My Type Of Divers

There are four major types of divers in my opinion. These types are based only off of my opinion. They are resort divers, vacation divers, dive masters, and professional divers. They each differ in their certification, the equipment they own, and where and why they dive.


Resort Divers:
Resort divers usually have just a resort certification. They may have or be getting open water certification, and might even be getting wreck certification. Resort divers only dive on vacation. They usually plan vacations with diving to tropical dive sites. The places where resorts are. Resort divers might not be resort people but they do go on vacations where resorts are and cruises are a usual vacation choice. Resort divers might own some of their own equipment. They usually do own their own wetsuit. They might own their own BCD and regulator. Maybe they even have a dive computer as part of their regulator. These divers own cameras, though they are usually surface cameras with underwater housings. If they own an underwater camera most of the time it is a refillable underwater camera. Resort divers do not dive at home most of the time, so they are not part of the local dive club. Resort divers dive for one major reason. They dive for the scenery. This is why they dive mostly in the tropics. There visibility is the best and it is where there are plenty of reefs and fish.


Vacation Divers:

Vacation divers have at least open water certification. They most likely have some other, higher certification as well though, like wreck or night dive certification. Contrary to the title of vacation diver that I gave them though, vacation divers dive not only on vacation but at least every once in a while at home too. I call them vacation divers because they plan their vacations around some place that they are going to dive. This means that they usually go on weekend vacations and they go to just about any dive site. Vacation divers do not just go to tropical dive sites. They are usually wreck divers and so they take plenty of trips to places like the Great Lakes where there are plenty of wrecks. Vacation divers own their own equipment. Their equipment usually consists of their BCD, regulator (which usually has a dive computer attached). They have a wetsuit and a drysuit. They also usually own their own tanks, at least 2 to 4 depending on the type of regulator that they use. They also usually own a digital underwater camera. Vacation divers usually have extra equipment as well. This extra equipment is usually in pretty good shape, but quite old. They are probably trying to sell it on eBay as they lend it to you. Vacation divers are more often than not part of the local dive club, and they dive because they like being underwater and maybe have a hobby of a historian related to wrecks.

Dive Masters:

Now I do not mean that you have to be a dive master to fit in this category, but most of the people who do are dive masters. They are sometimes dive instructors as well. Dive masters usually live near diving and therefore they dive just about everyday. They do not usually have an actual job in diving. They may be paid by some dive shop or resort to take vacation and resort divers on dives, or they may not be paid. Dive masters own their own equipment. They have good equipment. It might not be the best out there but it is usually better then what vacation and resort divers are will to pay for. There is a good chance that they have a two tank regulator and more than a few sets of tanks. Most dive masters would be able to use nitrox, but they might not own their own equipment set up to use it. Any extra equipment they might own is on the used side. Those that have cameras probably have pretty nice underwater video cameras. They do not really care about the scenery, they like the feel of being underwater. This is why they have underwater video cameras, so that they can not only see what they saw on a past dive, but they can hear what they heard last dive (usually just their own breathing). These people wish that they had gills.

Professional Divers:

Professional divers is my last type of diver. This is just my general thoughts on professional divers. A lot of the detail I put up in the other ones would differ amazingly between certain professions that the professional divers might be doing. Professional divers have gone on to higher education for their level of certification. They have the BEST equipment, and their old equipment if they have it still is heavily used. If they want to dive on their vacation, then professional divers vary. Some go on vacations like vacation divers, but most are probably closer to resort divers and go for the places with scenery.

Those are the four types of divers in my opinion. Now I did not set up my opinion based on me being in any specific type. I for one feel that I am mostly a vacation diver, I still do not own anything besides a wetsuit, I am not a part of my local dive club, I only have open water certification, and it has really only been recently since I decided to dive somewhere not tropic. I think of myself as a vacation diver because I actually find reefs pretty boring and like it a whole lot more when there is something sunk down in the water. In my opinion loving to go underwater and breathe makes you a diver, so I plan on being a diver.

Fountain Drop

Days like today make me long for winter and the cold snow that accompanies it. Walking to class in 90-degree weather today really dashed my hopes of continuing the cool weather we had last week. As I walked through the engineering mall I glanced at one of the few ways to get out of the heat, the fountain. This time however, it was no longer just a fountain. It was a challenge. A challenge to ride.

The fountain stands 38 feet tall and has four vertical columns sloping down. As I walked past it today, I wondered if anyone had ever tried riding down one of the columns. It would certainly be legendary if someone did but if no one ever had I could see why.

For starters, the fountain is 38 feet tall. Unless you have a decent lift just lying around, it would be very difficult to get to the top. Secondly, there is the small problem of the gap midway through the column. Although it only spans a few feet, misjudging this gap would be costly. Any attempt to connect the two pieces would seem rather difficult as well.

If somehow you could figure those two problems out there’s the fact the ledge is only about two feet across. Better line up straight when you drop in or else you’ve got a fast date with some hard concrete.

These are only minor problems and I’m sure someone determined enough could easily fix them. If they did, they could get some sweet shots and a pretty good rush. Shooting this at night would be spectacular. If the fountain somehow got turned on, the colored lights would give the rider a beautiful background. Plus if you could get the bell tower in the background, you would have two of Purdue’s most known landmarks.

If I had the time and money I would love to try it. Unfortunately I am a poor college kid and probably wouldn’t be able to pull something like this off. If someone decides to ride the fountain, I hope I’m there to witness it, or maybe even take part in the riding.

My Opinion on Bouyancy Control

Some people say that learning bouyancy is the hardest part of learning to SCUBA dive. I agree with them. I still have not learned bouyancy and never will because I do not think that you can truely learn bouyancy. I say this becuase I have been told I am a natural at bouyancy and all I can do is smile and agree. This is because I never focused on bouyancy when I learned how to SCUBA dive. Bouyancy to me is just something that happens when we are underwater.

When I think about bouyancy I think about staying off the bottom but being plenty close to the bottom to see everything that I could possibly want to see. To me bouyancy is just something that happens. When you SCUBA dive you should be constantly breathing. Constanly inhaling and exhaling changes the overall density of your body. This change in the density of you body makes it easier for you to float or sink. If you breathe in you are making yourself less dense. Being less dense makes water want to be under you because it is more dense. If you exhale you let the air that expanded in your lungs and made you less dense go. You are now more dense and because of that you sink because the water under you is now less dense than you are. The ability to control to a degree that you do no thit the bottom or rise to the surface is bouyancy in SCUBA diving.

Bouyancy in my opinion is hard, if not impossible to learn, becaue bouyancy is control over how much you breathe and the overall density of your body. I for one never learned bouyancy control in my opinion I just learned that if I pay attention to how much I breathe I can be at whatever depth in the water that I want to be. Learning this allowed me to be called a natural at bouyancy, and now I hardly touch my BCD. Even when I am done with a dive I usually do not touch my BCD until I am at the depth I want to stay at for a while. That depth may be a saftey stop and it may be the surface. One thing is for sure though, because I use that little bit of my mind to keep track of my breathing/bouyancy I am able to stay down longer, and not waste air on my BCD. That is bouyancy control to me.

Fundamentals: Grinding

Perhaps one of skateboarding’s most intriguing aspects is that of grinding. It’s essentially when a skateboarder makes the trucks of his or her skateboard come in contact with a metal or concrete surface. A loud scraping sound usually results while the rider performs his trick. Additionally metal residue left by the trucks can often be seen on the grinded surface.

Unfortunately grinding is the number one reason why and how property is damaged by skateboarders. It often takes a considerable amount of work to make a ledge, rail, or curb grindable. Ledges need to be waxed; rails need to be sanded, etc. And once that’s been done, the surface is ready for a beating. If you live in an area that is frequented by skateboarders or even bikers and rollerbladers for that matter, you’ll often see a wall that is black with wax. Property owners, who probably need to be reminded of what’s truly important in life, see the evidence of grinding as hideous and detrimental to the “natural beauty” of their area. So why so many factors affecting it, what exactly possess skateboarders to hop on to a ledge or rail, risk bodily injury, and grind?

I think that skateboarders have a wide variety of reasons for grinding primarily depending on his or her particular style. Because grinding can be such a vague idea, I’d like to clear up some of the ways skateboarders grind. The first way is slashing the coping of a bowl or half pipe. Slashing generally refers to riding extremely fast and grinding the metal or concrete edge at the top of the ramp. This is actually the oldest type of grinding; pioneered in the 1970’s in the empty swimming pools of Southern California. See the film, Lords of Dogtown, for more information. Skaters who partake in this aspect of skating are generally the ones with a surfer’s mentality. They enjoy cruising around a skatepark feeling the all dips and curves it has to offer. Additionally, many of the fundamental grinds of street skating like the Smith grind or the Hurricane were borrowed from pool and ramp skating. The exception to this rule is the crooked grind which, by the way, is the only basic street skating grind to be adopted by ramp skaters.

Street skateboarding has taken grinding to a whole new level, primarily driven by the desire to have fun, break the laws of gravity, and innovate. Many skateboarders have grinded ridiculously long handrails and ledges like the El Toro rail or the Clipper Ledge. Others have learned to add flip tricks to their grinds to form combos, made famous by the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater games. Still others have grabbed their boards prior to grinding. Whatever the case may be, grinding is a fundamental part of not just street skating but as of skateboarding as a collective whole.

So that brings me back to my original thought, why do skateboarders grind? Well truth be told, it’s a lot of fun. There is not a whole lot else in skateboarding that is as gratifying as landing a grind trick down a handrail or slashing the top of an eight foot tall bowl. In fact, grinding sets skateboarding apart from a lot of other sports. There’s really nothing comparable in things like baseball or gymnastics, which is another reason why more and more people are beginning to skateboard. Needless to say, people have different motivations for skateboarding and grinding as well.

I guess I would say to those of you who are skateboarders, Go outside and grind something. It will be a lot of fun. And for those of you who do not skate and specifically those who own property that skateboarders use, just appreciate the innovation and uniqueness of skateboarding and do not worry about the damage done, we’ll all be dead in the long run anyway.

One-Foot Wonder

A snowboard has two bindings. One for each foot. They transfer the slightest weight shifts from your feet to your board. So why the hell would you ever take one of your feet out?

I was flipping through the latest edition of TWS when I stumbled upon an article of that nature, The One-Footer. The photos were pretty sweet but it really got me thinking. When I snowboard, I take my foot out of its binding to skate to the chairlift or when I’m taking my board off. When sliding around with one foot I find it tough to gain much speed. So how are these guys pulling off seemingly impossible tricks with only one foot strapped in?

According to Pat Moore, it just takes practice. Start out messing around on flat areas and slowly work your way up to the big kickers. Tadashi Fuse adds, (via TWS) “Make sure you have a stomp pad and stay low. It is all about how you take off the jump.”

Right now I have never tried a one-footer. But after looking at some crazy photos and a few video parts, the one-footer seems to be a good trick to learn this season.

I Want to Go to New York

I decided to search the news online to find a post today and man did I find somthing interesting here. I must admit even though I read the article I can only say that I think it was about the openning of the trail. I lost interest in the actual article when it started to describe some of the ship wrecks.

Like I said I am bascally a vacation diver, but even though I rarely go to resorts I am more like a resort diver, because I go to Mexico and the Bahamas mostly. When I read this though you can bet one of my next posts will be about dry suits because I am going to be searching for one for going and diving some of the Great Lakes. Now don't think I only know about Great Lakes diving from this article, even though I am suprised at myself by how much interest that article got out of me. I have looked into Great Lake diving in the past when I was first starting out. The main reason I decided not to was of course the fact that you would have to be an idiot to dive up there without a dry suit (no offense to the divers who get a kick out of those types of dives, but I hate the cold). Just starting out I decided that I didn't really want to get a dry suit and, for the best, the training invloved with learing how to use one just so I could go up to the Great Lakes. I guess all I can say is that I have simply changed my mind. Unlike then, now I am really wanting to check out some of the wrecks and crap that have sunk down in the Great Lakes.

You can bet that soem of my posts to come will be about what I am getting myself into. That would be Great Lake diving, dry suit shopping and use, and wreck diving training. Why can I say that at least some of my posts will be about these topics, because I want to go to New York.

Worst Shirt Ever

This kind of thing really irritates me. One of the things I hate about skateboarding's marketability and popularity is when someone who knows nothing about skateboarding (and doesn't give a damn about it either) tries to market something with it. StuffUWear clothing is a perfect example.

This intellegent shirt, obviously referencing anal sex, has so disgustingly abused the sport, it's almost funny. Who are they trying to sell this to? Skateboarders would never wear a shirt like this and the jocks who would hate skateboarding. Wax the pipe? If your referring to the half pipe, it would be pointless in waxing the ramp surface, you would just slide out and die a'la Jake Brown. If your referring to the metal piping at the edge of the ramp, its actually called coping moron. Grinding backside? Good thing Sargent No-Nutz is going frontside in the illustration. Get your terminology right for Pete sakes. Oh and stay out of skateboarding. Smack this dude.