You know, I think the Rescue class was the best mainstream diving class I took. (Unless, of course, you count the fact that my OW class gave me access to being underwater! ). But only a small part of the class was learning to get someone out of their gear. A lot of it was learning to THINK about diving situations, and about rescue situations, and how to be effective and not create a second victim. We learned how to look around and identify the resources available to us, and how to use them wisely. None of that is gear-dependent at all.
There was a comment above that "All students in a Rescue class should be in the same equipment". I would offer that that is a convenience for the INSTRUCTOR, and no benefit to the students at all -- in fact, the reverse.
I vividly remember doing a dive when I was relatively new, with a fellow whose inflator, instead of having buttons, had colored, plastic PLATES for activating the functions. I found it baffling (I was trying to help him with his buoyancy) and I would have been very ineffective had I needed to rescue him. There are a lot of gear configurations out there, and banishing all but one of them from a Rescue class is, to me, extremely shortsighted on the part of the teacher.
And, BTW, I did Rescue AFTER I did GUE Fundamentals. They are entirely different classes, with completely different foci and goals. They are complementary, not mutually exclusive.
And I want to be recognized for the intense personal discipline involved in not picking up the gauntlet thrown by the statement that a Hog rig isn't for basic recreational diving
There was a comment above that "All students in a Rescue class should be in the same equipment". I would offer that that is a convenience for the INSTRUCTOR, and no benefit to the students at all -- in fact, the reverse.
I vividly remember doing a dive when I was relatively new, with a fellow whose inflator, instead of having buttons, had colored, plastic PLATES for activating the functions. I found it baffling (I was trying to help him with his buoyancy) and I would have been very ineffective had I needed to rescue him. There are a lot of gear configurations out there, and banishing all but one of them from a Rescue class is, to me, extremely shortsighted on the part of the teacher.
And, BTW, I did Rescue AFTER I did GUE Fundamentals. They are entirely different classes, with completely different foci and goals. They are complementary, not mutually exclusive.
And I want to be recognized for the intense personal discipline involved in not picking up the gauntlet thrown by the statement that a Hog rig isn't for basic recreational diving