Neither. Fear is counterproductive. There is no need for it.
Fear is what makes us cautious and helps keep us out of trouble. The ocean is a dangerous place for humans. If you don't respect it, the ocean will find a way to kill you. The dodo bird didn't have any fear. That worked for a while, until something unexpected happened. Don't be a dodo diver.
Do or do not: there is no try! Neither my students or I need to 'get close'. We get perfectly neutral.
More unsupported crap. Not one training agency agrees with you. They require 100% of all training dives to use a BCD. You keep beating this drum and wonder why the actual INSTRUCTORS say you're wrong.
I'm not an instructor and I don't really care about pleasing the training agencies or the insurance companies. I'm a diver and I care about diving. I've dove from tech, to rec, to free, cold water to warm water, dry to skin, and have had a lot of experiences in the past 30 years that many others have not. That has given me a fairly well rounded perspective that someone diving the same way for 30 years won't get. There are others here on SB that dive no BC, and it is interesting that many of them share similar perspectives to me on this subject. Then there are those who have never tried or who have tried and failed to successfully and comfortably dive no BC. Those divers tend to side with you. Some people just dive in cold water environments where diving no BC probably isn't the best choice even if you have the skills. However, diving tends to be more popular where the water is warm and clear. Diving without a BC could be an option for divers there if they had the skills. Those skills would likely make them better divers in a BC when they choose to use it, regardless whether they are diving in warm or cold water.
I have been called stupid and ignorant here on SB for my perspective on the pros and cons of BCDs in different diving environments. The definition of ignorant is "lacking knowledge, information, or awareness about something in particular". I have done many, many successful dives with a BC and many, many successful dives without a BC. It is interesting how the ones accusing me of ignorance are the ones who have not done many, many successful dives without a BC. The accusers seem to fit the definition of ignorance on this subject much better than the accused.
I get that you are a dive instructor and are vested in the dogma of the training agencies. Your hook to attract students to you is "snobbish amounts of trim", and if someone wanted to learn to dive no BC, you would not be able to train them or get paid. We all know that you can't dive successfully without a BC. You have tried it long ago and it went so badly you nearly quit diving until you were rescued by the BCD. Maybe that means you aren't actually the expert on this subject as you only have one skill set on which to base your opinions. You keep beating your drum and wonder why the divers who can do it say that you are wrong. You seem to forget that diving without a BC was the origin of scuba diving. Maybe trim isn't the only thing you are being "snobbish" about.
