Do not ever say you are a rescue diver

[SlugLife]

IMHO RD is a joke if you’re not certifying every year. I’ve deployed three times and each time I took the Combat Lifesaver course. It’s been a minute since the last time and I certainly don’t consider myself to be up to speed anymore.

It really helps to differentiate between
(a) someone who takes the course, and
(b) someone who works in the industry, who might have to use the material (like an instructor or dive-guide).

I suspect most people who take the course are (a) recreational, and take it for the first reason. The purpose there is to be useful or semi-competent in an emergency, not the equivalent of being a Life Guard or EMT. There's no purpose of a refresher or re-certification for these people. I FREQLENTLY see people suggesting that everyone who can take the rescue course, and that it's good for any diver to have.

For the later category (b), it might make some kind of sense to do a refresher, because the "credential" has a meaning or purpose.

 

[boulderjohn]

IMHO RD is a joke if you’re not certifying every year. I’ve deployed three times and each time I took the Combat Lifesaver course. It’s been a minute since the last time and I certainly don’t consider myself to be up to speed anymore.

The Course Director who taught my Instructor Developer Course said he had once gone to a required session for Course Directors, and they all had to do the main rescue scenario from the course--bring an unconscious diver to the surface and tow the victim to shore/boat while giving uninterrupted rescue breaths, removing all the victim's equipment, and removing all your own equipment as you go. All those Course Directors had had to teach that skill many times in their careers, but for most of them it had been a while. He said they struggled to do it. Some would have failed if they had been doing it for the beginning instructor exam.

I have never heard of a situation where that exact scenario has actually happened. I have challenged people over the years to provide an example, and when I do, people triumphantly provide examples of divers who were rescued with different circumstances, but I have never seen that exact scenario played out, successfully or unsuccessfully.

 

[Dody]

A few comments that I would like to make about this thread:
1- We are not all diving in the US. So we need to understand that DS habits, questions and behaviours are different in other countries. And you can’t compare diving in a local quarry with contacting a DS in a place you don’t know for a 4 days diving. You love diving. You are in a foreign country. Things are different. If the DS asks you what kind of diver you are, you give all your credentials. If you believe that you can go in country X and expect or expose your back home rules then you probably did not travel much and should stick to your home town. Our industry is not regulated this way.
2- We are not perfect and should not believe we are. One example: My wife has been driving cars for decades yet she called me last week saying her car would not start. The gearbox was in D position. She knew that it should have been in P but at this particular moment because of external factors and stress, she missed it. Some of you believe that they are perfect, know everything and can’t make a mistake. Good for them. I have integrated the fact that I and my dear ones will make mistakes.
3- Unless a negative entry is necessary, I will always jump with air in my BCD. Why? Because I will naturally surface no matter what, even in a case of shock induced by the jump in the water. If because of the current or the dive plan, I need to do a negative entry, it is different. I used to do a lot of negative entries in the past. Loved it. Then I had a minor barotrauma and now, I refuse those kind of dives.
4- I value the SB comments but sometimes I feel that we could have a broader perspective.

 

[pauldw]

One example: My wife has been driving cars for decades yet she called me last week saying her car would not start. The gearbox was in D position. She knew that it should have been in P but at this particular moment because of external factors and stress, she missed it. Some of you believe that they are perfect, know everything and can’t make a mistake. Good for them. I have integrated the fact that I and my dear ones will make mistakes.

Yeah, that happened to me once. Tore the antenna and light right off the top of an ambulance, miscalculating an overhang. Thought that would be the end of my job. I took the rig behind the base to refill the gas, and was so discombobulated that I couldn't start it afterward. Boss saw that I hadn't put it in park, and thought it funny that I must have been so worked up. I think that actually saved me, some.

Speaking of certs, I went to a dive shop in another state this year for vis and fills, and was sorely vexed that they didn't want to look at my card. So I made them look! Because my highest cert is Zombie Apocalypse Diver, and I like the me-as-a-zombie photo on the card.

 

[L13]

I am never so over weighted that it matters. I usually have to kick down until my suit compresses and dumps the trapped air. If I were in my drysuit, RIP old feller, it was plenty buoyant on it's own.

I have over and over watched people drop in with current and by the time they get negative to descend they are off the ledge or reef. I try to avoid all of the cf that goes on with all of that fuss.

If you start the dive positively buoyant with an empty BC at the surface, how do you hold your safety stop after you have breathed down your tank at the end of the dive? Especially if warm water diving, where you have very little neoprene to compress much in 15-20ft to the stop.

 

[SlugLife]

If you start the dive positively buoyant with an empty BC at the surface, how do you hold your safety stop after you have breathed down your tank at the end of the dive? Especially if warm water diving, where you have very little neoprene to compress much in 15-20ft to the stop.

That's how I often dive. Generally warm waters. Often 3mm or no wetsuit. Often slightly bouyant at the surface pre-dive if at 1/2 full lung. I don't have any issues on the safety stop. Although if I try to go down again with a nearly empty tank (lets say I surface, and want to swim underwater to the boat), getting down again at the end can be a little annoying. I think I added about 1-lbs since, but not for the safety stop.

 

[Belzelbub]

Maybe I am mistaken but I have always thought that my highest cert was RD and not AOW even though I do not really care. It will AOW 40 meters now.

Highest cert isn’t the right terminology in this case, as in SSI, AOW is not really even a cert. There is no SSI AOW course.

Dive Ops insisting on AOW is weird to me, as different agencies treat AOW very differently. For deep dives, they ought to ask for a Deep cert, not AOW.

I don’t do charters, generally. If I did, I’d have no problem showing a cert that shows sufficient training for the dive that will be done. That should be all they need.

 

[stretchthepenn]

The Course Director who taught my Instructor Developer Course said he had once gone to a required session for Course Directors, and they all had to do the main rescue scenario from the course--bring an unconscious diver to the surface and tow the victim to shore/boat while giving uninterrupted rescue breaths, removing all the victim's equipment, and removing all your own equipment as you go. All those Course Directors had had to teach that skill many times in their careers, but for most of them it had been a while. He said they struggled to do it. Some would have failed if they had been doing it for the beginning instructor exam.

I have never heard of a situation where that exact scenario has actually happened. I have challenged people over the years to provide an example, and when I do, people triumphantly provide examples of divers who were rescued with different circumstances, but I have never seen that exact scenario played out, successfully or unsuccessfully.

When I took the Rescue Diver course, I was amazed that we learned to administer in-water rescue breathing while towing a victim. It's a stupid skill.

I lifeguarded from 1991 through 2008, and in-water rescue breathing disappeared from the Red Cross training materials in about 1993. The rule became get that victim to shore and out of the water!

Maybe, just maybe, I can see the utility if one is diving somewhere remote and surfaces a long way from shore/the boat, but in that case, the non-breathing buddy is probably doomed anyway. Yeah, I might do a few breaths along the way just for pro-forma oxygenation, but it's mostly a waste of time.

Instead, I'mma be hauling arse and dragging my buddy to a stable surface where I can call 911, administer CPR, and apply a defibrillator.

 

[tursiops]

The rule became get that victim to shore and out of the water!

That is also true in the Rescue Diver course, if you can get the victim out of the water in less than 5 minutes.

 

[Jafo19D]

It really helps to differentiate between
(a) someone who takes the course, and
(b) someone who works in the industry, who might have to use the material (like an instructor or dive-guide).

I suspect most people who take the course are (a) recreational, and take it for the first reason. The purpose there is to be useful or semi-competent in an emergency, not the equivalent of being a Life Guard or EMT. There's no purpose of a refresher or re-certification for these people. I FREQLENTLY see people suggesting that everyone who can take the rescue course, and that it's good for any diver to have.

For the later category (b), it might make some kind of sense to do a refresher, because the "credential" has a meaning or purpose.

Agree. I was greatly exaggerating when I said it was useless. It’s a perishable skill but the course is definitely better than nothing.