fairybasslet
Contributor
I just don't see how anyone could land face first doing a giant stride. It just seems to me that the weight of the tank keeps one upright. :06:
How Can This Be!
- Thread starter SteveDiver
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Fairy Basslet,
If the dive platform is awash or close to the water level, it's easy to get the tip of the fin caught in the water and they will actually trip. I teach the "kneeling entry" for those kinds of conditions. Inflate your BC partially, take two breaths out of your reg while watching your SPG (needle should be rock steady) and then check below for any divers or obstructions. With your TOES over the edge of the platform, left arm guarding the gauge, left hand guarding the weight belt buckle, and the right hand guarding the mask and regulator, kneel like you are going to pray and ease yourself into the water. You don't fall near as far this way so there is less shock to the diver and equipment. Surface turn to the DM and give an OK, find your buddy and Dive, Dive, Dive!
Now Steve. Just to help you empathize with this attitudinally challenged lady. Think of how the advice here has made you at least a bit defensive. Yes, there were a few "less than tactful" replies, but for the most part people here are trying to help you figure out how to do this better in the future. Maybe even give you an alternative way of looking at the problem. Did you find yourself a bit "challenged"? A little "defensive"? Maybe like the spotlight was focused on you in a way that made you feel a bit uncomfortable?
Well, if you are like MOST ScubaBoardians (I think you are), you not only care about YOUR diving skill set, but the skill set of those around you. In fact, I would wager that you have learned a thing or two on this board as I have (I used to do only safety pauses). So if you, among many a kindred spirit, feels a tad defensive, how do you think this lone diver feels on a trip with people she doesn't even know?
I would wager to say that MOST buddyless divers have little idea about proper diving etiquette. Not all, but a vast majority. She has no anchor, no starting point of a friend. So she is trying to IMPRESS her way to camaraderie and acceptance, not realizing that this is indeed a precarious journey even for the most tried and true.
As for getting her certs though, she didn't force the instructor to sign her pic card. My Rescue Diver class was nothing more than a sham. However, it wasn't until I was in the middle of my NAUI ITC that I realized just how bad it was. At the time, I was asking my instructor "are you sure?", since this was FAR, FAR easier than my Boy Scout Life Guard cert. But he plied my ego with how easy I made it look and how he wished that ALL of his students had my level of diving acumen. I actually bought it too. It delayed me getting my Instructors certification for over a month. Now I am becoming an Instructor Trainer (will finish after DEMA) and I can't believe I didn't know then what I know so well now.
As an instructor, I fault the instructor for her lack of skill set, her baditude, and for receiving certs that indicated that she had achieved a level of proficiency that she had not reached. That doesn't make her a "good diver" without a need for some remedial training. Hopefully she will learn from her mistakes. Many do not.
If the dive platform is awash or close to the water level, it's easy to get the tip of the fin caught in the water and they will actually trip. I teach the "kneeling entry" for those kinds of conditions. Inflate your BC partially, take two breaths out of your reg while watching your SPG (needle should be rock steady) and then check below for any divers or obstructions. With your TOES over the edge of the platform, left arm guarding the gauge, left hand guarding the weight belt buckle, and the right hand guarding the mask and regulator, kneel like you are going to pray and ease yourself into the water. You don't fall near as far this way so there is less shock to the diver and equipment. Surface turn to the DM and give an OK, find your buddy and Dive, Dive, Dive!
Now Steve. Just to help you empathize with this attitudinally challenged lady. Think of how the advice here has made you at least a bit defensive. Yes, there were a few "less than tactful" replies, but for the most part people here are trying to help you figure out how to do this better in the future. Maybe even give you an alternative way of looking at the problem. Did you find yourself a bit "challenged"? A little "defensive"? Maybe like the spotlight was focused on you in a way that made you feel a bit uncomfortable?
Well, if you are like MOST ScubaBoardians (I think you are), you not only care about YOUR diving skill set, but the skill set of those around you. In fact, I would wager that you have learned a thing or two on this board as I have (I used to do only safety pauses). So if you, among many a kindred spirit, feels a tad defensive, how do you think this lone diver feels on a trip with people she doesn't even know?
I would wager to say that MOST buddyless divers have little idea about proper diving etiquette. Not all, but a vast majority. She has no anchor, no starting point of a friend. So she is trying to IMPRESS her way to camaraderie and acceptance, not realizing that this is indeed a precarious journey even for the most tried and true.
As for getting her certs though, she didn't force the instructor to sign her pic card. My Rescue Diver class was nothing more than a sham. However, it wasn't until I was in the middle of my NAUI ITC that I realized just how bad it was. At the time, I was asking my instructor "are you sure?", since this was FAR, FAR easier than my Boy Scout Life Guard cert. But he plied my ego with how easy I made it look and how he wished that ALL of his students had my level of diving acumen. I actually bought it too. It delayed me getting my Instructors certification for over a month. Now I am becoming an Instructor Trainer (will finish after DEMA) and I can't believe I didn't know then what I know so well now.
As an instructor, I fault the instructor for her lack of skill set, her baditude, and for receiving certs that indicated that she had achieved a level of proficiency that she had not reached. That doesn't make her a "good diver" without a need for some remedial training. Hopefully she will learn from her mistakes. Many do not.
nwarainbw
Registered
working on my OW and will be a budyless diver when i finish. When I make the mistakes that I am sure I will, I hope that instead of ridicule or snickering behind my back other divers will let me know the mistakes and how to correct them in the future. I dont think I am a candidate for a darwin award but know that there will be alot I wont know when I am finally certified and hope that I make it through the newbie stage with guidence from others who remember what it was like.
PhotoTJ
Contributor
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I know a couple of Instructors who have never dove when they wern't a student, or did not have a student. PADI.
There is not enough emphisis placed on experience. Period.
There is not enough emphisis placed on experience. Period.
I am shaking my head in amazment...PhotoTJ:
I guess I shouldn't be too surprised. One of the instructors at my LDS won't dive below 70' because, admittedly, it scares him.
I went for one of my most challenging dives in a place called Hudson's Grotto. My buddy and I were amazed at the limited vis and were dutifully impressed with guys who routinely trained there. There were two sets of gear by the entrance as we went in.
When we got out they had obviously been moved and were quite wet. Well, it wasn't hard to lose a buddy that was 3ft away so it wasn't too odd that we hadn't seen them. As we were swapping tanks, they showed up. One guy said to the other "are you ready for dive #6?".
"Beginners, huh? This vis is pretty low for someone with only 6 dives."
"No, this is #6 today. We are working on our DM and need 50 logged dives. We go down to the 20 ft platform and sit for 20 minutes. It's pretty boring"
"Wait... you just sit at the platform??? Your instructor will NEVER accept that for your DM. I know that I wouldn't."
"What do you mean? It was our instructor's idea!"
Bwahahaha! Their instructor's idea! They were doing EXACTLY what their instructor asked of them and they will be worthless as DMs, unless of course they start reading ScubaBoard or meet a really good diver that mentors them.
When we got out they had obviously been moved and were quite wet. Well, it wasn't hard to lose a buddy that was 3ft away so it wasn't too odd that we hadn't seen them. As we were swapping tanks, they showed up. One guy said to the other "are you ready for dive #6?".
"Beginners, huh? This vis is pretty low for someone with only 6 dives."
"No, this is #6 today. We are working on our DM and need 50 logged dives. We go down to the 20 ft platform and sit for 20 minutes. It's pretty boring"
"Wait... you just sit at the platform??? Your instructor will NEVER accept that for your DM. I know that I wouldn't."
"What do you mean? It was our instructor's idea!"
Bwahahaha! Their instructor's idea! They were doing EXACTLY what their instructor asked of them and they will be worthless as DMs, unless of course they start reading ScubaBoard or meet a really good diver that mentors them.
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You're just not open-minded enough.
Just think how perfectly qualified they'll be for showing new divers how to
sit on the grate.
Terry
Just think how perfectly qualified they'll be for showing new divers how to
sit on the grate.
Terry
NetDoc:
cdiver2
Contributor
NetDoc:
Whilst doing a shore dive we came across some navy divers that just went out to 20' and sat on the bottom. When we asked what they were doing they explained "we have to have x amount of UW time per month so we are putting some time in"
fairybasslet
Contributor
I guess I just fail to see the benefit of pretending that you know more than you do. I am not ashamed to admit that I have a lot to learn, and on every dive, I'm always trying to learn more. If someone thinks I'm a pain, well, I guess that's their problem. There are more than enough people around on any boat willing to impart some advice. And whether I asked for it or not, I am grateful for it.
NauticalbutNice
Contributor
KangarooSeatbelt:
:god: Nice to see someone else thinks like me.
Ok so she messed up, ok so she had a bit of an attitude problem (from your version...two sides...blah blah blah). My heart still goes out to the woman. Why?
I've been there. Not with diving, with other stuff. Where you put on the big bravado front to hide whatever you want to hide. Just done my rescue and I guess you could class it as perceptual narrowing - you project an image and stick with it in the hope that if you pretend to be a great diver, you will be a great diver. No matter what happens you hold onto this idea. Divers like this need all the help they can get before they do themselves some serious harm.
6 dives or 600 dives it still takes a pretty brave man (or woman) to stand up and say "I don't know" or "I was wrong"
Nauticalbutnice :fruit:
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