I had an interesting insight

[ItsBruce]

I was recently in Hawaii where I got to do some very enjoyable dives. For one of the dives, I was buddied up with a diver who was visiting from Japan. Another diver on the boat was doing a Discover Scuba. He told us how he wanted to get certified and how he liked extreme sports. I told him that with proper training and sufficient experience, he'd probably like cave diving. My buddy who seemed to be an experienced diver expressed an interest in doing a cave dive, "just to see"... in the company of an instructor. I expressed my dismay about a "trust me" dive and said the whole notion of going into a cave without proper training scared me. My buddy said: "I just went through a 9.0 earthquake; diving in a cave does not scare me." ... Interesting point of view.

 

[Dr Wu]

I'm sure there is an insurance company with actuarial tables that will contrast the risk of voluntarily going on an un-trained cave dive with the random possibility of being in an earthquake within your own home.

The sucky part is the people that have to pull the body out of the cave will most likely see their premiums go up.

 

[blkirk91]

Isnt doing the cave class basically a trust me thing?

 

[vladimir]

People tend to poorly define the pool when they assess risk. I don't know what the final death toll attributed to the Japanese earthquake was--around 20,000? How many were at risk? Well, there are ~128 million Japanese, though they certainly weren't all exposed to the same risk. 20k/128m = 1 in 6,400 mortality rate. Examining your risk pool before you expose yourself is a more useful exercise. If you're bowling in Ohio you can take considerably more comfort in the dearth of shark-bites than an abalone diver in Australia can. Your Japanese buddy needs to consider what the risk is to untrained divers being led through caves by instructors who are ignoring generally accepted cave-diving protocols. That is a much smaller pool of divers than the one entitled "cave divers," and would yield a dramatically higher mortality rate if the statistics were available.

 

[knowone]

Training wheel methods regarding attitudes that replicate the
biased parental type inability to release their vice like grip on
everyone's saddles, is not for discussion in any level of forum.

Unless she or he discusses pseudonymously as "the wing nut"

 

[beautybelow]

He didn't say it wasn't a risk, just that it didn't scare him. Big difference.

The thought of doing it didn't scare him, but maybe being there in reality may make him wonder if he made the right decision.

 

[DevonDiver]

My buddy said: "I just went through a 9.0 earthquake; diving in a cave does not scare me." ... Interesting point of view.

Idiotic point of view.

It does demonstrate nicely how ignorance of risk can lead to complacency though.

'Not being scared' should never be a positive factor in the decision to undertake new scuba activities. Whilst apprehension or stress should be a factor in deciding your limits as a diver, the opposite is definitely not true.

 

[h90]

Idiotic point of view.

It does demonstrate nicely how ignorance of risk can lead to complacency though.

'Not being scared' should never be a positive factor in the decision to undertake new scuba activities. Whilst apprehension or stress should be a factor in deciding your limits as a diver, the opposite is definitely not true.

Why is it idiotic? I was many times close to dead. I understand what the Japanese is telling. I have no interest in cave diving, but it also does not scare me. Being stuck in a cave and dieing does not scare me.
I don't have to proof anyone that I can do dangerous things, so I avoid anything that is dangerous. But as the Japanese tells: it does not scare me.

 

[Diver0001]

Training wheel methods regarding attitudes that replicate the
biased parental type inability to release their vice like grip on
everyone's saddles, is not for discussion in any level of forum.

Unless she or he discusses pseudonymously as "the wing nut"

OMG even the Google translator couldn't make heads or tails of that one ....

There is an element of trust in every dive you make. As for your buddy's comment that he wasn't scared, well that's good; however, not being scared is not the same as knowing what you're doing. He's willing to *accept* the risk and doesn't seem to think it's any worse than what he experienced during the earth quake, which is all fine and good, but he should still go about it responsibly.

R..

 

[spectrum]

Isnt doing the cave class basically a trust me thing?

No more so than an OW checkout dive or other checkout dive.

The class diver has the benefit of prior training academic and in confined water, cavern or other precursor.

The trust me diver has it all riding on the host except for whatever incidental knowledge and skill they bring to the table.

As for the OP,

I think the person was still in shock and/or is thrill seeker / risk taker at heart. There is a side that say's he confronted his own mortality in the experience and want's to live life to it's fullest. I suspect there is a more rational explanation behind the bold analogy he used.

Pete