Experienced Divers: Will You Dive With Newbies?

[caymaniac]

I voted sometimes - is not so much a money or a dive goals thing with me, more to do with relaxation - for me diving with my regular buddies is an extremely relaxing experience, whereas diving with someone who is new, particularly the very new, I tend to find myself watching them more than looking around, and feeling a bit like an unpaid DM, and quite tense a lot of the time. Having said that, as many others have said you can learn a lot from new divers, and we have all benefitted from the patience of others when we were starting out, so am happy to do it some of the time, but would not want all of my dives to be like this, as I think I would lose something which to me is essential in enjoyment of diving.

I do think, however, that if you agree to buddy with someone less experienced/ skilled than you (and that can be someone experienced but not in your local conditions) there is a certain obligation entered into - the worst thing you could do would be to ditch them when they ran out of air, or ignore them while you take pictures - either do it whole heartedly or don't agree to it in the first place.

I agree to this answer somewhat, I've dove with noobies in almost all the places I've gone. It is not good to go with them on a ripping current dive or a deep tunnel because I too feel like an unpaid DM while I pay allot of attention to them, it becomes very difficult to enjoy a dive that I've paid for. On the other hand I enjoy being able to point out how to look for marine life on the reef with noobies, sometimes they are so wrapped up in what they are doing, they miss the reef in front of them. I'm constantly wondering what their air guage is reading.
Several times my wife and I have taken on a noobie and when their air runs down we plan before the dive that we'll go back to the boat with them and then my wife and I will continue with our dive, while they board the boat. A couple of times we've had noobies use more than double of what we've used...... dang hoovers!
Dive Safe,
Caymaniac

 

[jonnythan]

I certainly appreciate it when more experienced divers are willing to dive with me.

 

[michaelp68]

I understand that there are many factors that reflect a diver's ability level.

What do you very experienced divers consider before diving with a newer diver as indicative of the newer diver's ability level? Number of dives? Frequency of dives? Recent dives? Attitude? What else?

How often are you pleasantly surprised by a newer diver's ability level once you've begun or completed the dive, compared with the expectations you had ahead of time?

Also, I've seen reference to sac rates. How would I calculate this for me?

And finally, thank you to all of the experienced divers who give their time, patience and shortened dives to the newer divers.

Michael

 

[FreeFloat]

I'm alright with moderate doses as long as they aren't doing the PADI Patented Power Paddle, or doing Basic Bouncing and Yo-Yoing Skills. And as long as they aren't riding on marine life or dragging backup regs and consoles across the reef/wreck. If you do any of those you're welcome to dive with me, but only once so I can show you the right way to do it.

Everything he said.

 

[lamont]

Also, I've seen reference to sac rates. How would I calculate this for me?

for an entire dive, if your bottom timer / computer will give you avg depth for the dive, just do the math to get cu ft / ( ata-min ):

(psi start - psi end ) * (tank cu ft ) / ( tank rated psi ) = cu ft consumed
avg depth / 33 + 1 = ata
SAC = cu ft consumed / ( ata * mins )

some minor gotchas are that AL80s are 77.4 cu ft, and steel tanks are rated for cu ft at their 'plus' rating.

once you've done that for a few dives, figure out your SAC rate for your tank in psi for 10 mins. mine is 200 psi / ata-min. i can use that to figure that, for example, on a 100 fsw dive that i expect to be burning through 800 psi of gas every 10 mins. i normally check 10-15 mins into every dive to see what my SAC rate is doing and check to make sure i don't have leaks.

 

[jonnythan]

once you've done that for a few dives, figure out your SAC rate for your tank in psi for 10 mins. mine is 200 psi / ata-min. i can use that to figure that, for example, on a 100 fsw dive that i expect to be burning through 800 psi of gas every 10 mins.

Just to be clear for those new to this type of calculation, I'm pretty sure lamont meant "20 psi/ata-min" not "200 psi/ata-min." 200 psi every minute is an awful lot of gas

20 is pretty typical, I think. Mine is generally a little above that, between 20 and 25. 20 psi per minute per atmosphere is just above 0.5 cf/min.

Also note that psi/min will vary for different types of tanks, but cf/min will not.

 

[OE2X]

What do you very experienced divers consider before diving with a newer diver as indicative of the newer diver's ability level? Number of dives? Frequency of dives? Recent dives? Attitude? What else?

I wouldn't consider myself to be "very experienced".
I think all of the above are contributing factors. Attitude is probably key though. You can tell a lot about a person when you are talking to them. For me there are three things I look for in a dive. Safety, buddy awareness and fun. If a newer diver can accomplish those three things, then the dive is successful even if it's short.

How often are you pleasantly surprised by a newer diver's ability level once you've begun or completed the dive, compared with the expectations you had ahead of time? Michael

I'm always surprised and thrilled at the same time. What is really nice, is to be able to give the new diver some new trick to make their diving better. I personally like to teach the frog kick. If the newbie isn't stirring the silt it makes everyone want to keep diving with him/her.

 

[opiniongirl]

I think we should also mention if we are explaining SAC rates, to also explain the correct pronounciation of the term.

Don't talk about your "sack"....but rather call out the letters..SAC...

although I'm SURE there are folks who will disagree, but the latter is much more refined...the verbal difference between a pinto and a cadillac.

 

[Hank49]

How about this? You can have experienced divers but they're now diving in a different environment. Would you dive with them? Like, say if some northern, cold water divers came down and attempted the challenging waters of the Western Caribbean....would I want to dive with them? I'm not sure....they might get vertigo from being able to see farther than 8 feet....diving with a sunburn could cause pain and therefore distractions....the mere affect of seeing fish and coral could make them "breathless" and they'll suck a tank down in no time....It's not just about newbs you know...heh heh

 

[jonnythan]

Don't talk about your "sack"

I'll talk about whatever I please