Do you think humble divers are usually safer divers?

[PhotoTJ]

It's like everything else in life.

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. And as to who you buddy with, the dynamic establishes itself fairly quickly.

It's just a question of are you comfortable with said dynamic? Some people dive with the same buddies because they know their skills, and how they will react in most situations.

Better the diver you know than the diver you don't.

 

[etype]

thanks grt8diver: i went back today and got my mask back.btw.
I showed the dive school instr. the line (i had dragged it up and threw it in a trashcan). She was impressed, it was the perfect diver snare.. she took it for a demonstration of entanglement dangers for ow students. She's going to organize a group of divers to comb that wall for fishingline and notify fisheries to see about putting the area off limits to fishing. Amazing the amount of deadly pollution underwater. If i have time i will gather a bunch of divers and do a sweep myself.

 

[IceBergSlim]

As to the Loud Macho Bravado...It was established a long time ago that the Clint Eastwood whisper is a much more effective intimadation technique. ;-)

 

[SeaJay]

"So... Do ya feel saturated, punk? Well... Do ya?"

ROFLMAO...

 

[g8trdiver]

etype... I just placed my order for seasnips and the Tusa mini BCD knife.... One each for my husband and me. It's something I've been meaning to do for a long time (just don't carry my rambo knife with me - esp traveling by air these days). I guess your story prompted me to go ahead and get them.

Thanks for posting.

 

[etype]

macho diver whispers to newbie diver who’s OOA at rec limits:

“Now, at this point you're probably asking yourself, "
“Is he still skip breathing on 500psi from that dinged al80 and does that look like a fake octopus carved from a bar of Zest, or is he going to tie me to a liftbag and shoot 400 psi into it and then cut my weights off?” (macho diver gets out liftbag)
Well, to tell you the truth, in all the excitement I kinda forgot myself. So I guess the question you have to ask yourself is, "Do you feel saturated?" Well..., do you...., punk?

g8trdiver:
good idea, being prepared mentally is as important as hardware. Taking your valuable diving time to practice entanglement scenario’s and going over the retrievability of cutting tools when in a situation such as without a mask, is as valuable as any tool. Im used to cutting, tying etc. entanglements situations, and dealing on my own, thats what made it only surprising. But it would have made a great little video of doofus diver’s cartoon demise.
First that too tight drysuit so i couldn’t move properly to loosen the line over my back. Then i jumped in the water without going over the dive with people i only said about 15 words to. Then i didn’t clearly get the attention of the girl i had gone over to, i just did a ‘ok’ and then saw the buzzbomb lure within reach and thought ‘ooow.., my shiny precious’...then i didn’t deal slowly, i tried to yank it off, my first yank took my mask and pulled my left foot up my back so i was trussed like an underwater enemy partisan combatant. Then i couldn’t grasp or find the inflator and i started to sink quickly because i stopped breathing calmly to maintain bouyancy.
Thats when i said ‘wow! bummer...slow down.’ It took a moment to stop being impatient and deal. But it was like a bad joke the ‘snowball effect’ i found myself in.
The situation was no danger if one was calm. Things were happening it seemed scripted to spook a diver... , losing the mask, girl swimming off, sinking in deep water and not being able to get the inflator, feeling the fishing line get tighter around me, and a whole lot more of this tangle than expected seemed to just appear, I could see someone might freak out. ‘
Anyway, not to go on and on about it...but i was really surprised at the classic-ness of that situation. I’m almost glad it was me that saw that lure and decided to pocket it...and not some other diver who may be unprepared. That was a bad situation, just waiting to happen.

But going on and on about it.....(yah off thread..but why not,..it’s a good story)...it’s funny cuz a year earlier me and a friend where diving in the very same spot...and were above this plateau on the wall and we saw all these white arms and legs around this sunken boat..it looked like a bunch of dead people! I saw it first and pointed it out to my buddy and we fearfully descended to see what was down there. When we got there and pulled some of the body parts, we found they were pieces of store window mannequins! So we brought them up to the surface and pretended as long as we could to the people on the beach that were bringing up dead people. They freaked out! All the parents send their kids to the car and got out blankets to cover up the dead. Then when we showed them that these were store window mannequins...and everybody was majorly relieved and wanted one to take home. So we dove down and got the rest and gave them away for lawn ornaments. Later when i was in the my local lds i was about to tell the owner the story, but thought quickly enough to say it was not me, but my friend (who wasn’t local) who found them and gave them away, i don’t know why i did that, but i was glad i did. Because he shouted ‘Damn you!...those mannequins are for my dive rescue course! Tell your friend to bring them back because they are expensive and if i don’t get them back someone has to pay for them.’
Then i could say i hardly knew the guy, and didn’t know where he lived because all the mannequins were given away to people on the beach we didn’t know. I told him i would try to get them back, but never did and never could...and he was mad about it for a long time and always gave me the evil eye when i wasn’t watching.
So maybe it was a intense karma thing that was happening? But i mean, he could have marked the dummies as being the property of his dive store, and then we would have known...as it was we had no idea why there was like 10 dummies down there.
Anyways......that spot is turning out to be a interesting place to dive. I rarely dive there..but everytime i do something interesting happens.

 

[SeaJay]

etype once bubbled...
macho diver whispers to newbie diver who’s OOA at rec limits:

“Now, at this point you're probably asking yourself, "
“Is he still skip breathing on 500psi from that dinged al80 and does that look like a fake octopus carved from a bar of Zest, or is he going to tie me to a liftbag and shoot 400 psi into it and then cut my weights off?” (macho diver gets out liftbag)
Well, to tell you the truth, in all the excitement I kinda forgot myself. So I guess the question you have to ask yourself is, "Do you feel saturated?" Well..., do you...., punk?

Hahahahahaaaa!!! Hilarious... So... Uhhhh... etype... Do you write professionally?

 

[etype]

nope, i dive professionally and write for amusement. But it would be great to switch it around..

 

[Chadwick]

As I read the responses to this post, it seems to me that 'mentorship' is lacking. Most of the responses have indicated that they don't want anything to do with a newbie diver because it would ruin 'their' fun. I think most of us have gained the most from others willing to reach beyond themselves.
I do understand however that safety is of upmost importance and the more experienced diver is generally a safer 'bet.'
I would urge everyone to mentor even if it is only advise. Society as a whole is great at finding things that are wrong, but most find it difficult to offer solutions.
Thanks,
-Chad

 

[g8trdiver]

etype, I see you're able to start looking back on it with a sense of humor - that's good. Your latest description of events sounds like a regular Lucy skit. Glad you weren't hurt, and that you have a "fish story" (with you as the fish).