I last dived on Sunday, and will dive again tonight as that is about the maximum length of time I let go between dives
I dive one day (sometimes both days but this is rare) a weekend and one day through the week each week, with very few exceptions.
I am not sure there should be an enforced refresher after 'x' amount of time out of the water. Should be up to the individual. I imagine someone with 1000+ dives taking a year off would not be as problematic as someone with 10 dives taking a year off.
I'm not sure I entirely agree with the second paragraph. On one hand, if someone has a significant amount of dives under their belt, great, but in health care we still require people to renew their certifications & licenses regardless of how long they've been doing it. The reason is that lives can be lost if people aren't held to the same standards regardless of how long they've been doing it.
Sure, scuba diving is not the same as health care, but it also involves possible loss of life. I have my own mixed feelings as to a mandatory refresher, since it would probably just deteriorate into a cash cow like it has for the AHA, but I think it's certainly a good idea for someone to maintain proficiency regardless of how long they've been doing it. The refresher course for PADI for instance probably doesn't get used enough. If someone hasn't gone diving for a year, probably not an issue regardless of how many dives they have, but much beyond two or more years, you have to wonder if bits and pieces started to slip away.
It's not the new diver with 4 logged dives who doesn't know anything that worries me...it's the old diver with 1000+ logged dives who thinks he knows everything that does. I'd rather dive with someone who understands they have much to learn rather than someone who thinks they don't need to learn anymore.
Sunday was my last dive, but as Bob says, I'll be wet in about two hours! I try to get out twice a week.
I think anybody who's been out of the water for a prolonged period (six months or more) would benefit from either a refresher, or a very simple dive with skills practice. Of course, there are people with thousands of dives who could take a couple of years off and it wouldn't faze them, but for most of us, the skills are perishable.
Agreed, although I don't think people with thousands of dives are anymore immune to forgetting stuff than the rest of us. Muscle memory may be more ingrained, but as far as the knowledge and the skill proficiency goes, I think it's like anything else where if you don't use it then you lose it.
does it matter if you haven't been wet for 2 hours, 2 weeks, or 2 months? No matter what is always to long since you have been diving.
Pretty much exactly what I was going to say, damn it, you beat me to it!
I haven't been diving since January and it's too damn long....I'm going to fix that this weekend but still, if I don't dive each month then I start to lose it.
....Cold and windy too. Instead of doing second dive, we decided to drink beer instead
