Hi
@TrimixToo
Sorry, I think we were talking about two different things. I'm sure my LA County certification from 1970 and your YMCA certification from 1972 were both quite rigorous compared to today's entry level standards (see my post, #50). I was talking about activities actually executed during the certification process and you were talking about information you were exposed to in the didactic portion of the class.
We were also taught USN tables, including decompression. We did not execute planned decompression dives during certification, I doubt you did either. I no longer remember specifically all I was exposed to in the classroom, but do recall it was much broader than what we actually did. I would be extremely surprised if you dived heliox or dived to 300 feet on air during your training.
My LA County card was never challenged in the 10 years I used it. After a 17 year hiatus, I was recertified with my 12 year old son through PADI. Occasionally, just for fun, I have shown my LA County card along with my 2002 PADI nitrox card. It has not been turned down, but, I have often been asked when my last dive was and/or have supplied a short history of the LA County certification. Of course, I've always had, and generally, later shown, my more contemporary certification. LA County no longer offers basic scuba, though they do offer a tremendous advanced course. And, of course, the YMCA gave up scuba in 2008.
Very best and good diving, Craig
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Oh, man, you beat me by 2 and a half years (grin)! You can't read the date on the card any more, but I was certified in September 1972. I laminated the card because it was falling apart from age. I'm jealous that yours is in great shape. The Y lost its records from the 70's to a fire some time ago, so I don't think I can even get a replacement for mine.
By today's standards, the YMCA course was, as you suggest, far more involved. I recall something like 2 nights a week with an hour in the pool and an hour in the classroom for 6-8 weeks. I wish I still had the course materials and tests, but all I have is the book.
It's certainly true that we had more classroom material than in-water exercises, in general. The OW dives and test consisted of 2 dives in shallow-ish water (perhaps 40-60'...it's been a really, really long time) with much of the time used by the instructor to dig and eat scallops underwater. They were out of season, but he never brought a live one out, so I suppose it's a loophole of sorts. He found time to make us remove and replace masks, buddy breathe, and doff and don gear, though.
All other in-water training was in the pool. No deep air. No deco. Mixing equipment being "a bit scarce" at the time--I never even saw any!--no He/O2 mixes either, of course. I'm not sure I could even do a fast bounce to 300' and back fast enough not to run out of air in an LP72 in any case, even if I blew off the deco entirely. I have a USN table somewhere but I doubt it could be done without deco even with the 1958 table that was, IIRC, less conservative than today's. I do know I don't want to try it. I did a couple of deco dives post-cert, but it's hard to do that on a single--all I had--so that was about it until much later.
But consider that even modern training standards do not fully exercise the limits of the certs during in-water instruction. I never had to dive to anywhere close to 180' on air for Extended Range, for example, or hit 330' for Advanced Trimix. I never had to demonstrate proficiency dealing with a current or a riptide for any cert. Yet, they were all covered in some degree in training I've had since the YMCA class. I didn't have to mix a trimix for one of my two advanced gas blender certs, either. I did have to do real deco for Deco Procedures, and valve drills for ER, so I suppose that's something.
Nonetheless, the certs cover all these skills and limits for which I have had formal learning only from a book or in a classroom and enable me to buy the gear and gas to exercise the limits of those certs anywhere, just as the original cert did in the 1970's. I expect you any others here know this, but hitting the limits of those certs is a very, VERY different thing from demonstrating your ability to meet standards in the water during a course. (And some of them I don't want to hit, ever, like 180' on air. I'm stupid enough on the boat, thanks very much.) Experience, and approaching certain limits gradually and individually, matters a lot in my opinion.
It's still fun. I'm still learning. I have a ton of gear. (Well, very possibly somewhat more than a ton.) What more could I ask for?
OK, enough topic drift from my end. (Sorry, folks.)
Edit: It belatedly occurs to me that it might seem I was belittling the later training. Nothing could be further from the truth. I had two really good tech instructors and I learned a ton from both of them. AOW was a prereq for later courses, but otherwise a waste of (my) time.
