Strike wrote:

> >He is a certified diver.  He, and he alone, must
> > determine if he should do a given dive.  The whole point of being
> > certified  is to learn to dive safely and responsible.  Not to be a
permanent burden
> > on those with whom you dive.

>  Assuming that the diver accepted the buddy system - as opposed to being a
> solo diver - then his buddies had, to my way of thinking, a certain
> responsibility!

I'm still on vacation and am not going to spend a lot of time on the
computer until my return, but this thread drew me out.  When I return home,
I'll submit my own tale of diving and of my diving related injury.  A scar
and a story are the worst of it, so please don't worryl.  At any rate:

Without disagreeing with any of the issues Strike raises, I side with Don on
this one.  The diver had the responsibility to determine whether he was
capable of diving safely or not.  He had a further obligation, because of
his buddy, to make the best possible decision.  His buddy has no say in
whether he dives or not but does have a decision of his own to make . . .
whether to dive with a buddy that he determines is not safe.

In my opinion, never particularly humble, the buddy system does not transfer
responsibility to another.  Instead, it increases ones responsibility for
making the best possible risk decisions.

Lee