I couldn't do it.

[dnew1973]

I had the same problem. I totally freaked my first time under water.I found i was actually worried about nothing.All i thought about was breathing when I went back the second time to try again it was like it came natural to me. Maybe your thinking about it too much.Just remember to relax and inhale and completely exhale. Remember your in a pool so you can learn how to do this.So dont panic ,and dont shoot to the top everytime something doesnt feel right.Just stop think and (breath).Oh and one more thing the free flow skills arent as bad as they seem.So dont freak out take it one step at a time and enjoy. You can do it.

 

[JamesK]

Originally posted by Fishkiller
Just remember we spent the first nine months breathing liquid it just takes the body a while to remember....

I beleive this is slightly wrong. While amniotic fluid might have been in our lungs when we were developing, we did not "breathe" it. Our oxygenated blood was fed to us through the umbilical cord. Now I could be wrong on this, and it is very possible that I am, but it is just what I remember reading. anyone know for sure?

 

[scubagatorgal]

You are correct...that is why a baby has to take the first breath (remember the cartoons with the doctor "slapping" the baby's bottom and the squalling that followed?

 

[o2 clean]

Sitting here today thinking about what happened during yesterdays confined water dive, I realize that I was breathing wrong, and realized that it was pointless to panic when I had a source of oxygen and a trainer to assist me in the process. Just the fact of being underwater and breathing seemes so un-natural, therefore I paniced and darted up towards to surface and removed my regulator and took deep breaths. I need to overcome this fear that I feel within me (mind games I suppose) and focus and not make any quick darts towards the surface anymore.

Unfortunately, I don't have access to a swimming pool 7 days a week, but from now until Saturday I will practice in my bathtub using the techniques that you all have listed above.

As for a one on one trainer, that just isn't possible in my budget. I will be going over seas the 2nd week of August and it's a pretty pricy trip, so one on one training would have to wait until afterwards. Does anyone know how much PADI will charge to refer me to another trainer? Where I will be going, a trainer is available there to help me far better than what my trainer is doing now, so I'm just curious how much that will be. I'm asking them tomorrow as well.

I am determined to finish this class, but I just have a few odds & ends to straighten out before I am able to do so. I'll keep you guys posted, and once again, thanks for all your input.

 

[Dee]

You can practice in the tub, especially your mask skills. A one on one session will help tremendously. Have you asked at your dive shop what an extra session will cost? It varies from place to place.

As a divemaster, I will work with students having a problem while the rest of the class proceeds. At the end of class, the Instructor will take the student and catch them up. You'll really need to talk to the Instructor about it.

You can do a referral to wherever you're going but it's usually at least the cost of your class at home and you'll spend part of your vacation in class. You won;t be allowed to dive with your friends until you are fully certified.

 

[MuddyFox]

I appologize for the length of the following, but am sure you will find it interesting. I am the Bee's boyfriend but will try to stay objective here. As a consumer, I am irate about the quality of instruction versus money spent.

There's no doubt in my mind Bee was distressed, and it was probably best for her to get out of the water. This is a separate issue from what I can see as a poor quality class. I believe the quality of her instruction could have been better, and perhaps she wouldn't have had to leave.

Read the following excerpts from her email yesterday that followed her class. Tell me... as a consumer, what parts of this email would infuriate you?

"I swam back and forth 16 times (touching the wall 8x's) with my snorkel on and with my fins on without any problem whatsoever. Well actually I did have a minor complication. My trainers 4 year old son was always in my way as he was "playing in the pool", so I had to slow down or curve around him at times to swim around him."

Obviously a class act. It continues...

"First going down, I was breathing way too much, which caused me to feel dizzy/faint, so I stood up right away, pulled my regulator out of my mouth, and took deep, deep, breaths as I stood there holding on to the rail in case I fell or blacked out. His wife, the class Dive Master (who was by the way too busy taking care of her son in the pool as he swam around with a BC that was 10x's too big for him) yelled from across the pool, "Are you okay?" and I told her that I was dizzy and I needed to rest a bit."

Check out the parenting skills...

I was frustrated and I felt weak/helpless, and I stood up again in total disappointment and just thought for a second. It took that much for his wife to leave her son unattended and swim up to me.


So our instructor/dive master team came to class this day assuming dual rolls: instructor/helper and responsible parents. They failed at both.

It's upsetting to see that the instructor team didn't respect their students enough to leave the son at home, or at least out of the pool. As good parents (which is questionable when I read about the BC), their mind processes would at least be divided between class and their son. As pointed out by Dee, Bee's problems may have received special attention by a proper dive master, who was there during class. Only the dive master wasn't assisting the class, she was playing with her son.

The dive shop will hear about this, as I'm sure they'd be interested to know what they're paying their instructors for. Now, as a consumer, I would expect them to accommodate her a little more despite the poor instruction. However, instead they have scheduled her in another pool class, and are going to charge her $70 to do so. How is that fair? Especially when that class will be in session regardless of her attendance.

I'm positive that the dive shop and I will lock horns, I coming out the loser. That's why I proposed to her that she get her private instruction out here, from our instructors who live and breathe diving. This instructor is a PADI instructor, so I'm curious to see how easy it will be to get a referral.

 

[Roooter]

thank you MuddyFox for voicing the same question I had. I know a lot of instructors & dive masters & NOT 1 of them would tell a student they're 'holding up' the class...let alone send them home. I would certainly be looking for a new instructor.

Bee...I also had a lot of anxiety my first few weeks in the pool (my NAUI course was 8 weeks long). I just hung in there & spent as much time in the pool as possible. I also spent 5 months in the pool before doing my OWs (I finished my course the 1st week of Jan & since we live in a cold climate, couldn't do my OWs until the water warmed up). I feel that it was all time well spent. my instructors were very supportive (& patient) every step of the way. don't give up! you'll get there in your own time...& DO NOT let anyone...even an instructor...pressure you.

practice, practice, & practice some more!

 

[The Chairman]

Thank you for sharing this Muddy Fox... it sheds a whole new light on what happened. One of the primary roles of an instructor is that of supervision. This was obviously not at the forefront of their minds. You have described a CLASSIC hyperventilation situation which should and could have been prevented, provided it had been detected early. That would require competent supervision on their part. Scuba Bee, I go back to my initial post, where I reccomended that you breathe and exhale fully.

When you hyperventilate, you tend to only breathe on the "top" of your lungs. You exhale just a bit and immediately try to draw in more air. Unfortunately, there is a lot of "stale" air still in your lungs which does not help you. The subsequent CO2 buildup causes your rate of respiration to increase further, resulting in... you guessed it, MORE hyperventilation. The ONLY cure that I know of is to completely exhale, to where there is nothing left in the lungs, and then take a deep, full breath. Repeat this several times (slowly) to get your breathing (and hyperventilation) under control.

As for the quality of class, there is really nothing I can help you with from my end. It sucks and is un-fair, and I would definitely bring up the baby-sitting duties that the parents were performing. This might even merit a call to PADI depending on the size of the class and whether a Dive master was needed to meet standards.

 

[KZMAN]

Originally posted by Scuba Bee
I started my Openwater Class last Monday with PADI, and it's a two week course. The classes have been going great, and my knowledge of this "sport" has grown a lot.

Today was my first confined pool dive, and I didn't do so well. Actually, they sent me home due to "freaking" too much. I don't know about most of you, but I know that the first time you're underwater breathing off the regulator, it's quite a shocking experience. I thought I was mentally prepaired for this, but obviously, I wasn't.

I will continue with my class and take my final on Monday, and will make up my water exercises at the end of this month so I can dive during my trip next month.

What tips can you help me out with, so I won't panic too much? It's not like I was freaking out underwater, but due to an exercise I couldn't accomplish first being there, it made me unsure if I could accomplish the other tasks, which made me feel uneasy.

If you will endulge me for a moment: One of the hardest things to do, at the beginning, Is trust. It doesn't sound like your instructor did a good job of establishing this, concerning him or the situation. It was very un-professional to have his family present, to divide his attention. But I learned, (on my own) that you must be responsible for your own self, and determine what is safe practices, that make sense. You must TRUST, your equipment, at the same time knowing your contingencies. Apart from equipment failure, You will LIVE, and enjoy the underwater enviroment, if you just relax, and breath deep full breaths, from a system designed to sustain your life if YOU do what you learned in the classroom. DO NOT PANIC< This is counterproductive and can be threatining. Slow down, trust your equipment, and enjoy!

 

[KZMAN]

I concure on what NetDoc said; Ditto