mmadiver
Contributor
I had the privilege of taking the OW training course twice a few years ago. Its a long story as to why having to do with logistic and timing issues. The first time I took the course it was taught by a retired Air Force PJ. In case you dont know the PJs are the Air Forces Special Forces rescue teams, pretty motivated guys. The class was composed of 18-20 year old Midshipman (it was a college course, yes I go to a military school). The training was rigorous and thorough. The first week of training was without any gear at all. We did only water competency and swimming drills. The next week the professor introduced the Mask. We spent the entire week doing nothing but drills with the Mask. Then came the snorkel, fins, and other equip in the following weeks. It challenged everyone in the class and we all became exceptional in the water and with our various pieces of gear. We did a number of exercises, what we called drown proofing, that were designed to increase our confidence in the water. One memorable drill that is infamous around our school is called Four corners. You place your mask, fins, and snorkel in the four corners of the deep end, one in each corner. Jump in and recover all your gear, put it on, clear your mask, surface clear your snorkel and swim around without bringing your head out of the water. It was an excellent test for everyone in the class. Only two people that semester passed the four corners, I was one of them (Brag
). The training progressed and we got into the more advanced skills. We spent two days swimming around the bottom of the pool doing nothing but buddy breathing. After completing the training everyone in the class we very confident in the water, with their gear, and with the basic SCUBA skills.
The second class I took was through a LDS. It was your standard PADI OW course. The class was comprised of 8 people of varying ages and abilities. Large amounts of the classroom time were spent watching very commercial feel good instructional videos produced by PADI. The first day in the pool (after the swim test) we entered with every piece of gear. This came as a shock to me as the people in the class were not confident in their own skin, let alone BCD, tank, regs, console, fins, mask, and 3mil shorty. The water sessions were very slow paced and laid back. I felt the depth at which we covered skills was not adequate. We would practice mask clearing until everyone could do it right and then move on. Every skill was covered like this. Even buddy breathing. I believe we spent all of 30 minutes practicing it. This came as a shock to me as my previous instructor had put such a HUGE emphasis on being able to do it right and without panic. When I questioned the instructor as to why we didnt practice more buddy breathing he said something like Buddy breathing is the option of last resort, in an emergency just give them your octopus. This went completely against what my previous instructor had taught me: When I want air, I want your regulator because I know its working. I dont want to risk fumbling around with the octopus attached to your BCD that might even be frozen.
We completed all the necessary skills and training and still felt that nobody in the class had a high level of confidence. They certified everyone and I wouldnt feel confident diving with any one of them. But thats only because I had taken a far superior class and could recognize the shortcomings
Just some food for thought about your own OW experiences and instruction
The second class I took was through a LDS. It was your standard PADI OW course. The class was comprised of 8 people of varying ages and abilities. Large amounts of the classroom time were spent watching very commercial feel good instructional videos produced by PADI. The first day in the pool (after the swim test) we entered with every piece of gear. This came as a shock to me as the people in the class were not confident in their own skin, let alone BCD, tank, regs, console, fins, mask, and 3mil shorty. The water sessions were very slow paced and laid back. I felt the depth at which we covered skills was not adequate. We would practice mask clearing until everyone could do it right and then move on. Every skill was covered like this. Even buddy breathing. I believe we spent all of 30 minutes practicing it. This came as a shock to me as my previous instructor had put such a HUGE emphasis on being able to do it right and without panic. When I questioned the instructor as to why we didnt practice more buddy breathing he said something like Buddy breathing is the option of last resort, in an emergency just give them your octopus. This went completely against what my previous instructor had taught me: When I want air, I want your regulator because I know its working. I dont want to risk fumbling around with the octopus attached to your BCD that might even be frozen.
We completed all the necessary skills and training and still felt that nobody in the class had a high level of confidence. They certified everyone and I wouldnt feel confident diving with any one of them. But thats only because I had taken a far superior class and could recognize the shortcomings
Just some food for thought about your own OW experiences and instruction
