-> I'm not trying to support anyone, but as scuba equipment gets better
-> and more advanced, the standards can be lowered.
    I would REFUSE to dive with a non-swimmer. As for the equipment
getting better and more advanced, that really means COMPLICATED. I dive
on a pair of computers and would not allow someone not familiar with
either of them to use either of them. There are lots of things that I've
seen where I thought an instructor should have spent a bit more time
with the student. I've seen people with 30+ pounds of weight around
thier waists when they needed 10-15. I've watched people ascend from
60ft to the surface, emergency ascent style, because they were told
NEVER to surface with less than 750lbs in thier tank. I witnessed one
individaul become quite BENT because he surfaced this way, combined with
insufficient surface time between dives. I looked at his tablet after he
started showing symptoms of DCS and his figures were based on the START
of the first dive, not the END of the dive. There are plenty of other
examples I could rattle off, but I digress. The standards MUST not be
lowered, if anything WE, as divers, need to raise the standards in hopes
of keeping government regulation out of our recreation.
--- WILDMAIL!/WC v4.12 
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