Kayla:
Last Monday, my dad and I went out on a charter, and one of the divers there scared me a little.... We did a couple of dives, and on BOTH dives, she lost one of the weight pockets in her BC and shot to the surface from 60 feet. She then realized while she was back on the surface that she had forgotten to hook up her dry suit hose... which would explain why she was depressed about having problems getting neutral. Then, to top off the whole situation, she was talking to us, and told us that she thought she was a pretty good diver because she had only COMPLETLEY ran out of air three or four times while under water. I just about had a heart attack. For as many dives as she had logged, it seems to me that its a miracle that she is even alive...... but I guess my real question is.... is that common? If it is... I plan on bringin my own buddy from this point on......jeesh!
Kayla
Yes, it is.
Unfortunately.
This is what drives a
lot of my beliefs about the state of dive training today, and why if you're going to call yourself a
diver, rather than an "underwater breather", you have to take proactive steps to be ahead of the curve - certainly after your OW class, and it would be nice if you did it before you started.
Unfortunately, 99% of divers don't know about any of this insanity until after their OW class, so expecting you to "get it" before then is probably unrealistic. But certainly, post-certification, you need to get involved in your training as not just a student, but a partner.
There's a huge thread and, I might add, a yelling match about this here on the board between Netdoc and I. Despite the shouting from the other side of the aisle, I'm still convinced I'm right - the only way you avoid being like this diver, in the end, is to learn as much as you can, and advance
only at a pace which you are comfortable with, never trusting that anyone else (even an instructor!) is going to "keep you safe."
This is both more work and slower than just buying classes - but, IMHO, its the right thing to do.
Consider that you can take an "AOW" class, and be certified to do "deep dives", with as few as five actual open water dives when you start, and about 10 when you get that AOW card. Ten dives, yet you're "certified" to do dives to 100'.
This much I know - my buoyancy wasn't even sorted out reasonably at 10 dives. I was getting it, but I was nowhere near there. Yet I did my OW, then AOW, and while I had a good instructor for my AOW, I still maintain that I didn't know - and wasn't taught - anywhere near enough to do those dives - class or no class - safely.
My attitude towards this developed over the year or so following that class, as I continued to read, learn, practice, refine my technique, and roll through my mind what I had seen, what the agencies say, and what had actually been put in front of me by the industry.
