Failed PADI Rescue....now what?

[TMHeimer]

Wow, a lot of nasty stuff here. He failed Rescue and needs lots of work on a fair bit of basic stuff. I can't now recall if he did or didn't ASK the instructor what he needed work on, but there wasn't any communication on either part (it seems) that resulted in anything. And Rescue should be in the fairly distant future. Let's not ban him from diving for life.

 

[fire_diver]

..... I can't now recall if he did or didn't ASK the instructor what he needed work on, ...... Let's not ban him from diving for life.

You should go back re-read the posts. The instructor did tell him what his problems were. He refuses to accept that can't get an automatic card for his payment of the class and prefers instead to blame the instructor for his faults.

 

[Dhboner]

You have to decide if you want to be a scuba diver and more importantly do you want to be a safe, responsible and well-trained scuba diver. Some of the people who are offering "tough love" may have lost a buddy over the years and have no time for new divers who are quick to blame their instructor for their own shortcomings. No one is trying to attack you or personalize anything...most of the posters so far are simply offering their assessment and advice. You can take it or leave it (that's the nature of advice) but if you continue feeling sorry for yourself and deflecting the blame when you don't succeed you may eventually get a shiny new c-card but you will still be a long way form being a responsible diver and you will be a danger to anyone in the water with you. I have had a lot of bumps in the road on my journey to being a good, safe diver. I don't think I am there yet but I am moving forward and I am putting my trust in some amazing instructors who, from time to time, might seem gruff and intolerant of my mistakes. They know (as I know) that they are not doing me any favours by pumping up my ego and singing Kumbaya during the surface interval. Get off the internet, contact your instructor and ask for a one on one conference to go over where you went wrong and how you can get back to moving forward with your training. If you are not prepared to do that then I implore you to find something else to do with your time. There are other forums on this site where we debrief why someone didn't come back from a dive and you don't ever want to see your name there.

 

[Zen1300]

Wow, a lot of nasty stuff here. He failed Rescue and needs lots of work on a fair bit of basic stuff. I can't now recall if he did or didn't ASK the instructor what he needed work on, but there wasn't any communication on either part (it seems) that resulted in anything. And Rescue should be in the fairly distant future. Let's not ban him from diving for life.

I don't really see anything that nasty. A lot of people started out in this thread with words of support.

1) He stated he was nervous, not confident, and didn't communicate well due to personal reasons. Admitted his weaknesses - the only correct thing he did , in my opinion.
2) He stated he felt the instructor failed him because he, nldiver1984, stated he was nervous. His assumption.
3) He stated he did not ask the instructor why he failed, but rather told him he would finish the course elsewhere. Nowhere in the thread does he indicate that a discussion was had and whether or not an agreement of more time and training could be worked out.
4) He is demanding not to spend any more money on scuba (not just with this instructor/shop) unless this situation is rectified to his expectations.
5) He stated he believed he should be given more time to complete the course than other students because of his lack of previous experience in emergency responses. He wants a different standard applied to him and expects that is what he paid for.
6) He does not want to continue rescue certification in the environment he expects to have to perform such activity, because he is not as well suited to the cold as others. Is this realistic when it comes to having to perform a rescue?
7) He is stating he is going to quit diving altogether over this. How dedicated is he?

As a new diver, this is the exact insta-buddy I fear getting paired up with.

If he can go back to item number one and reflect on it, determine if this is something he wants to do, he can work through it. But with 2-7 (and I may have left other items out) he is only blocking himself from progress.

I have plenty of issues with my diving that I need to work on. I don't get butt-hurt when someone points it out to me. Maybe I have thicker skin, but given that I'm the noob in the group, I listen, I reflect, and I learn. I may still not do it right the next time, but not for lack of trying.

 

[TMHeimer]

You should go back re-read the posts. The instructor did tell him what his problems were. He refuses to accept that can't get an automatic card for his payment of the class and prefers instead to blame the instructor for his faults.

I just did. I got this total amount from the OP's posts: "Failure to be active & take control"., "Wasn't comfortable with rest of Rescue team". (Not sure what the 2nd one means--you are the rescuer yourself--team?, it depends.). Either way, not really specifics on what he did wrong. How was he in the pool doing the required exercises?--we don't know. Should the instructor have said "you suck and dive 50 more times before coming back, preferably with a mentor"?- maybe. A lot of stuff missing. Don't get me wrong as I'm not siding with the OP as opposed to the instructor. There are just a lot of problems all over here. He shouldn't be considering Rescue for quite a while (if ever?), but I have been frustrated with waiting months for courses due to climate. I hope he either shores up his own diving and eventually succeeds with rescue, or at least doesn't go that route and stays safe with his own diving.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Sounds like the OP is putting a lot of pressure on himself. I think he should consider stepping away from the idea of the Rescue course for a while and take a vacation. Take his mind off it and just enjoy some diving--somewhere the diving is easy and fun. He'll know when he feels confident enough in the water to give it another go in the unforgiving North. Maybe another year, maybe two. I hope he doesn't let this episode ruin his enjoyment of diving.

 

[TMHeimer]

I don't really see anything that nasty. A lot of people started out in this thread with words of support.

1) He stated he was nervous, not confident, and didn't communicate well due to personal reasons. Admitted his weaknesses - the only correct thing he did , in my opinion.
2) He stated he felt the instructor failed him because he, nldiver1984, stated he was nervous. His assumption.
3) He stated he did not ask the instructor why he failed, but rather told him he would finish the course elsewhere. Nowhere in the thread does he indicate that a discussion was had and whether or not an agreement of more time and training could be worked out. Sorry, I still don't get this quote thing perfect.
4) He is demanding not to spend any more money on scuba (not just with this instructor/shop) unless this situation is rectified to his expectations.
5) He stated he believed he should be given more time to complete the course than other students because of his lack of previous experience in emergency responses. He wants a different standard applied to him and expects that is what he paid for.
6) He does not want to continue rescue certification in the environment he expects to have to perform such activity, because he is not as well suited to the cold as others. Is this realistic when it comes to having to perform a rescue?
7) He is stating he is going to quit diving altogether over this. How dedicated is he?

As a new diver, this is the exact insta-buddy I fear getting paired up with.

If he can go back to item number one and reflect on it, determine if this is something he wants to do, he can work through it. But with 2-7 (and I may have left other items out) he is only blocking himself from progress.

I have plenty of issues with my diving that I need to work on. I don't get butt-hurt when someone points it out to me. Maybe I have thicker skin, but given that I'm the noob in the group, I listen, I reflect, and I learn. I may still not do it right the next time, but not for lack of trying.

Well, for a new diver you make a lot of good points. But ""don't cry, "never dive again" and "be a bowler" are nasty in my mind. Remember, none of us were there.

---------- Post added October 6th, 2014 at 04:11 PM ----------

When I'm having considerable trouble completing a task I'm usually given more time to practice UNTIL I've mastered it. This wasn't the case here. Many of the students already had emergency rescue experience and I find it unfair to place me at the same performance level as them.

The instructor hasn't stated that he would work with me to finish the course, so I'm just telling him what I'm going to do if I can't get any additional help from this dive shop.

Interesting. Again, we weren't there.


As stated, I did pretty well in Rescue with only 26 dives. The one problem I had was at one scenario I donned my own equipment poorly before jumping in to rescue (figuring if the guy was really drowning I'd better hurry). The instructor said "Hey, that's OW stuff--you did OK but need to do a lot of diving". I had the knowledge, did most of the stuff well and got my card. And did a lot of diving. I had received good input.

 

[Dr. Lecter]

I'm debating whether or not I want to get back in the water.

Now you're on the right track.

---------- Post added October 6th, 2014 at 01:50 PM ----------

For me I like to get my money's worth.

Sounds to me like you got it: you paid a minimal amount for a PADI Rescue course, you attended the course, and you failed. If you require time beyond that alotted in the course to build basic dive skills, in-water confidence, and the ability to handle the stress and time-pressure of emergency situations...pay for it.

When I was a lifeguard instructor, everyone was offered the same training opportunities within the class structure. Students who needed several hours more work to pass, usually with extensive 1 on 1 attention that's not provided for by the basic class's structure, were welcome to it. However, they needed to pay for that time because I wasn't being paid to provide a class and all the remedial attention necessary to get a sub-par student up to a level where the class he/she paid for would be useful to them.

 

[rhuntley]

PFrom what I have heard in the chat discussing this, his instructor gave the standard PADI rescue course, and he failed to meet the standards of it. While the other students have had previous emergency rescue experience and everyone was performing at a higher level than you, you would have still been graded to PADI standards. You complained that the rescue scenatios were at random, do you ever plan to have to rescue someone? You have to look at this from a different point of view. As well, you froze in a rescue exercise because your instructor pulled the reg out of your mouth. Do you ever plan to have your reg removed from your mouth? No, but you should know what actions need to be taken to get your next breath.

I took the rescue course when I was fifteen, with no rescue experience. My instructor as well was a hardass, it was her aim at the end of the course to have all her students at one point hate her for making the excersize so difficult. She didn't do this because she had paid for her instructor certification, and wanted to be rude, she did it to get the most out of us, and train us to the highest standard she could. The point at which I thought it was when handling two panicked divers at the surface. I handled the first, reassured them and made them properly bouyant. The second I turned to handle the other diver, the diver I just helped went into a panic again, and pushed me under, attempting to get themselves as high out of the water as possible. I wasn't prepared for that, nor did it happen to the students before me, but I still acted and recovered the situation. The instructor then took it to another level, to see her students breaking point. Mine was towing a large non responsive/non breathing diver, while in current, and both of us in sidemount (More water to push). I got to the point where I couldn't give effective rescue breaths because I was too busy trying to breathe myself. Best course I ever did, and likely will do.

 

[Keith.M]

The one thing in this thread that concerned me the most about the instructor was this.

I didn't even do any of the exercises in open water because the instructor thought I couldn't do it.

I think you should have a chance to prove that you can, rather than the assumption that you can't. Now granted, I wasn't there to see why that assumption was made and safety has to be the instructors #1 priority.

This was the one of the most disturbing things the OP posted. (Other than being OOA at 100'! No excuse for not watching your SPG)

Yes I've had many close calls in my lifetime