Northwest Dive Club

I see the term "you're a stroke" on here every so often, but what defines a "stroke"? Someone who is a liability/danger to themselves or others? Or someone who doesn't dive with a certain gear configuration?

this:
(Edited per request)

Hahahahaha!

The term started back in the days of when the "Doing It Right" (DIR) principles were founded by the ever colorful George Irvine..

Truth be told, very very few people who use the term really know the meaning and also dont realize THEY are actually being "strokes" themselves in the true sense of the meaning..

He was a very pompous and arrogant (although very capable and skilled) diver at the time that used to do cutting edge dives and exploration in the Cave systems in Florida and helped define the hogarthian / team diving / minimalist, etc. style of diving and coined the term "DIR"

He also at times let it fly that they have all these idiot divers in florida that claim they are so experienced, skilled and god-like and talked themselves up and acted all im-so-awesome-diver and therefore liked to "Stroke" their own ego by telling everyone how awesome they are (much akin to internet divers today), but never did any "real" big dives or exploration and they invariably had every piece of equipment known to man clipped off to look bad-ass and try earn respect through that kind of big talking and bad-assery, not through diving..

So in short, George Irvine called them ego strokers or "Strokes" for short and that label stuck.

Through the years, that label started to evolve and be hubristically applied to any diver thats not a part of the "DIR" boys club and used different gear or techniques.. Especially divers who dive the typical open water bcd/snorkel/short-hose/split-fin config

It was arrogant, egotistical and silly back then and still today just a plain derogatory term that gets flung around and in my personal opinion, the people who use this derogatory term are in fact the "ego strokers" and in fact the actual "Strokes"..

That said, its also become a bit of a joke between divers to call each other "strokes" to mock the old guard DIR people to she them "im still here and havent died, albeit being a stroke" kind of deal..

sometimes its also just tongue in cheek term to tell your buddy he did something stupid..

Either way, some people find it offensive, others think its funny..

I just refrain from using it due to the derogatory historical context in which it was applied..

Thanks, that's exactly what I was looking for. Much appreciated.

This is fun! Who said the NWDC was dead

Stoke is a derogatory term invented by the early Florida cave diving community to describe a diver who isn't squared away or engages in unsafe diving practices.

If you've got a few hours to burn Google George Irvine III. His internet diving board posts from the late 90's are legendary.

BillZ wrote:Stoke is a derogatory term invented by the early Florida cave diving community to describe a diver who isn't squared away or engages in unsafe diving practices.

Thats technically incorrect.. the term was invented by early florida divers to describe divers "stroking their own ego" by telling everyone else how awesome they are without having any real experience.. Kinda like what "Internet Divers" are today..

(See my earlier post)

Nwbrewer wrote:

Careful....or you're going to get a PM from someone....

The term is almost never used in its original sense today. Nowadays, it's almost always used to tease one another.

GI3 had a list of rules, and Rule #1 was, "Don't dive with strokes.". The intent was to advise people not to dive with buddies whose skills or attitude were not suitable for the dive at hand.

A stroke is

A- someone that deploys their new super jumbo smb and gets drug to the surface along with it
B- someone that left the prop pitch on their scooter to neutral, and gets left behind by their dive buddy when they take off
C-forgets to zip up their dry suit before donning all their tech gear and ready to dive
D-forgets to put on their weight harness after putting on all their tech gear
E-All of the above

One of thee articles in this collection gives the GI3 definition of a stoke:
http://www.frogkick.nl/files/george_irv ... ticles.pdf

If you can put up with the GI3 hubris, these articles contain some really sound information.

WHAT IS A STROKE ?
by George Irvine

Very simply put, a "stroke" is somebody you don't want to dive with. It is somebody who will cause you problems, or not be any use to you if you have problems. Usually, this is a reflection of the attitude of a stroke, but that can be inherent in the personality of the individual, or others can teach it.

For instance, if somebody is taught that diving is an "every man for himself" sport, that you "can't help somebody deep," that "my gas is my gas," or "know when to leave your buddy," then that is somebody you do not want to be in the water with. Some people are natural strokes, but all too many are created. Unfortunately, people believe best what they hear first, and given the low-level food chain structure of dive instruction, most strokes are man-made, and are then hard to fix.

Obvious strokes are not so bad - you can see them and you know to avoid them. Frequently they will give it away with their choice of gear and gear configuration. If you see something that is a complete mess, makes no sense, is less than optimal, or is designed to accommodate some phobia while ignoring all else, you are dealing with a stroke. If the stroke is pontificating about how he can "handle" deep air diving, or obsessing about depth, or appears to be trying to compensate for internal fears, this is an obvious stroke and you merely avoid them.

The really insidious strokes are those who pretend to be squared away, but are in this game for all the wrong reasons. Usually they wish to prove something to themselves or others, or to overcome some internal fears. These tend to try to do things that they are not ready to do, and when something goes wrong, they flee for their lives.

Diving is not an intuitive thing. It is not a natural thing. Natural reactions of human beings on dry land do not work underwater. To be a good diver, you have to control your natural responses, and know that they can only hurt you, not help you. A stroke cannot do that. A stroke is driven by fear, ego, bullshit and self-concern.

The term "stroke" was coined by Parker Turner, the original project director of the WKPP. Parker, much like Irvine, had a no-nonsense approach to diving and running the WKPP. Parker had his rules as to the team and one either followed them or they weren't on the team. It was as plain and simple as that. But what Parker found over the years that there were so many people trying to get on the team without the willingness to put in the requisite work. Instead they would come up to Parker and tell him how they had done this dive or that dive, blah, blah, blah and Parker said that he was sick of these guys stroking him to get on the team... That's the evolution of the word."

Scott

This picture pretty much sums it up.

cofford wrote:

stroke.jpg

This picture pretty much sums it up.

Where did you get my photo?

cofford wrote:

stroke.jpg

This picture pretty much sums it up.

All the scuba gear aside, loading a speargun on the boat is the worst of the worst practices.

Dude... it's on like Donkey Kong...when I get home I'm going to Photoshop some facebook pics of you..you stroke

mz53480 wrote:this:

doc.jpg

scuba tank Hp 100 stroke buyer...

Well that got interesting.

H20doctor isn't really a stroke. He's kind of created a whole new definition, for a whole new term: Doc. He's a Doc. Lol

http://diver.net/bbs/messages1/6584.shtml

yip, the true intent of the word got lost between Parker Turner and Irvine and twisted into what it is today..

That's pretty much what i thought the definition was: someone with the newest, high tech gear, talked all high and mighty, but one you got them in the water, they flop around and act like a dying fish

H20doctor wrote:

mz53480 wrote:this:

doc.jpg

scuba tank Hp 100 stroke buyer...

They're LP95's....
You stroke!

mz53480 wrote:

H20doctor wrote:

mz53480 wrote:this:

doc.jpg

scuba tank Hp 100 stroke buyer...

They're LP95's....
You stroke!

HP 100 from oregon stroke tank stealer...