An objective way to eyeball someone's skill level

[redrover]

All the stereotypes are bogus.

Some divers who brag about how great they are, really are great divers. Some are not.

Some people with brand new shinny gear dive just fine. Some don't. Some with a bunch of dirty old stuff dive just fine as well. Some don't. Got a lot of dives? Or just a few? In many cases that has nothing to do with skill.

I’ll have to go with that one.
I recently did my first accompany a Noob, 1st dive after certification with the PADI resort special. And I’m no expert so was with a bit of trepidation.
This guy was awesome. Whether he’d be if things hit the fan? But gee; questions in briefing, excellent gear setup and could talk about it, recognized what mine was and asked about it, buddy skills, buoyancy, checking gauges, situation awareness, just the whole shebang for our dive.
On the other hand, another visitor I dove with, professed to have a zillion dives over the many years in the industry for years and in our tropical conditions and up to some form or other of Tech instructor. I don’t disbelieve him, not at all. But considering all that, with some noobish diving things, didn’t really impress me as diver.

 

[dkktsunami]

Hoping there is room for a little sarcastic humor here:

1. The larger the dive knife, the lower the skill level.

2. The more colorful and new the equipment, the lower the skill level.

3. If the diver is wearing a snorkel in calm seas or a lake, ...............

 

[Nemrod]

I look at their fins. The old saying, you can tell the man by his shoes, you can tell the diver by their fins.

N

 

[Thalassamania]

I regularly see the "how many dives have you done" and the "what's the deepest dive you've ever done?" threads with the usual answers that basically say "You can't judge someone's skill level only by how deep he went."

...

In any case, just fishing for ideas here. What do you all think?

Check out.

 

[String]

Best way ive found to get a rough guess of someones ability in the water is to give them the kit on land and watch them put it together.

If its crisp, ordered and they know what they're doing chances are they're fine in the water.

If they dither, look confused, look around for help, put the BC on backwards, regs upside down etc then you can be fairly sure they're badly trained, very inexperienced or at best rusty.

 

[b1gcountry]

-How long since you started diving Four months
-how long since your last dive Two weeks
-total number of dives Twenty
-number of dives per year I will let you know in eight months
-certification level PADI Open Water

-(average?) depth of your 10% deepest dives 60 ft.

How much does this actually tell you?

It tells me that you are new, and not overly experienced, with a lot of things to learn; BUT you are actively diving and probably getting better by leaps and bounds.

 

[shurite7]

The ones that I prefer to avoid are those who can't seem to pay attention to briefings.

I found seperating a person from the group and talking to them to be helpful but not foolproof.

Chris

 

[24940]

I look at their fins. The old saying, you can tell the man by his shoes, you can tell the diver by their fins.

N

I think you're on to something.

 

[Teamcasa]

I look at their fins. The old saying, you can tell the man by his shoes, you can tell the diver by their fins.

While there is a nugget of truth to this, it reminds me of a golf match I was in.

While hitting some balls at the driving range in preparation to my round, I noticed a lanky young man hitting some wonderful shots off to the side. While not too concerned about it and fully warmed up, I moved to the sand trap then finally to the putting green. My partner came up with a simile across his face and asked if I minded playing with a single guy and a single woman. He told me looked over the clubs and was sure they would be easy pickin’s.

The young man, Michael, had the sorriest looking bag and the clubs looked like they were fresh out of his fathers garage. The woman, Kate was 30 something and had all brand spanking new clubs, bag and shoes.

My partner, always the gambler, asks Michael and Kate if they wanted to play a simple 6$ Nassau and 1$ skins. They agreed and we worked out the handicaps with my partner just to eager to give them strokes before asking to many questions. To make a long and funny story, short. We paid them both.

AS it turns out, Kate was a club pro trying out a new set of sticks and Michael was a college kid, that sported a +2 handicap and was hustling golf since he was a kid. (The 1 iron should have been a clue.)

I don’t judge based on gear, I decide based on all of the evidence. I just need to pay more attention to the details.

 

[Wayfarer2]

I look at their fins. The old saying, you can tell the man by his shoes, you can tell the diver by their fins.

N

I would agree with that in part but you gotta know your fins. I dove with a guy not longs after certifying and he had force fins. I thought to my self how ancient are those things? Well that guy moved under water effortlessly, turning on a dime, back finning and later on a beach dive on another wreck the slight surge was moving me all around and he was just hovering. I never have tried force fins but was impressed by what he could do with his