How to find the right instructor..

[Carribeandiver]

Ok, so you just finished OW and you are ready to jump in. Then, about 3 minutes after the splash you look around and see people swimming with little effort, with hands folded at their waist and what is even more surprising, they are swimming horizontally. How do they do that? Why is it you find yourself swimming on a diagonal and if you fold your arms you find yourself sinking or floating or drifting away from your buddy?
Ah ha, you think you figured it out. Those guys must have taken AOW or that PPB course you heard about. So you decide right then and there you are going to sign up for one or both of those classes.
You take the AOW course, it includes PPB and taking that course will kill two birds with one stone.
But wow, the PPB part was not very helpful. All you did was take a dive with an instructor who had you kneel on the bottom while he added or subtracted weights from your belt. Then suddenly, he gave the ok sign and that was it. You think, this PPB course sure isnt what I thought it was going to be but what the heck, now I can swim horizontally like everyone else.
After a few dives, you realize you are no better off then you were before you took that AOW class and had that PPB training. What do you do now?
Obviously, that instructor didnt do a very good job instructing. You realize you need to take that PPB afterall. But now you know enough to know that just enrolling in a class may or may not be the solution. Experience has taught you that you should enroll ONLY in a class with a worthwhile instructor.
So what do you do to find that worthwhile instructor? A class description isnt the answer. How does anyone find the right instructor?

 

[1_T_Submariner]

Talk to others. Read this thread.

http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=166469&highlight=choosing+an+instructor

 

[douglasville diver]

I reached a point in diving where I realized that practice,practice and more practice was the best instructor. And all it cost was more time diving.

 

[spectrum]

A big part of it really has to come from the student. If you have a willingness to open yourself to what the possibilities are then you can go forth and build the skills. Reading and observing can go a long ways. As someone said, to dive in trim YOU need to think in trim.

If your instructor can instill and train you in these aspects of diving that is great. The fact is that most courses never get past "stupid diver tricks" (skills) and spend very little time on actual diving skills. I am not belittling skills but many courses are all about doing the defined skills and little else.

This is a comprehensive shopping list for OW at least.


Pete

 

[MikeFerrara]

One sure fire way is the take a GUE DIRF. Even if yu don't have any DIR inclinations, the skills are there.

You just can't underestimate how much help a good dive buddy/mentor can be.

With the knowledge of a few very well guarded secrets, you can do a lot to help yourself to. There is an awful lot written on this board about static and dynamic trim and how to get there. But, all that stuff is secret so after you find those threads, don't tell anybody else where they are.

To get you started, you're wearing some sources of buoyancy and some sources of negative buoyancy. If you have buoyancy in one place wanting to lift and weight (balast) in another place wanting to sink, it will stand you up...either on your feet or on your head. To illustrate...as yu descend, your suit compresses and you put air in your bc. But, you have all that weight around your belly...your standing up. LOL if your wearing a heavy wet suit you need to put some air in the bc as you descend so you need some of your weight closer to that bc. Could be a steel tank, maybe a plate (as in back plate and wing) or whatever. Get those two apposing forces in the same place and they just sit there and you can effortlessly maintain any position you decide to assume. But, a wet suit compresses and a tank gets more buoyant as it empties so some of this changes as we go so we can't always get it perfect and we have to adjust on the fly. That's done with body position...the bend in your knees, the arch in your back and the position of your head, the extension of your arms...and so on. Get that weight and buoyancy ligned up and you'll be close enough to start playing with it.

 

[TSandM]

Mike beat me to it . . . The one place I know where you are GUARANTEED to get the information you're looking for, and have it taught well by well trained instructors, is a DIR-F class.

 

[haha49]

go pratice in shallow watter.. get it so you can controll you boiancy with just breathing in and out.. and were you set your weights make a big diffrence.. try puting some in the back of the bcd or even a tank weight..

i did 3 pratice dives with my uncel befor i went to the carrabien to work out al the bugs.. i found that seting tghe weights i diffrent areas change who you float.. make so you float on the face down that way you will float horazontal in the water..

after 3 dives im alot better with my boancy.. make sure you add and dump air properly you have diffrent valves on the bcd so you can dump air easly... adventually you will relax more and be able to controll the level you float at with just breathing in deeper and exhalling its lots of fun to play around with just float still and breath in deep and float up exhale more or less too go back down.. add air if you cant stay off the bottom.. just 1 or 2 bursts and that should be more then enoff dont worry about floating away just exhale and you should blance out

im 240 lbs
6 ft 2

and i use

48 lbs in a dry suit neapream(cold)
31 lbs in a wet suit 7mm (cold)
20 lbs in a shorty (tropics)

and were you place the weights were you dive and what you wear change this around alot
sounds like your weight belt is to far fowards try moveing the weights around or even puting weights near the tank ect as it will help hold you foward..

 

[Ted S]

Credentials, affiliation and background aside I think it's also essential that you get alone with the instructor and respond well to their teaching style. We all remember a college professor or highschool teacher we liked and respected and we all had a few we could have done without. Diving is no different... if you can't look at your instructor with a straight face, you aren't going to get the most out of the class, even if they're the best at what they do. Now obviously that's not to say you have to find someone, or should even look for someone, who babies you and brings you cookies after the dive (although cookies would be nice) -- but rather that whatever their style is, you get it and you can click with it enough to follow their lead.

Once you're sure you can deal with the person everything else mentioned in the last 6 posts should be applied to making sure you can trust them and actually learn something from them.

 

[daniel f aleman]

That's right, a three day DIR-F will make you the greatest diver living; all your questions answered; and it comes with its own religion that will organize your life for you. $350.00

 

[annasea]

Credentials, affiliation and background aside I think it's also essential that you get alone with the instructor and respond well to their teaching style. We all remember a college professor or highschool teacher we liked and respected and we all had a few we could have done without. Diving is no different... if you can't look at your instructor with a straight face, you aren't going to get the most out of the class, even if they're the best at what they do. Now obviously that's not to say you have to find someone, or should even look for someone, who babies you and brings you cookies after the dive (although cookies would be nice) -- but rather that whatever their style is, you get it and you can click with it enough to follow their lead.

Once you're sure you can deal with the person everything else mentioned in the last 6 posts should be applied to making sure you can trust them and actually learn something from them.

Excellent advice! I don't think it can be emphasized enough how important the dynamics are between teacher and student. (Or so was my experience.) And just because someone is having difficulty learning from one instructor, it does not mean they have difficulty learning! Sounds like a no-brainer, but there's nothing worse than just starting out in something and having an instructor question your ability or undermine your self-confidence.