Are you fit to dive?

[couta0938]

Hello all,
My first topic, so hopefully we can get some good discussion on this one.

First off, I confess to being a bit of a fitness fanatic, so perhaps i'm a little biased on my viewpoints on this subject. The reason i'm starting this thread is simple.

I had an incident off a shore dive which resulted in me having to tow two divers back into shore because they were not up to scratch in terms of fitness and swim technique. Had the two divers been alone, they would have needed to be picked up by the lifeboat.

I'm pretty fit, but see myself as an average swimmer. My regular buddy and I had made the same dive in the same conditions many times before, and neither of us had a problem.

Diving is not a particularly strenuous or physical activity, it's not meant to be. But the issue is this: you can qualify as a diver in many organisations by having an extremely limited swimming ability - I believe this is wrong and swimming tests should be tougher. If you're not a good enough swimmer or you aren't fit enough to maintain a steady swimming pace for 10-15 minutes, then should you be diving? Surely if you can't self-rescue in reasonable conditions then you're not only a danger to yourself, but also to your buddy. Opinions on this point please.

Also, opinions on this: Should the likes of PADI, SSI and others have tougher swim test standards. I recently completed my Dive Master swims and believe that this should be the minimum standard new Divers should be able to achieve. A number of divers who started in the 80's and early 90's (albeit, mainly BSAC Divers) have been telling me how different the standards were in their day and how much tougher the basic requirement was in those days. Has the Dive Industry sacrificed standards in favour of numbers? What should the minimum requirement be? Discuss

Apologies if i've waffled on a bit, but I needed to vent my spleen. That's all from me for now. I look forward to hearing your opinions.
All the best,
Andy

 

[Aqua Buoy]

Can't comment on the change of standards over the years as wasn't lucky/old enough to be diving in the 80's

I do think that basic swimming tests could and should be tougher, even where I dive in calmer, warmer tropical waters. I certainly don't agree with the phrase that you sometimes hear people use "you don't need to know how to swim to dive"

Perhaps swimming isn't a crucial part to actual SCUBA, but then as you point out, there is more to SCUBA than just blowing bubbles and kicking with your legs... as in emergency situations, or in simple entry and exits from shore dives.

But I reckon any change that has occured has been made to accomodate more divers into the sport for the sake of $£€.

While I think standards should be tougher, at the end of the day I also believe that people should a) make their own decisions and judgements (though I give in to the fact that most people probably under-estimate their limits [or is that over-estimate?]) and b) if they feel uncomfortable, should seek some advice and extra training.

 

[ShakaZulu]

Why is it, that with any other sports, the individual would usually involve him/herself in secondary activities that will help them become more accomplished in that sport? In diving however, the need for this seems to be of secondary importance. No wonder we hear all these stories of people dying from heart attacks and stuff. Unless you are jumping into a puddle in your backyard, there is a definate need for a certain level of fitness. Any shore dive, is going to require some good kicking effort. Boat dives you have to deal with currents. It's only those cave diver dewds that get to cruise behind scooters, so get fit, and enjoy diving.

 

[freediver]

I don't think the solution is to make the swim requirement tougher. It is simply an entry level requirement. There is little to stand in the way of someone becoming complacent after they have met even the most stringent of requirements and this will just as easily lead to problems in the water. No, don't make the requirements more difficult for a student, instead, convince them that a lifestyle of habits that include exercise and proper nutrition will be the key to keeping this sport safe. The most important thing to get them to exercise is their mind.

 

[drbill]

I brought this up in a thread I started about what I feel is the need for re-certification of divers who have not dived a reasonable number (say 10) of dives in the last 12 months. I think it is important, but the overwhelming majority did not feel the same way.

I am pushing 60 and consider myself in good shape... I get most of my exercise from diving, and from walking around Avalon (where I do not own a car).

 

[Xanthro]

Swimming tests are tough enough. It's not as if they even reflect an actual surface swim.

Besides, these two could have been in excellent shape and something happened that caused them to tire.

I used to swim competetively, and yet once on a dive I had to be towed in. An unfortunate incident with a boat buddy left me stranded in a huge kelp bed, out of site of the boat, and in swimming through it all, my feet cramped up completely and a DM towed me to the boat.

It had nothing to do with my conditioning nor swimming ability, nobody could have made it out of that kelp and not been exhausted, but if you just saw me being towed in, you might come to the wrong conclusion.

BTW, it's one of the reasons I really don't like diving with boat buddies.

 

[kabluton]

Hello all,
Also, opinions on this: Should the likes of PADI, SSI and others have tougher swim test standards. I recently completed my Dive Master swims and believe that this should be the minimum standard new Divers should be able to achieve. A number of divers who started in the 80's and early 90's (albeit, mainly BSAC Divers) have been telling me how different the standards were in their day and how much tougher the basic requirement was in those days. Has the Dive Industry sacrificed standards in favour of numbers? What should the minimum requirement be? Discuss

Apologies if i've waffled on a bit, but I needed to vent my spleen. That's all from me for now. I look forward to hearing your opinions.
All the best,
Andy

I hate to be so cynical but, yes, it is basically about numbers. More divers, more money. It all comes down to that.

I told this story on another thread and it is a true story. During my OW class there was an obviously obese guy in my class that could not complete the required number of laps in the swim test. In fact, I don't even think he was able to complete 2 laps. Then, to make matters worse, he couldn't tread water for even 2 minutes. He had already bought a bunch of equipment from the dive shop. Do you think they were going to throw him out? No way, he was allowed to continue the class.

When asked by the instructor if there was anyone in class that I didn't want as my buddy for the OW cert dives I said "I don't want to be buddies with the guy that can't swim." You know what the instructor said to me? "Oh, we will throw some fins and a BC on him and he will swim like a fish." Unbelievable, but a true story.

 

[Xanthro]

When asked by the instructor if there was anyone in class that I didn't want as my buddy for the OW cert dives I said "I don't want to be buddies with the guy that can't swim." You know what the instructor said to me? "Oh, we will throw some fins and a BC on him and he will swim like a fish." Unbelievable, but a true story.

He could be right though. What does swimming or treading water have to do with diving?

Unless he's going to take his BCD off and swim to shore, the current tests have no bearing. They should require you to do laps with your gear on. That's much more realistic.

 

[Damselfish]

He could be right though. What does swimming or treading water have to do with diving?

um, because you're in the water, possibly a long ways from anything? Being able to swim and tread seems like a rather good idea to me...

Unless he's going to take his BCD off and swim to shore, the current tests have no bearing. They should require you to do laps with your gear on. That's much more realistic.

The swim and tread is much shorter than you may have to do in a real situation sometime, so if it's harder without gear that's good. They could have you do it in full gear, but then they probably ought to make you swim a whole lot further. And what if you have ditched your gear for some reason and have to swim?

 

[kabluton]

And what if you have ditched your gear for some reason and have to swim?

Or, what if you got pitched off a boat and didn't have your gear on in the first place? It would be nice if you could tread water long enough for someone to pick you up or find you.