YO-HANCHA
Don ’ t pack your sunglasses !
Now that scuba is back on the agenda , Yo-Han Cha can focus his paranoia on the pet superstitions shared by many a diver
I
wouldn ’ t normally describe myself as a superstitious man , but there are events that seem to just coincidentally happen around each other . For example , there ’ s ‘ commentator ’ s curse ’ where they ’ re praising a player and then same player immediately makes a mistake . And when if you ’ re fortunate enough to receive a yearly bonus , something expensive in your car breaks . I ’ d like to reiterate that I ’ m not a superstitious man , but I ’ ve recently found that the cost and fitting of a new clutch is rather expensive .
I ’ ve found that divers ( myself included ) can be a tad superstitious . Perhaps it ’ s to do with the fact that our hobby is so dependent on the weather and in the UK , it can be ever so slightly unpredictable . There ’ s definitely an element of luck involved in booking a dive trip for a weekend a year in advance and being able to book perfect weather and visibility into it .
If anyone actually knows how to do that without relying on luck , please drop me a line on how they manage it . We ’ ve all had dive trips blown out , sometimes it ’ s before we set off , other times it ’ s while we ’ re there .
The trips I ’ ve been on have always made the most of it , so I ’ ve never felt that those weekends are wasted , but after a while I start seeing patterns and coincidences where there are none – that ’ s how my superstitions around diving were born .
My first superstition was passed down by other more experienced members of my club . I rather naively remarked on a very favourable weather prediction for the weekend and I was in no uncertain terms told to shush and not to mention the weather - in case I jinxed it . I ’ ve never seen the weather turn just because someone said it was good , but why tempt fate ?
Another couple of lesser weather-related superstitions are ‘ forgetting my shades ’ and ‘ packing my over-trousers ’. The first is selfexplanatory but the second comes from doing far too many stints of surface cover in the pouring rain , convinced that the divers were drier than I was . Ever since , I have diligently packed my waterproof over-trousers and never had to use them . Except for that one time I forgot and ... the heavens opened .
My weather superstitions don ’ t always produce the desired result . At time of writing , we ’ ve only been allowed to go diving for two months and I ’ ve already had two trips blown out . There ’ s obviously some kind of rain dance that I ’ m not doing .
Here ’ s another one : I always take my toolbox to prevent kit malfunctions . My kit is usually in good working order , but the ( mostly unused ) toolbox makes sure it stays that way . Inevitably , whenever something ’ s gone wrong , my toolbox is safe and sound at home and I ’ m having to rely on other club members to look after me .
And despite what I wrote a couple of months ago , I have never taken part in an actual sacrifice of a Diving Officer . All DOs who dive with me are returned home safely . If any of them accidentally drank then threw up petrol on a dive trip , it had nothing to do with me and I only mention it because the memory of that still makes me laugh .
Whatever you think of my silly superstitions or if you have any of your own , may they make the wind blow gently in the right direction ; may they clear the sea to give you fantastic visibility and may they keep your dive kit in good working order . Happy diving everyone ! �
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