Superstitions, Rituals and Talismans

I carry o rings, a multi tool and a wrench in my pockets so I guess I'm in the camp of not letting superstitions dictate my dive plan

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Originally Posted by PDAVIS1

I silently pray to the cave gods before each dive...and go commando under my drysuit undergarments...

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That post may negatively impact the resale value of your undergarments.

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Originally Posted by PfcAJ

But not two or one.

I think it's bad practice to suggest some sort of a threshold based on an abritraty number. One failure might be enough for some people, but this teaching of three (which I've heard a bajillion times) can instill confidence (or doubt) where it shouldn't be.

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What the hell is an "abritraty number"?

The rule that keeps us alive "never call a dive". Works as well as everyone else's.... To date.

Bob

I'm not superstitious, but i am a littlestitious - Michael Scott

For a while, my ritual was a run to relieve myself followed by a prayer that I was sufficiently hydrated but not so much so that I'd need a p-valve. As my dives got longer, my ritual became less effective.

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Originally Posted by floridabob

What the hell is an "abritraty number"?

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It is a number first defined in the 1700's by the French scientist, Claude Abritraty (Ab-rit-raty) that defines the number of times any random word can be misspelled, depending on the number of vowels in the word. It proved not to work for most Slavic words, particularly proper names, as there are just too many vowels. I believe it is expressed as I^e, except with no C, where C is a consonant.

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Originally Posted by floridabob

What the hell is an "abritraty number"?

The rule that keeps us alive "never call a dive". Works as well as everyone else's.... To date.

Bob

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Bob doesn't your predive plan usually involve not showing up for the planned dive??

the other thing that we also have found to be somewhat true when cave diving (not a reason to call the dive before it starts but during the dive itself) is that when you find extra stuff in the cave (such as line cutters, back up lights, go-pros, or simple valve knobs) make sure you are not missing such items yourself, it also applies to OW diving.... because the cave giveth but the cave also taketh!

Dive safe,

Celia

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Originally Posted by LiteHedded

I carry o rings, a multi tool and a wrench in my pockets

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I'm not trying to be critical but what can you do underwater with these items?

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Originally Posted by Slüdge

I'm not trying to be critical but what can you do underwater with these items?

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The folks I know that carry gear like that mostly cite it as being useful for quick fixes to gear that you discover in the water as you are getting ready to descend. That way you avoid a (possibly) long walk back to your vehicle.