DaleC
Contributor
I don't see a problem with those divers either, my wife would probably be one of them if she ever chose to dive. The only problem is when we lump everyone together without differentiating their interests/limits. To a diver who acts independently, the vacation diver lacks skill in many areas. But to a vacation diver, they are ok in their setting.
I'm all for personal responsibility. But shouldn't that also extend to the agency for monitoring the quality of instruction they promote and the level of skill in divers they certify. How did that lady get an OW card without having a clue how to assemble her equipment? The current cop out is that they demonstrated the skill once and the C card is really just a license to learn. I figure it should mean you are competent enough to dive.
I'm not poo pooing all instructors. I have met some very good ones. But I have also met some very poor ones and it just seems luck of the draw which one that will be. The cop out to that one is to say divers should shop around and pick instruction wisely but non divers really have no clue what they are looking for. Most form a sort of hero worship for their first instructor (even if they are poor) until later experience shows the deficit they may have been exposed to.
I'm all for personal responsibility. But shouldn't that also extend to the agency for monitoring the quality of instruction they promote and the level of skill in divers they certify. How did that lady get an OW card without having a clue how to assemble her equipment? The current cop out is that they demonstrated the skill once and the C card is really just a license to learn. I figure it should mean you are competent enough to dive.
I'm not poo pooing all instructors. I have met some very good ones. But I have also met some very poor ones and it just seems luck of the draw which one that will be. The cop out to that one is to say divers should shop around and pick instruction wisely but non divers really have no clue what they are looking for. Most form a sort of hero worship for their first instructor (even if they are poor) until later experience shows the deficit they may have been exposed to.