Over the past few years, the term “Technical Diving” has become a
mainstream buzzword that has had me confused from the beginning. The phrase
conjures up images of divers heavily laden with double, triple, even quadruple
tanks, oversized pony bottles, sling tanks, and more gauges, hoses, and
assorted gear than fish on a reef. The truth is that within the sport, this is
becoming more and more commonplace, as divers push further and further past
the limits of what was once considered safe diving limitations. If you don’t
believe me, just take a look at any regular diving publication, and you are
likely to see articles, reports, and equipment that are geared toward the
“technical” diving enthusiast.
There
is a serious danger here, and
I’m not referring to deep diving. As educated divers, we all
understand the basic risks involved in deep diving, from narcosis, to
decompression sickness, CO2 blackout and oxygen toxicity. I’m
referring to the danger to the sport. It seems as if ego and macho has worked
its way back into recreational scuba diving.
In
reality, as a sport, diving has seen a tremendous increase in safety over the
past ten years. Every day, our understanding of diving physiology is enhanced
through increased research. The results of this research can be seen as a
better understanding of how depth affects our blood gasses, tissues,
circulatory, respiratory, and central nervous systems. Doppler research has
provided us with significantly more accurate means for modeling gas absorption
and off-gassing by our tissues, which has led to more reliability in the dive
tables we use, both manually and in the dive computers that have almost become
standard equipment for divers today.
Diver
training plays perhaps the most significant role in diver safety. Years ago,
open water certification was a much more difficult accomplishment due to
several factors. Inexperience in training for recreational scuba diving was a
key factor. The great enthusiasm for the sport that has grown over the years
has given the certifying agencies more experience in how to train recreational
divers. This has led to both a streamlining of individual courses, as well as
a more comprehensive course offering, allowing specialization in diving
technique and activities. What should be stressed is that basic courses often
offer less principle and theory, while concentrating on the basic knowledge
and skills required for an introduction to recreational scuba diving. For this
reason, advanced training has become much more important in diver education
and safety.
Our
equipment has also helped increase safety significantly through greater
availability and wider selection, offering divers gear that is better suited
to their individual diving needs. At all levels, dive gear is essential to
diving safety, from fins that reduce fatigue to computers that more accurately
model the various tissue groups in our bodies. As a sport, diving technology
has come a great way towards making diving safer for everyone.
What
holds the real potential for danger in diving is letting our egos cloud our
judgment. More and more, I hear divers bragging about their deepest dive,
their longest dive, even how many times they got bent. Have you ever heard
anybody say, “If you haven’t been bent, your not a real diver” ? This
kind of macho is not just dangerous to the individual, but dangerous to the
sport as well. An increase in diving related injury can lead to increased
regulation of the diving industry from the government, not to mention the loss
of potential divers due to perceived risk and danger. The tendency to push
beyond our training and capabilities brings increased risk, which results in
accidents; accidents which could be avoided by diving within our capabilities.
I
am not an opponent of deep diving. Quite the opposite, I believe in more
advanced training in the areas of deep diving and greater emphasis on diving
physiology for every diver. We are all technical divers, in that the sport
requires a level of technical understanding in order to maintain diver safety.
Increased knowledge allows divers to make educated decisions about their
diving practices, and allows them to fully understand the risks involved with
advanced diving practices, from wreck diving, to deep diving, and yes,
“technical diving”. Advanced diving practices require first, a
comprehensive understanding of the risks involved in those practices, second,
advanced training to help minimize those risks, and third, both the mental and
technical capability to manage those risks. Only through knowledge and
understanding can a diver make a reasonable educated decision as to what level
of diving activities he or she should pursue. A comprehensive understanding of
the risks will promote advanced diver training, which will in turn make those
diving practices safer.
Technology
is not just for the “technical diver,” it is for all divers. With proper
training, the technology of diving makes the sport safer at all levels. Divers
need to continually educate themselves in order to become better aware of the
risks and dangers involved in pushing the limitations of their capabilities,
and to become better prepared to meet the challenges of their activities.
Diving is a truly wondrous sport, an adventure into a part of our world that far too few experience. Our oceans, lakes, rivers, and quarries are hosts to incredible beauty at all depths and levels of experience. Help keep diving safe by diving at a level that is within your capabilities, and increasing your knowledge and skills through advanced training and experience.
