What To Do About Reckless Divers?

[soldaten1940]

Stay away and just don't let them take you down with 'em

 

[Graeme Tolton]

It all comes down to whether or not said diver has enough gas to get his/her buddy and themself to the surface, including any deco stops safely. That being said it remains to be their problem, not yours. However, the diver in question could have a sac rate that is extremely low (it sounds like he does) and buddy(s) with similar sac's.

 

[Uraluni]

On a recent trip to the Hole-in-the-Wall in Jupiter I had the pleasure of diving with some really aggressive and reckless divers. For those who dont know, HITW is a deep dive into a short overhead cave around 130-140FSW and subject to swift currents.- beyond recreational limits for sure

I planned 135 for 30 minutes, deco on 70% and was surprised to hear that three others would dive similar profiles... HP100s with no redundancy and flying computers the whole way.!? It should be said these divers are seasoned veterans with 1000s of dives and posses a bit of seniority on the boat- nevertheless, it concerned me a bit when one showed me 500psi with 10 minutes of hang time to go...:depressed:

As 'experienced divers', they obviously knew what they were getting into so i elected to mind my business

What would YOU do?

I learned long ago to mind my own business when other divers are concerned.

There have been a couple of times I've mentioned to a boat's first mate that they may want to keep an eye on someone as they don't look especially confident. But that's about the extent of it.

I tend to dive a very conservative profile, but I know many of my "buddies" push the envelope.

If an opportunity presents itself where I can glance at someone and see how they're doing, I do so...but overall diving is a very individual sport. Once we all become comfortable with what we're doing (in my experience), the buddy system seems to go out the window and everyone does their own thing.

I dive pretty much strictly with my wife and we keep close tabs on each other, but I'm aware that there are many opportunities where we visually get separated and if I or her had a serious problem, we may not know until it's too late.

With the people you've described, it sounds like that they're confident in their own skills. If that get's them into trouble, the only thing you can hope is that you're in the vicinity...if you're not...then there's nothing you can do. It may be harsh sounding, but that's the way it is.

 

[Uraluni]

Maybe he'll get bent next time, maybe not. If you did it, you might get bent, or not.

However when given the choice between:

1. A computer that knows where I've been, how long I've been there, how hard I've been working and contains a pretty good decompression algorithm, and
2. Hoping I won't get bent

I'll go with the #1 every time.

Terry

Different computers have different algorithms. Your computers are all working on math and theory as to how much the human body can withstand. I always carry two with me that are based on different algorithms, then make an educated guess between the two which is right. So far, never been bent.