How many dives before solo diving, part II

[MXGratefulDiver]

Yep... I'm outta here too. This isn't a discussion group anymore...

So what's your notion of a discussion ... everybody agreeing with you?

Contrary to your deliberate misrepresentation of our position, at no point have I or anybody else expressed an anti-solo diving opinion ... we have said that you should receive proper training and experience before going solo. That is entirely consistent with the position that was expressed by the board owner and staff when this forum was created.

Solo Diving is replete with it's own hazards. As with any diving discipline, Solo Diving should never be taken on lightly, without proper training or just because you are too lazy to find a buddy.

This forum is provided by ScubaBoard as a place for those who dive solo to discuss the attitudes, equipment, and risks they adopt when diving alone. This forum is not intended to support debate over the concept of solo diving per se, and the moderators have the right to take appropriate action on inflammatory or derogatory postings or trolls. Please read the ScubaBoard Terms of Service before posting in this forum.

ScubaBoard advises its readers to consider that the world's SCUBA diving community has not yet reached consensus on the advisability of solo diving. Solo diving can be considered a special discipline requiring its own unique training, equipment, and skills, and not something to be undertaken lightly. Some certifying agencies, and many dive boat operators and dive masters, prohibit solo diving outright.

The posts in this forum may express personal opinions and personal experience, and do not constitute qualified advice on whether or how to dive without a buddy. Any advice contained in this forum is for discussion purposes only. As with all open forums, it is up to the individual diver to judge the accuracy of the content and the sincerity of the posters.

Within the parameters set above, I and others are as free to participate in the discussion ... and offer our views of the subject ... as you are to object to them.

Just try to show a little more intellectual honesty before accusing me again of taking a position I never took. Save that tactic for The Pub ... where I'm a bit more free to tell you what I think of it ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[captain]

So what's your notion of a discussion ... everybody agreeing with you?

Contrary to your deliberate misrepresentation of our position, at no point have I or anybody else expressed an anti-solo diving opinion ... we have said that you should receive proper training and experience before going solo. That is entirely consistent with the position that was expressed by the board owner and staff when this forum was created.





Within the parameters set above, I and others are as free to participate in the discussion ... and offer our views of the subject ... as you are to object to them.

Just try to show a little more intellectual honesty before accusing me again of taking a position I never took. Save that tactic for The Pub ... where I'm a bit more free to tell you what I think of it ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Which fits nicely with what I feel.

I believe the only things solo divers should offer to those who ask are they or when will they be ready to solo dive is to state why, how and when you started, what training if any you received related to solo diving, what equipment you use, what type of environment you dive in (warm/cold, clear/low vis, inland/ocean, overhead,etc) and what limitations you put on yourself.

 

[master00sniper]

I stayed quiet for a bit. Listening to what everyone else had to say. I'd quote a lot of different people in this reply, but I don't want to have to spend the time looking for all the quotes again.

First off, if I sounded arrogant, I'm sorry. What I feel, and what I write doesn't always match. I do disagree with some of what you more experienced divers say, and just because I'm new that doesn't make me arrogant automatically.

Bob, I got a lot out of what you said. Most of it was stuff I did not want to hear, but you seemed to put it in a way that did not come off as arrogant, which makes it much easier.

whilst not everyone agrees that some divers out of OW can handle solo dives with easy enough complexity and the right equipment, certainly everyone can agree that the complexity of the dive does have a lot to do with making safe solo dives.

From the perspective of a person like myself (confident, perhaps too much so) who came here looking for advice originally, I can say that the most of the helpful stuff came from the people who talked to me about what I should read, practice, and have. Not the people with blanket statements telling me I shouldn't do it.

If my original opinion on me solo diving was at 0 degrees, and Devon/Bobs opinion is 180 degrees, I've made a good 60 to 90 degree angle from where I used to be. Most of that change, again, came from people who talked to me about about their own experiences solo diving early, and reflecting back on that. Talking about what equipment solo divers should have, what books/DVD's/skills would better prepare a person for solo diving, not condemning me to death and using blanket statements and personal insults.

What am I going to do? I'm going to read up. I'm going to get some buddy dives in between now and my next solo dive (whenever that will be, I am not sure). I'm going to continue to practice skills when I get a chance, both mentally and physically. I can tell you for certain i'm not going to have 100 dives before my first solo. Maybe 20. Maybe 50. Whatever the number, the dives will be easy in a familiar environment, at a comfortable depth for myself (whether or not you agree its a safe depth for newbies), and with redundant air and other safety equipment (like an smb with knotted line, making sure I know how to properly use it, etc. Just one of the things people politely informed me about in messages, and then also slammed in my face in the forums as just one more thing I didn't know about and one more reason why not to solo dive).

If you can respect that, whether you agree its safe or not, then great. I was told it would be much better to lie to you all and say I've completely changed my mind about solo diving and I won't even think about doing it anytime soon, but I would not want to do that. Especially since it is amazing how word can get around when you don't want it too. I look forward to becoming more and more experienced and knowledgeable like all of you, and will no doubt see and interact with you in other areas of the forums.

 

[Fish-R-Man]

I stayed quiet for a bit. Listening to what everyone else had to say. I'd quote a lot of different people in this reply, but I don't want to have to spend the time looking for all the quotes again.

First off, if I sounded arrogant, I'm sorry. What I feel, and what I write doesn't always match. I do disagree with some of what you more experienced divers say, and just because I'm new that doesn't make me arrogant automatically.

Bob, I got a lot out of what you said. Most of it was stuff I did not want to hear, but you seemed to put it in a way that did not come off as arrogant, which makes it much easier.

whilst not everyone agrees that some divers out of OW can handle solo dives with easy enough complexity and the right equipment, certainly everyone can agree that the complexity of the dive does have a lot to do with making safe solo dives.

From the perspective of a person like myself (confident, perhaps too much so) who came here looking for advice originally, I can say that the most of the helpful stuff came from the people who talked to me about what I should read, practice, and have. Not the people with blanket statements telling me I shouldn't do it.

If my original opinion on me solo diving was at 0 degrees, and Devon/Bobs opinion is 180 degrees, I've made a good 60 to 90 degree angle from where I used to be. Most of that change, again, came from people who talked to me about about their own experiences solo diving early, and reflecting back on that. Talking about what equipment solo divers should have, what books/DVD's/skills would better prepare a person for solo diving, not condemning me to death and using blanket statements and personal insults.

What am I going to do? I'm going to read up. I'm going to get some buddy dives in between now and my next solo dive (whenever that will be, I am not sure). I'm going to continue to practice skills when I get a chance, both mentally and physically. I can tell you for certain i'm not going to have 100 dives before my first solo. Maybe 20. Maybe 50. Whatever the number, the dives will be easy in a familiar environment, at a comfortable depth for myself (whether or not you agree its a safe depth for newbies), and with redundant air and other safety equipment (like an smb with knotted line, making sure I know how to properly use it, etc. Just one of the things people politely informed me about in messages, and then also slammed in my face in the forums as just one more thing I didn't know about and one more reason why not to solo dive).

If you can respect that, whether you agree its safe or not, then great. I was told it would be much better to lie to you all and say I've completely changed my mind about solo diving and I won't even think about doing it anytime soon, but I would not want to do that. Especially since it is amazing how word can get around when you don't want it too. I look forward to becoming more and more experienced and knowledgeable like all of you, and will no doubt see and interact with you in other areas of the forums.

I think that you have learned a lot from the individuals that have responded to this thread. I think the main thing is, you have learned that you need to exercise caution as you proceed with your diving career. There is a lot of really good information available on this Forum. On any one of these threads you will find individuals that are very passionate about how, why and when they dive. No one can really tell you when you will be ready to dive solo. That will have to come from within. For any of these divers that have been doing it for a lot of years can tell you, when you think you have it all figured out, something will throw you for a loop. Good luck!

 

[AfterDark]

It's just a part of solo diving and those of us who do choose to dive solo from time to time must consciously accept that risk every time we do it, or we're living in fantasy land.
Rick

How true, its part of living. Heck people have died in inches of water after suffering a stroke, etc...... The only sure thing about living is dying.

 

[AfterDark]

blah, blah, blah...

Is that what you learned in OW class? Like someone said do a few 100 more dives, have a couple of close calls, then come back and re-read this thread to understand how foolish you sound. Hope I don't see you in the A&I fourm.

 

[sylpha]

What am I going to do? I'm going to read up. I'm going to get some buddy dives in between now and my next solo dive (whenever that will be, I am not sure). I'm going to continue to practice skills when I get a chance, both mentally and physically. I can tell you for certain i'm not going to have 100 dives before my first solo. Maybe 20. Maybe 50. Whatever the number, the dives will be easy in a familiar environment, at a comfortable depth for myself (whether or not you agree its a safe depth for newbies), and with redundant air and other safety equipment (like an smb with knotted line, making sure I know how to properly use it, etc. Just one of the things people politely informed me about in messages, and then also slammed in my face in the forums as just one more thing I didn't know about and one more reason why not to solo dive).

.

if i might suggest you become very familiar with your equipment (this applies to both buddy & solo diving). spend some time playing with the configuration until you find the one which works for you. You must me both comfortable & know exactly where everything is, others would disagree with me as some people believe that there is a correct configuration.

also get your weighting right, in the early stages of diving it's easy to stick another weight on to get down, overweighting can cause as many problems as underweighting.

 

[diver_doug]

Is that what you learned in OW class?

They didn't teach us how to respond to posts in OW class :mooner:.

Seriously though, I understand how that post seemed. Really, it was just a frustration with the *tone* of, well, everything DevonDiver has written. A number of divers have his level (or something akin to his level) of experience without coming across as a condescending know-it-all. The best advice in the world will fall on deaf ears if you're someone people don't want to listen to. I'd be willing to bet Mastersniper's decision to hold-off on soloing for the time being had virtually nothing to do with DevonDivers "advice", and everything to do with the more respectful responses he recieved from other members.

 

[master00sniper]

They didn't teach us how to respond to posts in OW class :mooner:.

Seriously though, I understand how that post seemed. Really, it was just a frustration with the *tone* of, well, everything DevonDiver has written. A number of divers have his level (or something akin to his level) of experience without coming across as a condescending know-it-all. The best advice in the world will fall on deaf ears if you're someone people don't want to listen to. I'd be willing to bet Mastersniper's decision to hold-off on soloing for the time being had virtually nothing to do with DevonDivers "advice", and everything to do with the more respectful responses he recieved from other members.

Doug, this is very true. I wrote pretty much exactly that in my post a few slots up

 

[DevonDiver]

There's an assumption that I was trying to 'change' Master00Sniper's mind. I wasn't. He makes his own choices. I'd rather use him as an abject lesson for anyone else who visits this forum.

It's not my role to 'beg' idiots not to put themselves in risk. I make people into better divers, I don't mollycoddle them. If someone doesn't want to listen, then I won't lose any sleep over what becomes of them. I fulfill my responsibility by telling the truth. If that's too hard for some people to stomach, then it's their issue. If Master00Sniper wants to be pampered and fussed over, then I guess he found himself a few 'mummy substitutes' here on the forum. Good for him and good for them. Cuddles all around