Yes, Finhead_Chris and myself were around him in Tobemory. We have admitted to being two of the double tank divers that he refers to. I won't say much about Lawman except that he is a lawyer and can be very sarcastic in person as well. It is a trait that one gets used to. I would bet that much of the things that he says have a grain of truth to get a debate going. And NO!, he is not "horribly malformed".
Now, my take and hopefully my final take on this SAD thread:
Lawman: While I personally find much of what he says offensive and argumentative (what do you expect from a lawyer), he is making a point and drawing out the worst in the DIR/ Hard-Core Tech divers on purpose. The man is saying that we were overequipped (and presumably overtrained) for the type of diving that we were doing for fun in Tobemory. He is somewhat correct.
He did many of the same dives (except the Arabia) with one of my normal buddies here. They were both in recreational gear (Single Tanks, Pony bottles, wetsuits, etc.). Both dove safely and came out of it with no major incidents. Lawman is a recreational diver who dives cold water on occassion and I will leave that point alone. I am sure that we did look like DIR or at least somewhat stupid for insisting on using "technical gear" on this trip. I will argue that we were down longer, came back safely, and had no major incidents in addition to quality dives in equipment that most of us started using this winter. I will take quality dives to acclimate myself to a rig using double tanks any day. Diving to thirty/sixty foot and having to refill my doubles with only a fraction of the capacity taken out doesn't thrill me.
Having backed him up on some points, I will repeat that I found many of his posts in this thread inflammatory, insulting, and counterproductive. I hope that will change, but trolling is trolling and you must admit that he is good at it.
To the DIR/ Hard-Core tekkies: You took the bait. I darn near said a few things that wouldn't have been family friendly to some of your posts. All divers advance through a progression. We are doing the same. Just because we aren't all up to DIR standards does not give you the right to rip into us as well. We were all safe divers and give unasked for critique to divers performing a safe dive and continually learning is not polite, nor productive. Yes! Lawman deserved many of your flames, but enough is enough.
Many of your replies crossed the border to insulting me and my group. Suggesting that a normal recreational diver who is not interested in more training would be any more impressed by watching you in action, just because we looked "stupid" (and you weren't even there) is pretty arrogant if you ask me (which I know that you didn't and you really don't care. You would say the same things anyways). This man does not want to learn to dive differently than he does. That should be obvious. I doubt that many of you are any better in the water than my Advanced Nitrox instructor (Dr. Jesse, who was there), who HAPPENS to be a cave diver. Let us quit it while our tails aren't between our legs.
To PhotoTJ and Mr. Ratliffe: Thank you for reminding people that diving is less about ego and competition and more about being UNDER THE WATER, no matter what your skill level and that the underwater environment doesn't care if you are highly skilled or not. All of us who can should enjoy just because it IS there!
Thanks for reading this little rant, but maybe it is time to clear the air here and start helping out a horse that has a chance to reach the finish line.
