Recreational divers + half-technical equipment setup - proper training = me shaking my head
So I'm a recreational dive instructor. In my work I mainly teach students basic courses like open water, advanced open water etc (and unfortunately far too many DSD's....).
But probably a much more amusing aspect of work for me is leading certified divers. I am always pleased to help people with little experience who are simply looking to learn something new, or people who struggle after having been out of the water for a while. At least they can admit to themselves and to me that they need assistance.
But then there are those who inform me just before I give the briefing that they are "very experienced divers". Those who don't want to listen to advice about dive site information, dive profiles, emergency procedures etc, because they know better and have heard it all before.
One such diver we had diving with us recently provides a particularly amusing example of the kind of tech-wannabe I (and the other instructors I work with) really really hate. I wasn't leading this particular diver but happened to be on the same boat, going to the same site and also (fortunatley to mine and my students' amusement) encountered him underwater.
Let me start with his equipment. I happened to sit near him on the boat and had lots of time to ask him about it. He was wearing a backplate and wing (made by OMS), with bungee-straps all over the place (half of them over the wing, the other half holding his array of gear in place). The wing was huge, with enough lift to raise the titanic. I asked him what it was for (does he dive with doubles and stage bottles), he said "no, only a single tank, but its a good jacket".
Strapped to the wing were weight pockets, filled with a ridiculous amount of lead (and i mean a lot, i had to help him lift all his crap onto the boat, i guess thats what all the lift was for...). He wasn't a big guy by any means and he was wearing a 3mm (plus a backplate...)
Attached to his leg was a knife the size of a samurai sword, and he had the biggest snorkel I have ever seen (on the wrong side of his head I might add).
So his regulator looked to me to be a pretty standard recreational setup, a short hose primary, octopuss style secondary, except he had two low pressure hoses going to the two inflators on his wing (as opposed to the one most of us have here for our BCD's). But now for the best part. He used the primary short hose regulator to breathe, and his yellow octopuss was held in place around his neck just below his mouth (where i believe you tech guys would normally keep your secondary air supply with the short hose). I asked him why his alternate air source was there. He explained that if his buddy ran out of air he would donate his primary and breathe from his alternate. I asked him if maybe he had the hose lengths mixed up and if he didn't think maybe it would be better to give the one with a longer hose to his buddy. His reply was a look of confusion. I told him never mind because we had arrived at the dive site, but signalled the instructor leading him to "watch him".
So halfway through the dive there is a little overhang along the reef where you can often spot a resident moray. As I approached the site, keeping an eye on my two students, ready to test their buoyancy skills when they were close to the sand looking for the moray, i saw a dust-like trail leading towards the spot. the trail became a big ball of sand and what i suspect was only minutes before living coral flying around the place. emerging from said ball was "Mr.-i-wanna-be-a-tech-diver", his fins trailing the ground, waiving his arms excitedly around at everyone. Hovering motionlessly nearby was the instructor leading the dive, looking severly pissed off. Luckily for everyone the offending diver ran out of air after 35 minutes at 14 meters, so he didn't completley destroy the dive site. The debriefing for my students consisted of "never become like that guy".
So after the dive I asked him how he thought it went. He boasted that it was nothing compared to the challenging diving him and his buddies did "back home" (I neglected to ask where that might be). I asked him what prompted his gear selection. He said he had read some stuff on the internet, and he quite liked the idea of tech diving and the equipment setup tech divers use. I ask if he has done any tech courses, or was looking to take any. He looked at me and said "well its mainly about the gear you use, you can learn the rest by yourself". I told him maybe he should look into some coures, and tried to send the message of the importance of proper training, but I know it didn't go in...
I ask my fellow instructor how many dives our friend has.
The answer - 40.
So that is why I hate people who read things online and think they know what they are doing. That is why I hate people using equipment they are not trained to use, or thinking that buying expensive stuff is going to make up for their inability to perform fundamental diving skills correctly. They give all divers a bad name, and unfortunatley a lot of them read info on tech diving and think they can buy some new gear and be a tech diver. I like the fact that everyone on this forum stresseed the importance of proper training to people considering going over to tech diving. Perhaps that guy could learn how to dive properly at 14 meters before he goes off deep and kills himself, or worse, someone else.
A long post, but its something that I see on a weekly basis, and it makes me angry.
So I'm a recreational dive instructor. In my work I mainly teach students basic courses like open water, advanced open water etc (and unfortunately far too many DSD's....).
But probably a much more amusing aspect of work for me is leading certified divers. I am always pleased to help people with little experience who are simply looking to learn something new, or people who struggle after having been out of the water for a while. At least they can admit to themselves and to me that they need assistance.
But then there are those who inform me just before I give the briefing that they are "very experienced divers". Those who don't want to listen to advice about dive site information, dive profiles, emergency procedures etc, because they know better and have heard it all before.
One such diver we had diving with us recently provides a particularly amusing example of the kind of tech-wannabe I (and the other instructors I work with) really really hate. I wasn't leading this particular diver but happened to be on the same boat, going to the same site and also (fortunatley to mine and my students' amusement) encountered him underwater.
Let me start with his equipment. I happened to sit near him on the boat and had lots of time to ask him about it. He was wearing a backplate and wing (made by OMS), with bungee-straps all over the place (half of them over the wing, the other half holding his array of gear in place). The wing was huge, with enough lift to raise the titanic. I asked him what it was for (does he dive with doubles and stage bottles), he said "no, only a single tank, but its a good jacket".
Strapped to the wing were weight pockets, filled with a ridiculous amount of lead (and i mean a lot, i had to help him lift all his crap onto the boat, i guess thats what all the lift was for...). He wasn't a big guy by any means and he was wearing a 3mm (plus a backplate...)
Attached to his leg was a knife the size of a samurai sword, and he had the biggest snorkel I have ever seen (on the wrong side of his head I might add).
So his regulator looked to me to be a pretty standard recreational setup, a short hose primary, octopuss style secondary, except he had two low pressure hoses going to the two inflators on his wing (as opposed to the one most of us have here for our BCD's). But now for the best part. He used the primary short hose regulator to breathe, and his yellow octopuss was held in place around his neck just below his mouth (where i believe you tech guys would normally keep your secondary air supply with the short hose). I asked him why his alternate air source was there. He explained that if his buddy ran out of air he would donate his primary and breathe from his alternate. I asked him if maybe he had the hose lengths mixed up and if he didn't think maybe it would be better to give the one with a longer hose to his buddy. His reply was a look of confusion. I told him never mind because we had arrived at the dive site, but signalled the instructor leading him to "watch him".
So halfway through the dive there is a little overhang along the reef where you can often spot a resident moray. As I approached the site, keeping an eye on my two students, ready to test their buoyancy skills when they were close to the sand looking for the moray, i saw a dust-like trail leading towards the spot. the trail became a big ball of sand and what i suspect was only minutes before living coral flying around the place. emerging from said ball was "Mr.-i-wanna-be-a-tech-diver", his fins trailing the ground, waiving his arms excitedly around at everyone. Hovering motionlessly nearby was the instructor leading the dive, looking severly pissed off. Luckily for everyone the offending diver ran out of air after 35 minutes at 14 meters, so he didn't completley destroy the dive site. The debriefing for my students consisted of "never become like that guy".
So after the dive I asked him how he thought it went. He boasted that it was nothing compared to the challenging diving him and his buddies did "back home" (I neglected to ask where that might be). I asked him what prompted his gear selection. He said he had read some stuff on the internet, and he quite liked the idea of tech diving and the equipment setup tech divers use. I ask if he has done any tech courses, or was looking to take any. He looked at me and said "well its mainly about the gear you use, you can learn the rest by yourself". I told him maybe he should look into some coures, and tried to send the message of the importance of proper training, but I know it didn't go in...
I ask my fellow instructor how many dives our friend has.
The answer - 40.
So that is why I hate people who read things online and think they know what they are doing. That is why I hate people using equipment they are not trained to use, or thinking that buying expensive stuff is going to make up for their inability to perform fundamental diving skills correctly. They give all divers a bad name, and unfortunatley a lot of them read info on tech diving and think they can buy some new gear and be a tech diver. I like the fact that everyone on this forum stresseed the importance of proper training to people considering going over to tech diving. Perhaps that guy could learn how to dive properly at 14 meters before he goes off deep and kills himself, or worse, someone else.
A long post, but its something that I see on a weekly basis, and it makes me angry.
