Certification accidents

[jbd]

As I recall there have been a few people die during their OW certification process. Possibly a search in the accidents forum will give some results.

Having a Spare Air would only be of use IF you were proficiently trained in its use, which is something that is not going to happen in an OW course. The situations where ther were deaths involved problems that were beyond the capabilities of a Spare Air.

One death I seem to recall was a drowning stemming from an entanglement after becoming seperated from the group while diving in low visibility.

There are so many better things to focus on learning than a Spare Air. Refer back to the post by JimLap for the purpose of a Spare Air.

 

[harthamm]

Actually, let's ignore the spare air question as it was an afterthought.

My concern was more for swimming with other novices. I think for the 6 of us there will be 1 instructor and 1 DM on the OW dives. Certainly (at least from my Discover Diving experience) the instructor cannot be by your side 100 % of the time as he is often swimming 5 feet or more ahead of you. In an emergency it would take quite a few seconds to catch up to him so realistically you are sometimes left to depend on your novice buddy or novice self.

Is it reasonable to assume that the OW dives are in 30 ft. or less areas? It would seem that this is plenty deep to demonstrate skills yet improve safety. Is this something to discuss and request of the instructor?

 

[MikeFerrara]

Ear/sinus injuries are probably the most common thing we hear about. In fact there's a new thread going on about one right now on this very forum. A spair air won't help.

Look through the accident and incident forums, you'll find quite a bit.

 

[DeputyDan]

A spare air will end up on the list of things you wasted money on!

 

[mkutyna]

Is this something to discuss and request of the instructor?

It is definitely something you should discuss with your instructor about before getting into the water. Of course you're going to be uneasy to a certain extent about diving for the first time and the instructor will expect that but I think you'll feel a lot better if you mention it to your instructor and give him/her a chance to reiterate the emergency procedures that you learned during your classroom and confined water sessions.

Remember, there's no 100% guarantee that nothing bad will happen. Your training serves to reduce the chances of an unrecoverable accident to a (hopefully) easily manageable level.

 

[jbd]

Actually, let's ignore the spare air question as it was an afterthought.

My concern was more for swimming with other novices. I think for the 6 of us there will be 1 instructor and 1 DM on the OW dives. Certainly (at least from my Discover Diving experience) the instructor cannot be by your side 100 % of the time as he is often swimming 5 feet or more ahead of you. In an emergency it would take quite a few seconds to catch up to him so realistically you are sometimes left to depend on your novice buddy or novice self.

Is it reasonable to assume that the OW dives are in 30 ft. or less areas? It would seem that this is plenty deep to demonstrate skills yet improve safety. Is this something to discuss and request of the instructor?

By the time you finish your confined water training you should be familiar and comfortable with one or more air sharing procedures as well as other out of air emergency procedures. You should be able to perform the air sharing procedures comfortably with your dive buddy before ever going to the open water certification dives. The instructor and DM will be there to assist also.

Regarding depth, the dives might be as deep as 60 feet which is within standards for most agencies. I think one agency will allow deeper but I'm not sure of that.

The maain point to keep in mind in an out of air situation is that you are not dead the instant you or anyone runs out of air. You may have up to 30 seconds to make an appropriate response to the situation. Much can be accomplished in 30 seconds if you stay calm and in control.

 

[Nick_W]

Actually, let's ignore the spare air question as it was an afterthought.

My concern was more for swimming with other novices. I think for the 6 of us there will be 1 instructor and 1 DM on the OW dives. Certainly (at least from my Discover Diving experience) the instructor cannot be by your side 100 % of the time as he is often swimming 5 feet or more ahead of you. In an emergency it would take quite a few seconds to catch up to him so realistically you are sometimes left to depend on your novice buddy or novice self.

Is it reasonable to assume that the OW dives are in 30 ft. or less areas? It would seem that this is plenty deep to demonstrate skills yet improve safety. Is this something to discuss and request of the instructor?

As far as the instructor and the DM go, as long as you have a good instructor and a good DM there is always going to be a set of eyes on you. And a good DM can almost sense trouble about to happen. I'm an instructor and sometimes I play DM if a buddy needs some help. I can tell before we get in the water who I need to keep my eye on. In the water I usually know if a student is having trouble and am by their side before they even know they're having trouble.

 

[DiverBizz]

Ok let's address the issue of counting on a novice buddy. You have worked on skills in the pool and with your classmates so by the time you have your first OW experience you should be able to handle a situation that may occur much like jbd stated. Your instructor and DM will be watching for you and can get to in a hurry. But make sure you talk to your instructor prior to going to the dive site, share your concerns with him. That is part of diving, talk about concerns before they become issues.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

As Nick said, if your Instructor and DM are good they'll see things before they happen and most times handle em before you even knew they existed. Your Dm will know who needs extra attention because he/she and the instructor, if they work together often, will sometimes seem like they have a psychic communication system. Many times a look or hand gesture will speak volumes. They know how to read each other and spoken words are not necessary. I also agree that yes you can discuss these concerns with both of them. And you should. And in the meantime, if possible, watch how they interact. They should compliment each other. And in many cases the DM is a mind reader. He/she knows what you and the instructor are both thinking in many situations and can react to them before you know it.

 

[Walter]

If .