Does PADI permit sidemount (PSAI card) in PADI classes?

[rddvet]

My last class of students also did some rescue skills for the first time in sidemount. It was an eye opener for them. This was an advanced nitrox and deco class.

We found the easiest way to recover an unconscious diver to the surface was from above their back. In essence them face down and you are positioned facing down as well from above them. You can hold a reg in their mouth and still work their inflator' dump, and Drysuit dump. We were originally taught in back mount to roll them over on their back and kinda do a half Nelson a round them to hold reg and work inflator. Or to drag by their manifold.

It was a very different experience.

 

[Nemrod]

Padi has gear requirement standard, not configuration standards. As long as you have the required gear for the course you should be good to go. You might get some resistance if you have instructors who don't know your configuration and make up some bs.

Unless it is a pony bottle because those do not exist.

N

 

[gekodivebali]

My last class of students also did some rescue skills for the first time in sidemount. It was an eye opener for them. This was an advanced nitrox and deco class.

Maybe Rescue skills with specific equipment belong to classes where this specific equipment is taught then rather than a mainstream rescue class. Makes sense to teach divers to tow someone with multiple stages in a Tec course, less so in a mainstream rescue unless this equipment is the norm locally...

 

[Aotus]

My SM instructor told me we would do an air share drill, in the cavern, which we did, but then he suddenly became unresponsive and began to sink on top of the line!...that was...a challenging lesson.

 

[rddvet]

Maybe Rescue skills with specific equipment belong to classes where this specific equipment is taught then rather than a mainstream rescue class. Makes sense to teach divers to tow someone with multiple stages in a Tec course, less so in a mainstream rescue unless this equipment is the norm locally...

So are you saying that teaching rescue skills to an ow rescue class that include both single tank bm and double tank sm students is a bad idea? If so that is incredibly short sighted. Although I don't agree with it, sm is becoming mainstream in the rec world too. (I only disagree with the tons of poorly trained instructors teaching rec sm not the idea itself ps)

 

[gekodivebali]

Say you have 2 students on your average rescue course. You teach this course in 3 days for 320$. How do you practically show skills on all different existing rigs within that timeframe and price tag?
In an ideal world, yes, it would be great to be able to do this. In a practical world this is near impossible.
If you are an instructor yourself, do you show all rigs (oc jacket/bpw single + double/sm, scr, ccr) to all your students on every class? If not, the next polemicist coming along and reading your posts sideways may say you are incredibly short sighted. Ow students surely would benefit from gaining basic knowledge of all rigs in existence as they may be associated with an insta-buddy diving an unusual rig.
Again, this would be near impossible in most locations. If you do teach courses showing all these rigs, please allow me to come and assist you!

 

[bamafan]

So are you saying that teaching rescue skills to an ow rescue class that include both single tank bm and double tank sm students is a bad idea? If so that is incredibly short sighted. Although I don't agree with it, sm is becoming mainstream in the rec world too. (I only disagree with the tons of poorly trained instructors teaching rec sm not the idea itself ps)

It isn't only rec sidemount instructors. I have seen some cave sidemount instructors that looked like crap. Heck I have seen cave instructors that couldn't dive backmount or sidemount. I seen groups in a cave before and I think to myself WTF? Only to get out and find out that one of the ones I was wondering about was the instructor.

 

[Ste Wart]

S
If you are an instructor yourself, do you show all rigs (oc jacket/bpw single + double/sm, scr, ccr) to all your students on every class?

This is easy. Always have nice sharp knife to hand. OPH, Jacket, SM, CCR harness. Goes through them all

 

[bamafan]

My SM instructor told me we would do an air share drill, in the cavern, which we did, but then he suddenly became unresponsive and began to sink on top of the line!...that was...a challenging lesson.

He told me that he signaled for an airshare with a student before and the guy was fumbling around so he started acting like he was drowning. The student started crying because he thought he had killed him.

 

[rddvet]

Say you have 2 students on your average rescue course. You teach this course in 3 days for 320$. How do you practically show skills on all different existing rigs within that timeframe and price tag?
In an ideal world, yes, it would be great to be able to do this. In a practical world this is near impossible.
If you are an instructor yourself, do you show all rigs (oc jacket/bpw single + double/sm, scr, ccr) to all your students on every class? If not, the next polemicist coming along and reading your posts sideways may say you are incredibly short sighted. Ow students surely would benefit from gaining basic knowledge of all rigs in existence as they may be associated with an insta-buddy diving an unusual rig.
Again, this would be near impossible in most locations. If you do teach courses showing all these rigs, please allow me to come and assist you!

That's why I asked it as a question. I agree it's not the easiest thing to introduce every student every possible gear configuration. To me your posts read as if you were opposed to the idea, which if you were would be shortsighted.

Unfortunately nowadays there's so many instructors teaching half ass classes for cheap that they're putting out divers that haven't even seen a diver in horizontal trim let alone in any other configuration than a poodle jacket. I commend you if you're one of the instructors who is willing to show students more than the bottom stirring ways we see so often here. It just seemed your comments were against showing students more than the routine.