Tec Instructors and Cigarettes

[HarryH97]

Hi All,

As an Instructor Trainer for both PADI and IANTD I've been noticing for a while that there is a high percentage of recreational Scuba Instructors I see that smoke cigarettes. Whilst I don't condone this as the healthiest of practices I accept that people, even scuba Instructors will smoke!

However my concern now is that I am seeing a high percentage of technical diving Instructors also smoking cigarettes and often during training. At Utila Dive Centre we do not allow any of our Instructors, recreational or technical to smoke on duty.

A technical diving Instructor teaches programs that allow us as divers to gently push our limits of training and to enter delicate models of decompression. This side of the sport is often more strenous, demanding, susceptible to DCS and requires a higher degree of physical fitness from both the diver and Instructor.

I'm looking for some feed back here, would anyone's choice of technical Instructor be influenced by the fact that they smoke?

Also if you are a technical Instructor and you do smoke how do you explain this to your students? Maybe a reference to the latest edition of the PADI Undersea Journal on health/fitness and technical diving might give some interesting reading.

If you're serious about an answer, best to post this in a technical forum like thedecostop.com. Recreational diving education rarely covers in depth areas of oxygen transfer, bubble mechanics, gas density/narcosis (particularly CO2) and physiology. As a student of diving, I'd think twice about getting technical education from someone that smokes. BUT that's only because I've been educated on the seriousness of this topic as it applies to diving beyond recreational levels. You can get away with alot within the first 3-4 ATAs to include overweight, smoking, poor physical fitness, poor diving skills, poor equipment and still not get hurt or killed. Once you cross the line into decompression diving, your game ought to be on and you take into the water every advantage at your disposal. You're already going into an area with enough elevated risks and increasing risks the deeper you go. Smoking robs you of that advantage and increases risks that can be mitigated.

Now, if the instructor is quiting or on the patch, it MIGHT be another story. He/she better be one world renown tech diver and have done significant amounts of exploration diving that's beyond the 101 level of tech diving. This has got nothing to do with SAC rates, how strong and physically fit the person happens to be, but everything to do with significant degradation and destruction of your last defense again DCS (your lungs) and higher levels of deadly CO2 as it directly applies to decompression diving. Shame on him or her if they are educated and still continue. There's already enough risk as it is with handling problems and failures beyond rec depths, why compound that risk even more? Practice what you preach. AND if you don't preach it, there's something seriously wrong with the curriculum (AKA it's been too watered down).

Then again, I've been exposed to the Dark Side. PM me if you need research, articles, etc...I can put you in touch with subject matter experts. Or better yet, just post at TDS and get all your answers by tech instructors.

Sincerely,
Harry

 

[GoProHonduras]

Hi Harry,

Actually thanks for the advice.

I did post this also on the Deco Stop and Deeperblue.net, it seems interesting the differences in feed back coming in between the boards!

It appears so far readers of the more technical forums are adversed to tech Instructors smoking!

 

[GoProHonduras]

Any members interested in this topic can find more information at this site and link;

http://thedecostop.com/forums/showthread.php?p=185945#post185945


Regards,
Andy

 

[parrotman]

Interesting thread. I quit smoking because I started diving. The urge to dive and knowing that you should not smoke was enough to make me quit. Then of course I find out that there are a lot of divers that smoke. I am not sure if I have ever met a dive master or instructor that does not smoke. I'm sure that they are out there but I don't think I have ever met one. I personally do not care if they smoke. What I do care about and what really anoys me is when they smoke on the dive boat. I was always a considerate smoker when I did smoke and having been a smoker I do understand the addiction but when you are being paid to take a group of divers out and you smoke on the boat with non smoking divers, I think that is wrong. Unfortunately it seems that the general attitude is, if your on a boat you have no rights as a non smoker.

 

[Kim]

Hi Harry,

Actually thanks for the advice.

I did post this also on the Deco Stop and Deeperblue.net, it seems interesting the differences in feed back coming in between the boards!

It appears so far readers of the more technical forums are adversed to tech Instructors smoking!

This is misleading. I have just read the entire TDS thread. While there are some who are totally opposed - "I wouldn't teach a smoker", "Man - no way" - there are a lot of answers in that thread that totally disagree with that attitude. Obviously for quite a number of technical divers - and instructors - they don't think that an instructors capability is judged purely by if they smoke or not. That seems to be very similar to the prevailing answers here, even if your post on TDS tries to run us down! Make no mistake - smoking IS a bad mix with diving, especially technical diving. However an awful lot of people do it and there are probably a lot of good technical instructors among them. I would want a good instructor - not a saint. (they come with there own baggage all too often! ) On the other hand, I would be very wary of an instructor that tried to tell me that smoking didn't have a detrimental effect on diving in general - and then obviously on technical diving more.

 

[Wijbrandus]

I won't ***** about your smoking if you don't ***** because I'm a fat hoover.

If tech is your thing, there are a lot of factors to consider. I'm not going that way until I've got my weight down, but I could care less if my instructor smokes. They know the risks, and they toss their own dice. Just like me and my fat butt.

Just get out and dive, and have fun.

 

[drbill]

Personally, I would not choose an instructor who smokes on the job. However, what they do in their off hours is none of my business.

I smoked for about five of my early years as a diver, but have been smoke free now for 30 years. I view that decision as one of the reasons that my health is excellent (lung capacity 4X that predicted for my age, height and weight). I would recommend all smokers quit, especially those who dive. However, I would not regulate it off duty!

Dr. Bill