Complacency - it sneaks up on you

[Storker]

Last week, I was guilty of complacency. At least I believe so, in the clear light of hindsight.

Haven't had too many dives this winter due to lingering chest colds and other stuff taking up my time. Pretty irritating, considering that I'm still trying out different tweaks to my dryglove setup, and I've also got myself a GoPro to complement my still camera rig (currently, it's mounted on top of the still camera rig, and I'm experimenting with different tweaks to that setup as well).

So, after about a month of draught, I was able to get in the water again. The spring algal bloom had started, so vis in the top 10-15 meters was some 3m. Increased task loading after a winter season of pretty good vis, but hey, I've got a few dives now, right? Diving my trilam suit after a month of draught meant increased task loading. The low vis made me stay close to the bottom to be able to see anything, so my strobe arms kept snagging in the kelp. More task loading. The vis also made me stay so close to my buddy that I quite often bumped into him. More task loading. Still not quite familiar with managing the GoPro in addition to the still camera. Even more task loading. Some current, but not dramatic. But still a little more task loading. So being quite low on mental bandwidth, I hardly ever checked my DC. But hey, I've got a sense of time, right? And I can evaluate the depth based on lighting conditions, right? And I trust my buddy and I know he checks his DC regularly, right? And I know my gas consumption, right? Wrong. I'm not allowed to assume that. It's my frikkin' responsibility to keep track of tank pressure, depth and bottom time. By checking. Regularly.

The dive was quite uneventful. Run time 50 minutes, max depth 18m, average depth 11m. I was right, my gut feeling kept me well on the right side of anything inappropriate, but I didn't know the hard numbers. Which was wrong. At least on hindsight.

I'll take it as a lesson, smack my own fingers for breaking my standards and try to be more aware on later dives. But the realization that I didn't have full control of my dive time and depth was a bit chilling. It seems that I'm at the stage of experience when nervousness and focus is slowly giving way to self-confidence and complacency. I'll have to look out for that in the future.

 

[Stoo]

It doesn't sound like anything too dramatic happened though, so that's a good thing! I've had dives like that... just a lot of "stuff" going on, and none of it's "dialed" just right...

So what's the lesson? Leave the camera behind perhaps after a bit of a hiatus?

Many of the Accident Analysis threads on SB talk about complacency and how it can sneak upon anyone. Thanks for the gentle reminder!

Nice pics btw.. they remind me a lot of diving on Canada's West Coast.

 

[Storker]

So what's the lesson? Leave the camera behind perhaps after a bit of a hiatus?

Not necessarily. But focus. On the important issues (depth, run time, tank pressure, diveplan). Don't trash the the other stuff, but don't let it take over too much mental bandwidth either.

 

[The Chairman]

I have mixed feelings about what you wrote. I dove for many years without the benefit of a PDC or even a depth gauge. We SWAGed it on every dive. Hell, we didn't even own a SPG, but relied on our J-Valves.

We dive with a lot of tools. We can use those tools to verify our instincts and hone them or not: depending on your comfort. I teach my students to extrapolate their buddy's SPG and then verify that from time to time during the dive. I don't dive just to dive. I dive to see the pretty fishies, or to see a wreck, or to pet wet rocks, or to... You get the picture. If your spider instinct is clued in to your limits (time, depth and gas), then you are ahead of most. Just remember that the deeper you go or the harder you work, the more you need to verify your instincts with your gauges.

 

[divad]

I definitely keep allowing my complacency to sneak up on me. My complacency even has its own secret complacence.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

I just don't care too much about complacency.

Actually, with an average depth of 11 meters, how much trouble can you get into? When it gets hard to suck, come up..

 

[TMHeimer]

I just don't care too much about complacency.

Actually, with an average depth of 11 meters, how much trouble can you get into? When it gets hard to suck, come up..

Yeah. My rationale for solo diving (usually) to that depth only. I don't THINK I get complacent and try to think of every dive as my first. But I must be overly cautious doing a deep boat dive, as I usually only take one charter a year.

 

[TSandM]

Sounds like you made the assumption that you would resume at the same level where you left off. I've done the same, but after a couple of uncomfortable experiences, I've learned to back things off a bit if I haven't been in the water for a while, or haven't done "x" (where x can be diving doubles, scootering, photography, or anything else that's a bit different) for a while.

It sounds like a pretty benign environment in which to learn a good lesson.