intermediate course

[slipslop]

wouldnt it be great if there was an intermediate course where one could learn about breathing techniques, trim, buoyancy etc, all the things you dont learn, or just skip over in the open water course?

 

[mermaidsxtreme]

wouldnt it be great if there was an intermediate course where one could learn about breathing techniques, trim, buoyancy etc, all the things you dont learn, or just skip over in the open water course?

When you pass the OW course you are limited to the shallower depths so these initial problems can be resolved and practised - by you. Everybody starts their diving life as a gas guzzler which in a way effects your bouyancy. Get one under control and the other seems to resolves itself. It's also getting used to your equipment or shop equipment - basically you now need experience.

Now you've passed take the time out and have a few fun dives with a friend and you'll notice quickly that your air and bouyancy improve ten fold. It helps because your not having to concentrate and waste energy on completing tasks while thinking 'is my mask still flooding' or 'Why can't I keep down'!! - and as I was told...

"Scuba Diving is the only extreme sport where the object of the game is to do as little as possible - if you're out of breath you're breaking the rules"! [John Williams, Mermaids Xtreme Diving, Pattaya, Thailand].

Another way is take a 'free diving' course for 1 day. Here you learn great breathing techniques and at the end of the days course your thrown to the bottom of a 15 metre pool for 2 minutes with no breathing gear. - Now I wouldn't mind gettin to know how to do that!!

Mat

 

[MoonWrasse]

wouldnt it be great if there was an intermediate course where one could learn about breathing techniques, trim, buoyancy etc, all the things you dont learn, or just skip over in the open water course?

PADI's "Peak Performance Buoyancy Specialty Course" claims to do just that, however I'm not so sure how much you gain UW -vs- watching the video.

http://www.padi.com/english/common/courses/rec/continue/ppb.asp

 

[kidspot]

wouldnt it be great if there was an intermediate course where one could learn about breathing techniques, trim, buoyancy etc, all the things you dont learn, or just skip over in the open water course?

Sounds sort of like GUE's DIR-F course - trim, bouyancy, minor task loading, finning techniques - basically a skills clinic for diving... At least that's the way I thought of it when I took it - it's nothing special, just a focus on the basics (fundamentals) of diving. Especially good for a new diver like me so I could see and learn what I needed to do to get experience which would help me improve my diving and enjoy it even more.

Aloha, Tim

 

[DA Aquamaster]

The greatest learning tool in diving is not yet another course but rather the mentorship of another more experienced local diver. A local diver can answer specific questions as they arise, allowing you to master one skill at a time rather than take inan entire course and retain maybe 10% of the knowledge offered there, A mentoring diver can also provide advice and suggest options for local conditions and specific dive sites and explain why it works better that way. Over time you develop more skill and judgement than you ever would taking courses or relying on a DM on tropical trips.

Without fail the best divers I know are divers who dive locally and frequently rather than just reserving their diving for a course every now and then and a couple tropical trips per year.

 

[lorien]

wouldnt it be great if there was an intermediate course where one could learn about breathing techniques, trim, buoyancy etc, all the things you dont learn, or just skip over in the open water course?

When I took the Peak Performance Buoyancy class I learned just that, how to breath, how breathing affected my buoyancy and how to use my breath to help cotrol my buoyancy, trim issues and the ever important proper weighting which is a huge issue for most new divers. Most new divers are overweighted and that affects your ability to achive proper buoyancy. I found that class to be of immense help to me and, for me, watching the video was not anywhere near as helpful as the acutual work on the dives. However, as with any course, I think the instructor dictates what you get out of the course, the better the instructor the more you will learn. I also agree that experience will help as will diving with experienced divers who can assist you in learning. But, I learned more in the buoyancy course in that short time than I had in months of diving prior to it.

 

[jbd]

wouldnt it be great if there was an intermediate course where one could learn about breathing techniques, trim, buoyancy etc, all the things you dont learn, or just skip over in the open water course?

Of course it is so much nicer when this stuff is taught in the open water class, which is what I do. For all others I now teach a seminar on Mastering Buoyancy Control, in which I cover all of this.