PfcAJ
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Just to be clear, the WKPP is not a certification agency. We’re a dive team.
Which agency should I join if I wish to become an Elite Diver?
- Thread starter NAUI Wowie
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The only marketing for an elite diver certification I was able to find in our recreational pass time is this:
PADI Seal Team | PADI
What sort of goals or experiences are you hoping for in your new hobby?
Cameron
PADI Seal Team | PADI
What sort of goals or experiences are you hoping for in your new hobby?
Cameron
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The one with the coolest patches.
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NAUI Wowie
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who is this GI3? Is he elite? He heads up DIR or such? saw some old posts about whats right wrong etc
Badges?
Stoo
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I don't think any badge is going to make anyone elite. Elite is a state of mind and a large dollop of awesomeness. That comes from being the best diver, not the best badge collector. Any moron can take courses.
I think that what is in play here is something I first described as the I'm-the-best-I-know-syndrome a number of years ago. I first described the phenomenon in relation to a fatal accident in Cozumel in which some highly experienced Cozumel divers did a bounce dive to 400 feet. In this syndrome, people become involved in one kind of diving and do it over and over and over and over again, and after a while they quite rightly observe that they are among the very best divers they have ever seen. They therefore conclude that they must therefore be among the best divers in the world. The flaw in that thinking is that they have never really been exposed to any of the best divers in the world, and so they have no real ability to compare.
Moreover, they are diving in such a benign environment that even if one of the world's truly elite divers were to dive with them, they would not have any way of seeing what makes those divers elite. This quarter's Diver Alert magazine from DAN has an interview with one of the divers who rescued the children in Thailand. Read that and ask yourself if you are anywhere ready to do those dives. If one of those divers joined you on a tropical reef, though, you might well be tempted to compare yourself favorably to him in the skills you see.
More than 1,000 dives ago, I developed a pretty good opinion of my skills. Since then, I have been fortunate enough to see some pretty darned good divers. I also have read enough about those I have not seen to get a much more accurate picture of where I am on the spectrum of diving skill. Consequently, I have a much lower estimation of my personal diving skills today than I did 1,000 dives ago. Now that I have a better idea of what it takes to be a truly elite diver, I am convinced that for me, it will never happen. I will go out and continue to do the best I can at the dives that are within my level of training and experience. I will never, however, be what I now consider to be elite.
Moreover, they are diving in such a benign environment that even if one of the world's truly elite divers were to dive with them, they would not have any way of seeing what makes those divers elite. This quarter's Diver Alert magazine from DAN has an interview with one of the divers who rescued the children in Thailand. Read that and ask yourself if you are anywhere ready to do those dives. If one of those divers joined you on a tropical reef, though, you might well be tempted to compare yourself favorably to him in the skills you see.
More than 1,000 dives ago, I developed a pretty good opinion of my skills. Since then, I have been fortunate enough to see some pretty darned good divers. I also have read enough about those I have not seen to get a much more accurate picture of where I am on the spectrum of diving skill. Consequently, I have a much lower estimation of my personal diving skills today than I did 1,000 dives ago. Now that I have a better idea of what it takes to be a truly elite diver, I am convinced that for me, it will never happen. I will go out and continue to do the best I can at the dives that are within my level of training and experience. I will never, however, be what I now consider to be elite.
Find the one that has a c-card for the "hubris specialty".....
George Irvine III led the Woodville Karst Plain Project, and in that time he used the phrase "Doing it Right" in an interview, and that is the beginning of DIR. He was very outspoken, which you can take at the extreme of its meaning, and he caused a lot of controversy. He was a very aggressive participant in discussions on the old rec.scuba, sometimes in his own name and sometimes using sock puppets. To give you an idea of how those discussions went, Brett Gilliam, founder of TDI, had him arrested because of some of his comments. (In a memorable phone conversation, Brett described it all to me at great length.)
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