Tough Lesson to learn, I'm not an instructor

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Don't automatically assume an instructor would know better. I once knew one who thought it was a good idea to take AOW students ... two of them with less than 15 dives ... on a 200-foot bounce dive ... at night ... in Puget Sound. Vis was running about 6 to 10 feet due to heavy plankton bloom. Six divers went down. Two bailed almost immediately. Of the four who went to the bottom, three surfaced again. The fourth was found 10 months later, half-buried in the mud at abot 205 fsw.

The incident was widely discussed in this forum.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)
 
That thought crossed my mind too. typical viz around the coast of Oregon is about 30ft.

I'm thinking 100% troll. I even checked the date of the OP to see if it was posted on April 1st.

R..


I think the OP was in Guam when this incident happened. Only later moved to Oregon.
 
A new diver,not even certified, goes to 250' on an Alum. 80 ? I am assuming it was an 80 or maybe he had steel doubles.Yeah I know it can be done but I am not buying this entire story,read his post about the lead boots in the Basic forum.


Yeah right.
 
If you haven't dived in the tropical Pacific, you have no idea how easy it can be to get deep fast. Visibility can be astonishing at depth, too - we had viz well in excess of 300' horizontally at 150' depth a few days ago, way more than that looking vertically down.

I've seen more people than I like to think about bounce in the 250' range with Al80 tanks. They do it because the water's warm and clear and the walls are deep and they think they're proving something. Well, they are proving something, just not what they think they're proving...

The point, I think, is that without the tools a structured course or plentiful teaching experience give you, it doesn't matter how good a diver you are - you'll take things for granted, and someone who hasn't dived before will catch you out in your assumptions. You might not, for example, think about giving your 'student' reasons for restricting their depth, and just assume that they'll swim along with you...

The one thing I'm a bit baffled by is the idea that, having nearly killed one person, the OP thought they'd give it another go...
 
I don't want to be harshly crticial. I thank you, OP, for posting here.

I'm an attorney and I've been invovled with legal matters related to recreational diving.

Please do not attempt to teach anyone else to dive again.
 
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I don't want to be harshly crticial. I thank you, OP, for posting here.

I'm an attorney and I've been invovled with legal matters related to recreational diving.

Please do not attempt to teach anyone else to dive again.

Is that the attorney speaking or the dive professional speaking. Why would teaching someone to dive be any different than teaching someone to drive? Can you cite specific cases?
 
Is that the attorney speaking or the dive professional speaking. Why would teaching someone to dive be any different than teaching someone to drive? Can you cite specific cases?
Interesting point. As adults, we are responsible for our own decisions right or wrong. It seems the people accepting the lessons are just as culpable.
 
Interesting point. As adults, we are responsible for our own decisions right or wrong. It seems the people accepting the lessons are just as culpable.


Not if they are not in a position to understand the true dangers (which a non diver is not in any position to understand all of the dangers) AND if the OP portrayed himself as a person that knew the dangers and could be trusted for their safety in the water. You need to remember, we live in a time/place where you can sue for almost anything.
 
Non divers are more than capable of understanding the true dangers of diving, it's not that complicated.

I don't think the OP has anything to worry about in terms of liability. The incident happened years ago, as far as I understand.
 
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