Technical diving is the domain of the few, but I think some of it's tenets have a place in recreational diving, particularly when it comes to safety. Things like gas planning, checking over gear, practicing OOAs, and other things. I am not so sure that's promoting technical diving as much as it is promoting safety.
I hear you on the internet diving thing. You really do have to get out there and do the dives, and buying gear doesn't make you a diver. I'm not so sure about your swipes at DIR and Halcyon though, as they probably constitute the smallest segment of the technical gear market, and GUE is probably one of the smallest agencies around with less than 30 active instructors.
Regardless, I don't think I agree that people have made this accident a forum to discredit any agency or the charters. Quite clearly, the charter did what it could to prevent the tragedy, and no agency (or instructor has stepped forward to claim these gentleman. I have read some people saying they had the training, but I haven't actually seen anyone say WHAT training they actually had. Or from who.
I agree that as long as people dive inside of caves or wrecks, we will hear about them dying. Most often they will be people who are untrained or undertrained. Occasionally we will hear about those with proper training and current experience having died. Frankly, I can't see how that is different from Open Water diving. At least in that regard. I also agree that penetration diving can be more dangerous than open water diving. Though I think the hazards are different, and not necessarily less.
You are certainly welcome to the opinion that overhead diving is stupid. It's a common opinion. There are type of open-water diving I view in a similar vein, but I'll keep those thoughts to myself.
Thanks for sharing your feelings. And I am certainly glad we are in a venue where everyone's thoughts and feelings can be shared equally.
-P
But none the less tech divers continually bomb Internet boards full of recreational divers with their Kool-Aid. A little knowledge, no training, and a whole buch of "internet training" and "internet diving" can be rather dangerous, dont ya think? If you dont want it to grow dont promote it...
Example: "I have never taken fundies, but I dive a mostly DIR rig and blah blah blah...."
Translation: "I read a bunch on the internet and made some purchases from Halcyon and now I have an opinion."
It amazes me how those with their agenda have tunred this accident into another assault on the"agencies." Even when a diver who dies has the training to A) preform the dive or B) no excuses not to know better, the Internet tech community finds a way to blame it on the recreational divers, charters, and especially the alleged "institutionalized" culture of the rec agencies that some believe it safe to dive inside a cave or wreck. This is wrong- especially when discussing these three guys.
As long as there are people who want to dive inside of caves and wrecks we are going to read about their deaths. Some will be well trained...most will not. When I teach a class, be it ANY class, I stress over and over and over again how stupid, and I do mean stupid it is to dive not only with a celiing over one's head, but also to exceed one's training.
Even with the best training in the world, penetration is incredibly dangerous. Period. End of story. To tell people you have never seen face to face over the intenet that anything less is flat our wrong.
