Did your OW course prepare you to dive?

[brsnow]

at the end of the day basic recreational diving is not complicated. It is far more difficult to get your driver’s license.

 

[rx7diver]

I am curious about people's perception of their own skills and readiness to dive when they finished their open water course.

At the end of the class did you feel like you had the knowledge, skills and abilities to safely complete a dive with a equally skilled buddy? ...

My open water course, a semester-long YMCA/NAUI university P.E. course here in central MO, was in 1986, and ended with a five day open water checkout in northern AR that consisted of primitive camping and a lot of diving.

Almost immediately afterward, my friends and I began checking out the university's scuba cylinders on weekends, and traveling around central MO to dive any quarry or lake we learned about. Fun times!

rx7diver

 

[Cthippo]

The reason I asked is because some people come on this board who clearly aren't comfortable diving without a DM or guide, in some cases even as they approach 100 dives. I'm curious how common this is and whether it is about poor instruction or students who are't as confident.

 

[Robert H. Diver]

Yes I was very confident in my basic skills and competent enough to make safe dives. I am always trying to improve and learn new things, but I had no problem jumping in and diving right after I received my OW cert.

 

[brsnow]

The reason I asked is because some people come on this board who clearly aren't comfortable diving without a DM or guide, in some cases even as they approach 100 dives. I'm curious how common this is and whether it is about poor instruction or students who are't as confident.

Everyone is different, some are great and come across as uncomfortable, others are ignorant/dangerous and come across as confident.

 

[OMyMyOHellYes]

Nope.

OW was more "certification" than "education".

The OW training I took was about demonstrating seal tricks. Very little about how to dive. Compounding complication: one meter viz in the lake would be stretching "optimistic". After the 4th "dive" they asked if I wanted to swim around underwater for a while longer. "Nope. I just want to get out of the mud puddle and go home."

It took about 10 dives foundering around in tropical waters two months later and a Peak Performance Buoyancy course before I felt comfortable getting in the water. THAT would have made a world of difference if that were in the curriculum.

OMMOHY

 

[Saltwater_Parrot]

The reason I asked is because some people come on this board who clearly aren't comfortable diving without a DM or guide, in some cases even as they approach 100 dives. I'm curious how common this is and whether it is about poor instruction or students who are't as confident.

I think it comes down largely to:
-past experience in the water/time spent in the water overall (which translates to comfortability)
-willingness/eagerness to learn
-desire to advance/not just be a "vacation diver"

I think that if someone feels uncomfortable to dive without a guide even 25 dives in, one of those categories is lacking (assuming they arent in a location where only advanced dives are possible). Someone who just wants to dive on vacation likely is not going to be as concerned with pushing themself to become a self-reliant diver (in general, I'm sure there are many who dont fit into this category though), whereas someone else who desires to become a rescue diver or go tech is likely going to have a much larger motivation to do so and will be actively (and safely) pushing themselves to progress in their skills, fundamentals, etc.

 

[Centrals]

My OW instructor was great and ditto to the subsequent AOW and Tec instructors.
Confidence is important but NOT over it.
One step at a time.
There is no short cut.

 

[SlugLife]

1. Did your OW course prepare you to dive?
2. At the end of the class did you feel like you had the knowledge, skills and abilities to safely complete a dive with a equally skilled buddy?
3. For this question, lets say you were going to basically repeat your last training dive, but with an equally skilled buddy instead of an instructor. Did you feel like you needed a Dive master or similar person with advanced training in order to get in the water?
4. What would have made a difference in this perception for you (i.e. more or different skills, more training time in the water, just more dives, etc?).
5. Do you feel that with your current knowledge, skills and abilities you could conduct a dive equivalent to your training dives with an equally skilled buddy?

Answers:

1. yes
2. yes
3. Emphatic no. Definitely not. IMO, if you need a DM for safety, then answers to 1 & 2 should also "no"
4. I'll have to think about this. I felt my teacher was competent, and we had adequate time. There are a few things I'd do differently if I was teaching, but that's a little subjective.
5. Yes. The only scenario where I think "no" is an answer, is if someone hasn't dove in a very long time.

For 1 & 2, my first several non-class dives were at about 30ft or less. I didn't push myself to do anything "extreme" (for my skills).

I think it's a pretty good rule that if you have ANY reason to not be 100% confident, start off easy/shallow, even in standing-height water if needed, and practice. At the beginning of every dive-season, my first dive is usually 30ft or less; this is good or skill-refresh, but also if there are any gear-complications or other unexpected issues. When I "self" taught sidemount, initially practicing a bunch in standing height water definitely helped with safety, and as I was finally comfortable with my gear, I moved to about 15ft deep.

For #4, while not a confidence thing:

• I would have liked to have seen a little more instruction on entanglements and cutting devices. Specifically, I feel that I wasn't aware enough of the hazard of entanglements. I also didn't know about line-cutters, until I had been diving for 2-years.
• I would have also liked to see options for stowing and retaining regulators and octos. I understand divers need to know how to find a regulator floating off in nowhere land as a skill, but I consider it a safety hazard to not have both regulators where you can find them quickly and easily.

 

[SlugLife]

The reason I asked is because some people come on this board who clearly aren't comfortable diving without a DM or guide, in some cases even as they approach 100 dives. I'm curious how common this is and whether it is about poor instruction or students who are't as confident.

I've seen a couple comments like that as well.

A related comment I've seen is not feeling comfortable diving with an inexperienced or poorly trained DM. That I completely understand. A DM might lead divers into doing something unsafe. An inexperienced diver might then be stuck with a choice of (a) abandoning the dive, perhaps by themselves, or (b) following the DM into something unsafe for their current skill-level.

My OW instructor was great and ditto to the subsequent AOW and Tec instructors.
Confidence is important but NOT over it.
One step at a time.
There is no short cut.

Precisely. I forget the exact phrasing, but during my training it was repeated many times to only do dives you are comfortable with.

For me personally, I've re-interpreted that to be taking dives and dive-complexity one-step at a time, and to make dives easier than my confidence-level. Sure, I can splash down 130ft my first dive of the season no problem, but if there's a 1/1000 chance dive might turn into a nightmare, why not do some easier dives first to get up to speed. Every dive I return safely from is 1000s more dives I can do in the future.

Plus I can always pursue training, equipment, and experience to be able to do the more "extreme" dives. I can do literally almost any "super dangerous" dive in the world safely, just perhaps not YET, until I have the appropriate training, equipment, skills, and experience.