First PADI Recreational Backmount Doubles Certification Issued

[Wibble]

Some people prefer the course to the alternative of reinventing all the mistakes, some of which are dangerous.

Or a process of curiosity and discovery, as that's fun too. What's wrong with working out stuff by yourself? Most of it is the art of the bleeding obvious.

DPVs; fun to play with and you soon get to know the pitfalls of powering up or down or getting it caught as you jump in. Drysuits; soon realise how much practice you need, especially ascents. Not much to them.

Diving can be annoyingly 'nannying' sometimes. Let people play and don't spoon feed them.

 

[tursiops]

It has been that way for a few years now. PADI Instructors must be certified at the Full Cave level in order to teach cavern.

This Full Cave requirement began in 2006. Before that the prereq was Intro to Cave.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

People like to mock the dsmb course but when I wrote a student manual for it, there was quite a bit involved. It belongs in open water of course but as it is optional or there are people who never had it, a remedial.course (like PPB is) makes sense.

As for sidemount, there is a lot to it for configuring a kit. There are way too many bad sidemount divers out there. Some pretty bad instructors too unfortunately. This has resulted in giving sidemount overall a bad reputation in many circles.

If people want to skip courses and figure things out on their own, have at it. But let those who value their time to take a challenging course to acquire skills more quickly.

 

[Marie13]

Or a process of curiosity and discovery, as that's fun too. What's wrong with working out stuff by yourself? Most of it is the art of the bleeding obvious.

DPVs; fun to play with and you soon get to know the pitfalls of powering up or down or getting it caught as you jump in. Drysuits; soon realise how much practice you need, especially ascents. Not much to them.

Diving can be annoyingly 'nannying' sometimes. Let people play and don't spoon feed them.

I don’t know how it works in the UK, but in the US, if you want to rent a drysuit, you need to show proof of drysuit suit. I’d be surprised if it’s not the same with DPVs.

 

[Wibble]

I don’t know how it works in the UK, but in the US, if you want to rent a drysuit, you need to show proof of drysuit suit. I’d be surprised if it’s not the same with DPVs.

Then I better bring my own and not rent them then!

Really not sure about what the rental people would want over here. As it's not litigious, it'll be unlikely that you'd need to show proof. The only time I did rent a drysuit was in Scotland when my drysuit zip parted on the first day of a week's diving. The shop couldn't fix mine but rented me one (with a plastic zip -- discovered how they need serious checking before jumping as I spent the evening at a launderette!)

Never tried to rent DPVs, not even sure where from.

 

[Angelo Farina]

and I bet they were the type that just had the cross bar between the two tanks with a reg post in the middle.

No, they all had two independent valves (one in the manifold, one in the left tank). And a reserve holding 100 bars in the right tank.
We did not use an octopus at the time. When the dive was "demanding" we were trained to add a complete second reg on the left post

 

[Bigbella]

This was my first set-up (which I still possess), fresh out of the "Y" -- a Cyklon 300, attached to an Aqua-Sport - Poseidon double manifold, with the old "Start / Dive" and "Reserve / Fill" settings -- fully a year or two before I ever had the chance to use a single cylinder.

As a teenager, they first gave me a couple of 72s, attached to a rigid backplate with coarse nylon straps, that would have made Torquemada envious.

That this is now, somehow, a PADI specialty class, oddly reminds me of just how few are now capable of operating a manual transmission . . .

 

[NW Dive Dawg]

Hey...... I dive doubles all the time. Both are 100% redundant. It's just that one of them is known to some as a Pony...... So for anyone diving redundant doubles who ever gets questioned or hassled or asked for a cert by a dive shop or op....... Just tell-em........ "Those aren't doubles.....that one on the right is just a real big Pony".

 

[tursiops]

That this is now, somehow, a PADI specialty class, oddly reminds me of just how few are now capable of operating a manual transmission . . .

It is not a PADI Specialty; it is a distinctive specialty, written by the guy presenting it. PADI approves them only to assure safety and no conflicts with approved practices. The guy presenting it has a l;ot of such videos that are mostly trivial.
I would not tar all of today's divers as being idiots. Some sure, but not as a generalization.

 

[Bigbella]

It is not a PADI Specialty; it is a distinctive specialty, written by the guy presenting it. PADI approves them only to assure safety and no conflicts with approved practices. The guy presenting it has a l;ot of such videos that are mostly trivial.
I would not tar all of today's divers as being idiots. Some sure, but not as a generalization.

Ooh, semantics.

"The possibly first ever PADI recreational backmount doubles certification was completed this weekend. This recently approved course was developed to allow recreational divers to learn how to safely dive with more breathing gas and with redundant safety systems, more commonly only found in technical diving."

Quacks like specialty course to me.

I am not tarring anyone, in particular, of being an idiot; it's just that mouth-breathing is all-too well represented and tolerated in today's society -- regardless of one's vocation or avocation . . .