RobPNW
Contributor
Only thing I can see as being more difficult for the shop is readjusting the gear for every diver. Basic rental jackets are easy. Pick the right size, cinch the straps and get in the water.
Question Teaching OW with backplate and wing from the very beginning ?
- Thread starter Roger Hobden
- Start date
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I see two issues here, and I guess I am confused by the nature of the opening question.
I see no problem using BP/W from the start, and I know shops that do it.
I understood the question as requiring it. That is an entirely different matter.
I see no problem using BP/W from the start, and I know shops that do it.
I understood the question as requiring it. That is an entirely different matter.
By "default," do you mean individual instructors could deviate from the default if, for instance, the shop they work for prefers they teach using a more traditional BC? Regardless of whether that's what you mean, I don't see agencies adopting BP/W as a default because it might upset agencies' relationships with dive shops that prefer to sell traditional, higher profit margin BCs.
I can see benefits to new OW students learning to dive in a BP/W. Because it's a minimal configuration, they aren't immediately biased by "features." If they decide they would prefer more features, then at least they have the BP/W as a baseline to judge what benefits additional features might offer. In other words, it seems to me a more natural route to begin with a baseline and then consider whether you would prefer more features than to take the route many of us here have, beginning with a supposedly feature-packed traditional BC and then taking a leap of faith that we might prefer a BP/W.
Side question: Do any agencies other than GUE and UTD dictate a BP/W configuration?
I think the question you want to ask is how much a shop pays for a jacket BCD vs. a BP&W.
Using BP/W bc's for instructions can be a pain in adjusting them every time the students use them especially if you have a busy dive school. For a dive school, I'd use BP/W with adjustable shoulder straps that make it much easier and faster to adjust the BC for the students before each session in the pool or openwater.
The advantage of using BP/W bc's in a dive school is that the dive school doesn't have to carry several bc's in each size to be able to fit the students in their courses. I usually have 4 - 6 students in my courses but I have about 12 jacket BC's in various sizes to make sure that I have all sizes for all contingencies. With BP/W, I only have 8 of them and they fit everyone.
Learning and mastering buoyancy, trim and being a good capable diver isn't a function of using a BP/W BC vs. jacket BC, it is a function of training and technique. Don't let equipment compensate for lack of basic skills.
The advantage of using BP/W bc's in a dive school is that the dive school doesn't have to carry several bc's in each size to be able to fit the students in their courses. I usually have 4 - 6 students in my courses but I have about 12 jacket BC's in various sizes to make sure that I have all sizes for all contingencies. With BP/W, I only have 8 of them and they fit everyone.
Learning and mastering buoyancy, trim and being a good capable diver isn't a function of using a BP/W BC vs. jacket BC, it is a function of training and technique. Don't let equipment compensate for lack of basic skills.
For me, I just bought the adjustable ones from FinnSub and will buy more from SP.
RobPNW
Contributor
I see this as a good solution. The purists might not like the adjustable straps but it's a school setting and a win win. Students learn on the platform and instructors can adjust from student to student easily.
Ontwreckdiver
Contributor
You are looking for a gear solution to a skills problem.Better trim and buoyancy = more confident divers = more students doing AOW and Rescue.
Eric Sedletzky
Contributor
New open water divers don’t know what they don’t know.
If a shop only taught in in BP/W the students wouldn’t know any different and they would do everything they currently do in jackets except in BP/W’s no problem. Probably better.
You know, there was a time when there were no jackets, only back packs, and prior to that there weren’t even back packs just a harness and the tank rested directly on your back. And a BC device on anything? Ha, forget about it, that didn’t come along until at least the jacket era. Some were using horse collars and some other make shift experimental stuff but a lot if people just dived without a BC and knew how to weight themselves properly and used lung control. Some people still dive that way as a hobby.
It certainly didn’t seem to hold back people then.
If a shop only taught in in BP/W the students wouldn’t know any different and they would do everything they currently do in jackets except in BP/W’s no problem. Probably better.
You know, there was a time when there were no jackets, only back packs, and prior to that there weren’t even back packs just a harness and the tank rested directly on your back. And a BC device on anything? Ha, forget about it, that didn’t come along until at least the jacket era. Some were using horse collars and some other make shift experimental stuff but a lot if people just dived without a BC and knew how to weight themselves properly and used lung control. Some people still dive that way as a hobby.
It certainly didn’t seem to hold back people then.
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