fisherdvm:
PADI regulator recovery: ..... You will practice both methods of recovery .... Italics - Remember to make the A a a a a h h h sound underwater whenever the regulator is not in your mouth. " This is the last sentence and itilicized for emphasis.
SSI regulator recovery - this emphasis is buried within the first sentence, not high lighted, and surrounded by alot of wordiness, but is as followed " If the second-stage comes out of your mouth while under water, rember first to keep exhaling and not to hold your breath. To retrieve the second stage:"
PADI discussion on CESA: "Rather than just exhaling, make a continous A aaa hhh sound as you exhale during your ascent".
SSI discussion on ESA, again, buried in alot of verbage and excessive discussion of the weight belt and when to release it, " 3. Vent air from the lungs by continously exhaling".
Your characterization of the two agencies' presentation is ridiculous. There is nothing "wordy" about "If the second stage comes out of your mouth while under water, remember first to keep exhaling." I could just as easily say "SSI emphasizes exhalation in the first sentence, while PADI buries it in the last one."
Ridiculous.
Now, obviously, in this case the message didn't get through well enough to save this youngster's life, but before you start pointing fingers at agencies you'd better be prepared to defend
every case of PADI trained embolism out there, and there are plenty.
In my experience every Scuba course I've ever seen, regardless of agency affiliation - and I've seen a few in the last 40 years - has, from the very first pool session, emphasized an open airway, in some form similar to this: "The number one rule of Scuba is 'never hold your breath.' Always breathe. If the regulator is out of your mouth, breathing is exhaling. Always breathe. I never want to see your mouth closed; it either has a mouthpiece in it or there are bubbles coming out of it. Always breathe." And I for one make sure that the "exhale whenever the regulator is out of the mouth" is demonstrated consistently before ever taking students out of the shallow end of the pool with compressed air - and
every pool session hears "What's the number one rule of Scuba?" and gets the answer "Always breathe; never hold your breath" more than once. That's the SSI way.
Even with all that emphasis, we still have the occasional embolism from breath-holding ascents, though this is the first one I've ever heard of in an SSI pool session. Like Thass, I'm very curious about several specifics in this mishap... but SSI's OW text is quite clear in the need to exhale for anyone who can read.
Rick
