Posted by e-shark on November 19, 2001 at 17:33:06:
In Reply to: Re: 'advanced certs' don't really exist posted by MHK on November 19, 2001 at 16:04:03:
Although MHK tosses in a lot of the buzz words, his amateur legal analysis is pretty light on the current thrust of California law relating to recreational sports. The courts are increasingly recognizing that you can't remove the risk from many sports. Voluntary participation means you are willing to take those risks inherent in the sport. The entry-level scuba certification course, as it has done for twenty years or more, covers the risks inherent in scuba diving. If they are not covered directly (dive tables and DCS, for example), students are warned that further training is needed before engaging in that variety of diving (cave diving, for example).
When a DM or captain starts analyzing the skill levels of divers and second-guessing their decisions as to the amount of risk they are willing to accept, the DM or captain has started down a slippery slope. If the diver's decision is not final, why should he be held to have assumed the risk? Why shouldn't the captain or DM have a duty to save the diver from himself? This is a no-win situation for the captain or DM.
From a business point of view, captains (and sometimes the DM) have an interest in matching skill levels to dive sites because that makes for happy customers and repeat business. A dive accident is never a plus for any dive boat's business plan.
BTW, those real business people with "vision" tend to be the ones who need the lawyers when the shit hits the fan. Usually because they got so caught up in the vision that they didn't think everything through.