DM skills

[haumana ronin]

OK, setting myself up for massive flames, but here goes...

Is a Dive Master a better diver...

...statistically speaking, as compared to someone who has dived similar environments, has a similar number of dives (including DM cert dives), and same overall level of mental, physical, and emotional fitness, but lacking whatever they teach you in the DM class?

Is there some number of dives below which this is probably true, or some number of dives above which this is probably false?

I am wondering about far in the future, or maybe not so far, depending on the answer. If I have no desire to teach or guide tours or carry tanks around, would the eventual DM course make me a more comfortable/safer/more alert/better diver or buddy?:cool2:

And if the answer is yes, why shouldn't I attempt it as soon as I am allowed and am comfortable with the skills from Rescue?

Or is the highest "skills" class Rescue? (not counting Fundies or Solo or Tech of course :tongue2

Try not to :flame: me too much.

:zen:

 

[TSandM]

The focus of a divemaster class is leadership -- it's about keeping an eye on people, whether you are guiding them or assisting an instructor. The internship dives are very good for developing situational awareness for monitoring other divers.

You do go through the basic skills, and you have to be able to do them at "demonstration" quality. This means slowing them down, exaggerating the important components, and doing them smoothly . . . but you may well be doing all of them when planted firmly and negatively on your knees. This part of the class is NOT about being a better diver, or integrating these demonstrations into the use of the skills in a normal diving situation. It's about showing a novice a skill performed in isolation.

If you are not interested in guiding or teaching, I would not in any way recommend a divemaster class to help you polish your own skills, or even improve your confidence.

In the PADI system, Rescue is as high as skills improvement goes, and Rescue, although an excellent class, does not make your own diving skills better. It does help you plan to avoid emergencies, and give you some strategies to cope with them better.

If you want to improve diving SKILLS, an Intro to Tech or cavern or Fundies class is where you want to go. There is a definite limit to what you will be taught in the mainstream, recreational curriculum, and the common denominator is fairly low.

 

[g1138]

Well summed up by TSandM

You take the DM class to learn and improve on your leadership skills. You aim for getting a DM cert because you want to be a professional in the world of scuba. Notice how I say world and not business, there are unfortunately some professionals who perform for the less passionate reason.

In my mind one of the main points of a DM is to educate divers in safe diving and environmental practices and to pass on any information to help certified divers become better and safer divers.
You'll want to have your basic skills nailed down to a point, in order to set a good example.

 

[k ellis]

For the most part TSandM hit the hammer on the head. There are however a few things in the class you can do without taking the class that are benieficial. You learn alot of neat things in it like physics and you reaffirm alot of what you already know. If your not interested in leadership in scuba then it would be for the most part a waste of money but you may enjoy watching the dive master video and reading the encyclopedia of diving. You will be amazed at what all you really dont think about every time you go diving that dive master will teach you.

There is alot of attention given to things often taken for granted such as preparedness. Things like having a suffice first aid kit and preplanning things non diving related such as how far it is to the nearest hospital and what numbers to call in case of an emergency that pretain to your local diving area. Youll learn how to map out a dive area which for a non leader is minimal in use since for the most part it would be for your own beniefit but does still have stong importance. Your map may be useful if you return to a dive site a year or 2 later and you can look at your map and know where key sites may be located.

In the course it does a lot of very important skills often understressed or omitted completely from the open water course. Things like strong emphases on gear swapping out under water all the while using one regulator to buddy breathe off of. Youll also find yourself refreshing rescue diver in water skills and alot of cool in water fun things to do as well.

In short dont sell the course short even if you dont plan to lead one day it does have strong practical components that every diver should know and thank about in advance.

 

[Ste Wart]

The Dm course isn't really about diving ability. It's about gaining instructional/ assistant awareness.

This is probably best proved by the fact I started my DM with 14 dives (yes they caught me and made me catch up the other 6 before continuing) and had finished all components, bar the 60 dives certification minimum, before I had 40 dives.

Was I better diver than the other 2 on the course who had a greater amount of experience. Nope. Do I find PADI courses easy? Yep.

 

[TSandM]

In the course it does a lot of very important skills often understressed or omitted completely from the open water course. Things like strong emphases on gear swapping out under water all the while using one regulator to buddy breathe off of.

Seriously, you are not implying that this is a useful or reasonable skill to practice?

 

[divermike1011]

TS&M I don't think the buddy gear exchange is a useful skill or reasonable as far as real world diving. What I do think is that it provides a high degree of stress, and learning to deal with stress is a valuable skill for anyone who is going to be supervising. We've lost a few people who quit the program or at least had to take a break because they couldn't handle the combination of task overload and sharing one regulator. Now I agree with the above as far as I didn't learn any additional skills during my DM internship, but I did have a CD who worked with me on improving my ability to do the basic skills and not just nail down demonstration quality. I would love to take fundies, it's just not offered that often out here on Oahu, and also money is an issue. I think it's probably a great thing for any dive leader to take and when I get the chance I will.

Michael

 

[RJP]

For the most part TSandM hit the hammer on the head.

Ouch!

 

[RJP]

Is a Dive Master a better diver...

Should they be? Yes.

Does the course make them one? Maybe, a little tiny bit.

 

[Krazytomdiver]

As a dive guide,I have the leadership opportunity to present safe diving by example. If I'm lucky,I dive 9 to 10 months out of a year,2,3 & 4 dives a day including any 'house speciality dive' offered. Following safe diving practices, professional attitude/apprearance,and customer service,all play an important role in a "working" dive master's creed.Diving experience is the best teacher and will develop you into the best safe diver you can be.

"living life without a hard bottom"
KT