Instructors & DM's swimming capabilities?

[bridgediver]

CincyBengalsFan once bubbled...


Short Story, When I was the newbie with Blackbeards the dingy broke lose one afternoon. The same site and afternoon as the shark dive we just did. we attracted the sharks by chumming. They made me swim out to the dingy to get it as I was the newbie. I was so pissed off I dove in without my fins on too. The dingy was several hundred yards out. I just new I was going to become a shark snack..But I made it. I also jumped in that dingy in freaking record time! It's not uncommon for a blackbeards instructor to get bit every year or two.

Thats terrible! Please tell me this isn't a common practice of blackbeards! I think safety has to apply to all, not just the clients. Could you explain how an instuctor gets bit every year or two? Just bad luck or unsafe in your opinon?

I may be jumping to soon on this but if they are unsafe with their staff I may re-think booking a trip with them

 

[CincyBengalsFan]

bridgediver once bubbled...


Thats terrible! Please tell me this isn't a common practice of blackbeards! I think safety has to apply to all, not just the clients. Could you explain how an instuctor gets bit every year or two? Just bad luck or unsafe in your opinon?

I may be jumping to soon on this but if they are unsafe with their staff I may re-think booking a trip with them

Unsafe practices is just my humble opinion and nothing more.

During a night rescue due to current conditions..There was really no choice but what we did.

The shark thing, well they could do a better job. You use two shark kabobs made up of frozen fish we caught on the way over from Miami. A guy in a dingy drops the first shark kabob in the water with a long string on it that the divemaster has the other end of. He quickly pulls the kabob down and ties it off to the bottom then shags ass out of the way of the sharks. Okay, now the sharks have finished the first kabob and are looking for more chow. The other divemaster (sometimes me) has left over breakfast in zip lock baggies in his or her pockets on their BC. We pull out the baggies and open them up to draw the sharks towards me and away from the eaten kabob. Now that the sharks are swarming around me eating sausage links, etc. the other divemaster can pull the 2nd shark kabob down for the 2nd shark feeding. Now this divemaster has to shagass out of the way for a 2nd time.

I saw this as poor practice but maybe it's just me.

It was cool and all feeding the sharks and having them swarm around me...But it's also not a very safe practice. Once in a blue moon a tiger shark has been known to show up and that's never good during a feeding.

 

[Atticus]

When I did my DM I was worried about the swim requirement. Turns out I had no need to worry about passing (scored a 4).

That being said - IMHO if you can comfortably pass the swimming requirement then you are going to be able to swim to someone quickly enough to render aid. Being a super fast, super long distance swimmer is probably not needed.

Yes, you should be able to swim *well*, no you should not have to be a competition level swimmer.

I'm with Mike on this one - buoyancy control, teaching skills, etc are much more important.

With respect to the liveaboard dive boats - the last several trips I've done have involved a chase boat (zodiac style). This seems like a much better choice than worrying about how fast your DM's can swim. The chase boat can pick up a buddy team, go fast, is more visible, etc.

 

[CincyBengalsFan]

Atticus once bubbled...
When I did my DM I was worried about the swim requirement. Turns out I had no need to worry about passing (scored a 4).

That being said - IMHO if you can comfortably pass the swimming requirement then you are going to be able to swim to someone quickly enough to render aid. Being a super fast, super long distance swimmer is probably not needed.

Yes, you should be able to swim *well*, no you should not have to be a competition level swimmer.

I'm with Mike on this one - buoyancy control, teaching skills, etc are much more important.

With respect to the liveaboard dive boats - the last several trips I've done have involved a chase boat (zodiac style). This seems like a much better choice than worrying about how fast your DM's can swim. The chase boat can pick up a buddy team, go fast, is more visible, etc.

Well, if you are to work on a diveboat you should in fact be a strong fast swimmer.

We had two zodiac style boats with us on our liveaboard and that is the absolute last resort with divers in the water, unless your not very concerned about that prop hitting a diver.

 

[tel52]

I sure hope this question isn't a reflection on your last couple of divemaster candidates! I thought we did pretty good considering our advanced age.

Actually, I though the stamina and watermanship skills were pretty minimal and certainly wouldn't want my life to depend on a DM who squeaked by with a minimum score. Some additional empahsis on surface rescue skills certainly wouldn't hurt.

Good to see you feeling up to stiring things up again.

 

[Lead_carrier]

CincyBengalsFan once bubbled...


Okay now, someone is drowning right? Is the divemaster supposed to lolly-gag and find his mask,fin,snorkel or what????? Not to mention your head is out of the water anyway when your swimming towards a near-drowning victim during a rescue on the surface. So what good will the mask do you? If the fins are fastly available, then sure, but it had better be fast because someone is about to drown.

We were timed in getting into the water with mask, snorkel, fins and float. We had 10 seconds or less to pass. If someone is a couple hundred yards away, I'll get there quicker if I'm using fins over my freestyle stroke. If someone is drowning and they sink below the surface before I can get to them, the mask and fins might come in handy. All the dm's I've ever worked with, we had to have everything immeadiately available.

There are always scenerios that we can come up with that will prove our points. It's just my contention that you don't have to be a competitive swimmer to be a pro.

 

[CincyBengalsFan]

Well, my last PADI DM & NAUI AI was a KNOCK-OUT in the pool. She surpassed everyone's scores.

Before that My last NAUI AI made a promise he didn't quite keep..... We all know who this is!

The other two PADI DM's passed there watermanship skills and were very very good in the water. In fact I even game them some not PADI mandatory equipment break down on the regs.

T & K .....They were VERY good in the water....

That dag gone NAUI ditch and don gave K a little trouble but that's not needed for PADI DM.

 

[annie]

Actually, I though the stamina and watermanship skills were pretty minimal

especially since you can do backstroke which I don't think is ideal in a rescue situation. If you can swim it front crawl no problem that's an ok standard. I wonder about speed over shorter distances though if that shouldn't be a test.

We had two zodiac style boats with us on our liveaboard and that is the absolute last resort with divers in the water,

especially at night, cannot use them. I never witnessed a rescue at night but imagine that would be quite hairy. You haven't got much chance of rescueing them really do you especially if their torch is off!