- Messages
- 305
- Reaction score
- 24
- # of dives
Seems to be a lot of back-and-forth on people trying to "one up" each other on the whys of accidents. Some say rules were violated.
The capacity of the human "fight or flight" response is strong. We've all had those "uh-oh" moments, in which we have to choke down our inate fear, before it turns to widespread panic, to get a situation under control. This is what classes like "stress and rescue" try and teach you - to deal with problems at depth, as they occur, and not let them "snowball".
But I would respectfully go to the saying "It's what you don't know you don't know". Read that carefully. It isn't a typo.
For instance, I can take a person in one of my classes and teach them how to breathe off a scuba unit in about 5 mins. However, they know zip about buoyancy, zip about the physiological properties of breathing compressed gas at depth, etc.
But throwing that same person into a 60-70 foot depth environment isn't safe. It's what they don't know that will kill them. They aren't even aware of all of the intricacies of their ignorance. They don't know how to avoid DCS/DCI, how not to get an AGE, etc. They MIGHT get away with it, for instance, following another diver who DOES know what they're doing, and why. But mimicking another's physical movements is not knowledge.
That same person, or any OWD, without knowledge of how quickly a silt-out can occur - and what to do about it (hope that line was strung; hope you know how to find that lost line; hope you know how to tie-off a jump line, etc.) - is what sets real world training scenarios apart from reading something in a book.
To my knowledge, no agency practices a real OOA situation. In my class, I explain to my students that I will let them experience what it really feels like to breathe a tank down to nothing, by turning off their air supply (this, with my alternate in their hand). Many are surprised.
But all of this "what if" belies the panic that many people that die experience. I mean why would they have an issue if it was "taught"? Unfortunately, fear often overrides reason. When was the last time you and your buddy actually practiced your rescue skills?
Just saying.
The capacity of the human "fight or flight" response is strong. We've all had those "uh-oh" moments, in which we have to choke down our inate fear, before it turns to widespread panic, to get a situation under control. This is what classes like "stress and rescue" try and teach you - to deal with problems at depth, as they occur, and not let them "snowball".
But I would respectfully go to the saying "It's what you don't know you don't know". Read that carefully. It isn't a typo.
For instance, I can take a person in one of my classes and teach them how to breathe off a scuba unit in about 5 mins. However, they know zip about buoyancy, zip about the physiological properties of breathing compressed gas at depth, etc.
But throwing that same person into a 60-70 foot depth environment isn't safe. It's what they don't know that will kill them. They aren't even aware of all of the intricacies of their ignorance. They don't know how to avoid DCS/DCI, how not to get an AGE, etc. They MIGHT get away with it, for instance, following another diver who DOES know what they're doing, and why. But mimicking another's physical movements is not knowledge.
That same person, or any OWD, without knowledge of how quickly a silt-out can occur - and what to do about it (hope that line was strung; hope you know how to find that lost line; hope you know how to tie-off a jump line, etc.) - is what sets real world training scenarios apart from reading something in a book.
To my knowledge, no agency practices a real OOA situation. In my class, I explain to my students that I will let them experience what it really feels like to breathe a tank down to nothing, by turning off their air supply (this, with my alternate in their hand). Many are surprised.
But all of this "what if" belies the panic that many people that die experience. I mean why would they have an issue if it was "taught"? Unfortunately, fear often overrides reason. When was the last time you and your buddy actually practiced your rescue skills?
Just saying.