I'm not a teacher... what to do ?

[tomboyy]

He's my best friend dude... I couldn't leave him hanging. If I have to have fifty 20 foot sessions with him or buy him training I'll do it. I guess part of my question was maybe is it possible that someones just not cut out to dive ? I mean .. my wifes couldn't do it .. she'd freak out and killl herself . He's not like that ... he just doesn't seem to be "getting" it


my best friend almost drowned me diving I was telling you this due to my experience
If you want to continue to dive with him I would strongly suggest you get in some pool time with him and show him the proper way to dive

Noted

 

[dumpsterDiver]

The guy is almost surely overweighted and a spaz.

He needs professional help! Get him into an advanced class ASAP. Hopefully with a new instructor. Some people are naturals and can pretty much teach themselves to dive by simply emulation, and there are some others who will NEVER "get it", however the vast majority of people (if sufficeintly motivated) can eventually learn to dive safely if they find the right instructor.

I would not dive with him until he has completed another course; telling you he is not going to use the Bc to compensate for bouyancy is going to make things worse for him, not better.

 

[spectrum]

Get out of the water and take a few steps back.

1) I'm reading that the physics of diving, even boiled down to relative facts (no math) did not sink in at all. He's making dives expecting some sort of epiphany but can't meet nature 1/2 way with appropriate responses. If you feel you have a good understanding of what make buoyancy behave then it's time to play 20 questions until you have him on the right page of the book. What we consider second nature or at least easy to learn can be totally arcane and nonsensical to another. Until it's all understood they can't even dive by rote.

2. Get out with him and do some aggressive skin diving. Turn off all of the noise and this will improve comfort and breathing.

3) Make a weight check part of the next outing. This may be helpful in closing all of these gaps.

4) For heavens sake don't go much past 20 feet until this is clicking.

5) Your lack of patience and the fact that you feel you're exercising a lot of rescue skills does suggest that you step back and either take this slow, your way or he seek professional help. At 50-99 dives he may have you running close to your boundaries.

Good luck. The dive world needs all the mentors that it can get but respect your limits.

Pete

 

[tomboyy]

Get out of the water and take a few steps back.

1) I'm reading that the physics of diving, even boiled down to relative facts (no math) did not sink in at all. He's making dives expecting some sort of epiphany but can't meet nature 1/2 way with appropriate responses. If you feel you have a good understanding of what make buoyancy behave then it's time to play 20 questions until you have him on the right page of the book. What we consider second nature or at least easy to learn can be totally arcane and nonsensical to another. Until it's all understood they can't even dive by rote.

That was my epiphany


2. Get out with him and do some aggressive skin diving. Turn off all of the noise and this will improve comfort and breathing.

3) Make a weight check part of the next outing. This may be helpful in closing all of these gaps.

4) For heavens sake don't go much past 20 feet until this is clicking.

5) Your lack of patience and the fact that you feel you're exercising a lot of rescue skills does suggest that you step back and either take this slow, your way or he seek professional help. At 50-99 dives he may have you running close to your boundaries.

Your right there to ... he's taking me to my educational edge and comfort
Good luck. The dive world needs all the mentors that it can get but respect your limits.

Pete

I'm gonna take him back and limit it to 20 feet until he gets it and if that doesn't work I'll give him off to a qualified instructor for a time or two. I just hope he doesn't get flustrated and give up.

Thanks Pete

 

[msg]

Do you have access to a pool where you can do buoyancy drills? He really needs to play with the BCD to see how small amounts of air in the BCD will effect him while taking deep breaths. Another drill would be to hold a ten pound weight, add air to the BCD until he begins to lift off of the bottom, lay the weight down and then recover by releasing the air from his BCD. Practice, practice, and more practice. He will eventually get the idea, but it takes time. He may not have been shown some of the buoyancy skills, or had enough practice time.

As Jim and others have pointed out, do a proper buoyancy check. It is just as important as having air.

Since he is your best friend, exercise patience
Good luck.

 

[tomboyy]

Thanks msg

 

[vladimir]

The guy is almost surely overweighted and a spaz.
... Get him into an advanced class ASAP.

This is probably good advice, but you have to admit, it looks pretty silly on the face of it.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

This is probably good advice, but you have to admit, it looks pretty silly on the face of it.

In my opinion, an advanced class is the perfect place for spaz boy. He will be under adult supervsion and if the instructor thinks he needs more time in the pool, then he will probably get it. Advanced no longer means "advanced"; it just means a few more dives under some supervsion.

 

[on_two_wheels]

In my opinion, an advanced class is the perfect place for spaz boy. He will be under adult supervsion and if the instructor thinks he needs more time in the pool, then he will probably get it. Advanced no longer means "advanced"; it just means a few more dives under some supervsion.

Not always true. If an instructor turned him out with this degree of skill, there's no guarantee the next one will be any better. During my "advanced" class, 3 of 5 students ran out of air WITH two instructors "supervising." Then the instructor explained that they were all certified divers so it was up to them to monitor their air. This was being said to a group of people with 5 total dives each, all OW training dives. Horrible!! Best bet is to just get some private, one-on-one instruction to focus on the weakest points. Then follow that up with AOW once the skills are at an acceptable level. Of course, that's if the aforementioned suggestions don't work.

 

[spectrum]

Advanced no longer means "advanced"; it just means a few more dives under some supervsion.

That would be true if they weren't messing with a compass, going deep, into the night or god forbid using a lift bag. The skills in AOW probably are inline with some of the deferred content of yesterdays OW but it isn't focused on being remedial OW.

This diver is clearly not prepared to go near any AOW elective except Peak Performance Buoyancy and even that will require some extra up front work.

Pete