Poll: Were you OW trained to standards?

[Eric Sedletzky]

In light of another thread going on about AOW lacking, I’m curious about what your OW course was like.
Did you get trained to standards?
Below standards?
Or maybe the instructor went above and beyond and trained you above written standards?
Below is a list I found of the PADI OW skills:

PADI Open Water Skills List • All Skills in Order

Full PADI Open Water Diver Skills List, covering all the scuba diving skills you can expect in the PADI Open Water Course. Including Video Explanation!

www.scubadivingtips.net

This doesn’t include the book theory part which is part of it. I’ll look for that as well so you can reference it if needed.
I didn’t include any other agencies because I’m PADI trained for OW and that’s all I know.
However you can add to the poll with any other agency that applies and discuss it if you wish.
I know some standards have changed so the list may be slightly different from what you recieved, but if you have a story to tell about your OW from the past please feel free.
This is not meant to be an agency bash, I’m just curious to take a pulse of how it went for scubaboard members.

I was trained right to standards in my open water class, and maybe a little beyond when it came to site conditions, how to read the ocean and also how to use a compass. We were trained to plan and conduct a shore dive in our own with another new OW diver on the Northern California Coast.
I have no complaints other than I wish they didn’t overweight us and normalize that, and also they trained us on our knees which was standard at that time.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

My NAUI OW class was six weeks long. The CESA involved an underwater swim the length of the pool in one breath. I still don't think I could manage that. The first pool session was composed of pike dives, breath-hold, and kicking in place for five minutes. I free-dived for a year before taking OW, so the first two were easy. I still remember the cramps from the kicking in place. My favorite lesson was how to eat a Snickers bar underwater.

For our certification dives at Catalina, our instructor had me demonstrate mask recovery. Every time I reached for my mask he would move it another foot away. He wanted to see if I would panic. All I did was get angry. After the second boat dive, he gave us our temporary cards and said to have fun on the third dive. It was great to actually make a dive not involving skills practice.

When I was going through my Divemaster class, I worked with OW classes for a year. Either skill requirements had been watered down by then, or I was just more comfortable with my own skills. I thought the students weren't being taught enough to dive on their own.

 

[scubadada]

I was first certified in 1970 by LA County, it was above today's OW standards. I was recertified with my son in 1997 in Grand Cayman by PADI, it was at least up to if not exceeding standards. We were lucky and had just 2:1 student:instructor ratio with highly motivated instructors.

 

[MB NZ]

I think so, my instructor team (instructor and his divemaster wife) were brilliant back in 1999 and wouldn't let anything go if it wasn't up to standard. I'll let them off talking us straight in to AOW. I'm sure everything was right up to standard with AOW as well, just the bar was set pretty low.

 

[AdivingBel]

I was trained to standards…maybe a bit beyond. IMHO, if a student comes prepared to learn to dive (i.e. very comfortable in the water) and is taught to current standards, OW is a walk in the park, as it should be. Basic recreational diving isn’t hard nor overly complex, but does carry risk so it should be undertaken thoughtfully. Learning to dive has the potential to put you in uncomfortable situations. If you are at all apprehensive concerning your “water skills,” you need to remedy that FIRST before you attempt certification.

Not all recreational diving is equal. You should dive in the environment you were trained. Prior to diving outside that environment, you should seek additional localized training/mentoring before proceeding. All IMHO, YMMV.

 

[BackAfter30]

I got my PADI C card in 86. It took much more time, spread out over much more time, and I feel I learned much more than it seems people come away with today. It also felt very easy to learn the material. However, having just graduated college and gone into an engineering position in an aggressive startup, maybe anything was going to seem easy. When I came back into the tribe a few years ago, talking to some old timers, I was told that less is taught now.

I was taught beyond today's standards. Final answer.

 

[TMHeimer]

I was trained to standards (PADI), though I, like many, had no idea at the time what they were. Years later I assisted about 13 instructors on OW courses. Their
approaches differed somewhat of course, but I do think every one of them taught to the standards. Other than one or two when they had me check off on some skills.

 

[Centrals]

I believe I was trained to the standards set by PADI, everything mentioned in the manual was taught thoroughly by my instructor over a period of 4 full days. There were only two students in the class, my mate and I.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I was trained to standards, though I, like many, had no idea at the time what they were. Years later I assisted about 13 instructors on OW courses. Their
approaches differed somewhat of course, but I do think every one of them taught to the standards. Other than one or two when they had me check off on some skills.

All I did was study the PADI OW book. Everything you/they need to do and go over is outlined in there.
My book is somewhat outdated now, some things have changed.

 

[Jeepster]

I was trained by a cave instructor who was regularly called to retrieve bodies. To say he went beyond standards understates the class. One of the first lessons involved him attaching our tanks and hoses to our deflated bc, with the weight belt as a wrapper. He threw them in the pool, let them sink, then told us to go down and put them on correctly and not surface until we did. By the time I got my first card, I was nearly qualified for rescue.