Gear or training? what makes the diver?
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To me, being a good diver is having competent skills and good safety practices, both applied on every dive. One of the skills is to familiarize ones self with new equipment before use on an open water ( or other ) dive. I would not don a new type of gear and roll of the boat without having some orientation to it in confined water. Examples: bp/w, dry suit, rebreather.
DIvemasterDennis
DIvemasterDennis
Couple of thoughts...
1. Experience is more than just time. We have a saying about some folks (not diving, but it applies): "he has one year of experience repeated 12 times".
2. There's good gear, unfamiliar gear, and crap gear. Good diver plus good gear equals fantastic diving. Good diver plus unfamiliar gear equals OK diving but probably would do some 'getting used to it' dives first. Finally, a good diver can dive crap gear, but why?
My gear has been refined over the course of years. I'm willing to dive unfamiliar stuff on fun dives, but won't do serious tech dives until it's no longer unfamiliar (or perhaps not ever - depends how it works out on the fun dives).
I'm also now at the point I get enough diving so that if I were handed crap gear I'd just say "sorry, some other time". I'm just too old for crap gear anymore. Funny thing - most crap gear screams 'crap gear' just looking at it.
1. Experience is more than just time. We have a saying about some folks (not diving, but it applies): "he has one year of experience repeated 12 times".
2. There's good gear, unfamiliar gear, and crap gear. Good diver plus good gear equals fantastic diving. Good diver plus unfamiliar gear equals OK diving but probably would do some 'getting used to it' dives first. Finally, a good diver can dive crap gear, but why?
My gear has been refined over the course of years. I'm willing to dive unfamiliar stuff on fun dives, but won't do serious tech dives until it's no longer unfamiliar (or perhaps not ever - depends how it works out on the fun dives).
I'm also now at the point I get enough diving so that if I were handed crap gear I'd just say "sorry, some other time". I'm just too old for crap gear anymore. Funny thing - most crap gear screams 'crap gear' just looking at it.
phoenix31tt
Contributor
But does the simple gear make them a better diver? or does the simple gear make it easier for them to learn how to be a diver to begin with...
you can have the simplest most streamlined gear configured for you by somebody else and still be a bad diver if you don't have the requisite training or experience to be a good diver...
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OK, I'm gonna toss another wrinkle into the conversation ... attitude. A good attitude ... as in mental approach to diving ... is what separates the truly good divers from the rest, because it affects everything you do.
The diver with a good attitude is going to be the one who puts effort into training, asks good questions, comes to class prepared, and leaves the class having satisfied themselves that they got everything out of it that they could. This is the diver who's going to be doing research, constantly looking to improve their skills, asking a million questions of everyone who will listen, and demanding a logical reason for everything they are told. They're going to do all of this not because someone else expects them to ... but because they expect it of themselves. They can be a pain ... but in a joyful way.
Experience only gets you so far if you don't have the attitude ... you'll plateau at a certain level, then quit trying to improve ... doing the same things over and over and over, whether they're good technique or not. This is where complacency sets in. I've seen divers with thousands of dives who are train wrecks underwater ... because they decided at some point that they knew everything they needed to know, and stopped learning. Worse, because of their experience, they became resistant to any new ideas or critiques about what they were doing ... they keep making the same mistakes over and over.
Gear only gets you so far ... even very good gear. I've seen plenty of people wearing the uniform, but lacking the chops.
Training is only as good as the instructor you choose and the effort you put into it. C-cards only indicate that you went through the class, not that you actually learned anything from it.
The diver who has a good attitude will ... because they're driven by that attitude ... make good decisions about their training, will put effort into continuous improvement as they gain experience, and will ultimately make good choices about the type of equipment that works best for them. They won't settle for inadequate training, ill-fitting or inappropriate gear choices ... and they'll develop BS filters as they gain knowledge and ask questions. This is the diver who will develop faster, and look better in the water, than their peers ... because they make the best use of the most important piece of gear all of us take underwater with us ... the one that sits between our ears ...
... Bob (Grateful Diver)
The diver with a good attitude is going to be the one who puts effort into training, asks good questions, comes to class prepared, and leaves the class having satisfied themselves that they got everything out of it that they could. This is the diver who's going to be doing research, constantly looking to improve their skills, asking a million questions of everyone who will listen, and demanding a logical reason for everything they are told. They're going to do all of this not because someone else expects them to ... but because they expect it of themselves. They can be a pain ... but in a joyful way.
Experience only gets you so far if you don't have the attitude ... you'll plateau at a certain level, then quit trying to improve ... doing the same things over and over and over, whether they're good technique or not. This is where complacency sets in. I've seen divers with thousands of dives who are train wrecks underwater ... because they decided at some point that they knew everything they needed to know, and stopped learning. Worse, because of their experience, they became resistant to any new ideas or critiques about what they were doing ... they keep making the same mistakes over and over.
Gear only gets you so far ... even very good gear. I've seen plenty of people wearing the uniform, but lacking the chops.
Training is only as good as the instructor you choose and the effort you put into it. C-cards only indicate that you went through the class, not that you actually learned anything from it.
The diver who has a good attitude will ... because they're driven by that attitude ... make good decisions about their training, will put effort into continuous improvement as they gain experience, and will ultimately make good choices about the type of equipment that works best for them. They won't settle for inadequate training, ill-fitting or inappropriate gear choices ... and they'll develop BS filters as they gain knowledge and ask questions. This is the diver who will develop faster, and look better in the water, than their peers ... because they make the best use of the most important piece of gear all of us take underwater with us ... the one that sits between our ears ...
... Bob (Grateful Diver)
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I was going to post, but there really is no point now...
OP
Oh......
I have to admit that the learning curve was long and painful, and I was lucky I decided to learn on the bike as a rat, BEFORE restoring it. It was a lesson that developing some basic skill sets on new gear is better off being done before you jump right into deep, er doo doo for the first time.
AfterDark
Contributor
IMO diving makes the diver the more one dives the better one gets, training and gear just gets you there.
In my opinion, Proficiency makes the diver.
Someone can be comfortable in, and around the water, yet still not be a proficient diver. Comfort just means they're not likely to stress or panic if something doesn't go well.
Experience doesn't make someone a good diver. They could have a ton of experience in the water doing things wrong.
Gear doesn't make someone a good diver. Even if you have top of the line gear that doesn't mean it's suited to your particular diving or that you know how to use it properly.
To me, someone that is proficient in their skills, proficient in their equipment, and comfortable in the water are going to be the best divers. So, I think that it's a combination of the things listed previously *along* with the ability to use them properly.
Someone can be comfortable in, and around the water, yet still not be a proficient diver. Comfort just means they're not likely to stress or panic if something doesn't go well.
Experience doesn't make someone a good diver. They could have a ton of experience in the water doing things wrong.
Gear doesn't make someone a good diver. Even if you have top of the line gear that doesn't mean it's suited to your particular diving or that you know how to use it properly.
To me, someone that is proficient in their skills, proficient in their equipment, and comfortable in the water are going to be the best divers. So, I think that it's a combination of the things listed previously *along* with the ability to use them properly.
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