Dive planning doc for open water students (Puget Sound focus)

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wetb4igetinthewater

Instructor
Scuba Instructor
Divemaster
Messages
9,962
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Location
Seattle
# of dives
500 - 999
Hey everyone,

So I've been teaching a few years, and one of the biggest issues I've seen from my early results and from new divers in my area in general, is the lack of confidence to go off and dive with fellow classmates, sometimes even in the same site where they were certified.

So it took a while, but I put together a dive planning doc focused on the Puget Sound region, that I feel addresses a lot of these issues. I'm making it freely available, as I am hoping that people adopt it, both new divers and instructors (and I hope instructors write addendums for their particular area).

Sorry to be US focused, but the next revision will include metric units. I'll answer any questions and all feedback will be welcome too. Feel free to use and distribute as you wish.
 

Attachments

  • Dive Planning for Open Water Students, Puget Sound Edition.pdf
    1.8 MB · Views: 182
I can't think of anything this doesn't cover--nice job! I have to admit my head spins a little with the calculations now, since most of my diving is less that 40 feet these last few years. When I do dive deep I have to give it a bit more thought.
I'm still not crazy about the idea of 2 classmates buddying up right after OW is done--prefer new divers to dive with experienced ones (preferably Rescue certified ones), but that's an old topic, and it's not always possible anyway. My first (and only) regular buddy was a fellow noob--we were very conservative, and lived.
 
I'm still not crazy about the idea of 2 classmates buddying up right after OW is done--prefer new divers to dive with experienced ones (preferably Rescue certified ones), but that's an old topic, and it's not always possible anyway. My first (and only) regular buddy was a fellow noob--we were very conservative, and lived.

I can appreciate that. All i can say is "try this in ow classes." Now that I'm autonomous, I have a much stronger emphasis of dive planning. Yes, some of the document is math heavy, but I am hoping that I have broken it down into digestible chunks. My OW course is OW+EAN+Dry suit, 8 open water dives, with the last dives focusing on dive planning.

All I can say is for those who are able, introduce this to their OW classes and see how it works.
 
I had a very good instructor for OW who was also a tech instructor. We had many discussions past the syllabus. I had good trim and bouyancy from the start. But after OW I had had 4 dives in a quarry. I did not feel like I was a good driver after driving around my hometown 4 times at the age of 15. You become a good driver with experience. Same with diving. I discovered on dive 1 post OW that an instabuddy could be worthless. So before I did any NC ocean diving I did a number of quarry dives, some easy reef dives in the Keys, and took a number of classes appropriate for a quarry. Building experience and confidence. I think it was around dive 20 that I did my first NC ocean dive at an inshore site. I would argue that two divers who are fresh OW who want to be cautious and dive with more experienced divers at first are showing good sense and are likely to eventually become good divers.
 
I had a very good instructor for OW who was also a tech instructor. We had many discussions past the syllabus. I had good trim and bouyancy from the start. But after OW I had had 4 dives in a quarry. I did not feel like I was a good driver after driving around my hometown 4 times at the age of 15. You become a good driver with experience. Same with diving. I discovered on dive 1 post OW that an instabuddy could be worthless. So before I did any NC ocean diving I did a number of quarry dives, some easy reef dives in the Keys, and took a number of classes appropriate for a quarry. Building experience and confidence. I think it was around dive 20 that I did my first NC ocean dive at an inshore site. I would argue that two divers who are fresh OW who want to be cautious and dive with more experienced divers at first are showing good sense and are likely to eventually become good divers.
Did you read the doc?
 
Did you read the doc?
I confess I had not. I have now. It was well written but did not really say anything that I had not heard in class. But then I read some books in addition to the thin class books and as I said I had extensive discussions with the instructor in and out of class. My comment had to do with student confidence. It is good to read more and have more knowledge. I am a big time reader. But that does not alter the fact that for many, confidence comes with experience. I have instabuddied a fair amount over the years and I would tend to agree with TMHeimer. Newly minted OW buddy divers are more likely to be a risk factor than a safety factor. Does not mean I do not dive with them, I do often, but I include that in my risk assessment and management.
 
Wow. Very useful. I saved the file to my library for future reference.
 
I confess I had not. I have now. It was well written but did not really say anything that I had not heard in class. But then I read some books in addition to the thin class books and as I said I had extensive discussions with the instructor in and out of class. My comment had to do with student confidence. It is good to read more and have more knowledge. I am a big time reader. But that does not alter the fact that for many, confidence comes with experience. I have instabuddied a fair amount over the years and I would tend to agree with TMHeimer. Newly minted OW buddy divers are more likely to be a risk factor than a safety factor. Does not mean I do not dive with them, I do often, but I include that in my risk assessment and management.

So you do not think that new divers cannot go back by themselves to the same site(s) where they were certified without a more experienced diver?

And I guess you would have the same answer for nearby sites that are incredibly similar?

I do provide warnings for more advanced sites like Keystone Jetty.

I do not go into advanced dive planning as I don’t want interference theory knocking on the door.

There is nothing earth shattering in the document. It is laid out in an organized fashion and goes into greater detail than any materials I’ve seen from any agencies.
 
So you do not think that new divers cannot go back by themselves to the same site(s) where they were certified without a more experienced diver?

And I guess you would have the same answer for nearby sites that are incredibly similar?

I do provide warnings for more advanced sites like Keystone Jetty.

I do not go into advanced dive planning as I don’t want interference theory knocking on the door.

There is nothing earth shattering in the document. It is laid out in an organized fashion and goes into greater detail than any materials I’ve seen from any agencies.
I agree with both of you. New divers can go to familiar benign spots as two buddies and probably do OK if they are very conservative, as were I and my buddy. And there may be no experienced divers available, depending on where you live. I just think it is not the best of situations since neither has the specific knowledge of a Rescue certified diver. What to do with a panicked diver, an unconscious one, etc. Yes, if all OW training is followed it should be safe enough, but that may not happen. Several instructors have posted that the rescue training received in OW is enough--that would be OOA and separation procedures, cramp removal, and 2 or 3 tired diver tows. I disagree--a pet peeve on this old topic. OW course advises giving CPR when needed. OW doesn't even require you to know CPR. Says (2005)-- to get someone else to do it--but, you are the only 2 divers at the old training spot that day.
 
So you do not think that new divers cannot go back by themselves to the same site(s) where they were certified without a more experienced diver?
Did not mean to say that. Just that is not optimum. I did exactly that with another new OW on my first dive post OW. Viz had dropped and was maybe 6 inches as I discovered. Did just like in class. Swam out and then descended. I drop horizontal. First time I saw the bottom was when my face was planted in the silt. My buddy was a same quarry diver. Lost him within 15 seconds. Went up. Located the buddy, went down to him this time without face plant and again lost him within 15 seconds. He just swam off. After this happening twice more I thumbed the dive.

Next dive was on French reef in the keys with 80 ft of viz with an experienced instabuddy. Great dive.

I also much later went to LaJolla shores with a hired DM/quide. We looked at the swells and thumbed the dive without getting wet. As we stood there with several others who had also thumbed we watched a large group maybe 15-20 students go to the water with several DMs with them,. On cue they made a dash into the surf. A large swell came in and annihilated the class. Maybe 2/3 eventually made it out and were able to rejoin the DMs. The other 1/3 staggered and fell out of the surf down the beach. No instructor or DM near them. Shore folks had to help them get out of the surf. Couple were a near rescue. Not all get certified sites are the same. Some take experience just to tell if it is a good day to get wet.
 
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