Drills that should be taught in the OW class

[Kingpatzer]

It is not always about a practical skill in the sense that you may have to do this. But once it has been done a minor issue like a backword roll and forgetting your fins (yep I did that!), having your mask come off or get knocked off, or getting the reg ripped out of your mouth by some clod swimming with their hands to who comes up behind you to see the stupid seahorse a DM is pointing at, they are indeed minor issues. Nothing to panic over, no big deal, you handled more stress than this- fix the problem and finish the dive.

I guess that's a difference in philosophy -- and not necessarily one I disagree with. But from a perspective of having what I believe is a shorter training time than you do for our courses, and at this point in my instructor career I like to address real problems rather than artificial ones.

My personal favorite game is simply taking all the class' masks and tossing them into the sandy area of our beach, and telling them to go find them. They have a lot of fun, and work on buoyancy control and performing a task they might have to do in real life without going to what is really beyond the demands of our OW standards. It's my favorite way of doing the mask removal and replacement exercise.

An OW diver should never be in a situation though where they have to find an air source completely separated from themselves or a buddy. Being able to recover one's own reg and being aware of one's buddy is key. Getting that understanding firmly embedded in their minds is of paramount importance.

 

[Walter]

from a perspective of having what I believe is a shorter training time than you do for our courses,

We each have the amount of time we choose to have.

I like to address real problems rather than artificial ones.

Panic is a real problem.

 

[Kingpatzer]

We each have the amount of time we choose to have.

Since I choose to teach, and to do so regularly, I have to work within the limitations of the reality of my local market.

Panic is a real problem.

I'm not sure that I ever said it wasn't.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Back on topic, what about shooting a bag from depth? I was only taught this in my intro to tech class, but it seems that this would be a good one to know along the Atlantic Florida coast and Cozumel where drift diving is common.

I teach that skill in AOW.

I fully admit that I am not an instructor and have other technical classes in mind before I ever decide to teach, I just remember my early training (pre-certification training) involved a lot of harassment tests, stem breathing, doing the whole dive without a mask etc. I was 10 at the time so perhaps I didn't have a healthy understanding of panic that adults have when they decide to get certified for their honeymoon in fiji or wherever.

However, what I remember most about those panic inducing classes were the following questions:

Can you breathe, if not fix the problem. If you can breathe, relax and figure out what is going wrong with your dive come to a solution and fix it. I live by this even today.

I'm not sure this is taught enough from the aspect of alleviating panic and extra task loading.

The best way to induce panic in a dive student is to task load them beyond their ability to handle it. I don't think that's a good approach to scuba instruction. At the OW level, people usually have their hands full just learning the basics ... staying off the bottom without going to the surface ... controlling your position in the water without using your hands ... kicking efficiently ... getting in trim ... and developing some sense of what it means to dive with a buddy. Those are the core skills I want my OW students to learn, and learn well. Once they've gotten to that point, I want them to go diving and solidify those skills. Then we can talk about AOW, or ... as NAUI calls it ... Advanced Scuba Diver. That's where they're going to get some task-loading, and learn how to deal with stress underwater. I still don't believe that harrassment is the way to achieve that goal ... repetitive skills practice mid-water is a better approach. Take away their visual references and have them doing things by feel is a great stress-inducer that teaches the students how to handle problems without giving in to the urge to bolt. Make it progressive ... give them a problem, like shooting an SMB or bringing something up off the bottom using a lift bag. Have them doing navigational exercises and then require them to flood and clear their mask while they're trying to pay attention to their heading ... or an air share drill that requires them to exit at the buoy (they've gotta find it first). These are all controlled stress inducers that build confidence ... and confidence is the best way to avoid panic.

Harrassment has no place in today's OW training. Not unless you want to build an OW class that encompasses several weeks and a minimum of a dozen dives to allow them to develop their basic skills first ... otherwise you're just tossing stuff out there to see how long it takes to break them, and that's not my idea of effective training.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Walter]

Since I choose to teach, and to do so regularly, I have to work within the limitations of the reality of my local market.

You make your choices for your reasons, they may be real or imagined.

I'm not sure that I ever said it wasn't.

I'm sure. Jim explained he teaches a particular skill to help his students avoid panic. You quoted jim then replied with, "I like to address real problems rather than artificial ones," indicating you believe panic to be an artificial problem, not a real one.

 

[idocsteve]

Here's an OW drill that might be a consideration.

True story.

I got certified in college back in the 80s. Since the course was spread out over an entire semester, we did a ton of pool work just to fill the schedule, including shooting bags. It got boring at times so we thought of creative things to do to pass the time.

One favorite activity was to clip a lift bag on the fin strap of an unsuspecting student then fill the bag rapidly, using 3 or more regulators from a group of divers.

The unsuspecting diver would do a rapid handstand and end up suspended from the surface of the pool. It was hilarious!

I guess we never considered the possibility of an embolism.