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Good morning fellow Old Divers!! I'm well past 50 yrs old, and have a question: I shared a dive event here on Scubaboard. I got one response saying that, in other words, "a being "fit" suggestion eliminated alot of us older guys." So I adjusted the concept of any "requirements" to not be any. And the invite was broadened to include old divers. someone said that was "offensive!"
Grumpy Old Divers. 50+ in age. Would anyone here be offended if a dive was modified to include all or any of you here on this thread?
Age to me is just a number. I am well past 50. Do I have the stamina of the 20-30 year olds? NO!!, but I do have the experience and training in stiuations that a lot of the younger crowd does not and I approach diving with a more reserved safety approach than I would have in my 20's! Just MHO! I am not offended being called "OLD"!
All divers have restrictions, be it related to age, experience, physical disabilities...the list goes on.
I hope to be a 50+ diver in about 10 years, and don't plan to be offended by being called an old diver, heck you can call me an old diver now. I have been on dives where profiles were modified for a variety of things, and I don't mind.
Ken
~~~
"There's nothing remarkable about it. All one has to do is hit the right keys at the right time and the instrument plays itself." - Johann Sebastian Bach
My wife Sandra is a good example of how much nonsense there is in age being an excuse. She is 59 or 60 now ( I pay little attention to age), and is typically assumed to be in her early 40's...She does the Saturday morning race ride on A1A with the cat 4 and cat 3 men, and is in the fastest 1/3 of this group of about 70 regulars. If it was a mountain stage, she would be in the top 1/10.
She has always watched her diet, and always done weights and cardio. And scuba for over 20 years.
You will not find any dive group on this board, where she could not handle ANY physical demands of a dive that any of the groups here do. So age? I think playing the age card is about laziness and making excuses. There is actually a cyclist that does the Saturday ride once in a while that is in his mid 70's...His name is ( phonetic... Fran-swa ), he is in the world records of cycling, and still fast enough to hang on rides averaging 25 to 32 mph for 30 miles or more.
If you are an old diver, then you need to work out....30 years of not working out is what causes an old diver to be weak....it is not the age itself. If you have old injuries, that is another story entirely--then it is not that you are an old diver, but a diver with old injuries they are having trouble re-habing.
I read your post on the other thread and thought it was condescending. I don't think you intended to be, but it was do to the generalization based on age.
If you have a alternate track that is less physically demanding just publish that its available and let the divers decide what is right for them. It might fit some older divers, some young ones is poor shape, others that look in good shape and have some other hidden issue or even some newer divers not 100% confident in their capabilities. Equating older divers as being less fit it about the same as saying female divers are less capable than male divers. It just pisses people off and and serves no purpose as the variation between individuals is so must more than the generalizations.
Yeah, I'm an old diver. Been diving for 30+ years, and I'm 65 next month. Now it is interesting to me that when diving in the Ocean with younger divers I'm usually the last man back and have the most gas reserve, best SAC rate, less tired. Why because experience counts for something! When I'm cave diving the same thing happens, most of my dive partners turn the dive before I am at 1/3rds,(not always but usually). I also believe anxiety in diving situations raises ones breathing rate and a lot of younger divers don't have the experience necessary to relax underwater. That said, I'm more conservative diving now than years past, not as deep, not as long at depth, pick my dives more carefully, and my diving buddies too. Frequency in diving also keeps me fit and conditioned. Usually I do a dive a week or more, year round.
"Old" doesn't bother me. I'm 54 and can still run a 3.5 hour marathon and bench press 260 lbs. I love staying in shape and the friendly competition with my sons (also fitness nuts).
Age gives you perspective on diving...you slow down and look closer at the view and I think you appreciate the experience a little more (more than when we were young turks!).
I am almost 60. I started diving when I was around 56. I care little if someone wants to call me old. I am glad I made it this far. Call me old if you want.
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Originally Posted by H2Ocean
