Posted by SLANG on April 13, 2000 at 10:58:38:
In Reply to: Re: Tech diving posted by MHK on April 12, 2000 at 17:55:40:
I guess that is my basic disagreement with your position. Who is to say what constitutes "cowboy" diving? Who defines "dangerous diving pratices"? And who is to be empowered to "pursuade" those that don't dive just like us to change to our way of thinking?
Mike, you have tons of diving experience and knowledge that many divers could benefit from, and you may feel that the future of "technical" diving on the west coast rests on your shoulders, but California diving isn't the same as east coast diving. We don't necessarily have the same needs that they do back there. And I really don't think the whole diving community is sitting back waiting for someone to screw up while diving outside the recognized recreational boundries so that they can point a finger at the techies. California divers have been pushing the recreational envelope as long as there has been diving, and many have gotten messed up doing it. That has never had any connection with what some muck divers back in So. Fla. were doing, and it doesn't reflect at all on anyone else. Those divers made their individual choices just like the rest of us. You aren't responsible for them.
My personal opinion is that "tech," in its current incarnation, has very limited applicability to California diving. In spite of this, I feel that much of the knowledge that has been developed in the traditional tech diving regions can be of great benefit to us. I am always eager to learn more from knowledgable divers (i.e. the GUE), I'm just very hesitant to accept anyone else has having authority to make my diving decisions for me.
SLANG