On 11 Oct 2000, at 12:07, David Strike wrote:

> On Wednesday, October 11, 2000 10:29 AM, Mike wrote:
>
> (snip)
> > The attitudes that you touch on in the article are all too real and
> > seen everyday in this 'sport'. I suspect that all of us here have been
> > guilty of them at one time or another. :-)
>
> Mate!  I know that I have - and thankfully survived to learn from the
> experience! :-)

Experience is a cold and hard teacher...


>
> > I believe that I am often guilty of not thinking enough prior to doing
> > a relatively simple dive in the grand scheme of things
>
> It's probably true to say that the biggest challenge that divers face is
> that of over-confidence.  The 'simple' dives have invariably proven to be
> the ones that've claimed the most lives.  Once people have mastered the
> neccessary skills to scuba dive there's a tendency to become quite blase
> about the equipment and their ability to use it at even shallow depths.

That's partially the fault of the industry as a whole and those of us
that teach. We spend too much time convincing the students that
this is safe rather than instilling in them the importance of the skills
learned due to the hazardous nature of the environment that they
are jumping in.


>
> They'll happily buy equipment - regulator's, masks, etc. - based on price
> alone and on the grounds that they're only going to do shallow dives.

Yep.


>
> But present a hypothetical scenario in which they're required to enter a
> compartment filled with toxic gas, one whiff of which will cause a horrible
> and painful death, and tell them that they have a choice of breathing
> systems; a cheap one that functions almost as well as more expensive models,
> or one that costs twice as much, and see what price they put on their safety
> and well being! :-)

Hehehe... most of our customers would still opt for the cheap stuff.
:-)


>
> >and also of
> > thinking entirely too much prior to doing some of the more
> > challenging dives.
>
> It used to be claimed that an active imagination was a diver's worst enemy!
> :-)

Still can be!

Mike


>
> Strike
>


~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mike
~~~~~~~~~~~~