jefffalcone
Contributor
I bought my Mom an OW class for her birthday. I have made several purchases at the instructor's shop. From my dealings with him, he gave me the impression that he is a very safety minded person, so I assumed he would be a good instructor.
I began to have misgivings about the class when my mother told me that he had cancelled the second of 4 classes. I asked when he rescheduled the class, and she said he said there was no need to reschedule because they were a small class and they could catch up in the other classes. I was pretty upset about this but I chose not to say anything because I didn't want to make my mom nervous.
The next thing that bothered me was when my mother told me that she was having trouble staying up off the bottom of the pool. I told her that it is pretty common for instructors to overweight students in the pool, and asked her if the instructor had demonstrated how to do a weight check. At first she didn't know what I was talking about. I described a weight check, and she informed me that her book explained this, but the instructor said it doesn't really work. I couldn't hold my tongue on this one, but I tried not to seem too concerned.
Onward to the OW dives... After dives 1 and 2 my mother's ears were bothering her. I asked if she was having trouble equalizing. She wasn't sure. She said she couldn't tell if her ears were equalizing or not. I told her that if she can't feel them equalize, then they aren't equalizing. Again I'm bothered that her instructor didn't tell her this. She was confused because she was told to pinch her nose and blow "gently". She was afraid that if she blew too hard she might hurt herself.
On OW dive 3 her ears were too painful and she had to reschedule the final OW dive. After OW dive 4, I could tell that she was pretty upset. She had become increasingly nervous throughtout the course. Instead of her confidence building with each dive it dwindled. At this point, I wanted to know exactly what had been taught in each portion of the course. I found out that she had only had a total of 3 hours in the pool before moving on to her checkout dives, and 30 minutes of that was spent on swimming tests. Each person in the class only had one chance to try each skill in the pool. People were obviously not comfortable with the skills, but they moved on to the checkout dives anyway. The checkout dives were used to teach the skills that were neglected in the pool, and on "checkout" dive 4 my mother was still being taught skills. She was severely overweighted. She is a small woman and she was made to dive with 26 lbs in fresh water!!! At one point she was having trouble finding neutral bouyance and slowly adding the necessary air to her BC. Her instructor grabbed her inflator and added air, causing her to have an uncontrolled ascent. He was in a rush to get the dive over with, and she was to unsure in her skills to certify. The one good thing that I can say about her instructor is that he had the prescence of mind to tell her that she needs more work before he can certify her. He then told her that she won't be able to attend any more pool sessions because the pool is too crowded, but she can come to the next set of checkout dives?????
This wasn't a $200 cheepo course. I paid close to $500 for the course and another $200 for fins, mask, boots, and snorkle at the instructor's shop. Am I wrong to be upset?
I began to have misgivings about the class when my mother told me that he had cancelled the second of 4 classes. I asked when he rescheduled the class, and she said he said there was no need to reschedule because they were a small class and they could catch up in the other classes. I was pretty upset about this but I chose not to say anything because I didn't want to make my mom nervous.
The next thing that bothered me was when my mother told me that she was having trouble staying up off the bottom of the pool. I told her that it is pretty common for instructors to overweight students in the pool, and asked her if the instructor had demonstrated how to do a weight check. At first she didn't know what I was talking about. I described a weight check, and she informed me that her book explained this, but the instructor said it doesn't really work. I couldn't hold my tongue on this one, but I tried not to seem too concerned.
Onward to the OW dives... After dives 1 and 2 my mother's ears were bothering her. I asked if she was having trouble equalizing. She wasn't sure. She said she couldn't tell if her ears were equalizing or not. I told her that if she can't feel them equalize, then they aren't equalizing. Again I'm bothered that her instructor didn't tell her this. She was confused because she was told to pinch her nose and blow "gently". She was afraid that if she blew too hard she might hurt herself.
On OW dive 3 her ears were too painful and she had to reschedule the final OW dive. After OW dive 4, I could tell that she was pretty upset. She had become increasingly nervous throughtout the course. Instead of her confidence building with each dive it dwindled. At this point, I wanted to know exactly what had been taught in each portion of the course. I found out that she had only had a total of 3 hours in the pool before moving on to her checkout dives, and 30 minutes of that was spent on swimming tests. Each person in the class only had one chance to try each skill in the pool. People were obviously not comfortable with the skills, but they moved on to the checkout dives anyway. The checkout dives were used to teach the skills that were neglected in the pool, and on "checkout" dive 4 my mother was still being taught skills. She was severely overweighted. She is a small woman and she was made to dive with 26 lbs in fresh water!!! At one point she was having trouble finding neutral bouyance and slowly adding the necessary air to her BC. Her instructor grabbed her inflator and added air, causing her to have an uncontrolled ascent. He was in a rush to get the dive over with, and she was to unsure in her skills to certify. The one good thing that I can say about her instructor is that he had the prescence of mind to tell her that she needs more work before he can certify her. He then told her that she won't be able to attend any more pool sessions because the pool is too crowded, but she can come to the next set of checkout dives?????
This wasn't a $200 cheepo course. I paid close to $500 for the course and another $200 for fins, mask, boots, and snorkle at the instructor's shop. Am I wrong to be upset?
