Skills

[uncfnp]

I believe instruction only explains so much. You've got two kinds of divers...those who dive every weekend and those who dive only on vacation. The latter group often suffers from a lack of fundamental skills which stems from their only moderate interest in both the sport and becoming better and safer divers.

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I would define the two groups differently. It's not the frequency of diving but the attitude toward diving. Those that dive as an occasional hobby and those that dive as an obsession. For some of us obsessed with diving, we may only have the opportunity to dive on vacation. For these unfortunate souls...there is SB on the SI.

 

[navi_jen]

Also, be careful about glass houses. Everyone had terrible trim, sucked down a lot of air, and invariably kicked up silt or hit a reef at one point in their career. It's called being a novice.

And some folks will always be novices...they do it as a hobby...just like most of us will never drive like Mario Andretti.

As my old swim coach once told me, try not to focus on anyone else. You can only impact yourself...you can never control if there is someone who ends up being faster than you...so the best thing you can focus on is being the best you can be.

 

[fisheater]

We're not talking about novices. We're talking about self-identified experienced divers whose skills suck and don't care.


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[pjhansman]

I believe instruction only explains so much. You've got two kinds of divers...those who dive every weekend and those who dive only on vacation. The latter group often suffers from a lack of fundamental skills which stems from their only moderate interest in both the sport and becoming better and safer divers.

Seriously?? Maybe....just maybe...there's a group that would love to dive every weekend but it's actually winter up to 5 months a year, complete with ice and snow and -30 temperatures!! In no way does that imply "only moderate interest in both the sport and becoming better and safer divers".

 

[scubastingray]

And people wonder why there is such a low retention rate in this smug, ego-driven hobby.

 

[navi_jen]

I agree with PJ absolutely. A lot of us live in areas of the US with 4 seasons...and I have no desire to jump into 60 degree water for diving (I spent most of my youth, teenage and young adult years freezing my tail off at 5am so that I could get in my car to drive to a cold pool at 6am, no thank you very much. I'm done with cold weather diving).

You are right, there are some folks that don't and won't care, regardless.

But a lot of us can only dive 12 to 36 days a year. And when you take 6 to 12 months off between trips, even with a pool warmup we are going to be rusty in open water. It's a fact. I love diving. I want to be a better diver. But it's going to take me 10x as long to become a decent diver simply because I can't dive all that often.

I don't think that's reason enough to have sweeping generalizations thrown around....

 

[gcarter]

Not to mention that these skills don't always come easy to everyone. 40 dives last year, 60 the year before. My buoyancy is still a work in progress. My finning technique could use improvement. I can't do a frog kick.

So what?

I have seen divers with impeccable trim and buoyancy kicking the **** out of a reef (which I do not), grabbing coral to steady for a shot (which I don't), dangling consoles and octos (which I don't) and all sorts of other behaviours I would not write home about.

Attitude dictates more than skill in many cases.

 

[TMHeimer]

I agree with PJ absolutely. A lot of us live in areas of the US with 4 seasons...and I have no desire to jump into 60 degree water for diving (I spent most of my youth, teenage and young adult years freezing my tail off at 5am so that I could get in my car to drive to a cold pool at 6am, no thank you very much. I'm done with cold weather diving).

You are right, there are some folks that don't and won't care, regardless.

But a lot of us can only dive 12 to 36 days a year. And when you take 6 to 12 months off between trips, even with a pool warmup we are going to be rusty in open water. It's a fact. I love diving. I want to be a better diver. But it's going to take me 10x as long to become a decent diver simply because I can't dive all that often.

I don't think that's reason enough to have sweeping generalizations thrown around....

Good points. As well, diving locally in your (or my) area isn't exactly as attractive as FL or the Caribbean. I only do it regularly in NS because I just do, and want to keep things sharp--especially for the very few times I DM classes. But not jumping into 60F water??? Hey we're lucky to get that at the peak in August/Sept.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

60 degree water? that's like the tropics to me!
I went down to socal to dive, a 7 hour drive to get on a boat for one day and do three dives!
It took me a day to get down there, I crashed out on the boat below in a spartan bunk, I dove all the next day, as soon as we got back to the harbor at about 5 pm I loaded my stuff and hit the freeway. I got home at 1:00 am the next day.
How's that for dedication?

At home year around the water is in the 40's. It's rough and cold and the vis sucks most the time, but we dive in it. That never stops us, it's in our blood. There is a reason why we go out there but we don't know what the reason is, we just know we must go out there and dive.

I'm sorry, but there is a difference between a dabbler and a real diver. A dabbler will only dive in warm waters and everything has to be perfect. Real divers will dive in anything because they indentify themselves as divers. People ask me what I am, what do I do. I tell them I'm a diver. They get a confused look on their face, and ask if thgat's what I do for a living. I tell them "Oh, you mean what do I do for money? That's different, that's just for money, I thought you wanted to know what I really am, what I do, I'm a diver."

 

[DevonDiver]

Attitude dictates more than skill in many cases.

Personally, I think attitude dictates skill.

There are those who research and set goals to improve, and there are those content with what they have.

I've seen divers with double-digit logged dives looking far more effective in the water than some with 3 or 4 digit logged dives...