First King of England to be a Certified Diver?

[Centrals]

This thread has had a significant and unexpected on my outlook regarding scuba.

After I participated here, I saw clips of Charles addressing the nation. I looked at that feeble old man and wondered what it would be like for a DM on a dive boat to see him climbing on board at the beginning of a dive trip. That DM must be thinking, "Uh oh! What a geriatric! This is someone I had better keep a close eye on!"

I further imagined would it would be like if the situation were reversed. What if you were a new and excited scuba student meeting an instructor who looked like that for the first time? How would he or she feel about it?

Charles and I are roughly the same age. Hopefully I look a little better, but it makes me think a bit.

You need not to worry about him at all. There will be more than enough divers to take good care of him above or below water if he decides to go diving.
In UK most decent dive boats has lift!!

Just do not compare yourself with him.

 

[Gandalf-the-Diver]

What a geriatric! This is someone I had better keep a close eye on!"

Don't worry, the 4 SAS Divers with him, will watch over him.

 

[pauldw]

He has a sense of humor! Who knew?

 

[Pressurehead]

"Uh oh! What a geriatric! This is someone I had better keep a close eye on!"

Don't worry, the 4 SAS Divers with him, will watch over him.

Geriatric I am only one year younger.
As for his dive buddies, SBS or SAS or a mix of both, you would never know.
SBS would be my pick.

 

[Gandalf-the-Diver]

Geriatric I am only one year younger.
As for his dive buddies, SBS or SAS or a mix of both, you would never know.
SBS would be my pick.

I'm a youngster, I am only 61 next week. Should be my 300th dive that day. I got my OW, two years ago.

 

[Trace Malinowski]

This thread has had a significant and unexpected on my outlook regarding scuba.

After I participated here, I saw clips of Charles addressing the nation. I looked at that feeble old man and wondered what it would be like for a DM on a dive boat to see him climbing on board at the beginning of a dive trip. That DM must be thinking, "Uh oh! What a geriatric! This is someone I had better keep a close eye on!"

I further imagined would it would be like if the situation were reversed. What if you were a new and excited scuba student meeting an instructor who looked like that for the first time? How would he or she feel about it?

Charles and I are roughly the same age. Hopefully I look a little better, but it makes me think a bit.

I just worked lifeguard/surface rescue for Event Medics for a Tough Mudder. Of the 3,500 participants, there were a noticeable amount of AARP and Medicare types. I felt too old to be standing at an obstacle with a rescue tube, but the entire water rescue crew was made up of divemasters and instructors with gray hair. In the not-too-distant past, the relationship between scuba diving and the image of navy frogmen was not too far removed. It was a young person's sport. But as the pioneers grew older and even old, they also pioneered the way for diving to be a sport for older people as well. Now, it's like golf. Grandparents put regulators in the mouths of their grandchildren.

Prince William might even talk his father the king into doing a dive if the family was on vacation, and Charles III seems wise and humble enough to probably go through a bit of a refresher to swim around a shallow reef. The guide they hired would probably think Charles III would be someone that he or she needed to keep a close eye on.

As experienced instructors become older, there is no reason they shouldn't be teaching at the level at which they can perform. What we should do (and what I am working on with standards) is set high fitness standards for divers who will be tasked with rescue. For example, you might not be able to respond as rapidly to a rescue 10 years from now, but if you still had the ability to teach, having an assistant to help out shoot video, or whatever you need, and who could also swim 400 meters in 6:30 with fins equal to a USCG rescue swimmer requalification would make others feel safer.

 

[Trace Malinowski]

Don't worry, the 4 SAS Divers with him, will watch over him.

One day, when I was teaching at Dutch Springs during the week, I was told the student side was closed off because some royal or some VIP from the Middle East was a college student in NYC and she was taking an OW course. We were to dive around the Peninsula and avoid the training platforms on the student side. Checking in that morning there was a diverse group of men in different styles of dress. One guy had medium-length blonde surfer-type hair, a bit shorter than we were, but sinewy and permanently tanned. He had been a Navy SEAL. He was working as a private security contractor as her underwater protective detail.

Of course, being curious, we ventured over to the platforms on the student side. Divers with spearguns were kneeling on the platform while a small OW class was being conducted. Maybe 6 students? One of the divers with a speargun motioned us away.

 

[boulderjohn]

Geriatric I am only one year younger.
As for his dive buddies, SBS or SAS or a mix of both, you would never know.
SBS would be my pick.

I think people missed the main point of my post, and that is that I, too, am about that age, and I can't help but wonder what people think of me when they see me clambering aboard a dive boat or donning my double steel tanks and decompression bottles prior to a dive.

 

[Searcaigh]

I meant King of England. My bad. I should have clarified.

Charles III is King of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland as well as head of state for 14 other Commonwealth realms.

 

[ThatDogDontHunt]

Charles III is King of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland as well as head of state for 14 other Commonwealth realms.

He is King of the United Kingdom.

Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom.

United Kingdom - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a sovereign country in Europe...