here's one for the instructors

[Ber Rabbit]

We mix things up at the university. For the first five weeks the buddy's change each class period, this allows everyone to learn with people who have many different strengths and weaknesses. All of the students have to adapt to the new situation which comes in handy if you're going to end up diving with someone you don't know at some point in time. The last five weeks they team up with the person they will do their checkout dives with so they can become cohesive as a buddy team. I realize that the majority of classes don't offer 10 two-hour sessions in the pool, just thought I'd chime in with what we do with our students.
Ber

 

[Diversauras]

With that much time in class and the pool the instructor can see any problems developing and devise an approch to negate it.

 

[Paul168341]

Not only do I split-up couples, I especially try to split parent/offspring. The reason that I usually give them is what if you're on a trip and one of you is sick? Do you want to keep your husband/wife/son/daughter/mother/father etc.. stuck in a hotel room? Most people understand the concept. However there are some....

 

[padiscubapro]

If its not a private class, I always split up relatives and couples.. This prevents one buddy from being too reliant on the other. If I allow a husband/wife team in a private class to be "buddies", on all the dives I start with a 1 on 1 with each diver during the setup , and all skills are done with both me and the buddy.. I'll allow them to look after each other on the touring part of each dive (with me supervising of course), and also make them do the buddy drill a SECOND time with their "buddy" after it was first completed with me..

 

[Diversauras]

from the inputs from the instructors on the board it seems as though the pairing issue has already been identified and plans are in place to cover most contingencies. Maybe the instructors that aren't yet doing it this way should be encouraged to participate in these discussions, maybe we could share some insight with them, maybe they would then generate better divers.

 

[gadget]

Our teaching team has taken the approach of splitting up couples or people with dependent relationships during the first day of the open water portion of the course. On the second day we offer them the chance to dive with their spouse etc.

On more than a few occasions they have declined the offer and continued to dive with the buddy they started the open water with.

I have had a few people get upset with me over this but I explain to them that we don't have C-Cards with two names on them, only one. We are certifying individual divers not couples and want them to be the best they can be.

They can dive with each other for the rest of their lives but we need to see if they can function independently.

The buddy system is great but I feel we want to stress good skills in the individual right from the start.

 

[Jef]

I should point out from my earlier posts that my wife and I are taking our advanced courses together, we received our OW separately. On that I should have been clear, I can see the point most of the post are making and I can’t dispute it.

 

[gadget]

Ahhh... Advanced does make a difference...but...

Last summer I had a husband and wife taking an advanced course who constantly bickered and then promptly lost each other underwater on their compass excercise as they did not do a proper dive plan.

These two were a worst case scenario but it has prompted me to make a point of splitting up everyone at some point over the weekend to make them think a little more about what they are doing.

Ironically I think the two DM candidates who were assisting me that weekend learned more from these bad divers than anything I could tell them in class.

Good luck with the advanced and if your instructor doesn't want to split you two up, why not ask him to mix up the buddies on at least one dive so you have to stay sharp.

 

[Ron Brandt]

It depends . I had one couple last year that the guy wanted to learn to dive and work in the dive industry . His wife had no interest at all . Guess who had the better skills ?

If you guessed the guys wife, you win.

I also did a private class with a father & son.Their skills were about on par in the pool. The father did try to help his son on occasion.

At the lake, the father was panic stricken and just about did not complete his dives. The 12 year old son ? No prob ! Did every skill perfect.

Ron

 

[3bucketts]

Hey Gadet I belive after hearing more from another source that you should be real nice to the 2 dm's and maybe buy them something nice like a rolex submariner watch. :banging: does the icon remind you of anything to do with this post