The difference was that the cowboy stuff was actually seen as courage by many divers in that time. Now it is seen as something a little different.
Is that right? Then why do we still find not only divers, but instructors and people who ought to know better refusing to run line for wreck-pen? Again, I cite the behavior of last year's triple homicide, and the hero worship of Chatterton who still espouses progressive penetration even though the technique has killed dozens if not hundreds of divers. This is not to say that the attitudes aren't changing with some shops, some instructors, and some divers. I just don't believe it is widely embraced when we still see deaths every year from the same couple of macho attitudes and techniques.
Most of us who do decompression dives and wreck pentration have a certain level of self-confidence. We wouldn't be able to do it if we did not. Self-confidence can quickly turn to arrogance.
As a deco diver and someone moving to wreck-pen, I will attest that self-confidence is important. Mine comes from the literally hundreds of hours of work I put in to try to make my skills as sharp as they can be. It comes on the backs of those who have perished before me and the lessons learned that I know I will make me a safer diver. If anything else is giving us the confidence, we really need to re-evaluate what we are doing in the water.
Mix was available, but not as popular in that community at the time of the book. Most of the Doria dives are done on mix now. That wasn't necessarily the case then.
Yes, it wasn't as popular because the people who SHOULD have been championing it, were not. And I don't think mix is all that popular now. At least not with the divers from that area that I've been in the water with, nor the ones I keep reading about. What HAS changed is boats like the Seeker requiring mix training to make the trip out to the Doria. Not all boats do.
Another fact... this happened during an economic recession. The divers on air were only diving air because they could not afford mix financially due to the recession's impact on their excavation business. Do you think that couldn't happen now with helium prices skyrocketing? Add in the factor of many people living in areas that are no longer providing the jobs/ pay levels that people have had for much of their lives. It is emotionally difficult to accept that someone can't live the way that they once did. Emotion can trump intelligence. It happens all of the time.
You know what, it's an economic recession right now. You know my response and that of my friends similarly affected? Don't do the dives. Not being able to "afford mix" is an incredibly poor excuse for making the decision to do one of the hardest dives on the east coast, KNOWINGLY impaired, especially with the track record on that boat. Yes, it is emotionally difficult. It's been emotionally difficult for me not to be able to do 40-50 dives a year too. Emotion can trump intelligence, but we are talking about the equivalent of russian roulette here taking air to 180+. The idea that it happens all the time is one I'll take under advisement. Sure doesn't happen all the time in my community. It's sad that it does in others.
The bottom line is that although we may know better, it may become tempting to do something that we shouldn't. Books like this remind us that our loved ones stand a great chance of paying for our poor judgment. They may help us to rein our egos so that we don't do something stupid. These things happen in real life, not just in some hypothetical situation.
If these books serve to rein in those who might otherwise risk their lives and the lives of their friends, then I am all for them. And I sincerely appreciate you framing this in that context. It's one that I should have considered but didn't.
I think that is important. Humility lessons can be a good thing : ) . That is why I keep a copy of this book in my locker at work and read it (along with Dark Descent and Deep Descent )when I think that I am getting really good. Then I walk away a little more humble and a lot more careful while still enjoying the dives that I love to do.
Again, I agree. In our community, we have the IUCRR reports and other things that we read that keep us more grounded. But I think one of the major differences in the cave community and others is that the entire chain of ownership in this community takes responsibility for deaths. From the agencies, to the instructors, the dive shops, etc. I have watched the manager of a popular shop in this area grill divers about their mix choices and their destination. I have also watched 2 NE wreck divers come down to do the Oriskany with a planned depth of 160ft on air. And they had a card that said they could take air to 200ft. That kind of foolishness MUST stop. Although I blame the divers, I put more of the blame on the agency for offering the dumb class, and on the instructor teaching a class that in my view equates to assisted suicide.
I am not slamming you here DiverBrian, please understand that. I am venting my anger and frustration at a dive industry that allows this garbage to continue. And somehow attach reverence to acts of supreme stupidity. The macho attitude lives on in the tech side of this sport. We lost a diver in Ginnie Springs last year. A guy, diving solo, sidemount, and on a rebreather. Trying to lay new line at Ginnie Springs when the best divers in the game have long abandoned such things. Problem? The guy had zero training on sidemount diving, and had been rebreather certified for about a year. In other words he was so far out of his element, it was inevitable he would make mistakes. But the biggest one happened before he got in the water. Bad attitude. And it made his dive unsafe.
For those of you who read these things and are recreational divers, please don't be alarmed. This is a natural process in the tech community and it sometimes spills out. But I hope those who have aspirations of moving into technical diving read these things, and it resonates with you. Make safe choices and come home to your loved ones.