Posted by MHK on October 18, 2000 at 16:47:51:
In Reply to: Poor training or lack of experience posted by JRM on October 18, 2000 at 16:15:37:
JRM,
If you notice my comments, and I can only speak for myself, I don't have ANY problem with inexperienced diver's. I know John Walker very well and he has no problem with inexperienced diver's, Terry May, Troy Bagwell, Kendall Raine to name a few of my regular dive buddies that have no problem with newbies. In fact, we love helping them.
Some of the arguements that you see here on the list generally start out about specific concepts and then individual experiences get applied to the concept. One of the shortcomings of user net forums is that in some cases when you get very detailed and specific you speak over some diver's head and then in other cases to the extent you don't get that detailed you are challenged because you are perceived as posting in platitudes. So what you strive for is a balance, sometimes you get it, sometimes you don't..
By in large that is we we do these DIR demo's.. So much information is lost on these forums because of the back and forth polarization attached to DIR. Most people, if you took emotion out of it, don't find much wrong with DIR. As for some of the debates that get a little heated at times, sometimes they are warranted, sometimes they are not.. My side of the aisle ( But I'll let Jim, Walker and Terry speak for themselves ) we see an alarming trend developing this year.. 13 fatalities in less than 9 months is scary stuff.. Training is getting watered down, cavalier attitudes are being developed early on in diver's career's that are twice as hard to change once they are ingrained.. Take for example the solo diving threads that we have been going back and forth about. Nothing I say will change Frank Farmer's mind, I know that and no definition that he can distort will change my mind BUT when you see a guy who cavalierly talks about *independant* diving or you have dive shop owners posting *How To Solo Dive * lists we believe it is responsible to correct some of the misinformation..
You may be mis reading our frustration because we have NOTHING against diver's that want to learn about diving, but we do take strong stands against some of the establishments positions that have a vested interest in keeping things the way they are.. Those of us that do this as a lobor of love are more inclind to speak from the heart.. And that's not to say that there aren't people in the dive business that are well-intended.. For example, Jim Hoffman of Scuba Toys, Ken Kurtis and Billy Wright from Reef Seekers, Carter from Malibu diver's are all guys that I have a great deal of personal experience with and they all care deeply about safety.. It's the quick buck artists that you need to worry about..
You haven't been diving long enough to remember when a C-card really was earned and diver's weren't shuffled through the system.. You also need to understand that our actions are not knee-jerk, we have watched PADI self-destruct right before our eyes despite of our repeated requests for responsible review. The downslide is staggering but you just don't have a basis for comparision..
Anyway we do our demo's often, we generally will take the newer diver's with us and are happy to show the ropes but we are clear with respect to our procedures...
Regards