I just don't log dives,why not?????

[tech_diver]

Once I collected several years worth of logged dives, I slacked off logging them. I have enough documentation to get me on an advanced dive charter and that was all I really cared about. But looking back over the decades, I really wish I did keep better records just for nostalgia if nothing else.

The best answer I ever heard for NOT logging dives was posted long ago...

"I dive for pleasure and fun just like I have sex for pleasure and fun. I don't log my sex life, why would I log my diving?"

 

[tomfcrist]

Dennis, explain to me why a dive professional "needs" to log dives. Your reply is very narrow, and not at all representative of why I don't log dives.

Why a professional should log dives (IMO): I'm not a dive professional, but I am an engineer and keep a daily log for reasons that relate closely to a dive professionals again IMO.
1. Record keeping for potential litigation. Keeping clear concise records of students, dive times, conditions, would probably look a lot better to a jury than not doing so.
2. Record keeping for potential QA Violation Query. Again, when defending you name, records will hopefully help this. e.g. When Joe Diver answers the PADI questionnaire that the instruction didn't have a rope for use during the CESA drill, but you can produce a log that shows you had a rope attached to a float on site for the last 5 years, why would you not have done it that day.
3. A simple and redundant way to keep track of skills for continuing educations dive requirements. I'm not talking about OW Training. I'd assume those are done with such regularity that the skills on any given dive day are memorized, much the way people in the sciences just know Pi. But if you are doing a Deep Diver Specialty and want to keep track of skills on the dives it is a convenient way to do so and document it.
4. Best practices for young DMs and new instructors. If you are mentoring a DMC your dive log could be a great resource for them to glean best practices from. It could be a great resource for new instructors to learn rescue diver scenarios from. Fun things to do on Discover Scubas, etc...

Of course if all you do is log site, depth, weights, and air, there isn't much use in the log to the professional.

This is why we have skills slates and paper records for dive students. Logbooks are not needed.

 

[iamjblevine]

Keeping a dive log in some sort of official format as a requirement imposed by external entities is an unacceptable violation of individual liberty and personal integrity. What other sports require anything similar? Skiing? Running? Hockey?

Is diving a sport or is it a hobby? If it's a hobby then I propose sky diving, private pilot, and amateur circuit car racing as three that require the logging of fitness, activity and training.

Not that I believe it should be a governmental requirement to log dives. I'm just providing the examples you (rhetorically?) asked for.

 

[Bob DBF]

In my case, I only have an estimate of the number of dives made over the years. I started logging dives four times since '63 and three of the log books bit the dust one way or another. I have one now taken off my computer because I needed it for training, it's not very impressive but you don't need many dives to start any type of training.

I spent some time and estimated I have around 3000 dives however, the question is how many logged dives so I picked the closest answer, since I am not a fish.

Besides, if someone doesn't like what I have to say on the board, a large dive count isn't likely to change their mind.



Bob
-----------------------------------------
I honestly feel I'm a better diver now. I learned to respect the ocean the hard way. One swallow at a time. Mark Derail

 

[Insta-Gator]

Once I collected several years worth of logged dives, I slacked off logging them. I have enough documentation to get me on an advanced dive charter and that was all I really cared about. But looking back over the decades, I really wish I did keep better records just for nostalgia if nothing else.

The best answer I ever heard for NOT logging dives was posted long ago...

"I dive for pleasure and fun just like I have sex for pleasure and fun. I don't log my sex life, why would I log my diving?"

That's what video cameras are for. :snicker:

 

[rivers]

Reasons to not log dives:
laziness
too cheap to buy a log book
don't dive that much
not a professional, no need to log
no body will dive with me so I can't get a verification signature
Seriously, people, your log book is a treasure trove of data on equipment, weighting, air consumption, conditions at sites, plus a great book of memories. I hope you will log, or if you haven't, start logging your dives. It's just the smart (and fun) thing to do. But it does take a little time and effort. So man up!
DivemasterDennis

Dennis, some people just can't be asked to log dives. I'm one of them. My equipment doesn't change between dives (always drysuit, 300 gram undersuit, twin 12s, occasionally a 7 liter ali stage, same accessories, etc). The only time my weight changes is if I'm in fresh or salt water and I know what the difference is.
The conditions in the UK are what they are. Depends on the time of year and what the weather is doing. It can also be predicted. I don't care what fish I see. I'm not into wildlife. I like wrecks. And dives that I particularly enjoy stay in my mind anyway.
i have no desire to go pro. Even if I did, I logged enough dives to do so. So lay off those of who can't be asked

 

[flots am]

I see this status more than I would anticipate.The main reason I log dives is because I have 7 wetsuits hanging on my wall and I dive both fresh and salt water.Just trying to remember how much weight to dive with what suit can be challenging.My question is why or why not log dives????

The biggest reason is that nobody ever asks to see my log book for anything, and my computer logs the data. If something really unusual happens, I'll remember it. Paper sheets just don't hold any benefit for me and don't rate the time required to maintain them. If a dive op wants to know when my last dive was, it's a button-push away.

This is completely different than why people select "I don't log dives" on SCUBABoard. The problem is that a lot of people jack up their "internet dive count" far beyond their actual dive count, making the tag meaningless and in fact, misleading. I selected "I don't log dives" because the number doesn't mean anything online and even if it did, has vastly different meanings depending on the dives.

flots.

 

[bbarnett51]

I just don't log many of them anymore bc I dive so many times in the same lakes I have been in for 20yrs. Absolutely no reason to log 100 of the same dives for me. I do make notes on my trips so I know how much weight to use but even then it's not hard to figure out without the notes.

I don't even down load my computer info.

 

[iamrushman]

i log dives because i can... was taught to log dive and still do...only it's become a journal instead of a log.

 

[doctormike]

The idea of some officious jerk asking to see my "dive log", or, even more offensive, expecting to sign off on my entries, is completely beyond the pale, and part of the systematic infantilization of recreational divers that has been taking place for quite a while.

Y'know... I think that this is sort of like the war on Christmas. Something that you read about a lot, something that people get worked up about in theory, but in the real world doesn't actually exist that much. I dive a lot, in many different environments, have done numerous courses with different agencies. I have never been asked for a log book in any circumstance.

I LOVE my log. I love diving, so I love keeping records of my diving. Beyond the utility of having the data available for weighting, etc... it's just fun to keep the journal. I sort of think of it the same way I think of my dive blog...