Posted by Wayne on September 25, 2000 at 17:14:17:
In Reply to: Re: It is not solo diving per se that kills, it is attitude. posted by AADIVER on September 25, 2000 at 14:19:48:
So often we dive in groups with a common goal that lends itself to being part of a group with no one member responsible for one specific other member. Last week I dove in Maui from a commercial dive boat. There the group was put together by the shop. The divemaster briefed us. He then took us on dives that can be best described as tours. We all watched each other and he did the "inwater supervision of the group. The time we were truly buddied was at the end of the dives when we were dispatched to the safety stop at the pre-determined pressure. This way teams of two were sent up based on air consumption so that folks with plenty of air ended the dive together (later dives in the day were limited by the computer).
This type of diving is common everywhere but here in California. I have done a bit of it without inwater supervision as well. It works well when everybody in the group has the same goals for the dive and wants to see the same stuff ("First one to see a manta ray bang your tank so we all can see it"). It is common and extremely safe in this context. But on this board, it will be attacked because it does not exactly resemble Cave or Wreck exploration dive practices.
I think my gear is well suited to this kind of RECREATIONAL diving. I have an extra 1st stage with a hose that will reach the mouth of a person I am holding on to. I have an SPG to see how much air I have. I have a SHORT hose to my 1st stage so it never gets in the way and is always where it ought to be (in my mouth).
Nobody will ever confuse me with an explorer from national geographic. I look like other middle aged divers (well ones with a pot belly, that is). We are safe divers. Sometimes we die. Sometimes we die diving (or skiing or driving, or at our desks worrying about how to pay for the kids new dive gear (with 4 kids this is an issue I often worry about!). But when we die diving, we provide a platform for the 'experts' to jump onto. If we were alone, that is the cause. If we were with a buddy, s/he is to blame. If we have short hoses, blame us for not being DIR. If we were WI, blame us for not wearing a weight belt. No matter what we do at the time of our dive death, we will have others criticise us and everyone near us -- all for the purpose of proving that they are RIGHT (even the term DIR proves their militant belief system that there is but one and only way to happiness and good karma) and everybody else is a "stroke". Sadly for the highly-opinionated, I will probably not die while diving, because with my old scubapro reg and comfortable WI jacket-style BC and overweight physique (I am not hydronamically challenged like those skinny divers!), my diving death could keep tempers up for days!
'nuff said, maybe too much.
To make it easier to attack my position, here is a little about where my opinions from. Well, I will step into it with this, but why not. I like buddy diving. I do buddy diving. I like solo diving. I do solo diving. I am not usually over confident and I am much more aware and careful when I dive solo. I take fewer chances and shortcuts when alone (in diving, driving, boating, etc.) I am a RECREATIONAL DIVER. I dive for fun, not to be challenged, not to set records, but to dink around underwater. I have many many hundreds of dives - some in log books, but most not - and first started SCUBA diving in 1975. I make it a point to match the number of ascents to the number of descents. Some of my gear is old, some is new. I have no fear or aversion to steel or aluminum tanks. I know how to swim. I understand that when it is too rough to dive, that Boogie Boards are used. OK off the soap box.