Martigan
Registered
Ok, one more time. What "training Standard" doesn't address the local conditions in which the diver is "trained and certified" by what agency?
If memory serves me correctly, DCBC is of the opinion that diver "watermanship" needs to be different for divers who are trained in different environs. Well, what ARE those differences in "watermanship" and what evidence do you have to support your opinion?
Of course DCBC also believes that diving and training techniques that made sense 40+ years ago still make sense today -- but again, without any evidence that the end product is any more, or less, capable of being a safe diver.
Pray tell, what ARE the "North Atlantic" standards that are different from the Mid-Atlantic, Southern California or Puget Sound standards?
I am not sure about the training standards (at the same time, I am not DCBC ).
But what I have experienced, when I was a very new diver, is the huge difference between the conditions in the Channel (northern atlantic between western France and southern England) and the Great Barrier Reef...
I have been trained in cold water, with waves, sometimes short visbility and with tide currents. When I arrived in Australia 7 months after my last dive in France, I feared to be a bit rusty. When I went in the water (from a platform, not a boat!), with a thin shorty, with more than 20m visibility, warm water, no current to speak of... I had the feeling to be in the air! I did a few exercises to refresh my skills, but it was a breeze.
In my opinion, maybe the Standards have to be the same, but to be honest, the Mastery (central concept in most of the training agencies) cannot be transferred at all between easy tropical waters and northern atlantic conditions.
And I suspect that the cumulative effect of the adverse conditions in rough waters (cold, current, waves, visibility) should necessite new Standards to cope with it at the entry level. Simple exercises, even mastered individually or in pairs, may not be sufficient in more difficult conditions, and new exercises or tests should be included to be sure that small (and not so small) things make things go haywire quickly.
It is well known that when you remove your mask in cold water, the cold on your face may have an adverse effect, if you had a bit of tidal current or some back and forth motion because of waves, and are close to a rock, you may want to have complete and mastered skills in order not to be too affected and to be able to restore the situation quickly.
I am not an instructor, only a diver, so my opinion does not take into account the pedagogics specifics, but nobody can deny that diving is different from place to place, and that teaching should take that into account.
In my view, the "same condition or better" phrase has too little emphasis for one, and is thus a bit misleading. Usually people take their certification has a "level x/y" right to dive, whatever the conditions...