Is certification necessary for shallow water diving?

[agilis]

I learned to dive in the 1960s from a book called, I think, The New Science of Skin and Scuba Diving. I was very careful and read everything I could get my hands on. I bought my equipment at a local department store. By the early 70s shops began requiring a C card to fill your tank, so I enrolled in a course that ran for weeks. It was easy for me, but I enjoyed it and learned much that was useful despite all the experience I had by that time, especially about the technical aspects of my equipment. I'd say that certification is definitely a good idea. It's easy to get hurt in shallow water and having an experienced person walk you through it has got to be invaluable.

 

[lowwall]

@34109411 That is my point. Is him paying $1,000 going to make him a great educated diver?

Who is paying $1000 for OW certification? A standard course is around one third of that and I paid "only" $600 for a private class for my son including two boat dives.

I think you'd need to get certified through somebody like GUE to spend $1000. But then you wouldn't be complaining about inadequate training.

 

[Belzelbub]

The latter statement is qualified in that it also very much depends on the person. A lifeguard, or surfer, or swimmer, or long-time snorkeler with excellent watermanship skills and knowledge is more likely (on average) to not panic in a watery environment than a person without those underlying skills.

Very good point. I grew up around water. Learned to swim at a fairly young age. My initial OW course was terrible. I learned the academics, but the practical portion was non-existent. Second OW course was intense, but I had no trouble with any of the skills. My daughters got swimming lessons even before they could walk. And again, no trouble with the skills.

It’s not one size fits all. In my original post, I said training was required. I purposely did not say that certification was required. What that training is will depend on the individual. Some will take to it rather quickly, others will require more practice. Certification will come into play when booking dive charters, diving at a public or private dive site, or getting a tank filled. Training comes into play at every dive.

 

[thbcthomas]

Just to clarify, I am not saying everyone should skip getting certified, that would be crazy. I am however saying, that certain people like @Scuba Lawyer @Belzelbub and many others with the right tools and help, could dive safely.
Also I have loaned my gear to a very select number of people that I was very confident could handle it, and was in the pool with them, never unsupervised or unattended.Some of these have asked, “Can I bring a buddy over and let him try it out?” My answer was absolutely not.

 

[Bob DBF]

I graduated from "Dad's School of Auto Mechanics and SCUBA School" back in '62. After passing an extensive test on the contents of "The New Science of Skin and SCUBA Diving" I did several dives under instruction, of which the instructor accompanied me for practice buddy breathing, since there was only one kit available. My instructor had 3 or 4 dives than I did.

I dove without certification for 17 years, including dives which would be considered tech dives now, mentored by other divers and the Navy Diving Manual. I was certified before a dive trip that required certification. Back then it was much easier to talk a dive shop owner into filling a tank without a c-card than it is now.

I believe in training to dive, but I'm not a stickler on certification. The legal climate in the US does not encourage one to ignore industry standards when assigning responsibility for an accident.



As a side note, when I first mentioned "Dad's School of Auto Mechanics and SCUBA School" I received a message from Sam Miller asking questions about this school he hadn't heard of, wanting to about agency affiliation and so on. I had to fess up and tell him it was a joke. I miss that guy.

 

[clownfishsydney]

I live in a country that has many more divers who aren't certified diving than certified divers. At the same time we have one of the highest death/accident/injury rates in the world compared with the general and diving population. The non-certified divers learned from their diving "cousin, uncle, neighbor, etc." and they almost all get hurt and have some sort of physical disability with neurological deficits. I once walked into a gathering place for commercial divers' hangout who were all non-certified and use Scuba for spearfishing. ALL of them had physical issues and practically all of them were limping one way or another. Of course, no one can teach them anything since they "know it all." I couldn't believe the shiit they did while diving and the extent of their ignorance and the "fairy tales" they believed as the "truth."

It is isn't about "certification" but more about "proper training." Have your friend find a good instructor who actually "educates" the students and gives them time and effort to get trained properly and also get certified. And as it was said above, if they can't afford to do the training, they have no business getting into diving for the training is the least expensive part of the process.

From New Zealand I assume. They resemble that statement.

 

[ofg-1]

"C-cards? We don't need no stinkin C-cards"

Just buy some gear off Craigslist making sure the tank you bought is full, watch the first season of Sea Hunt, go and dive. If you cant learn everything you need to know from Mike Nelson, then watch Robert Shaw in The Deep.

 

[BoltSnap]

From New Zealand I assume. They resemble that statement.

Nope, Libya North Africa

 

[Cthippo]

As far as quality of instruction, I think you will get more from a friend or family member who is a competent diver and willing to put in the hours than you would from, say, a 4 day resort course. Someone who does a dozen dives with their buddy who is supplying the gear in local comditions is likely going to be better prepared than someone who did 4 group dives and then followed a DM around a couple of times on vacation.

Maybe it is just the field I am in, but I don't see "Instructor" as being that big of a deal. We routinely send people to classes and then expect them to come back and teach what they have just learned to everyone else. If you are profiecient at a skill then you should be able to teach it. Some people are natutally better teachers than others, but I don't think formal instructor training really changes that.

The idea that a tech diver with 1000 dives, or even an experienced OW diver, is not capable to teach a new diver because they don't have some magical C card seems asinine to me.

 

[lowwall]

Diving skills and teaching skills are two completely different things.

Diving isn't natural to most people. Decent instructors will have a bag of tricks to help the students overcome all the common issues and most of the uncommon ones.

Non-instructors may have the diving skills and even the patience, but there's no guarantee they will be able to put it into words and exercises that will get through to the student. There's also a non-zero chance that the non-instructor has one or more bad habits or misunderstandings that hasn't bitten them yet only through luck or other skills being good enough to compensate. Other skills which the student won't have.