Agencies

[fisherdvm]

Exactly, LeadCarrier, you are saying what I am saying. We are a hurry up, I want now society.

10 days for confined water training and bookwork over 5 weeks is too long for most Americans. You said 4 weeks for yours, and they complained, right?

That's why PADI and SSI alike push the one or two weekend scenarios - it appeals to the mass market. I'll bet a typical american will pay twice as much for a condensed 2 day course over the 10 days YMCA program (cost less, get more) - exactly because we want it now, we want it today.

If you calculate the class time and pool time involved, the Y program might not be greatly more than the PADI/SSI programs (perhaps 2x more?). But spreading the skill over 8 or 10 days allow one to think, visualize, rethink, and learn better.

I think that's why students who crams for exam retain less than those who learn little bits at a time. I think Leadcarrier and I are stating the same fact, but in slightly different ways. Hard to argue with facts - PADI certified 20 x or more the divers that the Y do, per year!

Oh, and the economies of things. It is probably cheaper to rent a pool once or twice a month for an OW class than to rent it 5 or 8 times, as in the case of the YMCA's program.

 

[knotical]

Of the three, the YMCA program is the oldest ... followed by NAUI ... followed by PADI. However, that's rather irrelevent, as they have all been around for a long time.

Just to expand on that a bit, I think these are the years of founding for some of the agencies you are more likely to run in to:

1953 BSAC
1954 LA County
1958 CMAS
1959 YMCA
1960 NAUI
1966 PADI
1960’s PDIC
1969 ACUC
1970 SSI
1978 IDEA
1981 HSA
1982 NASE
1984 MDEA
1999 SDI

As Bob indicated, many of them go way back.

 

[leapfrog]

Also (not that I am considering this) do people switch between agencies as they progress through the ranks ie. ow aow etc.

Progress through the ranks with one agency and then do the crossover as an instructor. BTW, why are you NOT considering this?

 

[sheck33]

PADI: Diving, is FUN, FUN, FUN. (You have to learn some skills too). FUN, FUN, FUN. (There's a couple of exams). Start NOW!!!

TDI/ANDI/IANTD/NAUI: PADI cuts corners and doesn't train people properly. You will die. Only our training can save you.

GUE:

LOL I liked that post.

I have been diving for a while now and have been trained by CMAS, PADI, TDI and GUE. While my view of which agency provides the better training has evolved over the years I must say that in the end every agency did teach me something that I in one way or another use in my diving. Even if you don't agree with procedure X of agency Y, it means you had to think about it and that is a good thing. As many have said, train with many different agencies and learn and have fun.

 

[Jim Ernst]

PADI: Diving, is FUN, FUN, FUN. (You have to learn some skills too). FUN, FUN, FUN. (There's a couple of exams). Start NOW!!!

TDI/ANDI/IANTD/NAUI: PADI cuts corners and doesn't train people properly. You will die. Only our training can save you.

GUE:

I love your post Brother!!

Laughing my a$$ off

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

GUE:

Respectfully, that pretty well sums up what I think is wrong with GUE.

I love what they teach ... I surely wish they'd find a way to teach it in a manner that would reach more people, and do it in a way that wasn't quite so off-putting to the rest of the dive community.

We recently had our first Dive Expo here in the PNW. It was a pretty amazing event, in that it brought almost the whole local dive community together under one roof for the first time since I've been diving. I say almost because there was only one shop in the entire greater Seattle area that chose not to participate ... and one group of divers that was conspicuous by their absence.

That's a shame ... they have a lot to offer that a lot more people could benefit from. But if they don't want to be a part of the community, then they've got no right to shake their heads at what other people do.

Something I learned from a GUE instructor who, sadly, no longer teaches (because I thought he was the best instructor I've ever had) is that the key to excellent instruction is putting your message out to people in a way that makes them want to hear what you have to say.

With respect to agencies, image matters as much as substance ... because that's what gets people to make their choices in the first place. And whatever complaints you have with PADI and the other mainstream agencies, the one thing they do well is be inclusive and make it clear to their members that diving is a social activity ... the whole point of which is to have fun.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Nemrod]

Just take your instruction from whoever floats your boat. Afterwards if you want additional instruction or something not offered by your first experience then hire another instructor. You are not joining the Boy Scouts, it does not really matter, after the course is completed you do not become BRANDED and belong to the evil PadI, they do not stamp 666 on your forehead nor does YMCA or whoever. Your free to float among shops, instructors, shop on line for gear and trips, learn on your own and do as you please with no alliegience to anybody but God and Country.

N

 

[leapfrog]

You are not joining the Boy Scouts, it does not really matter, after the course is completed you do not become BRANDED and belong to the evil PadI, they do not stamp 666 on your forehead nor does YMCA or whoever. Your free to float among shops, instructors, shop on line for gear and trips, learn on your own and do as you please with no alliegience to anybody but God and Country.

Very good post. Very to the point. Thank you! I think a lot of newbies do think that it's like registering as a voter or joining an EXclusive society.

 

[Rhone Man]

To be brutally honest about it though, advances in gear make diving a lot safer now than it was in (say) the 1970s. Back then people relied on J Valves rather than SPGs, no one wore a BC, and everyone used the old US Navy Tables (except BSAC which relied on a completely impenetrable book).

For people who just dive on holiday in warm, clear, tropical waters, the dumbing down of training over the years will probably never harm them, but it opens up the increasingly safe world of diving for the concentration-challenged section of the community (a minority that numbers somewhere around 90% these days).

 

[sweatfrog]

For people who just dive on holiday in warm, clear, tropical waters, the dumbing down of training over the years will probably never harm them, but it opens up the increasingly safe world of diving for the concentration-challenged section of the community (a minority that numbers somewhere around 90% these days).

That's for sure!