Are cold water divers better?

[Diver0001]

Fair to assume that Mr. Cahill never dived the North Sea

I had that thought too...

Compared to Northsea divers I would think Mr. Cahill's "superior California divers" are pussies looking for excuses....

j/k of course. Fact is, I've seen 25m viz and 19C water with flat seas on the N. Sea... only once... but it can happen.

R..

 

[vladimir]

Great divers adapt. Period !

Then I must be a great diver. I have transcended my initial training in NY waters and Mid-Atlantic states quarries and have completely adapted to tropical conditions. I have adapted to a 1.5 mm wetsuit, to not wearing a weightbelt and barely using a BC, to 100' visibility, to a hammock between dives and an umbrella drink poolside when the diving is done. It hasn't been easy, but great divers adapt.

 

[Bombay High]

Then I must be a great diver. I have transcended my initial training in NY waters and Mid-Atlantic states quarries and have completely adapted to tropical conditions. I have adapted to a 1.5 mm wetsuit, to not wearing a weightbelt and barely using a BC, to 100' visibility, to a hammock between dives and an umbrella drink poolside when the diving is done. It hasn't been easy, but great divers adapt.

I want your life Vlad !!

 

[Akimbo]

Fair to assume that Mr. Cahill never dived the North Sea

There are a few places worse than the North Sea; you just don’t see divers there very often. The phrases “Sea State Terrible” and WOW (Waiting On Weather) have a new meaning there. It is very rare to see a boat anywhere on the Pacific Coast that could get out of a Norwegian or Scottish harbor without becoming an artificial reef before clearing the first buoy.

 

[Akimbo]

You do love your Google, Akimbo!...

I always prefer to back up statements with facts. I also prefer cut & paste to typing!

….Did you read my post slowly enough to notice that regardless of where your personal blue scale is I wore 13 mm of rubber in the Galapagos (not simply "5mm wetsuits") and that others on my boat were in dry suits? Not only to me, but to everybody on my boat, the water was cold. ...

I accept that you think a vacation in cool water a few degrees south of the equator is cold. I readily admit that people can die of hypothermia in 76°F water. I suspect that it does not meet the criteria that most of us are basing our observations on. Besides, it is less about where you visit than where you do the majority of your diving.

….This is where I disagree with you: it simply cannot be stated categorically as you do that warm water divers It depends entirely on sea conditions, and challenging conditions may include cold, but not necessarily. There are sea conditions in warm water that are plenty "harsh" for those who can handle them, and it's not exclusively the cold-water divers who are capable of handling them…

By categorically do you mean that the statement applied to all people in that category? I was careful not to do that by qualifying statements using terms like on average, usually (as in not always), and likely. If that was not clear then that was a failure of my intent and I apologize.

I did indicate that you can be a good warm water diver. Of course there are areas of the world that have warm and moderate temperature seas and other conditions that are harsh and demanding. Of course there are individuals that are good and even great divers in warm water. However, it is also silly to think that the average diver in the North Sea isn’t vastly more skilled and competent than the average diver visiting a Caribbean resort.

Of course you can also be a lousy diver in cold water, but you are just less likely to survive to dive another day. It is appropriate that you used the Galapagos example because this brings me back to my initial statement about natural selection.

On average yes, cold water divers are better because the conditions are a form of natural selection. Diving in cold water is usually accompanied by lousy visibility and high seas. As a result, most dives are more physically demanding. The equipment investment and burden is also significantly greater. All these factors results in a more motivated diver — excluding “fair weather divers” so to speak. Highly motivated individuals are more likely to develop greater experience, skills, and knowledge.

It would be completely wrong to interpret this as warm water divers aren’t any good. It does mean that their ranks are shared with a greater percentage of casual divers with little intension of developing advanced skills.

 

[Narced Out]

I dive in 0-15ft vis on almost all of my dives. If we get 30ft vis here in San Diego occasionally its a miracle. But im comfortable in my 2ft vis, 6ft swells and high seas for dive conditions.

 

[CuNanoTube]

I would say cold water divers are generally more serious and dedicated divers, which may correlate with skill level. but since I have no hard data I cannot say. If you are diving cold water you must spend more money on equipment, take the time to learn how to operate a drysuit (most of the time) and especially in the great lakes (where I dive) learn to deal with low vis and dark conditions. I would say it is entirely possible cold water divers are better simply because almost no one takes a vacation to lake Ontario and decides to dive while there.

 

[DMDavid]

This thread should be titled as "Are Coldwater Divers Crazy?"

Then the answer from us warm-water divers would be a simple YES.

Why would anyone in their right mind want to dive in their pajamas while wrapped in a thick Hefty bag wearing gloves so thick that you can't feel anything you touch.

Just a joke to kick this thread in a different direction, so don't get your thermal underwear in a knot.


FB-Florida Scuba Diver

 

[boulderjohn]

As with all other posts, generalizations follow.

One thing that I think that makes a difference is the dive protocols common to the different areas. In a lot (generalization) of warm water, resort sites, all dives are lead by DMs who plan the dive, do all the navigating, check your gas for you, tell you when to ascend, and take care of all other unpleasantness. Many divers experience nothing else throughout their diving lives. I have had students tell me that their friends who are already experienced resort divers tell them they don't have to worry about any of that dive planning stuff I'm teaching because DMs always do that stuff for you.

Most cold water sites are quite the opposite. Divers who do a lot of diving in situations where they are expected to take care of all these things for themselves must of necessity end up with levels of skill superior to divers who expect to be led by the hand through every dive.

 

[Thalassamania]

Cahill is a humorist, not a "main-line" diver.

Most of my life I have taught diving in cold water, now I dabble in teaching diving in warm water. There is a difference.

The equipment required by cold water makes learning more difficult and is sort of a "self-stressor," so I'd say that for a given level of accomplishment, as measured by good trim and buoyancy cold water divers have a better tool kit. When you add to that the usual difference in currents, waves, and visibility (and note that I say usual, since I have found that here in Hawaii the currents and waves are as bad, or worse), then again, for a given level of proficiency the cold water divers are better prepared.

I say this as one who is faced with training folks in Hawaii who are very well likely to have to dive in Northern California, New England or the North Sea ... it's an interesting problem trying to invent exercises that will teach the needed skills and that will translate well from warmer water to colder water.