Dive Log

From the day we are born our life starts on a road of progression, and it doesn’t stop until the end. Progression is a natural part of our growth in our lives, and it’s all around us everywhere we look and in everything we do, and in diving it’s an important part of the learning curve, more so when we venture towards technical diving.

From the time we do our open water course, we are told to dive, dive and more dive to gain the experience needed to be a safe, competent diver. At some point though, in our diving life we decide to further challenge ourselves; moving onto the next stage.

But how do we know when is the right time to take the next step?

In most recreational courses the programs tend to fast track the learning curve. In some instances ending up with the Zero to Hero syndrome; not the way to becoming safe, or competent in diving.

Unfortunately for the sake of the dollar, newer divers are at times told they are good enough to take the next step. Well who are they to argue with the experts? Feeling bolstered by the suggestion, they take the next step. Of course what this means is we are getting divers who go on to technical diving who are still mastering basics. The snowball effect can lead these divers into a dangerous territory.

Coming back to the main question, “How do I know when I am ready to take the next step?” This is a question that only the individual asking it can answer.

Divers who are experienced in a higher level of diving can do, when asked, is provide the advice and suggestions in the hopes of guiding a less experienced diver to options. This may not always be what the newer diver wants to hear. Even if feeling that you may be making this person feel let down, because at the end of the day he or she will only be a better safer diver, and they will appreciate the initial guidance (hopefully) upon reflection.

Looking to when I was starting to dive on wrecks at Long Reef (and other parts of Sydney), this was where the high times of my learning curve was at its greatest. At that time I never imagined that I would be down there at 50 metres with all this gear.

Every time I did a new dive I would spend days preparing the gear and feeling excitement just thinking about the pending dive. This was a new environment for me and I was outside my comfort zone for a while. Eventually, after many dives, I started to consider if I was good enough to move to the next stage.

This was not a feeling of complacency or some macho thing, but rather the feeling that I was so in tune with my surroundings and with my comfort state, it felt like something natural, like walking down the street, or doing everyday things, it was just that exact feeling of being in a place with no stress and worries. This feeling didn’t come after 20 or 50 or even 150 dives, this was after many dives later that I decided that I was ready to go to that next level.

Not everyone is the same, some of us progress much quicker than others, and some take their time. Even though I wasn’t in a hurry initially to dive on wrecks in deeper waters, but what I found out later is that my progression in tech diving was quicker than when I first started. Of course venturing to mix gas, cave diving and rebreathers was a gradual process over long period and with plenty of respect, and an example would be when I moved from a semi-close rebreather to a close-circuit rebreather, at the same time we started to do our first 100+ metres dives, all these were done on open circuit and at no stage did I or anyone else at the time contemplate to start using rebreathers in such deep water. It took us a year of solid rebreather diving before we used them on deeper dives.

This progression from open circuit into rebreathers was done only when I had that feeling of being in tune with the dive. This means that I am not only trying to concentrate on my equipment, monitoring times or gas, but I am actually down there doing and seeing the object I came for in the first place. This is the right state of mind when you can abort an expensive dive and do the right thing, without trying to push to the limit and going over the edge.

We have lost plenty of good divers over the last few years, who were not only qualified to dive deep, but also who were very active in all sorts if depths. But even then we start to question if this person was really ready to undertake a dive that claimed their life! Yes they were qualified to do the dive, but were the ready? Were they in tune with their past experience?  Have they mastered the previous steps before leaping so deep?

There is no easy answer on behalf of someone else, we can never read someone else’s mind or tune into their feelings deep within, which would give us a clue that says “I am ready for the next step”.

People also tend to look down at those who are trying to do the right thing – that is divers who are trying to better themselves and take it to the next step, though maybe a bit too quickly and to a point that the diver decides to go beyond their rational thinking. Unfortunately they also tend to loose trust of those that do want to help.

We also have divers that are moving a million miles an hour, and can’t wait to strap as much gear on as possible and get down as deep as possible. These divers do not necessarily have the wrong attitude, but maybe others around them have failed to stop for a moment and take the time to talk. Regularly, these types of divers are viewed as accidents waiting to happen, or just dumb people! But what most would not realise that every person needs advice, and these individuals who are looked at as some ego driven maniacs, may just never seen the way to progress correctly.

There were many divers who were once in the category above – too much too soon too fast. But with some guidance and advice, slowed down to develop the respect and patience that technical diving requires and have gone on to be our leading technical divers today.

Technical diving is not something that we decide to do overnight, it’s a constant progression which is taken seriously by those who have not only the right attitude, but also took the time to have the right skills and state of mind. This is evident by those that have been doing it for many years, and still out there progressing not only themselves, but also the whole technical diving scene.

Diving is like a good red wine, it only gets better with time, and time is what it takes to becoming a smart, safe and competent diver. Start with diving, mixing with the right people, and letting yourself fall into the zone. It’s a place where you know that you are the master, and you are in control of the most important vehicle! And that’s you.

The Sydney Project is a technical diving club that welcomes new members, so if you’re interested in joining or just keeping up with our activities, then check out our website at www.sydneyproject.com