Do you ever break the rules?

A couple of threads (one in the Cozumel forum and one in the DIR forum) have got me thinking that divers commonly break the "rules" ... either in terms of what they were trained to do (or not do), or in terms of simply ignoring rules imposed by local authorities at dive sites.

Have you ever broken rules, or dived beyond your training? If so, under what circumstances, and why?

I'll start ... I like to solo dive. I have never taken a solo diving class, and I teach for an agency that specifically mandates diving with a buddy. My reasons for starting solo diving had to do with a budding interest in photography. Since then I do it for a simpler reason ... I enjoy it.

And you?

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

NWGratefulDiver:

And you?

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Solo-diving here, too.

As a crew member on a NJ dive boat I go down to set the hook and then have the wreck to myself for 20 min or so while the other divers are getting in the water. If I don't set the hook I get to do my dive when the passengers are on their surface interval.

Either way I'm going solo...

Dive flags.

We are supposed to have a dive flag in some of the local waters, but the flags only seem to attract overhead dangers, like boats and jet skis. We've had a tug-of-war events with boaters from above.

Bob,

Don't you think that you have the experience to determine your own rules, as opposed to blindly following the rules set forth by your "agency"?

I've never taken a solo diving course, but I solo dive. Sometimes with surface communication, other times - without. It's not cavalier to break rules, as long as you have the experience to be safe and act safely.

Planning a deep dive without training is certainly possible, but may be foolish if the diver is inexperienced with gas planning and possibly decompression procedures.

A diver on the other hand who is certified as an "Advanced Recreational Trimix Diver" from IANTD - which I believe certifies them to 150 feet - were to make a dive to say 180 feet... is that the same as a recreational diver with no deco experience making the same dive... with helium? In reality; there isn't THAT much difference between a 150 and 180 foot dive. In the same breath ... there isn't that much difference between a 60 foot dive and a 90 foot dive.

Should a diver with 100 dives to 60 feet - who only ever took his/her basic open water training limit themselves to 60 feet because agency standards impose an arbitrary "rule" about how they're supposed to dive? I would hope that a diver with 100 dives would have the experience required to dive to 90 feet and make a safe NDL dive to that depth. It's well within the accepted "recreational diving" range.

Rick Inman:

Dive flags.

We are supposed to have a dive flag in some of the local waters, but the flags only seem to attract overhead dangers, like boats and jet skis. We've had a tug-of-war events with boaters from above.

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That's a biggie here too. I don't like using dive flags because they attract jet skis like blood attracts mosquitos ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

HowardE:

Bob,

Don't you think that you have the experience to determine your own rules, as opposed to blindly following the rules set forth by your "agency"?

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Well, yes ... to a degree. However, when I'm representing the agency (as in when I'm teaching a class), it's incumbant upon me to represent the agency by following their rules ... however I may disagree with them. Some NAUI instructors here ... one in particular ... take great exception to me diving solo even when I'm not teaching, because they believe that it sends a message to less experienced divers that the rules don't matter. I disagree with them ... but I also see their point, at a certain level.

HowardE:

I've never taken a solo diving course, but I solo dive. Sometimes with surface communication, other times - without. It's not cavalier to break rules, as long as you have the experience to be safe and act safely.

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Yup ... that's the caveat, and one I'm careful to make whenever someone asks me about solo diving.

HowardE:

Planning a deep dive without training is certainly possible, but may be foolish if the diver is inexperienced with gas planning and possibly decompression procedures.

A diver on the other hand who is certified as an "Advanced Recreational Trimix Diver" from IANTD - which I believe certifies them to 150 feet - were to make a dive to say 180 feet... is that the same as a recreational diver with no deco experience making the same dive... with helium? In reality; there isn't THAT much difference between a 150 and 180 foot dive. In the same breath ... there isn't that much difference between a 60 foot dive and a 90 foot dive.

Should a diver with 100 dives to 60 feet - who only ever took his/her basic open water training limit themselves to 60 feet because agency standards impose an arbitrary "rule" about how they're supposed to dive? I would hope that a diver with 100 dives would have the experience required to dive to 90 feet and make a safe NDL dive to that depth. It's well within the accepted "recreational diving" range.

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Ah, but this gets to some of the exact things I'm hoping to elicit here. How many people reading this board have gone to someplace like Cozumel and done deep dives with just an OW cert ... and sometimes with very little experience? Many, I would bet.

What I want to know is "why" ... what causes people to justify breaking the rules? Do they believe the rules are unjustified? Or is it perhaps do they believe they are better divers than their training and experience level would indicate?

The Cozumel thread, in particular, offered some interesting insight into how some divers think ... it's a pity it got closed (even more a pity that some folks couldn't just disagree without insulting language for those who they disagreed with) ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

I look at it the other way around...I'll occasionally follow a rule...but it had better be a good one.:cool2:

RJP:

Solo-diving here, too.

As a crew member on a NJ dive boat I go down to set the hook and then have the wreck to myself for 20 min or so while the other divers are getting in the water. If I don't set the hook I get to do my dive when the passengers are on their surface interval.

Either way I'm going solo...

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same here-------I'm on my own in taking pics, don't want any excess baggage to miss a shot 'in the heat of battle'........no big deal.....In fact when something is done over & over again, I guess it is now the norm vs the unusual...

:uwphotographer:

Well, I do hold my breath sometimes. Or more accurately, forget to breath in.

And sometimes I do dive solo, but not on purpose.

However, I believe that no-take rules in marine parks should be strictly enforced and violators should be severely punished.

...well, the most common 'rules' I've 'broken' (or stretched a little bit) are :
1) diving with a knife
2) diving with a light
3) getting into 'deco' (lite)
4) exceeding 'suggested' max depth limits
5) diving with gloves
6) exceeding max dive length limits (those ops that time dive lengths)
......items 1-3 I pretty much always 'get away with'......item 4 is harder to get away with sometimes, as DM's will ask you verbally, or check your dive computer for max depth....sometimes DMs will call me on it and give a little bit of a 'lecture'.....and I've been on boats that will 'bench' a diver if they catch him/her exceeding the 'limit'. About item 5,......I might carry gloves for an emergency in my pockets, but it's hard to sneak wearing gloves by a DM...too obvious. Item 6 is a major pet-peeve of mine......I am NEVER a repeat customer at any op that 'times' my dives.....and I'll 'push-back' if a DM starts to pressure me to end the dive after 'X minutes'. (was even on a North Carolina wreck charter a few years ago....where the captain VERY STRICTLY limited dive times...and actually benched divers for the rest of the day if their dive times exceeded his limits. It took a lot of the enjoyment out of the trip, as I assumed the buddy team task of carefully monitoring our dive times......we only had 25 min bottom time on the wrecks per dive---2 dives per day---total dive time couldn't exceed 40 min.......there was quite an uproar from the benched divers.....and upon reaching port again some of these divers (ScubaDadMiami) were so PO'ed they immediately packed up all their gear and went home...abandoning the rest of their trips.

...as far as why I 'break' these rules....I strongly believe is possessing certain safety items (knives/lights) on my person at all times while diving....gloves are a thermal/abrasion protection 'issue' (wrecks...or holding onto barnacle-encrusted 'down' lines)....depth and time limits are pretty arbitrary......it's not like my head is gonna explode if I go to 131 ft. deep instead of 130 ft. deep......time limits are rediculous, I paid good money to go diving, and by God, that's what I'm goona be doing...until my computer or gas says "time's up"....diving can be VERY expensive on a "dollar per minute" basis, especially if you look beyond just the price-per-dive the dive OP charges and add in some insane airfares......very expensive scuba toys....and the potentially arduous/lengthy travel involved.