PADI Rescue Diver

[Bubbletrubble]

Although I recommended getting some experience outside of basic OW certification before taking the Rescue class, I forgot to mention that, if you aren't CPR-certified yet or haven't ever taken a first aid class, please get that training...now. Frankly, I think that this kind of training should be a prerequisite for taking any scuba instruction at all -- it's that important.

You never know when you'll be called upon to assist in an emergency. Encourage your friends and family members to take the CPR class with you. It pays to be prepared.

 

[paddler3d]

I was considering doing Rescue this summer, but that was before I had two trips on my calendar and an intention to get a nitrox card. Reading this thread is making me start to consider it again...

Nitrox it useful some of the time...rescue is useful all of the time.

 

[Mayor]

The rescue was the first course that really starts building awareness in the water. You start to look for signs of problems long before thay happen. It's well worth the money as long as you can find quality instruction.

With Nitrox being so easy to find why would you dive anything else?

 

[oreocookie]

Nitrox it useful some of the time...rescue is useful all of the time.

I'll agree with that. The only reason I decided to go for the nitrox card (this summer anyway) is because the price for the Bonaire trip I'm going on with the lds includes nitrox and I'd like to have the option of being able to use it. I guess I'll just have to be extra careful about finding good airfare deals so I can do both classes.

 

[scubajim 1]

Definately take the EFR and RD courses. This will be your first exposure (in PADI anyway) in decision making. Until this time everything was in absolutes...do this...not that...
In RD you are learning to think critically and make flexible decisions.
It is a great course and if your instructor is good you will find this course will give you a new prespective on your skills and diving in general.

If you are wondering about your skills why not ask to dive with the instructor 1st. He/she may ask you to develop your skills a bit more before taking the course or say you are ready to go.
Enjoy the course and tell us how it went.

 

[DaMaDo]

Rescue was great! I'd recommend it at any level. I took it after my 15th dive. You'll feel a lot more comfortable afterwards and it opens up your situation awareness towards other divers and deteriorating situations.

I also suggest looking into the DAN courses as well...namely the advanced O2, hazardous marine life injuries, and AED use. If diving deeper, the neuro assessment would also be good.

 

[Searcaigh]

Rescue was the best course that I ever did albeit many years ago, the instructor I had made me work very hard considering the DMs he had at the time were 6ft+ and in comparison I am a mere 5ft 7in .... my life was not easy, but hey that is what it's all about.

Opened up a whole new world for me photographically too as when I played victim for others laying on the bottom I discovered the macro world watching tiny critters move around that I had never noticed before.

 

[AggieDad]

Definitely take the Rescue Diver course and the EFR. It is the most challenging and most rewarding class you will ever take in diving. Properly trained, you will become much more aware of problems before they happen (and like my instructor told me....learn who to avoid in the water).

Besides all of that...one of the best benefits is the ability to now come back and be a "victim". That is the most fun....REVENGE.

 

[2 Big 2 Fail]

I think you have to ask yourself if, in the course of diving, you would attempt to rescue someone in trouble and, if you would, would you rather have some knowledge and practice at making it successful, both in terms of helping the victim and surviving the attempt yourself? Is there any reason to wait for some level of accomplishment? The rescue situation, if it's going to happen, won't wait for that. And maybe even more important, if it becomes a matter of you or no one, is there anything but the RD experience that's going to equip you to make the decision to act or not - or maybe to mean the only decision you can really make is more likely the right one?

(The answers aren't automatically one way or another. How many people who are reasonably good swimmers didn't survive their attempt to rescue another swimmer in trouble? If they had thought about it and had known they could have faced a situation where they could not say no, would they have taken a lifesaving course? Did not having had a lifesaving course give them the option of not attempting the rescue?)

I was going to say that, even if you felt like you wanted more diving time first, there were swimming lifesaving courses of value. Well, dang. In looking around, it seems things are not quite as they were in my youth, and in the US, organizations have largely abandoned things like the old Red Cross and YWCA Lifesaving courses in favor of longer lifeguarding courses. (Canadian YMCA continues to deliver lifesaving under the Lifesaving Society certification.) I guess the US, except for BSA, has nearly completely bailed out of basic lifesaving for swimmers.

 

[tincan715]

In looking around, it seems things are not quite as they were in my youth, and in the US, organizations have largely abandoned things like the old Red Cross and YWCA Lifesaving courses in favor of longer lifeguarding courses. (Canadian YMCA continues to deliver lifesaving under the Lifesaving Society certification.) I guess the US, except for BSA, has nearly completely bailed out of basic lifesaving for swimmers.

I agree, but I'm not at all sure that's a bad thing. I was a lifeguard at a public swimming pool for five summers in college and today my son is a lifeguard at a local water park, so I have a reasonable basis for comparison. My son's training - and today's approach to lifeguarding in general - is MUCH more rigorous than when I was young. A few years ago, as an adult, I qualified as a BSA lifeguard and that too was much more tougher than my original Red Cross training (and not only because I'm now an old guy). I would argue that only a really strong swimmer with proper training should attempt a rescue and that's pretty much the approach these days.