Unfortunately, yes.. budget constraints and cuts; parts shortages; manning deficiencies - President Bush is working hard to correct the near destruction of the military by the previous administration, but it will take years. That, however, is another issue entirely.
These guys' damage to the cave is is not a "lack of skills" problem. It is a "duty of care"; an "attitude" problem. From your description of these divers, they'll be desecrating speleothems and clay formations regardless of their frequency of diving - they just don't care. Perhaps their attitude could be trained out of 'em... one could hope. But I think it's a lot like raising children - if you don't get 'em to have the right beliefs, attitudes and respect in their initial training, the chances of achieving that downstream are pretty slim.
True. I can't and I won't. So are you proposing a monthly minimum or you lose your card? Even if you wouldn't, there are those who would. And setting frequency requirements at any level is just the "camel's nose under the tent."
I said " but rather for self control and self limitations on that 'first in awhile' dive." Means the same thing... or at least it's meant to.
No, this issue is about who's in charge; who decides. And one must consider secondary effects whenever one proposes the abrogation of freedom to control by some bureaucracy. Just how would you word your rule? X number of cave dives in Y time? Sounds simple enough - but think of the "corners of the envelope" - if those are the only dives a diver makes would it be enough? And if you made that enough, what about the diver that makes hundreds of non-cave dives? Would that be an adequate substitute? Depends on what kinds of dives they are, doesn't it? Or would you word it "X number of dives in Y time, Z of which must be cave dives?" And then there's the added risk factor. A diver facing a rescinded card would likely try to pack in the minimums in the last few days of the required interval, and may do something a lot worse than mess up some clay.
Yes, it would. And it would serve no purpose other than to be yet another pointless bureaucratic infringement on my life. I personally exercise great care in my caving. I precede each cave dive after a layoff with extensive planning, practice, and warm-up dives to rehone those skills I haven't been able to practice on a regular basis in my regular diving. Then I keep my dive very conservative. I am in charge of my caving and I care about safety and site preservation.
Which time lapse would that be? This time of year I dive nearly every day - somewhere. As for skilled, I'm nowhere near as skilled as many cavers I've met - I'm workin' on it. But I'm better than many who spend a whole lot more time in caves than I do. Because I care.
Bottom line - I agree that caving carries with it a responsibility to preserve the cave, and that cavers should take the necessary steps to assure they do so. I do not agree that the way to achieve this is through more oversight.
Rick
