Worldwide · 5 min read
Teaching the Young Ones
On mentoring, what the craft really demands, and what you owe the diver coming up behind you.
“The standard is the standard. You don't lower it for anyone.”
Every diver coming up behind you is your responsibility. Not officially — the company has its own structures for that. Personally. The standard you keep on a quiet day is the standard the next generation will inherit.
Slow is smooth
The first thing I tell a new diver is to slow down. The sea does not reward speed. It rewards the steady hand, the checked valve, the second look at the manifold. Every incident I've seen in forty years started with someone hurrying.
“Every incident I've seen started with someone hurrying.”
What gear cannot teach
Modern kit is extraordinary. Helmets, comms, hot-water suits, dynamic positioning vessels — all of it has made our work safer than it was in my time. But no piece of equipment teaches judgement. That still comes from old divers telling young divers what nearly went wrong, honestly, with the names left in.
Passing the watch
I'm no longer on the boats. Florence and I live quietly, and I write. But the divers I trained are out there now, training the next ones. The watch passes. The sea keeps its own counsel. And the work goes on.
“The watch passes. The sea keeps its own counsel.”