Posted by Kendall Raine on July 24, 2002 at 17:46:49:
In Reply to: Stamina - they sell pills for that on late night TV, don't they? posted by Wayne on July 24, 2002 at 11:05:24:
Thanks for your thoughts. Agreed, being a good swimmer doesn't mean you're fast. If I had to choose, I'd rather a diver had heart and stamina over speed any day. Both is best.
As for hoping divers self-limit because of poor skills, no need to hope. That accounts for the reletively few diving deaths every year. The problem is one death is too many if it was otherwise avoidable through "reasonable" development of watermanship skills. Besides, the self-limit approach so popular with (some) of the agencies states you should never dive in conditions beyond your abilities. Fine. What happens when conditions change? What happens when you need to help someone else? To help someone else, you need reserves of skill, stamina, strength and will beyond those necessary to just extricate your own butt. If you're already at or near your limit, what kind of buddy are you? Shades of grey all around, I know, but cutting out, or short circuiting, basic competencies like swimming just seems counterproductive to me.