Just a thought
The diving community are a funny lot, now take me i have very few people i would dive with, and that trust has been brought about by diving and the way they are, but there are some in the diving community that are in my mind a royal pain in the arse!
You know the types you have the “Ive been on the course therefore this is it” brigade and then go around shovelling there new found knowledge down anyone who will listen to it, now these people are easy to spot as they quote books and scenarios of dives they have only read about but haven’t done. Then you get the “holy than thou” divers these are the ones who chose an agency and follow it to the letter, It’s either their way or they don’t listen, or worse still argue until they are right, these people are also easy to spot, as they have a reputation of A, pissing skippers off and B, pissing divers off so that they only dive in there little crowd, which is fine as they will preach to them and will get all the back slapping they need. personally i like to dive with the select few and if they are not about I’ll dive solo, as i couldn’t stand the continuous drivel, thats not to say if anyone needs help, well if i can i will and i don’t expect to be told how brilliant i am for it.
I like to think of myself as a thinking diver i take items from all agencies and incorporate them into my diving if it works i keep it if not then i don’t, i would never tell anyone how to dive as i think everyones diving style will be different. there always talk about how to do things in a Pooh fan interface but unless you have been there you don’t know how you will react, i have seen soldiers who are trained over and over freeze at the sight of a friend in bits, in a life and death situation people react differently, most agency’s train for minor issues and expect all the divers to do as they have been taught, but in training you know that there is still air in the cylinders and you can switch back if need be. you also know what your going to do because the test is the same as the conversation you were just talking about. But lets take a what if dive,… well we all talk about them so we know what to do, don’t we ?????
So now you get the scenario and everyone discuses it but just say you get separated from your dive buddy/buddies your in a dark wreck vis has just dropped to zero and you were on the turn point to get back to the shot. In the short oh bollocks stage you now knock the torch and the light goes out, you pull the SPG to your face and you have 80 bar left and the only other gas you have is unbreathable at that depth, you Scrabble around on the floor for the line, and the vis drops even worse than it was (if Possible) 2 minutes ago. fear grabs you and breathing increases, you start to shake and think of family friends and how the fuck did this happen, then you will reach a calm, at this point you need to be very focused on what you need to do or your natural reaction will be to give up! what would i do … to be honest i don’t know and would only relay know if it ever happened to me and i was in this situation. but what about the diver outside the wreck, you exit and turn around to find they are not there, silt billows from the exit point and looking in it’s darker than a witches cauldron, you light has little effect as it reflects off the dirt particles, you look at the SPG, 80 bar and you know you mate will have the same or less, you have a 75 min deco obligation before the surface which is 70 meters above you, if you leave it’s a decision you have to live with for the rest of your life, or do you stay. it’s the same dilemma you have when you kill someone for the first time. again you have done the training but when you pull the trigger and the bullet finds it’s mark it throws a body back like a rag doll arms flailing blood splashed over the wall as the bullet exits and in a breath it’s over. then you have the thought and dreams that follow, so to leave someone is harder than you may think.
Just a thought before we end this, take a good look at yourself is there someone you once dived with you don’t call or dive with anymore, could you be more helpful instead of patronising and the ask your self do i do this and don’t realise it, if i do i have Gary who soon puts me right, and makes me apologise a true friend and a great dive buddy
take care this year and make an effort not to be a royal pain in the arse as i will
Graham
I like what you have to say.
Comment by Richard Mason | September 17, 2007