Have training standards "slipped"?

[MikeFerrara]

NAUI should do away with the CESA requirement. It is too harsh on the instructor and teaches the WRONG thing to the student.

Naturally I disagree. The whole concept of OW recreational diving is based on the surface always being accessible. A CESA is a viable and effective means of reaching the surface.

With reasonable class sizes and some prior planning, I don't think it's too harsh on the instructor either.

 

[Thalassamania]

...It is too harsh on the instructor ...

If what you mean to say is that a day of CESA can be hard on an instructor's ears, I'd have to agree.

 

[freediver]

If what you mean to say is that a day of CESA can be hard on an instructor's ears, I'd have to agree.

You guys obviously don't freedive much during a day's time!

 

[Walter]

If you read the PADI instructor training materials in addition to the standards, I don't think you can really conclude that PADI condones that addition of skills.

Of course they don't, but they allow them. They want their courses to be like a cookie cutter, each one exactly the same as every other one. Which is one major reason the agency is usually much more important than the instructor.

 

[Hank49]

If what you mean to say is that a day of CESA can be hard on an instructor's ears, I'd have to agree.

Didn't Australia PADI stop that as a requirement because they had associated it with increased incidences of DCS in instuctors doing it with multiple students?

 

[Thalassamania]

You guys obviously don't freedive much during a day's time!

Actaully I do ... the operant word is "can."

 

[The Chairman]

Naturally I disagree. The whole concept of OW recreational diving is based on the surface always being accessible. A CESA is a viable and effective means of reaching the surface.

No, it teaches them to go to the surface FIRST. There is too much emphasis placed on this particular skill and not enough on buddy and gas management. It is already the initiate's inclination to BOLT to the surface at the first sign of trouble and here we go and re-enforce that concept. It simply does not make sense to me.

With reasonable class sizes and some prior planning, I don't think it's too harsh on the instructor either.

A rapid rise to the surface done 2-8 times in a row goes against EVERYTHING we teach about safe ascents. I think it should be done horizontally in the pool and then more time spent on buddy and gas management. There is simply NO EXCUSE for running out of air or out of buddy anymore. BTW, it has NOTHING to do with my ears, but I have to say that I feel WAY MORE TIRED after doing this skill set then after any other training dive. I am certain we expose ourselves to subclinical DCS by doing this.

 

[Geoff_H]

. I think it should be done horizontally in the pool and then more time spent on buddy and gas management.

During my Padi OW course we did the CESA horozontially - this seems like a fair compromise to me.

I think it is a useful skill to have learnt, but equally I can see your point about it being inappropriate for some students who may be inclined to bolt to the surface instead of stopping & thinking (which is emphasised in PADI OW).

 

[MikeFerrara]

No, it teaches them to go to the surface FIRST. There is too much emphasis placed on this particular skill and not enough on buddy and gas management. It is already the initiate's inclination to BOLT to the surface at the first sign of trouble and here we go and re-enforce that concept. It simply does not make sense to me. A rapid rise to the surface done 2-8 times in a row goes against EVERYTHING we teach about safe ascents. I think it should be done horizontally in the pool and then more time spent on buddy and gas management. There is simply NO EXCUSE for running out of air or out of buddy anymore. BTW, it has NOTHING to do with my ears, but I have to say that I feel WAY MORE TIRED after doing this skill set then after any other training dive. I am certain we expose ourselves to subclinical DCS by doing this.

Of course I agree that there should be a greater emphasis place on buddy skills and gas management but that sounds like agency bashing I also think it's important for a student to actually experience doing a CESA. I don't know about NAUI standards but PADI standards require the skill to be done from between 20 and 30 ft so it doesn't need to be all that rapid.

I never noticed fatigue problems from teaching OW alone but I often taught advanced nitrox courses in the same day and I got more than fatugued a few times. Changing my own decompression strategies and taking advantage of gasses other than air really helped.

 

[KCIREVAM]

Todays lessons R like hearding cattle get em in and get em out. Safety and education R 2nd ary to the financial $ reward to the dive shop. Alot of people take diving classes 4 a 1 time event such as going on vacation or honeymoon 2 visit the under water world. They don't keep up with their skills after they achieve their C card. If U do take the advance and etc. C cards comes with more education and safety. An old saying practice,practice practice. If U don't dive it U loose it. Rec.diving safety is #1.