Of Scuba Diving and Motorcycle Racers - A slow life between fast lanes?

Hi there! and welcome back...

I wrote in a previous post about how I wanted to pursue some experiences with scuba diving this year and my plan to go about on doing the same. My goal is to start off with the Open Water Diving which is the first step to get into this world of scuba diving. I ultimately aim to become a dive instructor in the next few years.

One of my friends from the Isle of Man read the post and left a few comments on my Facebook post. I'll call him Alex. Alex is someone I've been looking forward to meet for the last two years. I have not met him previously and we have only communicated twice via phone on some business project that I was trialing with a friend of mine at the University of Delft in the Netherlands.

I am in the same blood as Alex, so to say. Alex loves bikes and is an ex-racer himself. He owns and runs Darvill Racing that races in the northwest 200 and other races in the UK, including the infamous, and popular Isle of Man TT. We keep in not so frequent, but not infrequent either contact on Facebook. I may be meeting him this year, finally, but more on that later.

When Alex read my post, he left me a comment that read: "It's a whole new world down there. [There is] nothing quite like it"

As the comments progressed, he asked me how I plan to go about starting my experience with Scuba diving. His question concerned which route I was considering, PADI, or something else. More on PADI and the different schools of diving in a different post.

I have to confess, I do not really know where my fascination with diving truly comes from. I may have mentioned that my major motivation is to experience life in a very different world, and learn and absorb experiences to cherish. All that is well, but to really pinpoint that one moment where the urge to start on this particular journey is hard to do.

Maybe it is something else?

Maybe it is not a moment, or experience that can be pinpointed to say where my fascination for scuba diving came to be?

Maybe it is because I race bikes?

Alex mentioned that scuba is a totally different world (and also that he was eager to try his new shiny semidry suit)

“Scuba is totally different and lots of us (racers) seem to do both...”

If that is true, and maybe it is, then there is a possibility that I could not have thought of. As racers, we all love the sensation of going fast, focusing and concentrating to limits that are not possible at most other times, all the while pushing to the limit on a 150kg machine that is burning fossil fuel and expelling horse power like there is no tomorrow, engines bellowing to the limit as rpm meters hit red line. It is a heady feeling, and the rush is like no other. Motorcycle riding and sex. There is nothing better. The best is both.

Yours truly.

And maybe… just maybe….

When we are away from the life where life is measured in tenths of seconds and at speeds over 150kmph, maybe we really like to take it slow and easy. On a motorcycle, control is paramount, and we as racers, like to be in control all the time.

On a racetrack, you want to lap as quick as f**kin possible. Screw it if you almost hit the tarmac on that long right hand corner with the front wheel threatening to wipe out from right underneath you as the tiniest of millimetre of the tyre fights desperately for grip on the bare, blistering track…

… And in scuba diving, you can float around without limits, without having to control the direction of the flow. Let the water take you in and do all the work. You can just float like there is no rush to get anywhere.

The racetrack can be a harsh mistress, and walking away from a crash is nothing new But as a racer, you know the cold sinking feeling you get as you realize that the front wheel is washing out slowly, almost as if it is happening frame by frame. It seems to be eternity, but in reality it is a split second before you kiss the black unforgiving tarmac, sparks flying across as you slide.

And in the water, there is no crash, there is no slide, and there is life happening at a slow, easy going pace. All that you feel is the breathing of your chest, as you experience weightlessness and an absolute lack of any and all feelings of adrenaline surging through the body. You are at peace, at one with the world. Almost Zen.

Motorcycle racers hit that zen like moment too, and when it happens, they produce their most supreme and amazing race. But it is not that often of a occurrence. Maybe racers crave for it more.

And maybe… just maybe… that is why most of us racers like to scuba dive.

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Upvote, share your thoughts in the comments below.

You can read my previous posts via the links below:

I've been thinking of pursuing some experiences with Scuba Diving - Here's why

Motorcycle Stories - How I got into Motorcycle racing

Up above the Arctic Circle - Visiting Tromsø in Norway and watching the Northern lights!

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Cheers!

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