What identifies someone as a "good" diver?

[Rhone Man]

I was on a dive boat the other day, and we were all chatting about what the key indicators of a "good" diver are. It was an interesting discussion (which hopefully we can replicate here).

I recalled to mind something my instructor said to me when I was 15 and doing my AOW classes. "If you want to know if someone is a good diver, don't look at how many certifications they have, or how long they have been diving, or how deep they say they go, or how long they can spin out a Aluminum 80. Just look behind them when they dive. Good divers never kick up sh**". Bit oversimplistic, but I have always thought sounded about right. Certainly made me very conscious about finning techniques (which I suspect was his objective in the first place).

 

[cool_hardware52]

I was on a dive boat the other day, and we were all chatting about what the key indicators of a "good" diver are. It was an interesting discussion (which hopefully we can replicate here).

I recalled to mind something my instructor said to me when I was 15 and doing my AOW classes. "If you want to know if someone is a good diver, don't look at how many certifications they have, or how long they have been diving, or how deep they say they go, or how long they can spin out a Aluminum 80. Just look behind them when they dive. Good divers never kick up sh**". Bit oversimplistic, but I have always thought sounded about right. Certainly made me very conscious about finning techniques (which I suspect was his objective in the first place).

^^Not the worst response.

I'd suggest good buoyancy control and non silting propulsion belong near the top of the list.

Team and situational awareness are very important.

Being prepared, gear in good order, correct for the environment are predive tells for me too.

Tobin

 

[Akimbo]

... I'd suggest good buoyancy control and non silting propulsion belong near the top of the list...

Is the bar for a "good diver" really that low? Situational awareness, comfort in the water, and a thorough understanding of diving physics and physiology should be way before that.

 

[oldschoolto]

^^^ What he said... As I was reading " Not Slitting " I had a picture in my mind of me digging in the muck looking for stuff and My wife saying she only knows where I am by looking for bubbles coming out of the cloud ...

Jim...

 

[Hickdive]

Good personal skills and, above all, the ability to achieve any given task underwater. Someone who is super at buoyancy, awareness etc. but it takes so much of their effort to achieve that they have no effort to spare for other tasks, is about much use underwater as a box of matches.

 

[Lorenzoid]

A good diver never lets old topics gather dust on SB. I have to say, I like this topic more than split fins.

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/basic-scuba-discussions/151817-what-makes-diver-good-diver.html

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/basic-scuba-discussions/217355-so-what-makes-good-diver-anyway.html

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/basic-scuba-discussions/227773-skilled-diver-vs-good-diver.html

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/basic-scuba-discussions/89389-what-makes-good-diver.html

 

[cool_hardware52]

Is the bar for a “good diver” really that low? Situational awareness, comfort in the water, and a thorough understanding of diving physics and physiology should be way before that.

Note the OP asked for "indicators" Pretty hard to evaluate what degree of mastery of physics and physiology by viewing a stranger under water for a few minutes, i.e. in the cattle boat example used by the OP.

OTOH a guy who needs to beg a fin strap, gloves and hood because he forgot his, and is bouncing off the bottom or arrives back at the boat without his insta buddy is pretty easy to pick out in a few seconds…..

Tobin

---------- Post added November 12th, 2015 at 09:00 AM ----------

Good personal skills and, above all, the ability to achieve any given task underwater. Someone who is super at buoyancy, awareness etc. but it takes so much of their effort to achieve that they have no effort to spare for other tasks, is about much use underwater as a box of matches.

Sorry if I wasn't clear. "Good buoyancy" in my book includes the ability to maintain position while task loaded. It's kind of a given for tech diving.

Tobin

---------- Post added November 12th, 2015 at 09:01 AM ----------

Is the bar for a “good diver” really that low? Situational awareness, comfort in the water, and a thorough understanding of diving physics and physiology should be way before that.

Have you encountered many divers with good buoyancy that were not comfortable in the water?

Tobin

 

[Steve_C]

Synonyms for good:

acceptable, satisfactory, positive, sound,

Good frequently does not mean excellent

A good meal is not necessarily a great meal.

 

[NorCalDM]

You will know when you see one and they probably won't tell you how great they are either.

 

[beester]

Good diver:

- Technical skills: Buoancy, trim (does not always mean horizontal), slow but adequate movement, position... all of this under taskloading.
- Psychological:
-SA... awareness. Someone who naturally or through hard work and experience, understands and notices above and below water if everything both with himself and his team is ok or something is amiss. Someone who understands and notices stress, both before and during a dive, and understands what needs to be done to reduce this. (from solving a small equipment issue, have a talk, reviewing the plan and id-ing the exact issue which is causing stress... all the way to calling the dive before it even happened).
-Limitations: Someone who is aware of his own limitations during changing circumstances, and adapts. You can be Captain America of the North East wreckdivers... but doing a cave dive, teaching a new diver some skills, or buddying up with your wife as a diving couple takes a whole lot of different skills ;-)

PS: the awareness stuff is an on going struggle... you can NEVER know enough about this.