saspotato, you said l33t. About diving skills. hee hee, that could be a first
Dale, in response to your post long ago (in response to one I posted earlier), I suspect that we do have much common ground in this discussion. I maintain, however, that there are many skills particular to the undersea environment, that can only be learned while diving in that environment- 3-d dynamic situational awareness, and multitasking with gear being two of the most important.
Different but similar. When alpine climbing for example, situational awareness was something that I always had to adapt to. I was always aware of, and monitoring changes in: weather, rock characteristics, ice formation, falling rock and avalanche hazards, daylight to distance ratios, personal exertion thresholds etc... Diving presents a different landscape with different factors but the notion of S.A. is surprisingly similar. As for multitasking with gear... Well...You must not have seen a wall rack or aid climbing with jumars and etrees
Other than that point I don't disagree with you at all (and I doubt we are disagreeing here either really).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Is early soloing for everyone: No.
Is early soloing for most: No.
Would I directly tell someone to do it: No.
But I don't tell people what to do most of the time anyways. I really only know what is best for me.
However,
Is it a path that some take: Yes.
Is everyone that takes that path wrong: (IMO) No.
I think we need to stop and think before dismissing those that do so, out of hand; especially if we want the solo sub forum to represent all aspects and POV's of soloing. As I said before, the greatest service we can do to anyone considering soloing is to present them with the whole truth and not "protect" them from themselves by censuring viewpoints. It always seems that, if given enough objective information, most adults wind up making the right decisions for themselves anyways.
As I said before as well, I also think there are two conflicting mindsets at work.
Risk aversion and risk attraction.
While we say soloing is a risky proposition many people are actually expressing a risk averse attitude. That is to say that by gaining enough experience, training etc... we can anticipate and negate all the risk (and make soloing safe). If one really considers that perspective the goal is not to accept risk, but to eliminate it.
It's not a bad idea. For most people, most of the time, it is probably the right idea but, there are those too who choose to approach risk from a different perspective. Some people are risk attracted (or perhaps risk adaptive). They understand that risk is a possible eventuality and rely more on their ability to confront and adapt, than to avoid it all together.
Is one better than the other? Is it better for a soloist to depend on the notion that they have eliminated all risk or that they can meet all risk? Is it all or nothing or is there a middle road by soloing in a graduated manner?
I don't have an answer for anyone other than myself but I don't mind an intelligent discussion of the subject either.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oh, one other thing I forgot to mention- several posts in this thread have compared solo diving to "technical diving." Let's not overlook the fact that this group is indeed contained within the Technical Diving forum. In my opinion, the allocation is somewhat appropriate- at least from a gear requirements perspective.
For my part I only compare and contrast soloing and technical diving in regards to the risk exposure involved. For technical diving the primary risk is that, because of penetration or deco obligations, one cannot access the surface should a problem arise. For soloing, the primary risk is that, because one is alone, all problems must be handled without the assistance of a buddy.
