Posted by Dave on February 08, 2005 at 20:40:56:
In Reply to: Re: Dan's qualifications for the Oil Rig dive posted by Pasley on February 08, 2005 at 00:55:56:
Grifting Dan was not qualified because he expected that he could drift away from the boat, his buddy, and blame everyone but himself. THAT is what makes him unqualified.
I have swam with full CCR crap dangling all over me and still swam over 45 minutes back to the boat when I did a 2 hour bottom time lobster night dive. Captain adamantly complains I should have signaled so they could pick me up. I said "Why, I don't want anyone to think I am in distress when I am self reliant and completely capable of swimming for much longer, and much further-I'll save the frantic waiving of the dive light when an actual emergency exists."
I am not a DIR-nazi, but some common sense goes along way. If I am not diving near a shore, but way out in bad weather such as the boilers at Nick, or The Cortez Banks or some semi-insane drift dive, I carry both an inflatable 6' tall safety sausage as well as a rolled up and stashed Halcyon downed aviator style one man inflatable nylon life boat. If I really had to, I could detach it, inflate it orally or with a lp hose, tie off my kit, climb aboard and in and snooze in my bright orange raft.
I also carry a reflective mirror. So you get stranded, you inflate your BC all the way, dump your weights, hope you had a p-valve installed, climb up on top of your bc if you have a rear wing style, lay on top of it, tie your safety sausage in a verticle position so if you accidently fall asleep and take a nap, not all is lost. If you think that nobody is going to see you, as long as you don't cramp up, you should be able to kick for miles.
I know what boats charge, and I know what it costs to be in business, and boats do not charge enough for the value and convenience and expertise they provide...and going after some poor sap eaking out a living from his dive boat really pisses me off.