How do you feel about PADI bashing on this thread??

[letterboy]

Ya think?

Sometimes.

 

[Diver Dennis]

:d :d :d

 

[letterboy]

Ouch my head hurts from reading this. . .

 

[do it easy]

People demand quick and cheap ... PADI gives them what they demand.

Those who want a higher level of price and effort seek out the stores and agencies that provide it ... and they are all much smaller because of consumer demand ...

So essentially "PADI bashing" is akin to getting Walmart to raise it's prices and offer "better" goods? Seems like a long shot to me.

In this analogy, the alternative are specialty shops, with higher prices, that do offer "better" goods for more discriminating tastes.

 

[HowardE]

Here's my letter to be emailed to PADI:

I find is disturbing that your minimal standard for open water certification has no swimming requirement by substituting snorkel, mask, and fin skill.

An essential skill require for scuba diving is comfort in the water. If a candidate for OW do not possess the capacity to swim freely for 200 yards, he/she can not demonstrate comfort in the water.

What if a fin strap came lose, a mask leaked, or a snorkel became flooded? A person who is comfortable in the water will not panic. But one who has not developed swimming skills will panic. Panic lead to poor judgement, and death.

I implore you to correct this deficiency, as it will contribute to scubadiver death and injury. As a former occupational health physician, I implore you to upgrade your OW standard.

Sincerely yours,


************, M.D.

Your letter sounds like a good troll for SB, but I seriously doubt that PADI would do much to change their standards, even if EVERY SB member sent e-mail to them.

How many instructors are on SB? What is your OWSI #? I bet they're pretty high numbers. How many SB members total? Catch my drift?

SB is a small fraction of the number of real divers out there. (SB members obviously are addicted to diving) Most divers are more than happy to take a quickie OW course, and get certified, and THEN decide where to go from there with their training (or not). If Basic OW became too involved, then people wouldn't take it.

SCUBA certification agencies for the most part are businesses operated FOR PROFIT. The more people who "discover diving" - the more money the company makes

 

[Hoyden]

No, I think this is very informative. It is very sad, and will contribute to diver's death rate.

Got any evidence to support the your position that scuba divers who complete a 300 yd snorkel during training instead of a 200 yd swim are more likely to die while scuba diving?


Jackie

 

[ZzzKing]

Those MOF v. NMOF threads are just too few and far between. I have to entertain myself somehow...

 

[fisherdvm]

Got any evidence to support the your position that scuba divers who complete a 300 yd snorkel during training instead of a 200 yd swim are more likely to die while scuba diving?
Jackie

No, but have you got any evidence that a blind man driving a car will get in an accident? It is intuitive.

The assumption here is equipment will not fail. BCD's will hold up. Regulator will work. Mask will not fail. Fins will not drop off. Snorkels will be utilized.

These assumptions will not always occur, and accidents will happen.

 

[fisherdvm]

Your letter sounds like a good troll for SB, but I seriously doubt that PADI would do much to change their standards, even if EVERY SB member sent e-mail to them.

How many instructors are on SB? What is your OWSI #? I bet they're pretty high numbers. How many SB members total? Catch my drift?

SB is a small fraction of the number of real divers out there. (SB members obviously are addicted to diving) Most divers are more than happy to take a quickie OW course, and get certified, and THEN decide where to go from there with their training (or not). If Basic OW became too involved, then people wouldn't take it.

SCUBA certification agencies for the most part are businesses operated FOR PROFIT. The more people who "discover diving" - the more money the company makes

Smart folks these agencies are. I think you are correct, standards are lowered to increase profit. I think it is great that someone is encouraging blind folks to dive, but to tell people who have the swimming skill of a kid in red cross level 2 swimming to dive is absurd.

 

[Hank49]

How many divers here started with PADI, then decided that the training could be improved upon and went to another agency for advanced training? I agree that they aren't focused on training enough but they do get people "in the door" in higher numbers than any other agency, which is good for anyone involved in the industry.