DZ> I always get a chuckle when a newbie spouts the "training is
 DZ> everything" dogma while the persons that have survived 1000 dives
 DZ> are looked down on for having poor technique. Maybe when the
 DZ> newbies have a few more dives under their well worn weight belts,
 DZ> and those belts have seen day, night, fresh, salt, wreck, cavern,
 DZ> spring, inland lake, Great Lake, high velocity river, ice, zero
 DZ> vis, DEEP, etc dives, then they may opt for saying that experience
 DZ> counts very heavily.
Last summer a group of us did a skippered bare boat out of Tortola, just 
sailing and occasional dives.  I buddied twice with our skipper, Cpt. Kinroi. 
 He was a native of Grenada and had been diving since he was twelve with his 
brothers lobster operation but no formal training.  I really think what I 
viewed as a wonderful tour though exotic coral he viewed more like a trip 
through a Food Lion.  Me: "Wow! Beautiful!" Kinroi: "Mighty tasty!".
I don't think I ever saw the man move except to point something out or to 
harvest.  It was like watching a giant black trumpet fish, he just sort of 
glided with no motion.  Just following him the dive seemed to take a 
different perspective, somewhere from tourist/observer towards 
inhabitant/participant.  Time slowed down and my air consumption dropped.
I learned quite a bit from somewone with no training.
-rje
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