Have training standards "slipped"?

[Walter]

PADI standards still require a 200 yd swim, 10 tread and a controlled emergency swimming ascent...maybe a time to call the mothership and report your instructor....

Actually, they don't. That's merely one option. You can snorkel 300 yds if you can swim and stay within PADI standards requirements.

 

[Steve R]

........This type of discussion reenforces the concept of buyer beware. After reading these threads, if you want fast and cheap, you know how to find it; if you prefer quality, you know how to find it. Consumer Awareness is the primary purpose of this type of discussion. Hiding these threads would eliminate their primary benefit.

Amen.

 

[daniel f aleman]

Could not agree more with Walter - ultimately, it's the consumer that sets the "standard" of curriculum offered.

 

[Mako Mark]

What always amazed me about those resort courses is the number of people that hurt their ears doing them. A high percentage of the people who walked into my shop after having done a resort program on vacation reported some level of ear injury and many even required medical attention..

Mike, you know I have been involved in many many thousands of resort courses, and in my experience, they dont need medical attention at the end of it. If they did, the course would not exist and you know it. However, I think it may be poll worthy.

I'm saying that I wouldn't teach the resort course. I just wouldn't take any diver with CW1 skills only into open water.

.

just because you dont feel comfortable with it, doesnt mean its wrong and the thousands of successful resort dives conducted every day prove that there is nothing wrong with it.

I'm not sure I would qualify "going down, swimming, and coming up" as buoyancy control. All that shows is they learned how to work the autoinflator.

we are talking about dive 1 here folks, not going down or going down and not coming up is a lack of bouyancy contrlo at this level, it doesnt have to be pretty, it just has to have a successful outcome.

 

[The Chairman]

we are talking about dive 1 here folks, not going down or going down and not coming up is a lack of bouyancy contrlo at this level, it doesnt have to be pretty, it just has to have a successful outcome.

I am thinking that these students need 100 plus hours of pool work to be able to master their concept of neutral buoyancy.

Why on EARTH should we allow noobs to dive like noobs???

 

[Mako Mark]

Could not agree more with Walter - ultimately, it's the consumer that sets the "standard" of curriculum offered.

Exactly, and the customer does not want dangerous, difficult, arduous or grueling, they want safe, easy, adventurous and fun.

Those who do not meet what the consumer wants quickly goes out of business.

 

[Hank49]

Those who do not meet what the consumer wants quickly goes out of business.

Well said.....

 

[Thalassamania]

Exactly, and the customer does not want dangerous, difficult, arduous or grueling, they want safe, easy, adventurous and fun.

Then stop lying to the consumer (not you personally, the agencies). If a customer does not want adequate training for them to be an independent diver, certify them as a dependent diver and require that they dive with leadership personnel. I'd have no problem with that.

Those who do not meet what the consumer wants quickly goes out of business.

I'd suggest that the actual case is that those who refuse to lie are forced to operate at a disadvantage. For example: safe, easy, adventurous and fun are four sets that do not share an intersection.

 

[The Chairman]

Then stop lying to the consumer (not you personally, the agencies).

Who are you to claim that the agencies are lying? NAUI certainly presents their certification as a license to learn. PADI is explicit that you are ONLY certified to dive in conditions similar to those you experienced in your OW class. This again, is mere agency bashing and nothing more and I for one suspect that your motives are ego driven. But then, you have a "closed shop". Your customers HAVE to abide by your rules or they don't get to play scientist under the water. We get it: you don't have to worry about economics to play your game. Unfortunately, the rest of us live in the real world.

 

[DiverBizz]

Are we becoming Dive Snobs here? I thought we dive because we love it. Are we in the military SEAL training course? Recreational diving is my bag...I got trained by an excellent tough instructor...who encouraged the love of diving, not do it my way or the highway. He did follow standards and mandate that we did everything safely and correctly.