Posted by Tribes on February 27, 2002 at 10:35:05:
Knowing your own limitations is a hard thing. We always tell our entry level students “know your limitations”. But what does that mean? Every diver has limitation, and every divers limitations change. What are our limitation: are we physical in shape to make the dive, do we have the training to make the dive, do we have the right equipment, gas, and plan to make the dive, are we mentally prepared for the dive.
I have seen many divers over the years go passed their limitation. Most do it because of inexperience, some do it because they were pushed into it by a “Friend”, and some because of Machoism.
Machoism is a problem we have always had in our dive community. I really don’t know why. Diving is an easy sport to learn (all you have to do is breath…right) and with the proper training almost anyone can do it (PADI and SSI are having 8 years old do it, how hard could it be?). I see nothing wrong with someone pumping up their ego by being a diver, but if they let their Machoism start to cloud their judgment, there could be real problem.
Many of the accidents we had in So Cal in the year 2000 were cause by, or impart by Machoism. If the accidents victims families, buddies, or team member had of objected to the victims Machoism, the victims would have been alive today.
It’s hard to tell someone “Hey you shouldn’t be making this dive” but if you really care about them, you have to do it (I know some people who wished they had said exactly that).
Many of the behavior and equipment changes I have seen in diving over the last 32 years have not been made by the training agencies or by the equipment manufactures, but by peer pressure. Peer pressure is all that govern’s our small community of divers (there are no Scuba Police (will maybe in Laguna Beach). Sometimes being a good responsible buddy (friend) to your Macho friend is hard, but those words or actions maybe all that keeps your buddy (friend) from coming up dead or alive.
Tribes