Diver Control: Hand Swimming

[romad119]

If they are using it for fine tunning its one thing; as a means of propulsion another. Wouldn't fail but would see it as an area to work with them on. A clumsy hand may be more 'reef safe' then a clumsy foot.

 

[*dave*]

My question is should hand swimming be an absolute standards violation of all agencies across the board resulting in open water course failure?

If not, how much hand swimming or sculling is acceptable?

How do you define control?

I'd love to eliminate hand sculling, but how is this accomplished without a back kick?

I'd love to teach OW students to back kick, but that would be an entire session in itself and would require paddle fins to have a chance. Probably 60% of my students show up to class with split fins and are pretty damn proud of them. I don't know how to back kick in splits, let alone begin to teach someone else how.

To a large degree, poor buoyancy control and trim is responsible for hand sculling. Finning to control depth and trim, rather than using buoyancy control and body positioning, results in some horizontal motion that has to be arrested in order to hold position. However, even with perfect trim and buoyancy control, there comes a time when you need to reverse. If you don't have a back kick, what are your options?

No, I don't believe it should be grounds for failing a mainstream OW course. I believe new divers should know it's not an okay thing to do and why. More importantly, they should know what they can do to eliminate it as they progress.

Presently, I'm getting students who are swimming with their hands as much as their feet.

Are these OW students? How are you addressing that issue?

As best I can figure, my best course of action is limited to:

Telling them not to do it (not very helpful)
Explaining why they shouldn't hand scull
Explaining why they hand scull
Explaining what they can do to stop hand sculling
Correcting the behavior when I see it in the pool(Not extremely helpful since the ideal remedy is a back kick, which I can't teach in allotted time)
Shooting video and reviewing it with the students
Emphasizing that improvement is an ongoing process that requires some degree of purpose and focus on every dive
Emphasizing the importance of a back kick (not really very helpful, since 90% of the people I certify will not do what it takes to get a working back kick)

As an OW instructor, I'd love to hear some ideas for reducing the hand sculling. While it's something I do focus on, I feel I could do better.

 

[Doc]

Two threads rate two responses.

 

[ajduplessis]

Firstly, I am not an instructor, so these are my views. Typically a student needs a pass rate of 80% (exam & water skills). Each area have a scoring system, points are deducted on failure. Thus, if their water skills suck, the chances are quite good the student will not reach the 80% target. It is the instructors duty to spend additional time with this student until he gains control, enough to get him to 80%. A good instructor will be able to accomplish this.

Extending the dive education past OW, and moving to AOW, Deep, Advanced Nitrox etc, I will fail a student with weak water skills. Why... How is a diver with weak water skills going to fix/handle/cope with problems if he has little control over what should be muscle memory. The problem he has to handle, gets bigger and will put other team members under pressure and potential danger. I would rather move his course to a buoyancy proficiency one at a later date.

This seems a bit hard, but basics/fundamentals are the starting blocks to safe diving and must be mastered!!

Thankfully, I am not an instructor. I might end up with no students at all, or some really great ones.

 

[Trace Malinowski]

Are these OW students? How are you addressing that issue?

No, most of the hand swimming (not controlled hand sculling), involuntary hand sculling (nervous response), and lack of control that I am seeing is from students who enroll in my intro to tech courses. In a typical full class (2 teams of three), I have 4 recreational diver level and 3 recreational pro (DM & instructor) level students. Most have 3 - 5 specialties in addition to AOW, rescue, and nitrox.

I've been addressing it verbally and through some techniques employed by "Sister Mary Catherine." The latter seems to work far better.

 

[knowone]

how do you certify someone with out legs?

So you've met Kermit's French cousin. Is it acceptable to violently sweep both arms around your sprung body to do a 180 and chase a big ray for five seconds?

 

[LeadTurn_SD]

....I've been addressing it verbally and through some techniques employed by "Sister Mary Catherine." The latter seems to work far better.

Somehow, the thought of you wearing a nun's habit and wielding a wooden yardstick does not fit the "Hogarthian" image I had of you....

There is another thread running about things that frighten us as divers..... I'll have to add underwater nuns to my list.......

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/basic-scuba-discussions/335606-what-your-biggest-fear-diving.html

Best wishes.

 

[Diver0001]

Given that quietening the hands is easy to teach, then the person who "fails" if the student can't do it is the instructor.

Failing to teach does not equate to failure to learn.

Have you been failing people for coming into your course looking sloppy, Trace?

R..

 

[BioLogic]

This weekend, one of my fellow cavern diver students didn't show up with a 7 ft hose for his primary (the regulator he intended to share during S-drills). The instructor didn't tell him he had to have one -- just that he and his buddy would have to successfully share air while following a line. My fellow student figured out it would be massively harder without the 7-ft hose and hit the dive shop. Problem solved.

Make a student perform the actions required of a good diver, such as demonstrating ability to maneuver and hold position at will. Teach the student the most efficient ways to perform these actions. Mandating *how* the action is performed adds nothing to the experience. I teach for a living, and I've learned that if the objectives are met, reliably and effectively, it's ok if the student doesn't do it the way I would.

So no, I wouldn't fail someone for sculling per se, although it does make me wince. I'd either fail them for not meeting objectives, or pass them.

 

[Teamcasa]

Why?

Students, and I'll stress your point of Open Water students need to learn significantly more important skills. A reduction in hand swimming/movement comes with practice. Save the pass/fail stuff for your tech classes.