The Chairman
Chairman of the Board
I had a bit of an altercation today at one of my favorite teaching sites, Alexander Springs. I went with a remedial student for some one on one training and things were "OK" until our second dive.
A free diver came down and signaled "OOA" and my student without hesitation handed him a reg. The guy had maybe one breath when I firmly pulled it free. I gave him and my student the finger wag, and pulled my student away as the diver surfaced. The student knew about this ahead of time, as I made sure that they knew to not share air with an apnea diver. Still, the diver came down a half dozen times after that and got more aggressive with each attempt. On his final attempt he grabbed my octo (which is bungeed on my neck) and yanked it free hurting me in the process. I quickly jerked the reg from his hand and ended our dive.
As we were leaving the water, the free diver began to yell at me and became verbally abusive. I was glad that there was a ranger at the water's edge and I calmly told her what transpired. We left as she started to deal with him.
I bring this up since the free diver made quite a few claims. First and worst, he claims to share air all the time in Alexander Springs as well as other springs. I have never seen it at Alexander (and I am there twice a month in the summer) and have only seen it one other time when a scuba diver offered air to me when I was free diving in Blue Springs.
Is there anyone in our little community that actually edangers free divers like this? (yeah, I loaded the question). If so, I sincerely hope that you STOP the practice, no matter how beligerant the free diver becomes. Most free divers have no idea how Boyles Law can kill them.
A free diver came down and signaled "OOA" and my student without hesitation handed him a reg. The guy had maybe one breath when I firmly pulled it free. I gave him and my student the finger wag, and pulled my student away as the diver surfaced. The student knew about this ahead of time, as I made sure that they knew to not share air with an apnea diver. Still, the diver came down a half dozen times after that and got more aggressive with each attempt. On his final attempt he grabbed my octo (which is bungeed on my neck) and yanked it free hurting me in the process. I quickly jerked the reg from his hand and ended our dive.
As we were leaving the water, the free diver began to yell at me and became verbally abusive. I was glad that there was a ranger at the water's edge and I calmly told her what transpired. We left as she started to deal with him.
I bring this up since the free diver made quite a few claims. First and worst, he claims to share air all the time in Alexander Springs as well as other springs. I have never seen it at Alexander (and I am there twice a month in the summer) and have only seen it one other time when a scuba diver offered air to me when I was free diving in Blue Springs.
Is there anyone in our little community that actually edangers free divers like this? (yeah, I loaded the question). If so, I sincerely hope that you STOP the practice, no matter how beligerant the free diver becomes. Most free divers have no idea how Boyles Law can kill them.