How many dives does it take for one to be competent?

[ATJ]

I have had divers who have been diving for 30 years tell me something like, "well, my instructor says (said)" and my response is my instructor is dead of old age.

Actually, I have been diving for over 40 years and my instructor is not only still alive but he's still diving (and instructing)!

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

What if you're Chuck Norris?

 

[Nemrod]

Okay, good to hear

Actually, I have been diving for over 40 years and my instructor is not only still alive but he's still diving (and instructing)!

Okay, that is great to hear. I wish mine were so I could dive with him again. But do you still rely upon his/her advice and help to plan a dive or decide if conditions are suitable for your experience level or can you make those decisions yourself? I suspect you are quite capable to do so yourself.

I did not mean to insinuate that advancing education and additional courses would not need new guidance or help to master. Examples might be advancing into tech level or planed deco or mixed gases or CCR.

James

 

[Centrals]

I believe/think I am a competent diver!!!!!
But I have no real experience in dealing with life threatening situation ever under water.
So am I still competent?

Diving is dangerous because we are in an hostile, unforgiving environment with potential deadly consequences.
Take it easy as it is only a recreational sport. No need to pay with your or other lives.

 

[boulderjohn]

But I have no real experience in dealing with life threatening situation ever under water.
So am I still competent?

I must have missed a previous post to which this is responding.

If you have no real experience dealing with a life threatening situation under water after many dives, that is probably a sign of a competent diver.

Someone supposedly asked early American pioneer Daniel Boone if he had ever been lost, and he supposedly said no, but he had at times been a mite bewildered. Those moments of bewilderment would probably amount to being lost to some pioneers.

Competent divers do not easily find themselves in life threatening situations because their diving practices do not usually lead them into such situations. Sometimes, though, they may poke around the edges of safe diving, and they may find themselves in situations that might lead a lesser diver to panic, but they work their way out of it with no big deal because of their overall competence and resulting confidence.

 

[TMHeimer]

Regarding the last two posts, I have always wondered what I would do in a real emergency. You take the Rescue course and review the techniques, rack up hundreds of dives (for some of you thousands) and you just never know if and until the situation arises. Could be what John says, competency, or could be dumb luck-- probably a combination. I mean, I've been in a handful of uncomfortable situations (currents, cramps, whatever), but nothing that got me close to panic. I hope to not find out by the time I decide to hang up the fins.

 

[Centrals]

I have done the rescue cause yrs ago but how will I react to a real situation is one thing that I have no wish to find out.

 

[drk5036]

I think the poll choices are interseting, because if it actually took so many dives to be competent...what would the competency rate be? What % of all trained divers make it to 100+? 0.1%?

 

[Nemrod]

I think most people are okay to be on their own once they have an Advanced level certification even if they do Basic and Advanced back to back. I voted 100 dives because that was the least number I think. To truly be competent, 100 dives in diverse conditions is probably about right. But to plan and execute safely simple dives in benign conditions that most of us dive in, far, far fewer. SCUBA diving is not a dangerous sport, well, unless you let it be so. Rather than competency, the biggest detriment to safe diving that I see is overweight and out of shape and physically unfit divers. N

 

[TMHeimer]

I think most people are okay to be on their own once they have an Advanced level certification even if they do Basic and Advanced back to back. I voted 100 dives because that was the least number I think. To truly be competent, 100 dives in diverse conditions is probably about right. But to plan and execute safely simple dives in benign conditions that most of us dive in, far, far fewer. SCUBA diving is not a dangerous sport, well, unless you let it be so. Rather than competency, the biggest detriment to safe diving that I see is overweight and out of shape and physically unfit divers. N

Agree. That gets back to something I think I said a long while ago here. You can be very competent doing a particular type of diving over & over. Not many will beat me on Nova Scotia shore diving, for whatever that's worth....