I will be taking my RAID crossover on Tuesday

[Wookie]

In the interest of full disclosure, RAID USA is owned by very close friends of mine.

Why am I crossing over to RAID? A few reasons. First of all, RAID believes in teaching buoyancy control and trim from the first session in the pool. No fin pivots, dive skills are conducted with students in trim and neutrally buoyant. No need for a Buoyancy class down the road, it's covered before you get down the road.

No paper. All releases, medicals, training waivers, logbook, everything is online. You can't proceed unless the paperwork is done, which prevents holding up cards for just that last bit of paperwork. Cards are issued electronically.

Physics and physiology and tables are taught in OW. At least, physics and physiology are mentioned. They are hammered home in Divemaster, as it was when I was a lad.

RAID uses an advanced on-line quality control system to help ensure that the training you do protects you and your students. This is done by having the Instuctor, Student and Dive Center sign-off on all training requirements along the way. Once all parties have signed off, the E-Card is immediately delivered to the student's email.

RAID strongly believes that they offer a higher training standard. The on-line training is more comprehensive than other agencies. Their standards call for more in-water time and the proactive quality control system helps ensure that the higher standard is met.

The crossover price is $200 introductory special, and the crossover includes a couple of hours in the pool doing skills evaluation. Skills evaluation because there are instructors out there that don't understand what neutral buoyancy is. Or how to conduct skills other than on their knees. I won't give up my SDI or PADI membership quite yet, but I'm going to give these guys a try. Besides, who wouldn't want a single digit instructor number.

 

[RainPilot]

Welcome Frank!

Going to be disappointed though....no instructor numbers. We are people not numbers

As far as I can tell your RAID number on SB will be 2. Finally some company!

 

[Oldbear]

The documentation on-line sounds like a great concept. I teach neutral buoyancy right at the beginning of my Confined Water 1 course. But you are SOooooo right, there are "instructors" who are clueless.

Good luck and keep us posted to your experiences.

 

[KeithG]

An emphasis on proper buoyancy control is long overdue.

Just yesterday I saw 2 divers kneeling in the sand flapping about. I noticed them primarily because they were screwing up my viz for a photo. My first thought was they are having a problem, maybe I should go over and see if they need any assistance. Nope! It was an instructor and student in the sand at 25 feet.

 

[KDAD]

Good luck on the new agency. Concept sounds good.

I am all for neutral bouyancy and trim during ow training. I tried best I could during mine to do it. Post ow all dives are neutral and in trim.

One thing that I will say about fin pivots is that it helped me at the time to understand the amount of control that we can have over our bouyancy using our lung volume as well. Some concepts that we take for granted are still foreign to a new diver. If you can still get the point across of lung volume then I am all for foregoing the fin pivot.

 

[Wookie]

A million years ago, when I was a resort instructor in the Caribbean, I taught 8 DSDs a day. As a part of the DSD, I taught my participants to control their own buoyancy. Did they all get it? No, of course not, we allowed 10 minutes in the pool to learn the skill. Did many? Yes, and even most got it. When we went to the ocean, we had me leading the group, a DM behind the group, and another DM on the surface over the group. We started the 30 minute dive over the sand at the bottom of the anchor. I swam backwards, helping to remind the participants that they could add air or take air away. If a diver couldn't get off the sand, they had to stay with a DM as we went over the reef. If a diver went to the surface, they stayed with a DM on the surface watching us. I'll bet 90% of the divers had a successful dive.

The point is that neutral buoyancy isn't some future goal for an open water diver, it can be taught in a DSD. And a fin pivot is a tool in the toolbox, it isn't necessary for an explanation of neutral buoyancy. I have nothing against a fin pivot, but I don't see it as a stepping stone to success. It is a skill in and of itself, one that impacts the bottom.

 

[kelemvor]

It all sounds really good except the name. Whenever I read it, I immediately hear this commercial in my head (skip to 20 second mark).

I work in IT.. "RAID" is a very common term. I still think of this darn commercial. Someone's marketing department did a good job, I guess.

 

[Patoux01]

It is a skill in and of itself, one that impacts the bottom.

Skill that also does not represent any real diving situation.


I'm jealous of the 200$ crossover though. It's more of 600 in my area. Not that I'm an instructor, but RAID has been one of the agencies I considered in the past...

The online theory was decent, not perfect to my taste when I had a read, but by far the best presentations I've seen within the few agencies I have been trained by.

 

[kelemvor]

Is it really so new that Frank and Brendon are the only instructors? I could have sworn I remembered hearing about RAID last year sometime.

 

[Wookie]

Steve Lewis @Doppler is also an IT. RAID North America is the newest member in the RAID group. I've been looking for a home I could belong to. I've been a PADI instructor for 20 years, and an SDI instructor for 13. PADI and SDI have courses I want to teach, but that doesn't mean I drink their brand of kool-aid. These folks at RAID have a philosophy I happen to agree with.

RAID is active in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.