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A diver in Corpus Christi told me cold water work is mostly about gear, not skill
We were on a dock job and he said, 'If you've got the right drysuit and heated vest, anyone can handle it.' That stuck with me because a week later I saw a guy with top gear panic during a simple valve turn when his comms cut out. Has anyone else run into this mindset on a job?
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kim.jake2mo agoMost Upvoted
He said ANYONE could do it?
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miles_burns2mo ago
Yeah, that "false sense of security" is dead on. Watched a guy with all the fancy stuff freeze up over a minor mask flood.
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seth_shah22d ago
Eight years ago on a refinery job outside Portland, I saw a guy with a 5,000 dollar drysuit setup totally lock up when his ear piece went dead. He just froze, couldn't even reach for his spare radio clipped to his chest. What worked for me was running through failure drills in a controlled pool environment before ever taking gear offshore. I'd purposely flood my mask, cut my comms, or block my heater to practice staying calm and fixing it step by step. Gear is just a tool, not a replacement for your brain being ready for stuff to go sideways.
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