Learned Wrong...

[Akimbo]

…When a student asked about rapture of the deep, aka narcosis the instructor replied when diving deep he witnessed a student take the reg out of their mouth and try to give it to a pretty fish.…

Don’t be too hard on this instructor. This is a near quote from one of the early diving publications. I think the origin was Jacques Cousteau’s first book, The Silent World — the second chapter titled Rapture of the Deep, page 31 of my copy:

The first stage is a mild anesthesia, after which the diver becomes a god. If a passing fish seems to require air, the crazed diver may tear out his air pipe or mouth grip as a sublime gift.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Cousteau barrowed it from an even earlier work. I recently re-read The Silent World after maybe 20 years, but that excerpt has been paraphrased hundreds of times. I'm fairly sure it was even used in several Sea Hunt episodes.

 

[Chris12day]

I learned if I did it that way (insert your favorite setup)... I was gonna die!

 

[Akimbo]

I learned if I did it that way (insert your favorite setup)... I was gonna die!

That is probably the most wrong of all! Maybe it is just my contrary nature, but I always become skeptical when I hear statements without justification. Just like that guy Columbus with that round earth nonsense.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I learned if I did it that way (insert your favorite setup)... I was gonna die!

Well ... we're all gonna die. Air is a lethal gas ... breathing it results in a 100% fatality rate ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Paladin]

Don’t be too hard on this instructor. This is a near quote from one of the early diving publications. I think the origin was Jacques Cousteau’s first book, The Silent World — the second chapter titled Rapture of the Deep, page 31 of my copy:



I wouldn’t be surprised if Cousteau barrowed it from an even earlier work. I recently re-read The Silent World after maybe 20 years, but that excerpt has been paraphrased hundreds of times. I'm fairly sure it was even used in several Sea Hunt episodes.

Back in the 70's, I went to 130' in Summersville Lake. I was not wearing a wetsuit and the water at that depth was very cold. I remember reaching 130', then the next thing I remember was my buddy hauling me up at 90'. He told me that I freaked out and tried to give my reg to a fish. Did it happen or was he just pulling my leg? I honestly don't know. I have learned since then that I was probably suffering from a combination of narcosis and hypothermia. All I know is, I don't remember any of it.

 

[Deep South Divers]

That weights need to be ditchable in emergencies. That is wrong… for saturation divers. I have yet to hear an intelligent reason why that is not a valid safety option for all other divers, recreational through surface-supplied. Granted, a belt that is accidently lost can also be a hazard.

Perhaps I'm misreading your intent... Can you expand on this one? Specifically, you haven't heard an intelligent argument AGAINST ditchable weight for the non-sat diver?

 

[Mike Boswell]

That todays instructors are terrible compared to back in the day: I imagine people that say this really mean: “Most of today’s instructors I have met are terrible compared to my instructor”. IMHO, this is a human nature thing. We are less critical of people we have developed relationships with. My parents said the same thing about their K-12 teachers.

Maybe, but quite a few mean today's instructors are terrible.

That today's scuba training is terrible compared to back in the day: What they are really saying is the abbreviated schedule for basic diver training is terrible compared to classes that were 3-5 times longer. I have yet to meet an instructor that couldn’t produce better divers with more time (and money). That is like reducing a Bachelor’s program to one year. I don’t care how much curriculums, training aids, and techniques have improved, it doesn’t fully compensate.

Maybe, but quite a few mean the training itself is terrible.

That weights need to be ditchable in emergencies. That is wrong… for saturation divers. I have yet to hear an intelligent reason why that is not a valid safety option for all other divers, recreational through surface-supplied. Granted, a belt that is accidently lost can also be a hazard.

Sorry I didn't clarify - by ditchable I mean ripcords or the quick-release snap type on BCD's, not standard weight belts.

That you can't spend 8 hours in 80-degree water without becoming hypothermic. This is an issue of interpretation. Age, gender, body mass, health, and exposure protection all factor in. Pre-WWII studies of shipwreck survivors indicated that this was true for some survivors, but didn’t differentiate between morbidity or low core temperatures of more vulnerable passengers and those in their prime. The US Navy did laboratory immersion studies on young healthy males and found the numbers to be higher, but did measure drops in core temperature in that time-frame.

It depends on how you define “becoming hypothermic” — Mild hyperthermia is usually defined when the body temperature drops to 32–35° C/90–95° F. A 3-4° F drop in core temperature is not especially dangerous for most people healthy enough to dive, but it meets the definition.

New divers are told they need far more exposure protection than is necessary, IMO. This may have something to do with wetsuit and drysuit sales.

I will leave others to comment on others in your list.

Please see above.

 

[Deep South Divers]

I'm still unclear what you meant by, "I have yet to hear an intelligent reason why this is not a valid safety option for all other divers..." I can give you lots of intelligent reasons why a diver - ANY diver, not just saturation divers - should not ditch their weight. Would you like to hear them, or did I misunderstand your statement?

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

One of the biggest issues I have with the NAUI OW student handbook is their emphasis on ditching weights at depth ... there's even a big-ass picture in the manual showing a diver standing on the bottom while holding their weightbelt out at arm's length.

What's missing is that this is an option one should only consider if it's a choice between dropping your weightbelt or drowning ... otherwise, swim up and drop your weights at the surface ... to assure that you stay there. It's supposed to be a last option ... something you do only if there are no other means of getting to an air source.

Where I dive, it's not uncommon for divers to be wearing 30# or more on a weightbelt. Drop one of those at depth and you're gonna look like Free Willy when you breach at the surface ... and if you're lucky you'll remember to keep an open airway for the duration of the ascent.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Deep South Divers]

What he said.

The PADI Basic Open Water manual says that to be correctly weighted you:

1. Float on the surface with a nearly empty tank, no air in your BC.
2. With feet down and head up and a lungful of air,
3. The water should bisect your mask at eye level.

If you sink, you're wearing too much weight. If you float too high, you don't have enough weight on.

if you are weighted properly, the ease of bouyancy control improves dramatically. if you are weighted properly, then even in the case of a complete BC failure, you should be able to swim up easily without ditching your weight. If you are weighted properly, then the whole experience of diving becomes simpler, easier, and more fun with less weight and less gear to clean (and tote around). Most of all, you'll never find yourself in a situation where ditching weight at depth even crosses your mind.

At the surface, say, if a diver was lost and floating for hours, I could see the concept of ditching anything that sinks, if only to float as much as possible. But at depth, ditching weight either creates an uncontrolled ascent or... The diver didn't need that weight in the first place.

Diving with too much weight makes bouyancy control much more complicated, probably throws off the diver's trim, increases air consumption dramatically, slows the diver's ability to swim and/or resist current, and... Creates a situation where ditching weight at depth - that is, creates a situation where an uncontrolled ascent may occur (at the very least, it will make the diver accelerate as he/she gets shallower -the perfect way to create a DCS problem) is the diver's only option.

Properly weight yourself - that is, minimize your weight - and ditching weight becomes completely unneccessary, and completely optional - at the surface - if additional bouyancy is desired.

People say that my attitude about this subject is that weight shouldn't be ditchable. To the contrary, I think that weight should be VERY ditchable. Ditch it before you dive and the whole dive will be better.