I failed the pool test!

[MXGratefulDiver]

Well, there was one instructor in the water without a hood on, and we all looked at the guy and said "Damn, he's hard core."

I can take a pretty good guess who that might've been ... was he wearing doubles?

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[mkutyna]

Water Temps: We all had a computer with us that read out the water temps. Everyone was around 51-53. It was 51 in the bottom of the deep end. That's how I figured out how cold the water was, not by some random guess or assumption.

Rental Gear: We thought, Boss thought, that we had all the gear we needed here and wouldn't have to rent anything. Although we have about 4-5 wet suits and 1 dry suit, none fit myself of the other guy who was using our stuff. We have a few tanks, and fins, and various other small stuff, but not nearly enough to piece together a full equipment set. Needless to say, we had to rent the gear: $175 between the two of us. However, the rental originally was from yesterday until the end of Jan. Now we get to keep everything until we are "done" with our tests.

What kind of business is this that has bits and pieces of scuba gear and sends their employees out to instructors that either don't check the water temperature of a pool or worse don't care if the water temp would cause severe hypothermia?

It's certainly up to you whether you continue to take the class with this instructor but it seems that the consensus here is that he/she is rather unconcerned with your well being. I certainly wouldn't want to take any classes with this instructor.

Your boss needs to know about this as well. If this is something that is required of your job, he may be facing some sort of OSHA violation. That's why I'm wondering why your employer has some random scuba gear available. What kind of business would have this stuff available and yet not have a safe way of training their employees in it's usage?

 

[TwistedGray]

None of this makes any sense. Four laps with snorkel is not the swim test (assuming a normal 25 yd pool). A mixture of wetsuits and one dry suit? Too weird. Who was learning the dry suit? A "few" tanks and fins, but not enough? Who rented the stuff? Didin't you ask to rent a set of gear, that would, theoretically cause a reasonalbe shop to rent you what you need. I assume you read the manual before the pool sessions. That should have given you a clear understanidng of what gear you needed and an understanding of hypothermia.

A real instructor expects you to swim 200 yards and do a 10 minute tread in 53' water for OW certification, despite your lack of experience (not that experience actually matters, that is just stupid). Sure, you can wear a computer in an OW course, but all of you had computers, to swim in a pool? Even though you did not have adequate basic gear? This is just too bizarre.

You are then doing mask clearing and other skills without having done swim and tread, or more accurately, having failed at it? I guess in a wetsuit? I thought they didn't fit? Or were you doing the mask clearing, reg exchange and other skills while still too cold to even swim in the pool? And then you are supposed to take off the wetsuit and do the swim, after the other skills? You haven't ever snorkeled and have not been been swimming at all in 5-6 years but you are going to jump in a very cold pool and swim 200 yards, or snorkel 300? Assuming you are not just making this stuff up as a joke, this is absurdity and I would dump the whole thing. Are you sure this guy was an instructor? Go find an real instructor and legit operation, or scrap the plan.

Or, if it is a joke. It isn't a very good one.

The comment I made on the gear was just stating that the shop did NOT provide gear. We have some gear here at work (random pieces). They all belong to my boss who thought that maybe some of the gear would fit us. If it did, great! We would save some money. We found bits and pieces: fins, mask, bcd, etc etc that did fit so that lowered the cost of the rental gear that we paid for at the shop. Hope that cleared up all the gear misunderstandings. We did have the remaining rental gear: 7mm suit, hood, gloves, etc etc.

I may have used "computer" incorrectly. It was on the same "gauge" as the air pressure gauge, timer, and whatever else is built in the timer (temp gauge, etc etc). It came with the regulator that you rented; it has 4 houses: 1 to BCD, 1 for you, 1 for buddy in case of emergency, and the other house has the gauges...or what I ignorantly call a computer

 

[TwistedGray]

What kind of business is this that has bits and pieces of scuba gear and sends their employees out to instructors that either don't check the water temperature of a pool or worse don't care if the water temp would cause severe hypothermia?

If this is something that is required of your job, he may be facing some sort of OSHA violation. That's why I'm wondering why your employer has some random scuba gear available. What kind of business would have this stuff available and yet not have a safe way of training their employees in it's usage?

By no means are we a scuba shop or anything of the likes. My boss goes diving a lot (20+ years) and has some spare equipment he uses. He was just offering it to us to use.

It is not required at work to be SCUBA certified. It is something that work provides to its employees; all 6-7 of us. The reason they do that is because we make underwater products and it will give us a better relation to how the product works, etc etc. And it will allow us to equally test said products. They do not (well not sure yet) give everyone their own equipment set...

 

[jd950]

Rental Gear: We thought, Boss thought, that we had all the gear we needed here and wouldn't have to rent anything. Although we have about 4-5 wet suits and 1 dry suit, none fit myself of the other guy who was using our stuff. We have a few tanks, and fins, and various other small stuff, but not nearly enough to piece together a full equipment set. Needless to say, we had to rent the gear: $175 between the two of us. However, the rental originally was from yesterday until the end of Jan. Now we get to keep everything until we are "done" with our tests.

Okay, I see I misread the prior post, but on the other hand, $175.00 rental fee suggests some stuff was rented. This whole arrangement looks messed-up to me. Sorry, but I say that with your best interests in mind. I understand the computer miscommunication...no big deal and that makes more sense. Bottom line is this training is screwed up. If you are doing it just because it is free, then fine, I guess you are getting your money's worth. If you actually plan to dive, I would suggest taking a different class [-]somewhere[/-] anywhere else.

Good luck.

 

[mkutyna]

It is not required at work to be SCUBA certified. It is something that work provides to its employees; all 6-7 of us. The reason they do that is because we make underwater products and it will give us a better relation to how the product works, etc etc. And it will allow us to equally test said products. They do not (well not sure yet) give everyone their own equipment set...

Sounds reasonable. I like businesses that have that approach to their products.

If you do decide to continue certification with this or any instructor, please remember to keep your personal safety in mind. While an instructor should keep that in mind for his/her students, sometimes it isn't the case. If something feels wrong during your training, there's a good chance that it is and you shouldn't be doing it.

 

[TwistedGray]

Okay, I see I misread the prior post, but on the other hand, $175.00 rental fee suggests some stuff was rented. This whole arrangement looks messed-up to me. Sorry, but I say that with your best interests in mind. I understand the computer miscommunication...no big deal and that makes more sense. Bottom line is this training is screwed up. If you are doing it just because it is free, then fine, I guess you are getting your money's worth. If you actually plan to dive, I would suggest taking a different class [-]somewhere[/-] anywhere else.

Good luck.

Yes we still rented some gear as well. Yeah, I don't want to spend the $250-350 for the class so I'll suck it up and hopefully learn the basics through this. Like mentioned before, I will most likely do most of my diving either with my Boss or with my Girfriend's Brother. They both have a LOT of diving under their belts; Boss is a shark attack survivor (Great White) That really doesn't warranty experience, but he has over 20 years in the water. However, I imagine my girlfriend's brother will be a better "buddy" from the start.

 

[JodiBB]

The water temp is 53 degrees? Even here last weekend at Catalina, I was wearing a 7mm + a .5mm isotherm and I was still cold! It's making me think of saving up for a drysuit at this point.

Many pools in So Cal training are heated in the 80's so the students can focus on their skills without the added pressure of the cold water. There's so much to think about as a first-time student that adding cold water to it can prevent the student from focusing.

 

[aubie85]

Wow, that sucked. But at least you got to use fins/snorkel. We had to do our 4 laps with nothing, and that water was not warm(well, I guess it 'seemed' warm after 2 laps).

Anyway, they should have let you wear a wetsuit at least!:11:

Better luck next time!

 

[Kingpatzer]

Why I still think you should report this "instructor" to PADI. In water that is 53* without exposure protection, a person might not even remain conscious for an hour, after that all bets are off. The'll be dead in around 3-6 hours, if not sooner.

Hypothermia Prevention: Survial in Cold Water | Minnesota Sea Grant

An instructor that is letting someone get into water that cold without exposure protection is risking lives. This person needs to not be allowed to do that anymore, period.