Instructor question

[Jim Lapenta]

Solo forum has been dismantled for several months now - all posts are gone unless you have a previous link to get in...

No it's not. It's under technical diving specialties now
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/solo-divers/

 

[SeaCobra]

Fifteen feet of water does not sound like much, but it certainly is enough to die in. You don't mention what you wanted to practice, so that may have had something to do with the response, how much diving experience you have or if you have been diving since your AOW 4 years ago. So, too many variables to answer your question.

Should someone be a buttinski? Perhaps, they should if they really care, as long as it is done in a professional manner, I don't see a problem. Same thing about your rebuttal. You may not agree with their unsolicited advice, but no need to be a jerk about it.

And I would caution any dive professional against saying it is OK for a diver to do something beyond the scope of their training. That is a good way to wind up on the witness stand getting grilled like a cheese sandwich.

 

[SeaHorse81]

Solo forum has been dismantled for several months now - all posts are gone unless you have a previous link to get in...

I didn't know that, which shows you how much I participated there even though I was a member. What happened?

 

[knotical]

The solo divers forum seems alive and well at:
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/solo-divers/

 

[KeithG]

Tell them to mind their own damn business. It's your life and you'll do what you damn well please. If you are comfortable with it, have the skills, gear, mindset, and you and your family are ok with the fact that if something happens you may die, it's no body's business what you do. If she actually got radical with you tell her to shut up, go away, and save it for the you must always dive with a snorkel crowd.

Damn it Jim, I'm a vacation diver, not a Doctor! Tell me what you really think!
sorry, wanted to say that for a long time. It has been a slow day.
Looking forward to the Lapenta Papers.

 

[TMHeimer]

There are a lot of views on solo diving. I was contemplating a 50'+ solo dive years ago and a very well known/respected instructor said "Why not, you've got some experience?" I said I had my pony bottle. She said "I never use one. Only time I have a pony is when I find one while diving solo at 100'". So as others have said, unless it is prohibited, it boils down to each individual deciding, based on the factors described here.

 

[Mr Carcharodon]

Solo diving to 15 feet, to a set platform, in lake is risky--seriously? Is the risk greater than than walking out to the curb to pick up the newspaper in the morning? Of course most of you have taken the special newspaper fetching class to mitigate the risk.

 

[videofly]

When I started scuba diving in the early 70's, I usually took minimal gear and did relaxing shallow dives in small lakes or at the beach. I never thought much about tons of equipment and I certainly never considered that I needed to have someone with me. Now that I have been re-certified after several decades away from the sport, I am continually taken back with the look of shock people give me when I want to just throw on some gear and take a little swim by myself. It's as if they want to scream that I will surely die. While I understand the risks, I have redundant gear and I only take little dips. The whole anti-solo movement is quite puzzling to me.

 

[endurodog]

The anti solo movement gets back to some other stuff in scuba. It frankly amazes me that for a non-competitive activity that people are so polarized on opinions in this sport. It's a small minority of very opinionated people but they can be very vocal.

My first contact with a real diver was a solo guy in the 70s I talked to him and was hooked on scuba.

I dive solo at times. I look at the dive and decide if it's a solo dive or a buddy situation. As a pro you do a lot of solo diving really. Setting equipment diving with new divers, chasing dropped fins, snorkels and masks.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Solo diving to 15 feet, to a set platform, in lake is risky--seriously? Is the risk greater than than walking out to the curb to pick up the newspaper in the morning? Of course most of you have taken the special newspaper fetching class to mitigate the risk.

Yeah, that's what the kid said who was practicing his skills solo in Cove 2 a few years ago. He died in about 30 feet of water ... there's a memorial cross down there now in his memory. When you're walking to the curb to pick up a newspaper, you're operating in an environment you've been living in your whole life. You know what to expect. You've been conditioned how to respond to unexpected events ... and acting instinctively to them won't usually kill you. Underwater, those rules don't apply ... and you need to be prepared and experienced enough to respond in ways that won't get you in trouble ... even in very shallow water.

I'm an instructor and a solo diver. I don't mind if someone wants to solo dive ... but if that's the route you're going to go, get yourself prepared for it. Don't assume that just because you're in shallow water you can't drown ... if the water's too deep to stand up in, you need to have the equipment and mindset of a solo diver. Otherwise, you're playing with a loaded gun.

As for the incident the OP described ... I'm not surprised. I've been solo diving for several years now, and have had to deal with everything from dear friends to random strangers telling me how wrong it is. I usually just politely thank them for their concern and go on about my business. Had an incident three or four years back where, on a day when there was hardly anybody at the dive site, I had two random divers latch onto me like I was their dive guide. Everywhere I went they followed. I'd never even seen these clowns before we ran into each other at about 50 feet. I was taking pictures, and I wouldn't have minded so much except they were rather spastic with their fins and were kicking the crap out of the bottom. I moved on, they followed ... I moved again, they followed again. This proceeded throughout the whole dive. I finally just quit and went in. They followed me there too. By the time we got to shore I was so mad I'd practically chewed a hole in my mouthpiece ... and I stood up prepared to chew a few holes in their arses for their behavior. But before I could say a word the one guy spits his reg out and, with a huge smile on his face says "We saw you'd lost your dive buddy and figured we should keep an eye on you." It took some effort, but I calmed down and told them that I didn't have a dive buddy ... that photographers often prefer diving alone. They gave me this incredulous look and said "Isn't that dangerous?"

You can't really blame people for thinking so ... for some of them it is dangerous. And that is, after all, exactly what most of them were taught when they got trained.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)