
I can drive my car - including shift gears (all 6 of them ) while on the phone or eating or having a refreshing beverage but to me that mean much more than just knowing how to drive.

Now if there's supposed to be a distinction between knowing how to do something and REALLY knowing how to do something that is a different story (I assume that would be similar to: "I like my wife but I REALLY like BBQ ribs?" )

 

[Doppler]

Experience changes perspective... as already mentioned.

An illustration from the CCR world is that after about 20 hours "on the unit" most individuals think of themselves as a newbie. After 50 hours, they are an expert. After 100 they achieve guru status. However, when they have logged 150 hours they understand they are still a novice; and after 200 they settle into the realization they are an experienced beginner.

And for what it is worth, Crush, I think this is a perfectly good question to provoke some thought.