Psst-over here-I'm talking

[Diver0001]

Yank acknowleged However I'm not being cynical. Most experienced divers are safe divers and learn most common lessons and dive remarkably similar to each other politics aside. Diving is simple it's just not simple minded. Most lessons are learned through experience.

After you have been diving a car for awhile you pretty much know how fast you are going even without looking at the speedometer. It's the same with diving. No one needs a post about hey look at me I know how fast I'm going and I'm not even looking at the speedometer. Driving is simple but it can be dangerous too. It's not divided into two groups safe drivers who drive a certain way and dangerous drivers who don't drive that way. Most experienced drivers are safe regardless of how they do it. Diving is the same.

Well, I agree with you there. People tend to overly complicate things.

R..

 

[david.tolan]

I guess I may have jumped to conclusions about where the thread was going, but It did appear that the first few responders were all members of the solo divers group.

I can see positives and negatives to solo diving. Just because you solo dive, it does not mean that you will die. It just jacks up the odds a little.

If you are going to dive solo, and you go out without proper preparation and training, then don't expect me to be surprised if things go west.

If you learn, prepare, and dive within your ability... Then that's different. You take on extra risks, but calculated risks are different from crossing the street without looking.

It's more like skydiving. It's safe as houses, so long as you don't forget that it's dangerous as hell.

But again, you can do everying right and still die. You can be standing by the side of the road, waiting for a car to go by when it has a blow out, and swerves right into you. Life is not a black and white, dangerous and safe. It's a scale. There Deadly dangerous at one end, and Fairly Safe For Now at the other. Note the absence of completely safe.

You get to choose where along the scale you'd like to try to be.

Blue Skies, Soft Landings
Dave

Mr Tolan has some great points...Not to turn this into another ill fated "Solo Diver" discussion.....but..... Why not increase your chances of survival, every day, in everything you do.. Diving without one buddy is, like not looking before crossing a street. Eventually you will get hit... Why not increase those odds and always dive with a buddy. Why not dive with two buddies? and increase your odds of survial even more..
<SNIP>
I see absolutly no advantages to diving alone.

 

[JRScuba]

The buddy system is a great idea. But !!!! When on a dive boat and they pair me up with another diver, I ( At times ) feel like it is a solo dive.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Yank acknowleged However I'm not being cynical. Most experienced divers are safe divers and learn most common lessons and dive remarkably similar to each other politics aside. Diving is simple it's just not simple minded. Most lessons are learned through experience.

After you have been driving a car for awhile you pretty much know how fast you are going even without looking at the speedometer. It's the same with diving. No one needs a post about hey look at me I know how fast I'm going and I'm not even looking at the speedometer. Driving is simple but it can be dangerous too. It's not divided into two groups safe drivers who drive a certain way and dangerous drivers who don't drive that way. Most experienced drivers are safe regardless of how they do it. Diving is the same.

Well, I see your point ... but do have a couple of comments (now that shouldn't surprise anyone ... ) ...

First, I think the thread you posted this one in response to wasn't really targeting experienced divers. If you look at the profiles of our members, I think that a majority would show less than 100 dives. These are, for the most part, people who approach diving from the perspective of what they learned in OW ... and perhaps AOW ... class. Giving those members a different way to think about diving has benefit, even if the more experienced divers reading the thread don't need it.

Second, while most experienced divers are, as you say, safe divers ... that can't be said about some. Or, perhaps it would be better to say that "safe" means different things to different people.

I had a conversation not too long ago with a fellow who's been diving a lot longer than me. He was rather proud of the fact that he's been diving deep (over 200 feet, he claimed) and solo for quite some time ... and back in the 70's, when he got trained, "nobody took classes to learn this stuff. They just did it." He dives air ... doesn't get narced (he claimed). "All this fancy nitrox and helium are a waste of money" (he claimed). Deco? "That's what computers are for. Back in the old days we just waited till we ran out of air, pulled the valve, and headed for the surface. And nobody got bent" (he claimed). "Diving's easier nowadays, you've got computers to tell you what to do."

He thinks he's a very good diver ...and skills-wise, perhaps he is. But is he a safe diver? I'm not so sure ... there's more to being a safe diver than just having the skills.

People dive for different reasons. "Safe" isn't always a priority with some. That's OK ... we're all big kids, and can make our own decisions. But we should be honest about why we do what we do. Some folks enjoy taking risks ... it provides a sense of challenge. Others ... including myself ... would do those same dives, but mitigate the risks through planning, training, equipment, practice, and approach.

So I'm not so sure "safe" applies in any case ... there are always risks, no matter how prepared you think you might be. The question is ... what do you consider "safe enough"? And I think that answer, really, depends on the individual.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[D_B]

Very thoughtful

DB