Enough Instruction???

[Pinecrest Jim]

I recently completed my OW certification class: 6 hours theory, 2 hours pool instruction, 4 ocean dives. There were 18 people in the class with 4 pool instructors. I've read the "Go Dive" PADI book twice, and have practiced separately in my own pool. I feel comfortable with what I've been taught.

My question - is this the general length of pool instruction given? PADI's book indicates we covered only 2/3's of the training exercises in the pool? Anyone else have such an experience?

 

[BetterLateThannever]

Welcome to the board PJ.

Sounds like you got a little short-changed on the confined water dive portion of your training. During my PADI training I know I spent at least 4 to 6 hours in the pool over a 4 day period. At the end of that my instructor allowed any of us that still felt there were skills we felt weak on to come back on an "extra day" prior to going to the lake weekend.

 

[Rick Murchison]

I typically provide 10-12 hours pool time spread over five 2 to 2.5 hour pool sessions, followed by four fresh water OW dives and two OW dives in the Gulf prior to certification.
In a one-on-one course the pool time may be cut back to 7 or 8 hours, but still five sessions.
Rick (NASDS/SSI)

 

[Fishkiller]

The Friday night pool class was canceled due to bad weather
Saturday we spent 7 hours in the class room Then Sunday the 7 of us spent 8 hours in the pool with one instructor.

One of my questions is How do you feel? Do you feel like a Scuba diver? I have seen classes go fast because the people were motivated I've also seen classes that belong in the rednecks. Each instructor had different styles but all taught the same information. On your skills some are HAVE to do's and some are not.

 

[Warhammer]

I have a friend who recently took a class, a crash class, and I thought he got a good course. He had had the book and videos for a month prior to taking the class. he claimed to have read the book 2 times and had completed all the reviews and watched the videos numerous times. On class day, he was the only student, one on one with the instructor. They stayed in the class room for 5 hours, then broke for lunch and hit the pool at around 1:00pm. I went to the pool with them and we didn't leave until 9:00 that evening. So that's 4 hours class and 8 hours pool time. The instructor was adamant that he do every skill, even freediving with near profection before we left the pool. He completed his dives 2 weeks later on another weekend. I thought he got drilled and drilled 10 times more than I ever did with a 2 weeks long course. Now flame away.

 

[Iguana Don]

There are certain required skills that are taught. You indicated you only received 2/3 of them. What were you not taught.

As for the length of pool session. If you and the others in your group completed your skills to the instructor's satisfaction, then time in pool time is not critical.

If you have group of students that have no problems and a group of students that have several problems, guess which one finishes faster.

ID

 

[Danie]

As others have said it really depends on whether you were taught all the skills.
But it does seem a little short....
For my OW there were 4 of us in the class (1 instructor) nobody had any problems, yet going through all the skills took over 12 hours.

Similarly we had 10 hours of theory work.

 

[DiverDave]

Jim,

This certainly sounds like it was far too quick. Can you list the skills from the Go Dive manual that were not taught in the pool? Certain skills are optional such as buddy breathing.

I agree with ID that different groups of students take differing lengths of time to complete the required skills to a satisfactory standard, but I cannot see how it can be completed in 2 hours.

Whilst you feel comfortable with what you have learnt, you must be sure that this confidence is not ill founded. If you have any concerns, then you could consider a scuba review with another dive shop, as this covers all the basic skills.

Several people believe quite strongly that the PADI standards are too low. My asbestos underwear is in the wash so I won't start on that, but missing skills out of training is unprofessional and potentially dangerous.

DiverDave.

 

[Mario S Caner]

There are no gray areas when teaching a class. ALL skills MUST be covered. Having said that, it is performance based, in other words it can be covered in less time than the 7-8 hours it usually takes, but nothing CAN or SHOULD be omitted!

When teaching a class, whether we finish ahead or behind schedule, I always include 'play' time. I'll bring out the toypedo or the Aqua Frisbee and play games to increase comfort level and enjoyment. Whatever the agenda was in your particular class, it sounds like you all got short changed.


Sea you in the Deep Blue!

 

[Walter]

There are already too many skills left out of PADI standards, eliminating more is dangerous and as others have mentioned, a violation of standards. Standards violations should be reported to the agency, in this case, PADI. PADI recommends (but does not require - it is performance based as others stated) 31 hours combined pool/classroom training.

In my class (admittedly not a PADI course) I use 4 hours in the pool before I even introduce SCUBA. Then an addition 12 or more hours on SCUBA. While I'm sure there are better instructors around, I'm doubtful there are any who can teach in 2 hours what I teach in 16.

You were definately shortchanged and should report the instructors to PADI. The e-mail address is: webmaster@padi.com Don't report it and forget about it, follow up. This is a dangerous practice and needs to be stopped. PADI wants their instructors to follow their standards.

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