Friends and Family

[lrmoll]

Would you take uncertified friends and family diving.

If yes, how would you limit the dive plan.
Limit depth to puttering around the shore in 10 feet of water? Make them go through course materials.
Would you feel guilty renting equipment/tanks for them?
Try and teach them skills?
If they seem to do it well a number of times would you take them deeper?

Or is being able to take the attitude "Only I can go diving brother" satisfaction enough ;D

[LKunze]

Using common sense I wouldn't take anyone diving that is not certified.

[chrisw]

how much life insurance do you have out on them?

[Freedive WI]

I would, but since I am an instructor my vote doesn't count.

It does remind me of something I saw while helping another instructor teach a class in LA a long time ago:

This guy was trying to show his girlfreind how to dive. They were just walking into the water in a protected cove, with less than 2' surf, when she got knocked flat on her butt. There she was, sitting in 6" of water, while her fins got dragged out to sea by the ebbing wave. He was standing there, in full gear, yelling at her while she just started sobbing and began swearing at him- it was a real "Hallmark moment". I cna only imagine what would have happened had he actually gotten her into the water. :

A few years back, when Underwater USA was still being published, they reported on a bunch of deaths within a short period of time by well meaning scuba divers who had given their octo's to a passing snorkeler. Well, the snorklers were basically dead by time they hit the surface since they didn't know to exhale on the way up.

Discover ssuba courses are so cheap, and offered all the time down here, that I would never see a reason to take the chance.


Just my $0.02

jon

[lrmoll]

I have heard similar cases. Parent diving. child swims down to them. They give them a breath so they can stay down longer with them. They don't know to breath on the way back up...

[FMT]

I would absolutely not take them to open water. The pool on the other hand might be different. I would definitely look into a try scuba/scuba experience/discover scuba (depending on agency) which is held in the pool. They can give someone just enough of a taste to let them know if that is where they want/should be or not i.e. whether they should go ahead and get certified.
T

[AandA]

Don't be DUMB! >
I've been scuba and freediving since 1973. During that time I've been presented with several requests: just take me shallow so I can see the fish - OR - the problem years ago was WOW that looks really cool, too bad there is no where around here I can learn, could YOU show me - Aw C'mon we'll be careful... One of the important things anyone needs to learn is to learn about themself. What you could do but should not do. Even though I may possess the knowledge does not mean that I have the experience and additional training to teach. Diving with compressed gas at depth is far different from free diving. If you want to share the water with someone who is not certified to SCUBA, join them snorkeling or freediving. If you REALLY Really like the idea of taking people diving who are not certified, consider getting additional training and becoming an instructor. Then you could not only "take them diving" you could "TEACH" them diving, and be confident that YOU were actually being part of their learning how to enjoy this sport in a responsible and safe manner.

[Mark Y]

I would not take family and/or friends open water diving if they we not certified. Most dive shops offer some form of 'discover scuba' class. My little brother wanted me to take him out, just to see if he'd like it . . . no way. He took a discover scuba class then finished his junior open-water certification last year. Since then we've dove Florida and plan on Northshore this summer.

I must admit, though, that I've let my mother, father and a few friends use my 30 cu. ft. & regulator set in a pool (5 ft. max depth) last year. They enjoyed it, hopefully they'll get certified this summer . . . who knows . . .

Last year while diving Ore-be-gone, I saw something that still scares me today: 'Joe' briefed 'Frank' on 'how to dive', then 'Frank' when out on a solo dive. He had never dove before! And here he was making his first dive solo! Well, I think he survived, never did see him return. I've still mixed feelings of whether or not I should have made an 'intervention' . . . oh well.

In short : let dive instructors do their job: instruct people how to dive safely. That's all I have to say about that . . .

[igotoofar]

Having been involved in an unsuccessful intervention, I understand the hesitation. You just seem to make everyone unhappy and you become the bad guy.

A similar thing happened to a friend of mine with a wedding party drinking and riding motorcycles, they weren't going to listen no matter what he said. Rather than cause a scene with the wedding party, my friend, who was an usher, politely said I will see you all at the reception.

Fortunately nothing happened but had something gone bad, he certainly would have felt some guilt for not acting.

[AandA]

Okay. Let's try this again. You can call it "Scuba 101" or "Physics 101." The problem with allowing the uninitiated access to scuba gear, even in shallow water, is one of basic physics. One of the first things taught by instructors to potential divers is the importance of never holding your breath. The reason for this, when breathing compressed gases under pressure, is that as one rises through water the gases expand. We all remember Boyle's Law. We all remember the concept that 33' of water pressure is double the pressure of sea level. That's only 33'. But heck we're not talking about allowing family or friends to go 33'. We're only talking about allowing them to go 5' or 10' or 12'. The deeper you go, the less dramatic the pressure differential becomes. It is in that 1st 33' of water that the pressure differential is the most significant. The volume of air from 33' doubles when it comes to the surface. Simple math. 33 divided by 2 is roughly 16' where the air expands by 50%. Or at 8' it expands by 25% to the surface. This is MORE than sufficient to burst the alveoli in the lungs causing a significant embolism. Shallow water diving without professional instruction is dangerous! There's not a lot more to say. All it takes is any one of a number of things to panic an inexperienced individual sending them to the surface from a shallow depth with their lungs full of compressed air to cause a significant injury. I would advise anyone interested, once again, NEVER to allow individuals without training use of scuba gear no matter what the depth.

For some more detailed information, any type of a web search can get you information on diving related barotrauma. Here is one: