What To Do About Reckless Divers?

[JahJahwarrior]

Calling these divers reckless is inappropriate. I happen to know many on your dive. They are NOT reckless divers. They can dive this dive on steel 100s without redunancy safely if they so wish. I have done it myself safely many times. It's all about gas consumption and nitrogen loading. If you follow the rules there is no issue. If one diver reached 500 psi during a 10 minute deco stop, well that may or may not be an issue. He or she needs to speak to his/her maker in the end.

This is an age old issue of safe gas management practices.


The question isn't about 500psi or tank size or computer usage, it's about "if his buddy had a total regulator failure at their maximum penetration point at HITW, would the other buddy had enough gas to get them both to the surface, without missing any decompression obligations?" If yes, then there is no problem. If no, then there is a problem, and you have to decide if you should say anything.

At a minimum, you might ask the diver about his gas management. If it seems reckless, you might mention it to the captain at some point. If I were a boat captain, I'd want to know about the liability of various divers, I think. I've never been a boat captain though, so I might be wrong. But it never hurts to start by asking a "reckless" diver about their dive, to make sure you don't jump to conclusions.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Calling these divers reckless is inappropriate. I happen to know many on your dive. They are NOT reckless divers. [B]They can dive this dive on steel 100s without redunancy safely if they so wish. I have done it myself safely many times.[/B] It's all about gas consumption and nitrogen loading. If you follow the rules there is no issue. If one diver reached 500 psi during a 10 minute deco stop, well that may or may not be an issue. He or she needs to speak to his/her maker in the end.

I disagree. How do people conduct a "safe dive" in a very strong current, at depths past the recreational limits without redundancy? Just because they have done it many times does not mean it is "safe".

I personally would be more concerned about the lack of redundancy than low air pressure during the dive. I would ask the people what they plan to do if a reg hose pops or something at 140 feet (not to mention the deco)?

I generally will stick my nose in other people's business, one time. If they later die, I won't feel so terrible. A similar thing happened to me 2 yrs ago, the diver was using zero redundancy and I took the time to show her my rig, explain how little drag a pony bottle provides and how cleanly it can be rigged (apparently I didn't do a very good job at it).

She died diving only two weeks later and her body was never recovered (you know her well). No body knows if lack of redundancy was an issue, but I would much rather say something once and risk hurting a diver's feelings.

Maybe it is unfair to categorize the divers in question on that boat as reckless, but I would certainly not agree that we should think of them as "safe".

 

[Zieg]

This is an age old issue of safe gas management practices.

Personally I feel it is more a matter of perspective. Some divers see what others do as reckless based on their own comfort level. It's kinda like driving on the highway, everyone you pass ia a slow bastard causing traffic problems and everyone who passes you is an insane idiot.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Simple just don;t dive with them and when the coroner;s inquest comes up pull a Sgt Shultz. "I know nothing, nothing!"

 

[JahJahwarrior]

Personally I feel it is more a matter of perspective. Some divers see what others do as reckless based on their own comfort level. It's kinda like driving on the highway, everyone you pass ia a slow bastard causing traffic problems and everyone who passes you is an insane idiot.

To some extent, you are correct. However, it is simple fact and common sense that gas management is directly related to safety, and has nothing to do with comfort level. Either you have enough for you and your buddy, or you don't. If you are diving with a buddy, my argument would be that it is unsafe to turn the dive without enough gas to get you and your buddy to the surface.

To relate it to driving, it's more like the people who run out of gas before they reach a gas station aren't driving the safest way, and the people who stop before they are actually completely out are certainly safe, though they could driver longer before stopping and perhaps enjoy the drive more.

 

[RJP]

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

What would YOU do?

Plan YOUR dive, and dive YOUR plan.

 

[Amazz]

Yes, I knew her well, much better than you did It's a completely different circumstance and unrelated to this topic. I don't believe for one minute that her issues were redundancy issues. Leave it alone.

 

[Web Monkey]

At a minimum, you might ask the diver about his gas management. If it seems reckless, you might mention it to the captain at some point. If I were a boat captain, I'd want to know about the liability of various divers, I think. I've never been a boat captain though, so I might be wrong. But it never hurts to start by asking a "reckless" diver about their dive, to make sure you don't jump to conclusions.

Seems to be regional.

In the NE US and the parts of Canada I've dived, all the boat captain wants to know is "Where do you want to go?"

In fact, as near as I can tell, they would prefer to not know any details of your dive, except maybe what your SMB looks like in case they need to go pick you up.

Terry

 

[ElStrokoGuapo]

For forty years, Hole in the Wall was an air dive with a single 72. No one ever complained, except that it's an incredibly boring and over-rated dive.

The past fifteen years or so, every punk kid with more C-cards than sense and a lack of gas management skills wants to make it a tech dive, and some of the charter boats are promoting it as such.

If ya want to play techdiver in shallow water, have fun and I won't say a thing. And if I choose to do it with an inflated goat bladder, I expect you to worry about your own dive.

 

[sunnyboy]

Plan YOUR dive, and dive YOUR plan.

Spot on!

-S