I wanted to post a blog to explain again the reason for the monthly call for nominations for the "Dippy Diver" and the "Coprolite" awards. Over this year there have been very few nominations for either. It's not because we have not been diving, but I think there is a belief that you are "ratting" out a partner. The Dippy Diver is for somewhat goofy things that we do that are not necessarily safety related ot they would be in the Coprolite category. Some examples include instead of driving to WPB Major & I thought it would be fun to drive all over the friggin state looking for a place to dive. I don't believe we ever dove, but drove 400 miles that day trying to. How about a mis-communication on who's picking up who for a dive only to leave the person stranded. I think it's a good thing for us to laugh at ourselves.
On a more serious note the Coprolite nominations are more for safety faux pas's we have made during a dive, like towing the dive flag underwater vice on top as it is supposed to be visible to boaters; jumping in the water and after struggling to descend realize that you forgot your weight belt or not checking to see if your air is turned on only to jump in and take a very non-existent inhalation on your regulator. Although these sound like things you might want to talk about iat a meeting they are constant reminder that we can make mistakes and hopefully by sharing those stories all of us can learn and think about what we can continue to do to be safe divers. That is one of our biggest mantras we have is that we teach safety, promote safety and practice safety! Let's all step up and bring some nominations to the meetings. No need to be embarassed! No one is going to think less of you! I know I have had my share of both as many in the club have. See you at the meeting! r2
