scubajoh44:
We tried to get him to kick down. He didn't kick. He just used his hands. Finally, we got him down on a descent line.
Hmmm, not that great an idea - chances are that he would have problems on his safety stop? Most problems with not being able to descend are mainly due to lung volume - if you are in reasonably calm conditions then taking the time to get the diver to relax in the water prior to descent and to then concentrate on reducing their lung volume when breathing out to descend is the way to go.
scubajoh44:
The next dive...he tried to get down again....couldn't....so we swam to the descent line and he said his wet suit was too tight and he couldn't breath.
Sounds like a "panicky" diver looking for a reason to call the dive - again, spending time with them prior to getting in the water and checking how they feel and whether they are up for it, and also keeping them relaxed in the water prior to descent can make a huge difference to their enjoyment.
scubajoh44:
We didn't do the dive. I took him (later) to make up that dive and when he finally did get down the descent line...while we were swimming around.... his weight belt fell off at 60 feet. He bolted to the top. What do you do with these students? Just not certify them? Oh, and he was wearing 28 lbs of lead (wasn't a big guy).
Well, the poor guy could be in that mid range..... not so large as to be able to wrap the spare tyres each side of the weight belt to keep it in place, but still large enough to have no hips and need a fair amount of weight! I'd consider extolling the virtues of a weight harness rather than a weight belt.
The only way you can not certify someone is if they don't meet the performance requirements specified in the instructor manual. If it was, say, a naturalist dive the performance requirements can be met even with rubbish bouyancy control..... and be fair, if he lost 28lbs (12kg?) of weight he probably didn't have much choice but to bolt for the surface!
I genuinely believe that this guy was scared/nervous/aprehensive and would have benefited from a bit of support and encouragement, having the right equipment for him.
carldarl:
1. Where was his instructor during the class and please tell me you didn't take a student out by yourself as a DM intern the second time.
I don't think it's a breach of standards for a DMT to accompany a diver on a AOW dive (assuming PADI) unless it was the Deep or Wreck dive. PADI standards only require indirect supervision of most AOW dives, so the instructor has to only conduct the brief/de-brief and be ready to enter the water in event of a problem. Not necessarily what many instructors would do, but I do know of at least one that will sit on the boat for most of the dives and leave the student divers to their own devices on their dives......
carldarl:
1A. I just saw again AOW class. How did he get here and not be able to figure out weightng to the point of HAVING to use a descent line to get down?
Well, you can go straight into a PADI AOW as soon as you finish your OW - I certainly didn't have my weighting sorted at that time. It was only when I bought my own tanks (end of first year of diving, ~80 dives) that I really understood my weighting issues and could say that for any particular wet/drysuit, tank, accessories and environment what weight I should be wearing.....