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Agreed. A true, two knot current is a lot stronger than most people realize. Very difficult to swim against in full scuba gear.
I'm not sure most people can really tell current speed from the water. I tend to think it is often exaggerated.
This Monday, I did a river drift. Drift speed varied depending on depth, channel, etc. Sometimes I was flying along in 4' depth so fast it was scary! (10' vis) Other times, in deeper water, it was just a fast cruse. No way to stop yourself or pick up anything - moving just too fast.
After the dive I tried to calculate average water speed by dividing dive time into distance. My guess was about 2.0 to 2.5 knots - and that was FAST!
My guess is that divers often exaggerate current speed.
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A flawlessly working rebreather is almost as dangerous as a completely unreliable unit since reliability encourages complacency. - Howard Hall stating the Richard Pyle Paradox
Decompression algorithms are akin to measuring with a micrometer, marking with chalk and cutting with an ax. - Rick Murchison
I'm not sure most people can really tell current speed from the water. I tend to think it is often exaggerated.
...snip...
My guess is that divers often exaggerate current speed.
"We have not succeeded in answering all of your problems. The answers we have found only serve to raise a whole set of new questions. In some ways we feel we are as confused as ever, but we believe we are confused on a higher level and about more important things."
On some of my dives in the south pacific this is what I experience.....the boat put a pull line from the stern of the boat to the mooring line. As you pull into the current tthe water depresses your purge (which you have already set to the max), you tuck your head in to protect the purge and the current pushes your mask off. Ah... now THAT'S what I call fun!
Usually this experience leads you to a reef edge where, if you can manage to kick from the mooring to the edge and swim over, you're in no more current.
Bye the way, I was with a divemaster on one of these dives that wore fins that looked 4 feet long. I was wearing twin speed splits. We both broke off the mooring at the same time and I beat him over the edge. Don't believe what you hear about those particular splits being poor in current.
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Originally Posted by gedunk
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