Tag Archive
Diving Gods
I am a critic. I write critical reviews on every aspect of diving but we jumped up journalists have to be careful. The laws in Britain might allow us to tell the truth, provided you can prove it really is the truth, but in America things seem slightly different. In that country the pursuit of the almighty US Dollar is tantamount to a religion, and businesses can actually tie you up for years in lawsuits if they can prove you stopped them making that sacred buck. Profits are as important as prophets and the consumer is merely a bystander, that is unless he can bring a case of his own against a manufacturer, in which case the party with the most funds available to feed the hungry legal system wins, or rather loses less than the other party. That is because the legal system too is focussed in its pursuit of the almighty Dollar. Justice seems purely incidental. The Dollar is a god. In diving, it isn't only the Dollar that is the subject of religious zeal. Some people will follow the teachings of their training agency as zealously as some others with follow the teachings of Abraham, Jesus, Mohammed, Joseph Smith or L. Ron Hubbard. Without impugning the divinity of the first three, and apologizing in advance to those that believe the last two are equally divine, I have to point out that dive training, whether it be PADI, IANTD, TDI, SSI, or even GUE, was obviously devised by ordinary men who are not prophets but simply pursuing profits. However, pay good money for a course and you will want to believe what you were told was credible. Many don't want to be made to pause for thought. That said I still find it strange that a review of one simple item... More »
Internet Warriors of the Diving World
Is diving the only past-time that attracts the opinionated Internet Warriors who are so ready to tell you you're doing it wrong? I travel and dive extensively and it is so rare that I meet these type of people in person that when I do it's worth posting a blog about it - and I did. However, once the Warriors of the diving Internet come out to do battle, it's amazing what they will take issue with. I was away on vacation with my family and made the mistake of looking at the forum of the British Sub-Aqua Club. I found a current thread that was criticising me - God forbid. This is the gist of it: I sometimes like to add safety to my diving by taking a second independent tank mounted alongside the one ON MY BACK. It's then called and Independent Twinset. Both tanks have their own regulator. What really offends people it seems is that I take maybe Air in my first tank and then swap to say Nitrox32 or Nitrox36 in the other later in the dive when I'm more shallow. This has caused a furore. It seems it would be OK if my second tank was only a quarter of the size of my first (what the BSAC members call a 'pony') and mounted on my main tank or if it was full-size and side-slung from my BC but not if I carry it on my back. It seems that carrying an 80 or air together with an 80 of Nitrox is said to be very dangerous although evidently an 80 of air with a 20 of Nitrox is safe. It's as if my pony is too big. Well, maybe I'm getting it wrong and they are right. I know they are very ANGRY! They say I might put the... More »
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