Mentors ...

[rivers]

My mentor is a guy I met on this forum about 3 years ago when I first moved to UK. He would meet me at our local muddy puddle every week (and occasionally, he'd pick me up the train station so we could head somewhere further afield and with more depth), and work with me so I would be competent enough to dive in the sea. He helped me get a grip on diving my drysuit and I lost count on how many DSMBs I deployed. Things like OOAs were thrown at me so many times, reg donation became instinct. I learned how to slow down and stop, actually look at and enjoy my surroundings.We did a lot of drills, but also had a lot of fun in the process.
He's lent me more kit over the years until I could afford to buy bits that I needed (single cylinder, twinset wing, regs, etc) than I can count. H*ll, he's still lending me kit since I'm borrowing his single reg set while I'm on holiday.
He also took me on my first UK sea dives. I still dive with him on occasion (we should really dive together more d! Proper dives, in the sea!), and if we're mucking about in our local puddle, who knows what he'll throw at me. He definitely helped shape me in the diver I've become. He likes to tell me it's because I've put the effort in, but he made me want to put the effort in. And for that, I thank him.

 

[swimmer_spe]

In Halifax Nova Scotia, I had the please of diving with someone who has been diving longer than I have been alive.

He taught me more than any course has, except the one he taught me.

He help me with my buoyancy when I was bouncing like a madman.

He has more certifications than I will ever have. He has no issue diving with a complete "noob". He will go through 1000psi on an AL(smaller than 80) in the same time I drain my steel 120 down to less than 500psi.

His equipment is older than dirt, but still works.

I would have to dig out my log book to get his name, but those who have dove with him will know who I mean.

 

[Agility]

In my short diving career two people have influenced my diving substantially. One was a fellow tourist to Egypt, we happend to dive at the same Op and he offered a lot of advice how I could improve my diving. He was the first to mention other kicking styles than the flutter (which I had distorted to a bycicle ride style) and to tuck away my hands to stop using them all the time. Well probably I should have learned that during my OW or AOW courses, but I did not. He meanwhile has turned Pro and is a diving instructor in Szitzerland. I have only had the opportunity to dive one more holiday with him but we are still in contact. The other person was guide in Egypt during the same vacation. We spent hours every evening looking up the creatures we had seen on uor dives and writing them into uor logbooks. He too is diving instructor now and we met again in Egypt and he is still logging his dives in the same way although his dive count has increased to over 1000. His enthusiasm for marine life is really infectious. These two persons had the dive bug bite me.

 

[FinnMom]

It makes me really happy to read about how very many of us benefited very much from a mentor. We need articles like this to balance out the numberous how to avoid a noob/it's so unfortunate to be paired with a noob/oh what a noob I saw last weekend -toned threads.

We aren't spotting a noob; what we're seeing is an oportunity to become a really nice, helpful person in the noob's dive memories.

 

[Texasguy]

I had a pleasure of Teknadv3x teaching me about diving beyond what is taught in the class. Once I completed my cert class, I posted here a thread about looking for people to dive with. He has responded and I have learned much about tech gear, safety, and buoyancy. I doubt I could become a diver I am today without his help.

Thank you, Dave.

 

[TMHeimer]

I have helped a few people out here and there. Enjoyable and was good practice for when I got my DM. Still haven't been or had a mentor.