Confined water certified...I don't think I should have passed

[Bubbletrubble]

My point is that, although I did well after changing masks, there were a lot of skills that I feel I should have had to repeat...all the skills that I was doing in a panic in fact. I was so pre-occupied with that flaming mask that I'm not sure how much learning I absorbed.

PADI standards don't call for the student being able to repeat the task/skill. You just have to show the instructor that you can do it...once. (Actually, you'll have to do the skills twice -- once during a confined water dive, once during an OW dive.)

Unfortunately, some instructors don't have the common sense (or freedom) to work with students until they can demonstrate the skills with a moderate level of proficiency, under control, and under "real world" conditions. This takes time, patience, and effort -- three things that a busy instructor might find in short supply.

As you mentioned, mask-clearing practice in a pool would be a good idea. You can practice this with a snorkel, but you really should practice it while breathing off of a reg, too. It would be nice to have a pro there while you practice to make sure that you are using good technique. Hang in there.

 

[DevonDiver]

I will provide details later. Suffice it to say, I was rushed through a diving course and I am in no way qualified to dive in any situation, in my estimation.

Then why did you sign off on the skills and certification paperwork for those modules?!?!


Of course...as you've only done theory and confined training, you aren't actually qualified to dive in any situation. Why not complete the course...and then make a self-assesment? It can be surprising how the skills and confidence only come together in the final couple of open water dives.

When training in the classroom and the swimming pool, you are subjected to all the stress and apprehension, but don't get any of the positive stimulation (i.e. pleasant distraction) that you will encounter on your actual open water dives.

If you still feel unprepared when you get to your holiday destination, just ask for a recap of the skills in their swimming pool (this should be a normal operating procedure for a responsible scuba company anyway).

Communicate with your instructor throughout the course. There is simply no excuse for getting to the end of a course and then complaining online that it wasn't good enough for you. Talk to your instructor at the time and allow them to get you to the right standard.

 

[spectrum]

NoDiver,

I think you're going to do OK. From what I can tell you managed to demonstrate the skills even if it wasn't with elegance. Elegance is a Dive Master requirement. New divers are all over the board from naturals to basket cases that wash out. The fact that you stuck with that crappy fitting mask as long as you did speaks volumes. Many would have freaked out and gone home before that. Some level of anxiety or anxiousness between classes is not uncommon. Driving home in tears is not unheard of. You must get a mask that works for you before moving on. Here are some tips.

You can prove out the new mask and practice mask clearing while skin-diving someplace prior to your check-out dives.

Open Water certification is often likened to a "drivers learner permit". You know enough to dive and deal with common issues, You may not be polished, poised or even comfortable with the idea of breathing underwater, a totally unnatural act. It's an adaptation.

Many divers find themselves where you are feeling under trained. In fact your mention of using ScubaBoard as much as you have is classic. Your understanding from reading may be way ahead of where you "need" to be at this stage.

Spitting in the mask is an age old defogging technique that works for many. I never heard of licking it on underwater. That's not even an Advanced Open Water skill so don't worry about needing to do do it! Maybe he was bringing levity to the moment.

Bolting to the surface as you know is bad, bad, bad. Do a search and read up on the "Panic Cycle". Getting an understanding of what leads to panic is useful.

Trouble usually happens when multiple things go bad. Diving with a leaky mask puts you one strike down before you start. First a hand is occupied or vision is obscured, you miss a signal or can't read an instrument quickly, you loose sight of your buddy and it goes downhill. Solve the mask and save a life.

And finally, once you get certified please look into diving locally. Unless you have a lot of discretionary time and money for dive travel being an active local diver is the key to becoming a proficient and safe diver.

Dive safe & often,
Pete

Let me add... Most instructors will let students in limbo jump in the pool with their next class. Get a new mask and see if you cam log some pool time getting comfortable with your new skills. If he was confident enough to send you off with a referral you should be able to drill skills on your own while they tend to the current class. My wife got off to a rough start. We did a few extra nights with the next class and it did wonders.

 

[TSandM]

It does sound to me as though you could use more time to become truly comfortable with the skills, and that's not uncommon. Pool time is one of the biggest expenses of running an OW class for a lot of shops, and many do as little of it as they can. And instructors really don't like to fail students.

If the place you are going for your referral dives does OW classes, they should have either a pool or a pool equivalent (quiet place with good visibility and a shallow, hard bottom). If the shop is run by a relative, ask for some more confined water work before you go on to your OW dives. You do not have to be perfect with skills to finish, but you absolutely need two things: You need to have extinguished that desire to bolt to the surface when things aren't going smoothly, and you need to be able to achieve neutral buoyancy (or a rough facsimile thereof). It sounds to me as though you need a little more time to get there.

 

[Karibelle]

PADI standards don't call for the student being able to repeat the task/skill. You just have to show the instructor that you can do it...once. (Actually, you'll have to do the skills twice -- once during a confined water dive, once during an OW dive.)

Mastery. And you know that, @bubbletrubble.

It's entirely possible that the instructor and the student have a different view of how well the student has "mastered" the skills. I'd suggest the student talk to either the dive shop/instructor that completed this confined training and ask for another session(s) until SHE feels like she's mastered the skills, or to advise the receiving instructor that she'd like a bit more practice before evaluation in open water. If I were either of those instructors (the referring or the receiving) I'd be happy to do that.

kari

 

[Jim Lapenta]

This is why I like that I set the standards for mastery in my classes before passing a student. One time getting a skill down does not cut it. Especially if it is done kneeling on the bottom. The fact that you panicked and bolted would have been the overriding factor for me.

We would have worked on that until it was not an issue. OW checkouts are not the time to be learning basic skills. They are to evaluate you for one purpose. To insure that you are FULLY capable of now diving without a professional present and that you will not panic, bolt, etc. In order to do that you should be task loaded in the pool to the point that annoyances like a leaky mask, getting your mask kicked off, or even losing it altogether is nothing more than a minor inconvenience. If those items are more than that you would not be going to OW in my class.

 

[NoDiver]

Thank you all for your input.

There is no time to do additional pool sessions here, but I will ask for a session or two prior to my check-out dives when I get to Mauritius.

I hope my next report will be as a much more confident, OW certified, 'student'.

PS. I am sure that the whole mask-licking thing WAS intended, by the instructor, as a way of ending on a lighter note.

 

[Diver0001]

PADI standards don't call for the student being able to repeat the task/skill. You just have to show the instructor that you can do it...once.

Actually, what the standards say is that the skill needs to be mastered, which PADI defines as being repeatable with a level of comfort that should be expected of the level of diver.

The course is also built in such a way that certain key skills are repeated again and again. The mask skill is one of those.

- You have to clear it partially filled
- You have to clear it filled
- You have to take it off and breathe for a min without it on and then replace it and clear it
- You have to take it off, swim around for a while with it off and then put it back on
and when you get to the check out dives:
- you have to clear it partially filled
- you have to clear it filled twice
- you have to take it off and put it back on again.

So this particular skill (or skill cluster) is repeated 8 times out of 9 sessions assuming the person does everything right every time. Not once. If a student has trouble performing the skill then the reasons for that trouble are supposed to be cleared up and the skill is repeated as many times as necessary in order for the instructor (and student) to be sure that the skill is repeatable at the required level (ie. mastered according to the definition given).

It is *not* the case, regardless of how many people report having this experience, that the agency would agree with pushing someone along who hadn't mastered a skill. In the case in point here, there are several moments where things probably should have been slowed down and/or repeated.

R..

 

[Diver0001]

Thank you all for your input.

There is no time to do additional pool sessions here, but I will ask for a session or two prior to my check-out dives when I get to Mauritius.

I hope my next report will be as a much more confident, OW certified, 'student'.

PS. I am sure that the whole mask-licking thing WAS intended, by the instructor, as a way of ending on a lighter note.

I recall when you came to the board and first started asking about courses. At that time you indicated that you expected to be a nervous student and seemed particularly attracted to how Jim Lapenta approaches things.

With all due respect, then, I'm surprised to learn that you chose to take a course in such a compressed time-frame. What on Earth led you to do that?

R..

 

[NoDiver]

I recall when you came to the board and first started asking about courses. At that time you indicated that you expected to be a nervous student and seemed particularly attracted to how Jim Lapenta approaches things.

With all due respect, then, I'm surprised to learn that you chose to take a course in such a compressed time-frame. What on Earth led you to do that?

R..

That's the way the lds structured the course, Diver0001.

If I knew of a Jim Lapenta locally (or any number of the instructors here on Scubaboard) I would have signed up with him/them.