Did your OW course prepare you to dive?
- Thread starter Cthippo
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It's common knowledge that many new divers don't continue diving after their certification. It's highly likely imo that this is because those are the ones who can sense that while certified, they haven't the proper training to safely dive, despite being certified, so they make the sensible decision to just let go of the interest.
And it's 100% the fault of certification agencies. People get hyped up by some source of inspiration, the marketing material looks amazing, then they get crammed into a rushed dive class, a few rushed dives with too many students, and well maybe diving just isn't for them.
drrich2
Contributor
I'm curious about how modern OW dive training is going. If it's similar to what I did in 2005/2006, it's hard to imagine how it'd prepare a buddy pair, training together, for an independent boat dive in the conditions that are common.
Consider this. A buddy pair (say husband and wife) take a PADI or SSI OW course. Let's say they certify in a quarry, where they are probably wearing 5-mm full wetsuits. They get certified. At this point, if they trained with tables (I did; it's my understanding that's less common now), they were trained to base NDL planning as though the entire time were spent at the max. depth. It was shore diving; they may've considered the compass briefly, but never really developed proficiency with it.
3 Months later, this couple goes on a cruise that stops in Grand Cayman, where they booked a 2-tank scuba diving excursion. Let's consider how this will play out:
1.) The dive plan is for the guide, who's skilled at navigation and knows the site well (they don't), to conduct a dive where at some point he may hit a max. depth around 80 feet or so (they're welcome to stay somewhat shallower, but will probably hit 65 or 70 anyway), but the overall dive depth will probably be around 40 feet, give or take a few (the average won't be mentioned in the dive briefing). The guide may or may not mention he plans to be back under the boat at 45-minutes, unless somebody has a problem.
2.) This pair will not take off on their own so they can conduct their own plan. Even if they'd be allowed to do so. Everyone else is diving a dive computer; hopefully they are, too (if they're using tables and heard depth 85-feet and 45-minutes they may be freaking out), but at this point, they don't have a lot of real world experience knowing about how long they can stay down.
3.) They're diving in salt with with less exposure protection. They're not sure how much weight they need, and performing in-water weight checks is time consuming. The crew will probably guess what they need, and that's what they'll use.
I've read of people posting about inputing dive planning info. into your computer to see what it tells you. Newbies have enough trouble getting geared up and ready to splash on time, and trying to listen to and retain the briefing. I doubt many know how to put the data in, or would benefit from messing with it.
They probably don't know their RMV/SAC rates well. They know some people can dive around an hour on an 80-AL tank, and maybe the guy knows he's an 'air hog' - but not yet fully what that means.
3.) After several typical benign condition Caribbean mainstream destination dives, many divers start to figure out the basics:
-----1.) They get a sense of what guides tend to do - max. depth not over 80-something feet if even that deep, average depth 30-40 something feet, at least 30 minutes to around an hour surface interval, 2nd dive shallower, typical dive times around 45-50 minutes.
-----2.) They get a little more self aware - they know whether they're air hogs, about how long they last on an 80-cf tank, maybe their RMV got a little better, they know how much weight to ask for, are less nervous and can pay attention to and retain dive briefing info. better, and they have a better sense of dive boat work flow - so they're less anxious they won't be geared up and ready to splash on time. They're comfortable letting the guide know when they're at a half-tank or low on air, and that this will be handled.
So, for these people to remain dependent on a guide for navigation and to provide a good default dive plan to follow, while they're learning and getting a first hand sense of how they as individual divers function out in the real diving world, is pretty normal.
Yes, there'll be those cream-of-the-crop students, with excellent instructors, who trained in salt water and maybe did some shore diving and are naturals at navigation, or some mix of some of these factors, who'll splash for their first post-cert. ocean boat dive with no need for a guide.
But that's not gonna be everybody. I don't think it'll be most people.
Consider this. A buddy pair (say husband and wife) take a PADI or SSI OW course. Let's say they certify in a quarry, where they are probably wearing 5-mm full wetsuits. They get certified. At this point, if they trained with tables (I did; it's my understanding that's less common now), they were trained to base NDL planning as though the entire time were spent at the max. depth. It was shore diving; they may've considered the compass briefly, but never really developed proficiency with it.
3 Months later, this couple goes on a cruise that stops in Grand Cayman, where they booked a 2-tank scuba diving excursion. Let's consider how this will play out:
1.) The dive plan is for the guide, who's skilled at navigation and knows the site well (they don't), to conduct a dive where at some point he may hit a max. depth around 80 feet or so (they're welcome to stay somewhat shallower, but will probably hit 65 or 70 anyway), but the overall dive depth will probably be around 40 feet, give or take a few (the average won't be mentioned in the dive briefing). The guide may or may not mention he plans to be back under the boat at 45-minutes, unless somebody has a problem.
2.) This pair will not take off on their own so they can conduct their own plan. Even if they'd be allowed to do so. Everyone else is diving a dive computer; hopefully they are, too (if they're using tables and heard depth 85-feet and 45-minutes they may be freaking out), but at this point, they don't have a lot of real world experience knowing about how long they can stay down.
3.) They're diving in salt with with less exposure protection. They're not sure how much weight they need, and performing in-water weight checks is time consuming. The crew will probably guess what they need, and that's what they'll use.
I've read of people posting about inputing dive planning info. into your computer to see what it tells you. Newbies have enough trouble getting geared up and ready to splash on time, and trying to listen to and retain the briefing. I doubt many know how to put the data in, or would benefit from messing with it.
They probably don't know their RMV/SAC rates well. They know some people can dive around an hour on an 80-AL tank, and maybe the guy knows he's an 'air hog' - but not yet fully what that means.
3.) After several typical benign condition Caribbean mainstream destination dives, many divers start to figure out the basics:
-----1.) They get a sense of what guides tend to do - max. depth not over 80-something feet if even that deep, average depth 30-40 something feet, at least 30 minutes to around an hour surface interval, 2nd dive shallower, typical dive times around 45-50 minutes.
-----2.) They get a little more self aware - they know whether they're air hogs, about how long they last on an 80-cf tank, maybe their RMV got a little better, they know how much weight to ask for, are less nervous and can pay attention to and retain dive briefing info. better, and they have a better sense of dive boat work flow - so they're less anxious they won't be geared up and ready to splash on time. They're comfortable letting the guide know when they're at a half-tank or low on air, and that this will be handled.
So, for these people to remain dependent on a guide for navigation and to provide a good default dive plan to follow, while they're learning and getting a first hand sense of how they as individual divers function out in the real diving world, is pretty normal.
Yes, there'll be those cream-of-the-crop students, with excellent instructors, who trained in salt water and maybe did some shore diving and are naturals at navigation, or some mix of some of these factors, who'll splash for their first post-cert. ocean boat dive with no need for a guide.
But that's not gonna be everybody. I don't think it'll be most people.
Teaching OW classes in Colorado, I always asked people why they wanted to get certified. I would say the most common answer was that it was in anticipation of a specific trip planned to a tropical resort known for diving.
Teaching refresher classes, I asked why they had not been diving,, and the most common answer was they got certified as young adults and then raising a family got in the way. Now that the kids were grown, they were planning to get started again.
And so what is your explanation for the mid 1960's? Back then the Los Angeles Country program noticed that the overwhelming majority of students quit diving soon after certification. In the hope of piquing their interest, they created a new class that introduced students to different kinds of diving, which they called Advanced." NAUI, which grow out of the Los Angeles program, saw the same problem and offered the same advanced certification for the same reason.
Sure. That's why I tell my students to do weight checks at the end of their safety stop. As they often have ditchable pockets, take one out and give to the DM. If they don't rise to the surface while dumping gas from their BCD, then redistribute weight back on the boat from the remaining pocket. Then do it again at the next dive.
It doesn't take many dives to dial in their weighting.
I had a rocky beginning, but I had a good regular buddy. Guided dives or a DM? Rarely an option in the Midwest. You were turned loose at the local quarry, which was and still is a great place to work on skills.
Or basically they have no interest in continuing this hobby due to costs involved or were just ticking a box along with a bunch of other stuff on a bucket list.
I totally disagree here, the standard of training is a reflection of the instructor not the agency.
The "Scuba Farms" of Thailand springs to mind.
However my best buddy did her initial dives in Thailand and got seriously hooked with diving. She's a great diver having done further courses with other instructors and agencies here in UAE, as well as a brilliant UW photographer.
Did your OW course prepare you to dive?
In a word, YES.
I had a great instructor, who taught people properly and would not pass them until they were confident enough to dive properly.
I did my AOW with him about 100+ dives later, then my Rescue Course.
I also had great buddies during my first dives post OW, and as we lived in Jeddah next to the Red Sea, diving was a weekly event within my social group.
Was I a great diver? NO but I learned quickly, and the more diving I did and more confident I became in planning and executing dives.
One of the reasons I quit the DM course, which was with another instructor as my original instructor had been severely injured in a car accident.
I couldn't understand why some people even attempted to take this up when they were barely able to put their kit together after several pool sessions, but that's another story.
OP
Cthippo
Contributor
The new Ratio computers have a bolt-on gas analyzer built into them, so we are 90% of the way to this being a reality.
Would you be happy diving with a console type computer if it real time analyzed the gas flowing through your first stage and adjusted the calculations accordingly? The problem is the people who need this most, tech divers doing deco and stage bottles, would have the hardest time using it.
Not sure of the meaning of your terms concerning the Ratio O2 analyzer but the Ratio analyzer sensor package is an external package connected to the computer with a cable during the analysis procedure. The computer itself has the app to do the analysis and display of the results in addition to the calibration and adjustment of the O2% in the computer configuration. Once the analysis is done, the sensor is disconnected from the computer, in other words it isn't permanently attached or integrated into the dive computer itself.
Oxygen Analyser for iDive and iX3M
Turn your iDive or iX3M in a professional, fully automatic Gas Mix Analyser.
www.ratio-computers.eu
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