Dear instructor ......

[boulderjohn]

What I see with OW classes are students who are grossly overweighted and have their octopus' dangling at knee level. I also see them with no computers or watches.

To me this just seems half-assed. If I showed up for a real dive with those same instructors with my gear configured like their OW students they'd look at me like I was a fool. So why are you teaching your students this way?

I understand that you're going to weight beginners a little on the heavy side so they can do things on their knees in shallow water, but I've seen divers remove 20 lbs of lead and still be negative and IMO, an octo is useless if you can't find it when you need it and it's full of mud because you've been dragging it across the bottom.

I think you are very right with this. Many OW students are very much overweighted so they can do their skills on their knees. That is jsut one more reason not to teach the skills on the knees.

When our group published our article in the PADI professional journal on teaching scuba without ever gong to the knees, I had to pose for the pictures. We wanted it looks like to do skills in horizontal trim as opposed to kn the knees. I had not done skills on the knees for years, and when I poaed for the pictures of that, I was shocked at how much weight I had to add to do it.

 

[Progen]

We know it as BWARF over here. One instructor made it into 'Big Woman Are Really Funny' and another said 'Bangkok Women Are Really Fellas'.

 

[chillyinCanada]

What does the first instructor call it if he has a big woman in his class?

 

[GrimSleeper]

In fact, once I performed this check at about 1/2-way down the descent to the San Francisco Maru. Good thing I realized I didn't leave my computers back on the boat. I merely left them both attached to my manifold. Wasn't too hard to get them off during the decent... but when we ended the dive everyone wanted to know why I was practicing a valve drill on the way down.

Oh, I ALWAYS at least check I can comfortably manipulate my valves as part of the S-drill on descent - hides a multitude of sins. In with my gas off, me? Never. You've seen me - I always do a valve drill...

Back to the OP...

My students don't get in the water without doing a buddy check, whatever the course is, however much time they want to spend arguing that they checked before the last dive and nothing's changed (it happens...). One of the joys of being the boss, I guess... The only schedule I'm on is my own when it comes to boat time. I make it clear that it doesn't have to be a huge, twenty-minute affair, but if checking buoyancy, weights/releases, gas, and plan/instruments/everything looking and feeling right is too much effort for them then going underwater with life support equipment might not be the sport for them. And I've got a couple of 'here's-how-it-can-go-wrong' stories all of my very own from occasions when I haven't done a proper check and have been caught out by it to reinforce the need.

Marine life warnings are difficult, as you can't cover every single hazard without (a) spending several hours listing them all and (b) utterly terrifying students. So I generally stick to the 'if it looks spiky/ugly/very beautiful/sharp or, indeed, is underwater, it'll probably hurt if you touch it' warning, with specifics for things like Triggerfish nesting season, what to do if a shark bigger than you approaches, how to deal with giant man-eating killer squids, that kind of stuff.

Skills, skills, skills... It baffles me that instructors will go into open water with student divers who aren't confident and comfortable with the basic skills. I'm not some kind of super-instructor or skills nazi, I'm actually just lazy: I want my open water dives to be nice and easy, look at some fish, check the students are comfortable with what they're doing and aren't going to be a danger to themselves or anyone else. It's a no-brainer - a few minutes extra in confined water can save what feels like hours of complete horror in open water. I also suggest to open water students that they haven't finished learning, they've just started. Got three minutes to kill on a safety stop? Practise air-sharing, or mask flooding, etc. The more you do it, the easier it gets.

 

[Progen]

What does the first instructor call it if he has a big woman in his class?

No one's going to take offense because that instructor isn't going to win any Miss Petite competitions.

ps. Notice the feminine term?

---------- Post added April 22nd, 2013 at 09:58 AM ----------

... going underwater with life support equipment might not be the sport for them. ...

That's what I've been trying to tell some new divers who thought I had some OCD thing. Let's face it. It's a hostile environment because we weren't made to breathe water and whilst we're there to enjoy ourselves, our lives depend heavily on our equipment, training and experience.

 

[TSandM]

Progen, good comments.

I actually had my own OPEN WATER INSTRUCTOR make loud and nasty fun of me and my husband for doing a buddy check before our dives, on a shop trip we took a year after we got certified. I still remember that, and I'm still angry with him about it. I've also had a PADI instructor make fun of us for doing our checks, when he was leading dives in the South Pacific. If our PADI Pros, our industry leaders and our teachers downplay the important of this, or ridicule it, how is any diver going to retain the behavior? (I very happy live in another diving world now, where dive plans and pre-dive checks are de rigeur, and one would be looked askance for NOT doing them!)

I have also observed many times that I got certified to dive without ever having successfully completed a descent without hanging onto my instructor's BC. After I was certified, I went diving -- a lot -- and my descents consisted of exhausting all the air from my BC, and falling on my back until I hit the bottom, rolling over, and going diving. I had 20 dives under my belt before a loving mentor started trying to break these bad habits.

Although, in the long run, I have gone on to learn to dive and be an avid diver, I do think instructors have an obligation NOT to pass students who have not met a minimum level of skill. Don't fail them . . . just tell them they need more time and some more practice. I would have taken that well, because to be honest, I didn't think I was ready, either.

 

[TMHeimer]

Progen, good comments.

I actually had my own OPEN WATER INSTRUCTOR make loud and nasty fun of me and my husband for doing a buddy check before our dives, on a shop trip we took a year after we got certified. I still remember that, and I'm still angry with him about it. I've also had a PADI instructor make fun of us for doing our checks, when he was leading dives in the South Pacific. If our PADI Pros, our industry leaders and our teachers downplay the important of this, or ridicule it, how is any diver going to retain the behavior? (I very happy live in another diving world now, where dive plans and pre-dive checks are de rigeur, and one would be looked askance for NOT doing them!)

I have also observed many times that I got certified to dive without ever having successfully completed a descent without hanging onto my instructor's BC. After I was certified, I went diving -- a lot -- and my descents consisted of exhausting all the air from my BC, and falling on my back until I hit the bottom, rolling over, and going diving. I had 20 dives under my belt before a loving mentor started trying to break these bad habits.

Although, in the long run, I have gone on to learn to dive and be an avid diver, I do think instructors have an obligation NOT to pass students who have not met a minimum level of skill. Don't fail them . . . just tell them they need more time and some more practice. I would have taken that well, because to be honest, I didn't think I was ready, either.

Agree with everything. I've posted several times that the times I have seen proper, complete by the book pre-dive checks have been very rare--I actually can't recall a specific time I've seen one other than that one time we were doing the Rescue course scenarios. That covers charters here, in Fl, SC, TX, MS, and Panama. That other diving world you live in-- is it a certain area up there in the Pac. NW???? And for an instructor to make fun of you doing one is unreal. I guess attitudes like that are one reason so many divers are slack.

 

[Progen]

With all that I've said, I have to admit that I myself have skipped a buddy check completely to jump into the sea once the boat stopped because I was SEASICK!

In my defense, I knew my own equipment was alright though since it was rather new, belonged to me, was familiar to me and I had checked it after setup before I plonked back onto the bench trying to keep the puke from coming up.

 

[TSandM]

The diving world I live in is the GUE world . . . We DO dive plans, including gas plans, and we DO head-to-toe equipment checks. It's expected and part of the culture. That, and the dive debriefs, are part of what I love about it.

 

[Edward3c]

Hi Progen,

Number 1:
After 30+ years I still do a buddy check. So far this year its revealed hoses not attached, straps not done up, cylinders not turned on and knitting of hoses.

Were these all mine? No – mostly my buddy's.
Were these all novice divers? No – one was an Advanced Instructor.

Yes, I've been to places were I got strange looks because of doing buddy checks. But you know after the first day others actually start doing them.

Number 2:
I believe wildlife awareness is more for the dive operator/organiser to ensure is included it the brief than for instructors per say – I have a section on my site risk assessment sheet just for this topic. BSAC teach respect of marine life, but in UK waters the most dangerous thing is another diver. What can or can't be touched changes for different sites.

Number 3:
Very difficult one this. I've had students demonstrate excellent competence in a skill set, but 12 months later could hardly do it, why? Because they've not practised the skill set since the assessment – Basic Life Support is the most common of these. I also get Advanced Diver candidates turn up and expect to 'walk' their 20m Alternate Source drills, when they've not been in the water for a year. They are most disappointed when I fail them for not controlling their buoyancy to the required standard.

Kind regards