The "Official" SB Scuba Course?

[JeffG]

"Global Underwater Explorers

Mission Statement

Global Underwater Explorers emerged out of a shared desire to safely explore and protect the underwater world..."

So?..

 

[leapfrog]

I'm not saying I necessarily disagree with that entirely. I am saying that being able to swim without any aide and swimming with a wet suit on are two different things.

They are different but both are swimmng and both require technique and being comfortable in the water. I don't see the point you are trying to make. Swimming is swimming and the much derided standards of my agency now require that the swim be done before any other in water activities commence on the OWD course. In preparation for the dive and before beginning open water dive skills, assess the diver’s skills and comfort level in water and generally asses dive knowledge.

I am also suggesting that some onus must be placed on the diver to dive within their own limitations.

I would say all the onus.

No one is yet talking about offering swim coaching.

......If the diver exhibits lack of dive readiness, remediate before training progresses. I would call that swim coaching .

Rather, it has been all about a pass-fail test to bar entry to diving. There's a heck of a difference between helping people do something and testing if they can meet some arbitrary bar.

Recent dive experience with the diver is acceptable as a screen if you are confident in the diver’s current knowledge level, inwater skills and comfort. A bar is a bar. If you can't swim 400 yards, I am not going to teach you to dive.

Isn't the point of a medical clearance to put the responsibility of determining fitness onto a medical professional who (theoretically) has the appropriate expertise to make such a determination, rather than placing it on a dive instructor who does not necessarily have the ability to do so.

There is a part that must/should be done by a doctor. Most of the "dive clearance medicals" I have seen are a regular brain fart. How can you tell if a person is fit to dive without monitoring them during and after exercise? So as I said, in my world, I would put up a resonable barrier to entry through a physical fitness test involving running and swimming.

A 60 year old 300# man who can barely swim may be able to go 600 yards and, while being very out of breath, could complete it due primarily to being positively buoyant. While a 180# guy built of nothing but muscle might be hard pressed to swim at all due to being naturally very negative.

Do obese people float? Yes. Can they swim 600 yards if they are 60 and weigh 300 lbs? I don't think so. I would monitor them during and after the swim anyway. I weigh around 160 lbs. I am naturally negatively buoyant in fresh water. I can swim for miles. It's a question of fitness and technique.

Or, our hypothetical 300# fellow may be in far superior diving shape than our young 180# guy with great muscle tone but who has a PFO and arrhythmia. even if the 300#'er can't swim very far at all, and the 180#'er does it in record time.

That's why a proper medical would be great if people got it. Unfortunately, as the Dive Accident statistics show, PFO is rarely discovered.

Divers typically are in the water with flotation - a BCD and a wet or dry suit. Swimming with flotation is decidedly different than swimming with out. One of my diving mentors is a guy who is in fantastic shape. He is pretty much all muscle. He is naturally negatively buoyant. He sinks like a rock and has a very hard time swimming even short distances because of that. But he is an excellent diver, and in a wet suit he can out swim me all day long -- even though I swim a mile or more every day and he does not.

Something here doesn't quite click. Most athletes are negatively buoyant. Olympic swimmers are too.... but nobody "sinks like a rock".

 

[Blackwood]

"Global Underwater Explorers

Mission Statement

Global Underwater Explorers emerged out of a shared desire to safely explore and protect the underwater world..."

Explore:

to traverse or range over (a region, area, etc.) for the purpose of discovery: to explore the island.

Discover:

to see, get knowledge of, learn of, find, or find out; gain sight or knowledge of (something previously unseen or unknown): to discover America; to discover electricity.



Every time I dive I'm exploring.

 

[DCBC]

Originally Posted by DCBC
...The GUE course is different as it is designed for exploration diving.

No

Originally Posted by DCBC
"Global Underwater Explorers

Mission Statement

Global Underwater Explorers emerged out of a shared desire to safely explore and protect the underwater world..."

So?..

Speaking with you is like talking to a cat with a machine gun. What's the use?

 

[JeffG]

Originally Posted by DCBC
...The GUE course is different as it is designed for exploration diving.



Originally Posted by DCBC
"Global Underwater Explorers

Mission Statement

Global Underwater Explorers emerged out of a shared desire to safely explore and protect the underwater world..."



Speaking with you is like talking to a cat with a machine gun. What's the use?

You're the one saying that an OW course is designed for exploration diving.

If you are going to comment on things at least get your facts straight.

 

[DCBC]

You're the one saying that an OW course is designed for exploration diving.

Yes

If you are going to comment on things at least get your facts straight.

GUE Standards Manual
1.0 Purpose of GUE
Global Underwater Explorers was founded to improve the quality of aquatic education and to actively
engage in the exploration and conservation of the underwater world.

Perhaps you should read a couple of issues of Quest to understand the heart-beat of the organization.

 

[JeffG]

Perhaps you should read a couple of issues of Quest to understand the heart-beat of the organization.

<snicker>


Its an OW course.

No matter how much googling you are going to do isn't going to change that fact.

Too funny.

Thanks for reminding me of something...I should fire Harvey an email.

 

[Blackwood]

Global Underwater Explorers was founded... to actively engage in the exploration and conservation of the underwater world

And on that note: PADI Kids

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Where do you go from here?
After your 10th birthday, you'll be ready to begin your PADI Junior Scuba Diver, PADI Junior Open Water certification and the wide variety of PADI certifications that will help you safely explore the underwater world.
Stop by your PADI Dive Center or Resort for more information on PADI's Discover Scuba and Discover Scuba Diving program today.[/FONT]

Therefore PADI teaches 10 year old children "exploration diving".

 

[DCBC]

Therefore PADI teaches 10 year old children "exploration diving".

Perhaps you should contact GUI with this information and ask if GUI is in competition? They will tell you quite clearly Blackwood.

 

[JeffG]

Perhaps you should contact GUI with this information and ask if GUI is in competition? They will tell you quite clearly Blackwood.

<snicker>

What? The big bad instructor just can't be wrong.

Give it up already.

The point is that this super duper OW course has already been designed by GUE.