RonFrank:
Could PADI change the course and require more of the students? Certainly. However I'm not clear how a PADI instructor could ever walk away with the idea that buddy skills are not required. You did say you were an instructor?
Yes, I did say I was a PADI instructor and what I'm saying is directly based on the PADI OW training standards. Students are not required to demonstrate that they can actually dive as a buddy.
Lets look at a couple of specific examples.
On OW dive 4 the student is required to "
Using the five point descent method, perform a descent with no visual reference to a depth no greather than 18 meters/60 ft."
Note that they are not required to demonstrate that they can stay with a buddy during that descent.
Buddy breathing is certainly required in the OW skills portion during CO dives,
Buddy breathing is not required.
and PADI certainly does not just allow people who survive to pass the OW portion without demonstrating skills like mask clearing, buddy breathing, buoyancy control (we had to do toe stands), out/back navigation, mask removal, Emergency ascents, etc.
ok, so the student demonstrates a few simple skills, usually while kneeling. However, if we look back to the standards we see that on the tour portion of the dive of OW dive 4 (the actual diving part) requires...
"Explore underwater to gain experience"
Note, they don't have to stay off the bottom, they don't have to stay with a buddy, they don't have to plan the tour with a buddy...pretty much all they have to do is survive. The only buoyancy control required on the dive at all is is
"Achieve neutral buoyancy and hover underwater in midwater using only buoyancy control and without swimming, sculling,or using fins". However, the standards don't specify position or trim and there is no specified amount of time the student must hold the hover. The point is, however, that the student isn't required to demonstrate anything in the way of teqnique while actually diving. They can crawl through the tour (the actual diving portion of the dive) and meet the requirements of the class.
While team and buddy diving are not part of the skill testing, they are certainly emphasized in the OW book, and by any decant instructor.
A good instructor is one who teaches according to the styandards since that's what the instructor is tested on. There's no reason to believe that enything will be taught that isn't required. Since one can become an instructor with only 6 months of experience there isn't any reason to believe that an instructor knows anything that isn't required in the standards.
So classes operate in a vacuum where the book and course standards are the only thing that can be considered? No diving class is designed in such a way where the book is designed to work as the sole method of training, and the instructor is worthless.
The instructor is a key element of the training where they contribute their knowledge and experience. Our instructor certainly discussed gas management. In fact more so than most other aspects of diving as running out of gas is one of the least desirable things when UW.
Again, as I pointed out above, there isn't any reason to believe that the instror knows or is able to teach anything that isn't required in the standards. That's especially true when the skills we're talking about aren't taught on any course all the way up to the instor level and the instructor was never tested on them.
PADI does not pretend that the OW class is the end all of dive training. OW prepares a student to start to learn to dive safely.
No. According to PADI, the OW certification qualifies a diver to independantly plan and conduct OW dives in conditions as good or better than those in which they were trained.
Every certified diver will require additional training or mentoring with more experienced divers, and various diving conditions to become a capable diver.
No. According to the agency completing OW training qualifies a diver to dive at that level. The agency apparently thinks they are already capable at that level.
People can bash PADI, or NAUI, or YMCA all they like. I have not seen an OW class that going to go into advanced gas management for deep water drift diving.
Knowing hoiw much gas you need to get you and a buddy to the surface and planning to have that much isn't "advanced gas management". It's just regular everyday gas management. LOL
Why the need to bash PADI? Did they piss in your corn flakes in the past? I dive with DIR trained divers, PADI Instructors, NAUI instructors, SSI Instructors, Tech trained divers, and none of them are into agency bashing. Most are into sharing knowledge, and helping others become better dives. So I often wonder what is the motivation of folks here who so like to complain about agencies?
If I said...PADI sucks...and gave no reasoning that would be bashing. that';s not what I'm doing. I'm discussing what the standards require as they relate to the problems diver actually have in the water. The standards are what they are.
My motivation is simple. I'd like to see more divers avoid these problems and understanding why the problems occure and what needs to be learned in order to avoid them is a good place to start.
