Just venting...

[hijax]

I was recently asked during a dive, "Rey, why do you have to get all technical" in a very snarky way. We were on the surface and I had signaled the boat. My buddy started to signal the boat also by waving his arm so I corrected him. He was cool with it but someone else that was with us is the one that made the remark. I have to say it frustrated me to get asked that.

I'm a stickler for the rules and I follow them so I can dive safely. I'm the type that will consider a dive plan before every dive, go over hand signals and inspect my buddy's gear to ensure I understand where everything is. I listen to the boat briefing...every time...because it sets the expectation of what to do and where to be when you're done. And I brush up on my skills yearly to make sure I haven't forgotten anything.

It's just the way I'm wired and as a husband and father, I want to make sure I come back safely. I don't think my expectations or how I dive is out of the norm and diving isn't something you do recklessly.

Anyways, just venting to a group that may understand me. Not asking for anything but an ear.

 

[boulderjohn]

Waving your arm to signal a oat might be interpreted as a signal for distress. That is, after all, what that signal is supposed to mean. In all likelihood, if you are a group floating peacefully in the water and some give the proper signal and one gives the distress signal, the crew is going to figure out that the guy just screwed up and ignore him. (They might tell him about it when he gets back on the boat.)

When I was a new diver, I quickly learned that in the "real world" of scuba, a lot of the things I was taught in class were routinely ignored, including buddy checks, etc. For a while, I followed suit. Then I realized that many of those things really are important. Now, if someone does something wrong that is really, really minor, I won't say anything, but if it is a potential danger, I will speak up. I will initiate a buddy check if diving with someone I just met, for example, rather than wait to see if he or she is planning to do it.

What takes a little time is knowing when to talk and when to let it pass. In this case, I might have said something quietly to the diver back on the boat, after everything else was done.

 

[Locus]

I hear you man. I get this attitude all the time from one of my buddies, who has a tendency to make up new hand-signals on the fly, mid-dive. She greatly overestimates her ability to be understood, and it has caused issues on more than one dive, especially when we are in a group.

Sticking to established procedures doesn't make you a scuba nazi who demands conformity, it's a time-tested way of keeping things running smoothly, and ensuring that everyone is speaking the same language during an activity in which misunderstandings can get people hurt.

 

[hijax]

Waving your arm to signal a oat might be interpreted as a signal for distress. That is, after all, what that signal is supposed to mean.

Precisely why I corrected him.

 

[MasterChief D]

Activities where more than one person participates tend to develop conventions that make the joint participation more streamlined and enjoyable. Especially in activities that involve risk, rules exist (some of which have evolved from conventions) to ensure the minimization of the risks. Sometimes breaking conventions might introduce risks (e.g. in the UK, a car approaching an intersection where they have the right of way might flash their lights to cars that are waiting, signaling that they are relinquishing the right of way and allowing others to cross first; in other parts of the world the same signal is a warming to other drivers that the car that has the right of way is approaching and intends to cross first. Imagine the confusion -and the potential risk- if drivers don't know these local conventions).

Sticking to the conventions and rules of scuba diving is not a bad thing, nor is one being pedantic; complacency is waiting around the corner and some have paid a heavy price for having turned that corner.

 

[hijax]

Sticking to the conventions and rules of scuba diving is not a bad thing, nor is one being pedantic; complacency is waiting around the corner and some have paid a heavy price for having turned that corner.

Well said.

 

[Dr. Lecter]

Whether you're a put-upon good guy, or an obnoxious twit who got more indulgence from your arm-flailing friend than the other dude thought you merited...depends on what you said and how you said it. Your coming here to vent about how frustrated and wronged you feel because of this silly incident inclines me to to think it's probably the latter.

Yes, your buddy was doing something the boat could misinterpret. No, there's no "rule" against that particular form of stupidity--it's just a bad idea because you'll look like an idiot and get bitched out by the boat. So if you said anything too far off from "Ha, they're gonna think one of us is drowning or something" with a big grin on your face...I get where the other guy was coming from. And like I said your post makes me think whatever you said was probably delivered with one hand firmly on your hip and the other wagging a finger in your buddy's face about how he's not DIR enough in his boat-signaling technique.

Now, maybe I have it wrong and the other guy was a complete douche for saying what he said in light of whatever you said. But as someone who doesn't know any of you and wasn't in the water that day watching what happened...I'm not sold that the problem was 0% with you.

 

[hijax]

Whether you're a put-upon good guy, or an obnoxious twit who got more indulgence from your arm-flailing friend than the other dude thought you merited...depends on what you said and how you said it. Your coming here to vent about how frustrated and wronged you feel because of this silly incident inclines me to to think it's probably the latter.

Fair enough. Plenty can be left to interpretation in a forum post.

 

[Doc]

Doing things in a pre-determined and codified manner is obviously a great way to make sure you get to do a dive critique (debrief) at the bar, later.

[refer here to the famous quote by Sean Connery's character in the Untouchables: The first rule of law enforcement...]

And what ever happened to post-dive chats that critiqued our actions? Did PC culture eliminate it or is it the blinders-on focused gaze at lap top screen downloads of crappy GoPro images of Lord knows what?

Diving can indeed kill you, a good idea to have a process and adhere to your own shared rules. It is equally important not to confuse the boat crew or DM.

 

[fisheater]

You were right. He was wrong. 'Nuff said.


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