Cave diving survey-need newer certified divers

[Kelly Jessop]

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/8Q7PYJ3

Thank you for your participation in this survey. Anybody can participate,but looking for people who have received training within the last year. Your assistance will provide a great assistance in understanding cave conservation.
Sincerely
Kelly Jessop,NSS-CDS Cave Conservation chair

[ScottW]

Done.

Looking forward to reading the results.

[Kelly Jessop]

Thank you for your participation. I hope to disseminate the information for a UWS column

[patpicos]

Survey filled out

[Kelly Jessop]

Survey filled out

Thank you

[lv2dive]

Kelly, I didn't take the survey, because you specifically asked for people certified within the past year, but I did take a peek at it. One of the questions spoke to how much time was spent in lecture speaking to conservation. A couple of comments:

1) I think it's kind of good that you were focusing on people who took the class in the past year because I sure could not speak to exactly how many minutes in class we discussed conservation.
2) With regard to my personal experience...
2a)I remember some discussion of cave conservation in my NACD/NSS-CDS Apprentice class with Dan Patterson - couldn't tell you how many minutes. What I *do* remember, however, was that Dan kept me at Ginnie for the second day of class, instead of going to Peacock as we had originally planned. I had changed from 85's to 104's and had moved from regular 200g undergarments to 400g thinsulate.* Now to be clear - I was not bouncing up and down by any means but I was not demonstrating (at the end of day 1) the precise level of control that he felt was needed to *guarantee* I could maintain stability in a low flow system. By the end of the second day, I had it together and we moved on... but my point is... no amount of "lecture" about cave conservation could drive home the point any more clearly than Dan's actions.
2b) My GUE classes certainly discussed conservation during lecture as well, but the more important (to me anyway) discussion was the application of the lecture on the dive. For example, when we are debriefing in the basin and there is a comment made about no need to move your fins, it is stirring up silt for other divers and an unnatural impact on the cave life. The focus on trim and buoyancy so that there is minimal impact... and the discussion of the impact if it occurs. Etc. For me, the real-time discussion of my actions and their impact is oh-so-much-more relevant than an academic discussion of "cave conservation."

Just my perspective and hopefully taken as it was a meant - an alternative view on how one person internalized some lessons about cave conservation! (please feel to break to a different thread)

*Honestly - I should have already known not to make equipment changes like that before class! But I have internalized that lesson now! LOL

[Kelly Jessop]

Please feel free to reply on the survey,that is why I have the category of 1 year or more since training occurred. I am interested in newer certifications because their recollection may be a little better about the entire class. I do have a couple specific comments but I don't want to taint other respondents.

[scububa]

Any training (scooter, sidemount, etc) or intro/basic type?

okay, I opened the survey and it answered my question...but makes me wonder, should scooter classes have an even more focused cave conservation element...

[Paulmal]

Done, I marked more than 1 year but have recently sought more training. We are always learning.

[Aquabot]

I read the survey but did not submit one because my training was not cave training. None the less, I'm eager to too see the results