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My dive partner in Mobile said 'A good diver knows the book, but a great diver knows the water,' and I finally get it after 15 years.
He was talking about how we spent a whole job fighting a current on a pipeline inspection, and he said if we'd just waited 20 minutes for the tide to slack, the work would've been half the effort and twice as safe, which made me realize I've been too focused on the procedure manual and not enough on reading the actual environment.
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parker_price3d agoProlific Poster
That "knows the water" line hits hard. I got stuck doing a hull clean in a marina where the surge was just rocking us back and forth all day. Next time, I just watched the boat traffic for an hour first and picked the dead time between the fishing charters leaving and the dinner cruises starting. Made the whole thing a breeze, you know?
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ericj453d ago
You watched boat traffic for a full hour before starting? That's way more patience than I've got. I would have just jumped in and hated my life.
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emery_black2d ago
Timing it with the tide change is the real game changer. Low slack water means less current to fight, and you can actually see what you're cleaning. I missed that once and spent the whole day just trying to stay in one spot.
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