On Saturday, August 26, 2000 3:54 PM, Aldo P. Solari [APS] wrote:

> I would like to see more of a "senior-junior" diving system. Most
> diving   (buddy-no/buddy)   systems   mention   more   or   less
> "fit"/"experienced"  divers. Some technical divers would even use
> a  -somehow-  pseudo  "fascist"  terminology while describing the
> "weaker"  link. I do not like the later: all divers, good or less
> good  have  always  been  newbies.

(snip)

> Chuck  described a very nice way to dive: taking care and leading
> a   junior.   This   is   important,   IMO.   People   should  be
> "grandfathered"  into  diving-  as  we are into research and many
> other activities.

> Comments ?

Aldo!  The principle is sound, but it it seems to me that it falls over as
far as the practice is concerned!

It forms the basis of the club system of learning to dive, a system that was
certainly an improvement over the teach-yourself-diving-by reading-a-book
method!  :-)

As far as I can see the two main weaknesses in the club system are:  1)
Insufficient numbers of 'experienced' divers to  care for novices.  2) No
real controls - other than those initiated by the club hierarchy - over what
constitutes 'experience'.

On the other hand the commercially-driven training agencies have programmes
that allow for larger numbers of people to be taught the basics of diving to
certain well-defined standards.  (Whether or not those standards are as good
as they could be is another matter!) :-)

Although the idea of "grand-fathering" people into an activity has a number
of good points, it's difficult to apply as far as diving is concerned.  Not
least because it's an evolving activity; one in which changes in equipment,
techniques and knowledge are constantly throwing up new challenges.  To be
effective the 'grand-fathers' would have to stay ahead of developments.

Neither should experienced people feel a necessary obligation to care for
and lead the less experienced.  It should be voluntary.  (And even then
who's to say that the 'senior' diver in a pair has sufficient understanding
to act as a tutor?)

Two years ago an Australian plaintiff lawyer put forward the proposal that
on live-aboard trips relatively in-experienced divers should always be
paired with an experienced diver.  Leaving to one side that few people on a
liveaboard trip - regardless of how long they've been diving - have
'experience' of the dive sites that they visit, I'm not altogether certain
that folks would feel altogether happy at forking money out for a diving
trip only to be told that instead of diving with their chosen partner they
had to nursemaid a stranger!  :-)

While I certainly support Chuck's definition of a caring attitude to less
experienced divers - providing that it doesn't lead to a dependence, (and in
diving this often seems to be the case.  Particularly in the case of, for
example, husband/wife teams.) - I think that it would be difficult to
implement in any formal way!

Strike