🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1992Nov17.193610.14444@mailer.cc.fsu.edu>,
mayne@phi.cs.fsu.edu (William Mayne) writes:
|> 
|> >If I'm not mistaken, the 130' limit applies to ALL recreational SCUBA diving,
|> >as going deeper than that requires *planned* decompression stops, at which
|> >point it's no longer recreational, but professional, diving.
|> 
|> I disagree with the use of the word "professional" here. Nobody pays me
|> to dive. I know lots of cave and a few wreck divers who do technical diving
|> but aren't in any sense professional divers. Staged decompression certainly
|> takes some additional knowledge and preparation. But it is not so difficult
|> or dangerous that it deserves a reputation for being macho or elite.
|>
|> [deleted]
|>
|> Bill Mayne

Is it not about time that the terminology was sorted out? We need to
get some form of common reference when discussing technical issues.
I don't think there is any need to get hung up on this but it does
keep cropping up. Here are some suggestions:

Recreational Diver:	No decompression and no deeper than 40m/130'.
			Relaxing and enjoying the view, when the viz
			is more then 6 inches :-).

Sport Diver:		Competitive or hunter type, similar to recreational
			diver but more exertion and stress. Not me :-)

Technical/Deep Diver:	Nitrox/heliox/caves etc but no strenuous work.
			... suggestions

Semi-Pro Diver:		Possibly the type who works in a dive store and
			does odd u/w jobs around the harbour/marina, or
			the odd bit of salvage.

Marine Biologist:	Makes lots of money doing u/w films about marine
			life and giving interviews (being facetious here
			- I know they do an excellent job)

	Technical note: my associate beside me has just pointed out that
	'facetious' has all the vowels and they are all in the correct
	order - what a mine of information he is :-)

Professional Diver:	Brave, brave people. Salvage, stress, special
			equipment/tools/breathing apparatus, etc.

I would also class a professional diver who dives in his recreational
time differently from a Recreational Diver unless he conforms to the
definition.

How about a few proposals and then we can ask Nick about including it
in the FAQ.

Alan

--------------------------------------------
awright@gssec.bt.co.uk (Alan Wright)
BT, Software Engineering Centre, Glasgow, UK
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