Watch out! French police UW certification control!

[MatV]

Hello Mathias, while a I appreciate your 2cc and your history of diving in France, what I was getting at is the question of statistics and specifically safety. not fishing or environmental regulations. Are there any statistics to support the idea that the French gov't's level of involvement in the recreational dive business makes diving any safer than in say Germany, UK or Spain? I'd like to see it, especially if it's collected by somebody other than 'Affaires Maritimes'.

Otherwise, without some sort of fact based evidence, govt divers stopping you during your dive is merely intrusive and only serves to make work for somebody and to make some bureaucrat feel better about their dull job.-Andy

It is sure worth a try to get some statistics. Accidents in France mostly do not make it into the BSAC statistics for obvious reasons. Have a little patience pls.

Beforehand, though, I feel the need to determine what should be understood as a safe dive. And to determine and evaluate the influence of local conditions. France, for instance, is surrounded by either quite deep, or subject to strong tidal currents, waters, divewise. Years ago I saw a statistic that the average max. depth of dives with accidents in france was about 24 m. I did some homework then, and 24 m was just my average max depth as well.
Reasons for a lower than normal average number of accidents might be the generally speaking, better education of the divers, which is supervised by the state. The sometimes unforgiving sea conditions and considerable depths of some sites may have a controversial influence.
Remember that a 3* level diver in France may go down to depths of 60m on air w/o any problem, and many do.
Also with mixes, the have a law which states max gas densities for given depths, and max partial pressures. These limits are quite well chosen.

regards,
Matthias

[MatV]

Mat,
Does this mean that the boat goes to a site that is no deeper than the limit of the least qualified diver on board?

If that's the case, it'd sure be my first, last and only dive with that operator.

Darlene

It is exactlx as you say. With one exeption. When you buddy up a lesser qualified diver to a CMAS instructor, they may go deeper within certain limits.
I may take a *diver to 30 meter, f.i., instead of 25m; or a 2* diver to 40m, instead of 30. (actual depths may differ some, but you get the knack)

However, operators normally do their utmost to group divers of a similar level, so that everybody is content with where he may go, and team with.

regards,
Matthias

[cramerdn]

It is exactlx as you say. With one exeption. When you buddy up a lesser qualified diver to a CMAS instructor, they may go deeper within certain limits.
I may take a *diver to 30 meter, f.i., instead of 25m; or a 2* diver to 40m, instead of 30. (actual depths may differ some, but you get the knack)

So much for wall diving. I guess that makes it impossible to jump in with large pelagics in blue water as well.


Hmmmm now that I think about it what a great marketing tool. "I have some good news and some bad news. The bad news is that based on our dive site your OW course with cost 9000 euros. The good news is that your OW cert will include full trimix and no depth limit."

Or better would be create a PADI distinctive specialty course, "Depth guage diver". This specialty will allow divers to use their depth gauges instead of relying on the bottom to determine their depth while diving. This training will certiy divers to use sites with bottoms deeper than their cert's depth limit.

It's not only a French thing. The geniuses at Yongala Dive here in Queensland told me I could not use a 38% nitrox tank because the bottom was at 28m. I wish I had had the "Depth Gauge Diver" specialty then to prove I could stop at 27

[Philippe GERIN]

Guys,
Yes the video is funny and it's quite unusual to see a cop underwater. Now, it's a TV/journalist thing. Do not think you'll see that often. It's mainly during summer when lots of tourists are in here. It happened to me only once in years of diving.
Surface check is the usual thing and it's not more often than in other countries I experienced such as UK (Weymouth), Egypt (more controls there than I've seen in any other places, they sometime even collect dive computers when you're back on the boat), US (Lake Michigan and Florida), Italy, Spain, Kenya, Tanzania and a few other places where I dived.
Remember we're talking here of the crowd's diving i.e. entry level OW and advanced OW during the summer holiday season. The rest of the year, they leave you alone because most of the divers a more experienced and/or they dive with their "dive club" and the club usually just charter the boat. The club managers know the divers level of comfort and can organise the trip accordingly. You'll see surface control only on more challenging dives such as deeper wrecks, tidal areas and marine reserve/protected areas.
Now, none of us (advanced divers) just walks in a dive center. We all check it before: operation, dive sites...., right? Plus you can always ask here.
Don't be afraid of going to France on a dive trip, there are plenty of places to go to: continental France with the Med, the Channel, the Atlantic with zillions of wrecks of all kind and depth, wall, pinacles but do not forget about Tahiti, New caledonia, Bora Bora, St Martin, St Barthelemy, Guadeloupe, Martinique and even St Pierre & Miquelon for those who like really cold water ...
Now if only they could let us sink an aircraft carrier somewhere around Marseille .....
Best
Philippe

[Dutchy]

Guys,
Yes the video is funny and it's quite unusual to see a cop underwater. Now, it's a TV/journalist thing. Do not think you'll see that often. It's mainly during summer when lots of tourists are in here. It happened to me only once in years of diving.

Well said Philippe have some green!
In all my diving in France over the years I think I've seen concious Dive Operators that have a perfect excuse for being strict. They have to.It means I as a tourist had to stick to my limits back then and I couldn't get angry at them because they were only the "victim" of their own goverment. (Seems like a perfect good cop/ bad cop role play)
Other than that they have to be carefull anyway since French diving conditions are hard almost all over. I guess there are only a few shallow clear warm water spots available and lots of deep cold water with a lot of current and limited visibility. Beautifull but not exactly PADI's dream location for entry level divers.