A lesson from an old diver on a cold dock in Seattle

Back in 2008, I was prepping for a simple hull clean on a ferry. This old timer, Gus, saw me fumbling with my comms wire. He just said, 'Kid, your gear is your only voice down there. If you don't treat it right, you're just a ghost.' He showed me how to wrap the cable in a figure-eight around my elbow so it never snags. I still do it that way before every dive. What's the one piece of advice that stuck with you from your early days?

2 comments

2 Comments

cameron96312d ago

Ever think about how the best advice is never about the gear itself but about the fear? My first boss told me "the water doesn't care if you're scared, it only cares if you're slow." Wasn't about moving fast, but about not letting panic make your decisions. That stuck way harder than any trick for checking an o-ring. It turns every problem into a simple choice: freeze or fix it.

adam_nguyen712d ago

But what if freezing is the right fix sometimes? My old instructor always said panic makes you rush the one thing that needs patience.