SCUBA diving.... how dangerous?

lw395 said:
I've done a little diving, from the people I've met, I would say there are two main elements of potentially dangerous divers.
One is the obvious, gung-ho laddish element, read the magazines, buy some kit, don't really have much sea sense, push themselves too far, get through by brute force, in a rush to get qualified for something exciting....
Same people who hurt themselves on motorbikes?

The other is:
Been diving for many years.
Not as fit as five years ago.
Can still just get into the old wetsuit.
Time is short, can't afford too many weekends away from wife and family, make the most of it...
Heart attack material?

One thing I found was that it's easier to get a place on 'tough' dives than to find someone offering you a nice relaxing dive at 10 or 15m with non-pushy buddies.

It's roughly as safe as you (and your buddies) make it.
One thing I never understood is why so many divers smoke, compared to dinghy sailors?
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Very good points, for me diving is a relaxing, even therapeutic, activity, which it certainly can be if you are in the right place with the right people. I've done most of my diving around the Caribbean & SE Asia in beautiful, tropical waters. Even there there's plenty of lads working as guides and instructors and giving it the action super hero act, in so doing putting off a lot of the women who they are trying to impress and who might actually love to try diving. You've reminded me of an article in a dive mag I read recently about some guy hiking along the cliffs with all his scuba gear, abseiling down to the sea, doing a dive, getting back out and climbing back up the cliffs again afterwards. Whatever...

As for the smoking, well I smoke and don't understand it either...
 
Saw a program on cave diving a while back and discussed it with a diving friend. Seems the number of them is fairly constant as the new guys are balanced by the fatalities. Probably so few as to not skew the overall dive stats. They did come off as the lunatic fringe.
A
 
DownWest said:
Saw a program on cave diving a while back and discussed it with a diving friend. Seems the number of them is fairly constant as the new guys are balanced by the fatalities. Probably so few as to not skew the overall dive stats. They did come off as the lunatic fringe.
A
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A caving friend of mine died while training himself up to cave dive a short way into an open cave sump, no equipment issues. He was a very experienced and competent caver but probably hadn't realised that diving was a completely different skill.

I think that most people can dive reasonably well with some degree of training but there are some that are just not naturals, however much they train they will never be completely accustomed to being underwater. When something minor goes wrong it will result in an inappropriate response
 
Diving is not a dangerous hobby, its certainly hazardous, but you can control that.

Get proper training that is appropriate to the conditions you dive in.

Obey the rules.

Have decent kit.

Unfortunatly if you have a heart attack under water this means you have a serious issue, more serious than on land.
 
GarethW said:
Diving is not a dangerous hobby, its certainly hazardous, but you can control that.

Get proper training that is appropriate to the conditions you dive in.

Obey the rules.

Have decent kit.

Unfortunatly if you have a heart attack under water this means you have a serious issue, more serious than on land.
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Quite. Training is just a start. Work up to deeper / trickier dives gradually and know your buddy. A lot of incidents happen early season when people just leap into dives when they're unfit (physically or mentally).

Like any sport it's a case of being prepared and being familiar with the kit / dive / conditions.

The worst injury I've had was a cut knee on a shart bit of metal on the Kyarra (Off Swanage).

I've known three deaths in our club during 25 years of diving.

I can't tell you how many safe dives were undertaken by the club in that time but at a guess it would be in excess of 30,000.

A tri-mix diver going on a very deep dive. Separated from his buddy and never recovered so we'll never know the reason. Non club dive.

A heart attack on surfacing, heavy smoker and overweight.

Accidental inflation of stab jacket in a cave in the med. Cracked skull and drowned. She was found after she failed to return to the support boat after a wait of 30 mins.
 
SolentBoy said:
If you felt claustrophobic and want to have another go, I would really recommend you do a few things.

1. Try again, but in a warm swimming pool.
2. Make sure it is one where you can stand in the shallow end.
3. Get used to a mask and snorkel on the surface before you try using a BCD.

If you have the same problem again, maybe diving isn't for you. However, being able to walk into the water and stand if there is a problem can help overcome a lot of the fear.
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Thanks SolentBoy

Yes, when I came back (Lanzarotte), I resolved to try the local club. But they had disbanded and with one thing and another, the resolve fell by the wayside.

On this thread, there is more than one mention about age and fitness. That is probably now the issue. At 63 and whilst not overweight, not incredibly fit either, maybe it's a bit late?

Rob
 
robp said:
Thanks SolentBoy

Yes, when I came back (Lanzarotte), I resolved to try the local club. But they had disbanded and with one thing and another, the resolve fell by the wayside.

On this thread, there is more than one mention about age and fitness. That is probably now the issue. At 63 and whilst not overweight, not incredibly fit either, maybe it's a bit late?

Rob
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Not at all, I have trained 60+ year olds, one at least is still diving and is in his mid 70s. He just picks dives that feels happy to do. Get swimming regularly to bump up your stamina and have a go. ;)
 
djbreeze said:
I'm a PADI instructor, your instructor is supposed to supervise you at all times which explains his reticence to let you go back alone. What he should have done is take you all back.

QUOTE]

Yes to be fair he made that very clear. I think the issue was that we had a finite amount of time and it would have screwed up the boys' dive had we all gone back. In all other respects in the water I am very capable and insisted. It was only a short distance to the shore anyway. Even having got to the shore and safety, it was some effort to climb up the beach? :)

What decided me to abort the dive, was that I didn't get the hang of purging the mask first time and he was hassling me a bit. It was fairly murky too, as there had been a bit of a sea running previously.
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jokerboat said:
Not at all, I have trained 60+ year olds, one at least is still diving and is in his mid 70s. He just picks dives that feels happy to do. Get swimming regularly to bump up your stamina and have a go. ;)
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Thank you for that JB. I have now just put diving back on my bucket list :D

I think I will book a set of winter sessions in the local pool with my son. We both enjoy swimming, but to dive for lobster/ clams at our favourite anchorages would be quite a bonus. The only problem is that I will have to start shaving again to get a leakproof mask.
 
Searush said:
The only problem is that I will have to start shaving again to get a leakproof mask.
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Not at all. Get a decent silicon rubber mask and you'll be fine. You might have to try a few on to get a good fit. I've been be-whiskered for many years and don't have a problem.

The trick is to put the mask on without the strap. Push the mask on and see if it stays in place. If it does then that's the one for you. If it falls off too easily or you have to suck like mad it will leak under water. :cool:
 
jokerboat said:
Not at all. Get a decent silicon rubber mask and you'll be fine. You might have to try a few on to get a good fit. I've been be-whiskered for many years and don't have a problem.

The trick is to put the mask on without the strap. Push the mask on and see if it stays in place. If it does then that's the one for you. If it falls off too easily or you have to suck like mad it will leak under water. :cool:
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Thanks from me too.

Rob
 
planteater said:
The insurance companies have all the data.

It always amazes me how cheap leisure sailing insurance is - it can't be as risky as I perceive it to be.

I've no idea about insurance premiums for recreational diving. It would be interesting to hear from somebody in the know.
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Everyone knows someone who died diving. Very few someone who died sailing

I just got travel insurance from Pantaenius to sail offshore. £16 for 9 days. As you can see here premium is +50% for diving up to 30m and up 100% for diving down to 50m.

I think I will stick with snorkelling

Tudorsailor
 
I used to dive a lot with SWMBO before we had kids. I trained with BSAC in the late 80s and we then both became instructora ourselves.

As I've been out of diving regularly for a few years now I may be a bit out of touch. But, when I trained the first qual I got was Novice Diver. After more training I became a Sport Diver, then a Dive Leader etc. The training took quite a while & no-one was really considered a qualified diver until Sport Diver. Even then everyone knew that the qual was very basic & lots of practice & build up was required. As a novice, I had to dive with a dive leader or above. From memory it took around 20 open water dives to get to Sports.

Later, things started to be dropped from the sylabus. It became quicker & easier to qualify. I just looked at the BSAC website & this is what it says about the first qual - Ocean Diver:

A BSAC Ocean Diver is defined as a diver who is competent to conduct dives:

• to a maximum depth of 20m.
• with another BSAC Ocean Diver or with a BSAC Sports Diver, within the restrictions of the conditions already encountered during training.
• with a Dive Leader or higher grade, to expand experience beyond the conditions encountered during training, under the supervision of a Dive Manager.
• not requiring mandatory decompression stops.
• under the on-site supervision of a Dive Manager with respect to site selection, conditions and dive plan.

The BSAC Ocean Diver course has three main stages:
1. Lessons and theory assessment on the basic principles of scuba diving
2. Five confined water dives to learn the basics in the water (usually in a swimming pool)
3. Five open water dives to further develop your scuba diving skills

So two people with theory training, pool training just 5 open water dives each can now dive together to 20m. OK, it's under supervision but supervision stops immediately the pair enter the water in this country where visibility can be a few meters at best.

PADI always used to be easier IMO with the second qual of Advanced Open Water Diver after only a few dives.

Perhaps this is where the problems lie. Everyone agrees training & practice are key. But the training agencies seem to be making it easier to get quals. I certainly notices people pushing the limits earlier & earlier throughout the 15 or so years I was active.
 
Searush said:
We both enjoy swimming, but to dive for lobster/ clams at our favourite anchorages would be quite a bonus. .
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I always thought that spear fishing or lobstering using SCUBA gear is frowned on. In most Med countries it is illegal. While laying a mooring in Portugal, the coast police tried to trick question me by suggesting that I might be enjoying a bit of fishing. My reply was "Of course not, isn't it illegal?" "Well, yes," they said. "Just checking" But looked disappointed.
A
 
djbreeze said:
Stupid statement. I don't and I'm sure I'm not the only one...
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I don't know anyone personally who has died but I have often heard a shout involving a diving incident resulting in death on CH16 and there are at least one or two deaths reported in the Oban Times every year. OTOH I have never heard a shout on CH16 involving a sailing incident resulting in death, and have never read about a sailing fatality in the Oban Times.

So what though? If you want to dive, do it - just know your own limitations and be careful. Of course the diving industry want to keep the danger element subdued, they are looking for punters. Darwin rules!

Horse riding is probably more dangerous though - another well-kept secret.

- W
 
When I used to keep a closer eye on stats for diving related incidents I seem to recall that diving came about 5th on the list behind

Horse riding
Fishing
Caving
Climbing

Not necessarily in that order.

I'm not saying that there's no risk in diving, the same as there is a risk in sailing. If you get dismasted mid channel in a gale then is is possible you will lose your life, or if you have a heart attack in the Solent. Let's face it you can lose your life on a cross channel ferry but would you classify that as a dangerous pursuit?
 
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