Do you ever break the rules?

[DaleC]

We all have different reasons for diving and I think this may account for differing views regarding risk/rules.

Some people just want to go underwater and seek the safest means possible. They take the neccisary training, follow the suggested rules and successfully get what they came for.

Other people have what some might consider personality defects and seek recognition by intentionally breaking the rules. They have no real purpose for doing so other than being labeled "rule breakers" "cool" or "rebels".

Still other people are inherrantly "adventursome" and can't help but to seek out and push the boundaries. They recognise that, in order to do so, they have to violate some conventional rules and do not see them as inviolable boundaries the way others do.

Finally, some divers probably began diving before the rules were invented and can't see the point of changing their ways this late in the game.

I like to think of myself as falling into view number three for the most part but will admit to having taken the occasional guilty pleasure from view number two...

Oprah was right! the truth will set you free.........

 

[DCBC]

Bent them, but not break badly. You can get DCS by following them, but I'm still here...

 

[InTheDrink]

Bent them, but not break badly.

Similar to The Matrix then

J (the red pill)

 

[Thalassamania]

It depends upon what you mean by "rules."

I've posted a set of skill level descriptions several time that culminate in:

Expert: The diver is capable of making correct decisions on an intuitive basis. He or she no longer needs to rely on rules, guidelines or maxims and posses an authoritative knowledge of the disciplines that make up diving that leads to a deep tacit understanding of, as well as a holistic and intuitive grasp of situations. In complex circumstances, the diver moves easily between intuitive and analytical approaches, using analytic approaches solely in completely novel situations or when problems occur. The diver sees the overall 'picture' and simultaneously grasps alternative approaches. The diver is comfortable taking responsibility for going beyond existing standards and creating original interpretations using a vision of what is possible. Excellence is achieved with relative ease.
​

The point is that when you reach that level you, "no longer need to rely on rules, guidelines or maxims." While you used rules in the past, at that level you can then use rather highly developed "common sense" (an authoritative knowledge of the disciplines that make up diving that leads to a deep tacit understanding of, as well as a holistic and intuitive grasp of situations).

 

[DCBC]

Similar to The Matrix then

J (the red pill)

The theme of illusion and reality; nice!

 

[LiteHedded]

i have broken rules

 

[Big John]

lets see here:
I have gone solo on a few occasions and I am planning a dive to a site that is slightly beyond recreational limits and will get into a little light deco. 1 down and 2 on the horizon.

 

[pdelannoy]

As a relatively new diver with training through PADI and SSI I don't choose to see the "rules" as black and white limitations but rather as guidelines. I see my own development as a diver as incremental. I dive a lot and train relentlessly. I had 50 dives before I took my AOW with many below the 60 foot cut off. I also dive solo at my local site frequently. I think that careful progression and risk assessment is the key.

PD

 

[InTheDrink]

I think I see 'rules' pretty much as things that are 'likely' to keep you alive inside your training limit.

I heard the other day from a friend of a friend who went to 30m on a DSD. This seems outside any rules I've heard of, and for good reason.

I'm AOW with a little over a hundred dives and with, I believe, good tutors, but I still won't stray beyond 40m. I also will no longer go inside wrecks. Essentially, I believe that there is a curve whereby if you go beyond your capabilities/training you are much more likely to end up a stat. If you stay within your capabilities and training then the risk is much lower.

As Thal suggests, I am sure that when a certain level of competence is achieved, that rules become more or less irrelevant, so I'm not taking this profile into consideration.

What's become clear through this thread is that most people are comfortable with bending the rules rather than breaking them. The problem with that is finding the line between the bend and the break. Frequently a bent rule becomes a broken one through degrees.

Final word though - this is the basic scuba section and whilst the OP asks the question about breaking rules, I'd suggest responders are circumspect about any cavalier attitudes towards breaking them because people are already ill-trained by many agencies and advancing an even falser sense of security would be a difficult thing to justify.

J

 

[joolz]

A rule implies that it can be enforced. For instructors and DMs, the training standards become rules insofar as we can have our membership revoked if we don't follow them, although that doesn't prevent us from diving recreationally (and violating as many non-training standards as we please). For recreational divers, the standards really are just guidelines.

I think a lot of the current standards come from the training agencies' attempt to manage the liability of their members. If standards are well established and backed up by empirical data, then it becomes harder to sue instructors and dive ops when a diver's deliberate violation of these standards leads to a dive accident -- especially if they've signed both the liability release and the safe diving practices SOU. Some standards do seem arbitrary (e.g. why 60' instead of 66' for OW?), but without a clear set of standards, instructors and dive ops can be sued for pretty much anything that goes wrong.

When I first started diving, I violated the depth limit a few times -- my 8th dive ever was to 110' -- but these days I stay within the guidelines. This is primarily because I don't find the guidelines overly restrictive based on the kind of diving I do. I also have to be careful about losing credibility if I teach one set of standards and apply a different set to myself.