Talk:Sport diving (sport)

introduction

This article was prepared as part of a larger initiative to improve the article Underwater sports by preparing a suite of specific articles about underwater sports, particularly those using scuba diving techniques & equipment.Cowdy001 (talk) 10:12, 2 October 2012 (UTC)

Controversy section

Poorly written and stuffed with innuendo and unsupported claims. A fine example of what we want to avoid. If not backed up by some solid references I recommend deletion in toto. Suggest we allow until end of December for improvement. Cheers, • • • Peter (Southwood) ^(talk): 05:31, 20 December 2012 (UTC)

Hi Peter (Southwood), I entirely agree. Here are some thoughts. Firstly, standard safe diving practices published by PADI and BSAC (I have cited these orgs because their guidelines are readily accessible) do not even mention competitive scuba while the European Underwater Federation does includes competition sports (presumably scuba) within its remit. Secondly, some standard scuba practices do arguably require prompt action (i.e. arguably, some haste is required), i.e. donating gas and conducting rescues (i.e. CBL). Thirdly, the editor suggests competition scuba is something new or emerging while in fact, it is quite old. The Underwater Society of America and the Australian Underwater Federation (AUF) started competition scuba events respectively in 1959 and 1958. CMAS has 4 other scuba-based sports on its books - Underwater Orienteering, immersion Finswimming using breathing apparatus (i.e. one of the events within Finswimming), Underwater Photography and Underwater Videography. Most of these have been practised for several decades. Fourthly, I have been regularly reading accident reports since the mid 1980s and do not remember ever encountering any reports concerning incidents and accidents arising from competitive scuba events. My personal perspective follows - I have actually participated in competitive scuba events and the reality is that speed is not an option unless one has thoroughly practised the events, which is usually not possible due to the complexity of setting up the event infrastructure. Secondly, I have personally encountered people with very strong views that scuba diving MUST be non-competitive. BTW, there are 2 threads on Scubaboard that discusses this matter - http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/dir/359690-i-wrong.html & http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/dir/359690-i-wrong-10.html , and do offer an insight into such views. Cowdy001 (talk) 22:17, 30 December 2012 (UTC)

I have deleted the controversy section as unreferenced, weaselly and unbalanced PoV. 6 months is long enough to wait and it has not been improved in that time. • • • Peter (Southwood) ^(talk): 12:39, 15 May 2013 (UTC)