Is dive certification really necessary?
- Thread starter Eric Sedletzky
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You don't need any stinkin certifications. Just get a windbreaker, go on ebay, and buy a bunch of diving patches and sew them on your jacket. Get a big PADI patch, OW patch, Wreck diver patch, Cave diver patch, Instructor patch, hell, all of the patches you can get. A big Scubapro patch on the back is always a nice touch.
Just wear the jacket to the dive shop and boat. Sure, you may drown yourself or others but at least you will look cool.
Just wear the jacket to the dive shop and boat. Sure, you may drown yourself or others but at least you will look cool.
2airishuman
Contributor
I think the direction this thread has taken, and some posters' assertions that the instructional system is broken or compromised, is at odds with the ground truth that recreational diving is a relatively safe activity.
AfterDark
Contributor
In that context it assumes proper training. Just think how small the A&I and the near miss sites would be if we had proper training, there is an upside, some of those are good reading!
I've only been diving a little over two years, but in that time I've run across the gamut of divers. Most are perfectly competent. Sure, some may have questionable buoyancy and finning technique, but they generally dive within their ability and training and aren't going to get themselves killed. A few are really good, even without a large number of dives under their belt. My biggest complaint are people who kick up huge clouds of silt. But I've seen that from newbies as well as old-timers.
In my younger days and when I lived on the East Coast, I used to be a pretty avid rock climber. And let me tell you, if you want to see some really stupid behavior, go to your local crag. I've seen people smoke a huge joint and then go about setting up an extremely dubious top-rope anchor. I've seen people rappel off of old slings that are clearly ready to break (in that case, I witnessed the last guy down fall the last 20' feet or so. He had to be put on a back-brace and loaded into the back of someone's pickup and rushed to the hospital). I've seen newbies with no training or practice whatsoever walk up to a crag with a brand-spanking-new rack of gear and decide that they can lead climb a 5.11. With static rope. That dude and his buddy had to be forcibly convinced to go home and get some experience at a rock gym first.
If I had to make one complaint about OWD training it's that I firmly believe that most if not all of the elements of Rescue Diver training should be incorporated right from the start. If you are certifying someone to be an independent open water diver (with a buddy, of course) who ostensibly should be able to plan and execute a safe dive without a guide/DM, then those divers should also be given the tools and training to at least make a semi-competent rescue effort should things go wrong. Certainly they should be given the training of how to keep themselves safe and not turn one rescue scenario into two.
In my younger days and when I lived on the East Coast, I used to be a pretty avid rock climber. And let me tell you, if you want to see some really stupid behavior, go to your local crag. I've seen people smoke a huge joint and then go about setting up an extremely dubious top-rope anchor. I've seen people rappel off of old slings that are clearly ready to break (in that case, I witnessed the last guy down fall the last 20' feet or so. He had to be put on a back-brace and loaded into the back of someone's pickup and rushed to the hospital). I've seen newbies with no training or practice whatsoever walk up to a crag with a brand-spanking-new rack of gear and decide that they can lead climb a 5.11. With static rope. That dude and his buddy had to be forcibly convinced to go home and get some experience at a rock gym first.
If I had to make one complaint about OWD training it's that I firmly believe that most if not all of the elements of Rescue Diver training should be incorporated right from the start. If you are certifying someone to be an independent open water diver (with a buddy, of course) who ostensibly should be able to plan and execute a safe dive without a guide/DM, then those divers should also be given the tools and training to at least make a semi-competent rescue effort should things go wrong. Certainly they should be given the training of how to keep themselves safe and not turn one rescue scenario into two.
Why? Dive operators don't care what agency you were certified by, as long as you are certified. Lots of dive boats are not associated with any agency whatsoever.
I, too, am wondering about this. If you check the DAN fatality reports for the last decade, you will find that the average number of reported deaths for each years is far, far less than when they first started keeping those statistics in 1970, even though there are far, far more divers around now than then. Of those fatalities, by far the most are caused by medical issues, like heart attacks. If you read through the reports (and I have), you will see very few cases where training might have been an issue. Many of the fatalities are advanced and even technical divers doing very challenging dives.
I have seen some pretty poor divers over the years, but I can't recall seeing anyone I thought was incompetent in the last decade. I wonder about the people who seem to be seeing them everywhere. Some of it, no doubt, comes from their choice of dive operators. It does not take much research to find that some operators tend to cater to beginning level divers and others cater to more advanced divers. It does not take much research to get on the boat that makes most sense to you.
Go through the A&I threads and see how many of those deaths are to be blamed on poor initial OW training.
AfterDark
Contributor
None, not a one I'm sure, but we can bet that's what got a percentage of them into trouble.
If someone drowns while diving the cause of death isn't poor training. Like that, is that what you mean?
I decided to answer my own question and read through the first 50 fatality reports in the A&I forum. In a few cases, the experience level of the diver and the reason for the deaths are unknown, but in those 50 cases there was not a single clear case of a newer (or even more experienced) diver dying because of a basic skill problem. Most were medical cases, some were attributed to unusual difficult conditions, and several were advanced divers doing challenging dives.
The one possible case of a training problem is very appropriate for this thread. In that case, the fatality was a young and very fit woman who was not certified and was being taught to dive by family members who were not instructors.
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