I know me and the GF picked up our books/video and went home and read/watched them all. This was 2 weeks ago and our first class is next week (think I have to push it back, I am deployed on fires). I wanted to be able to read all the material before class so I was ready when I got there. We are doing our lessons over 2 weekends, there is not time to sit in a class and go over the book word for word. The instructor should just have to hit the highlights and the key stuff. I am an instructor for EMT's and it is the same thing. There is only so much you can cover in a class, the student has to read the material ahead of time.
Journal of my new PADI course
- Thread starter XS-NRG
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Ya I think reading ahead of time always gives you a bit of an edge. That's why I was trying some extra stuff like full mask clears etc during our free swim. We only get so much pool time too so why not make the best use of your time. I'm always looking forward.
It's time for another installment but before I begin this time I should clarify: We did go over the knowledge review last time and again this time. There were also 2 quizes beyond those knowledge reviews. That's what I was referring to before.
DAY 2
Class began with more review from day 1 solidifying the fact that we understood the day one knowledge review and then watched another video. The video this time was quite long in comparison to day 1 and I found it informative as it summarized the reading again. We then, having read section 2 ahead of time, went through that knowledge review and wrote our 2 quizes (10 questions each) and that covered the days reading/video portion. We had quite a lengthy in class discussion on many issues including more elaborate dive logs and cases, the buddy system, the type of water and conditions to expect on our OW dives and what to expect. Things such as being prepared to have a full tank of air and burning through it quickly and sorting out buoyancy issues (apparently what noobs do). The instructors roles in regards to having to ensure we know what we're doing prior to receiving our c-cards was discussed in length. It seemed quite clear that they were not going to just sign off on us and collect the money. Liabilities and insurance were covered and the 2 women seemed to be on the ball and showed professionalism. As we live high above sea level and the lake we will be going to is even higher in altitude we got onto the topic of altitude diving and even dry suit diving as well.
I had a very specific question which apparently gets asked frequently which was: can you re-breathe your air from your BCD if you've lost your buddy and have an emergency and/or out of air situation. The consensus was that if that happened and you had no other choice then sure it's possible but you clearly didn't listen during class and/or follow any of the rules. We then went over the 4 steps that should have happened prior to that which were: always keep your buddy no further than an arms length away, check your air non stop, CESA (controlled emergency swimming ascent) and finally a buoyant ascent. Also, you may (most likely) be diving with a group so can likely get air from someone even if they aren't your buddy. I can appreciate these answers as if you follow the rules properly and are a good buddy there should never be a problem you can't safely resolve. However, I do feel the need to take extra precautions and as such will likely dive with either a pony bottle and/or spare air unit. The thought behind this is simple. If you have buddy separation for whatever reason and you are deep down (below 33 feet) and then have a malfunction not related to being out of air or careless then a redundancy system really could save your life. I'm sure others can relate to situations where they have had buddy separation and needed to surface to find them. You can only imagine what you'd do if you then at that moment had a problem.
After last class I had major buoyancy issues and sank like a cork and went to the shop to address these and found that I needed different equipment. This time round I ensured I got the right stuff and had a much more enjoyable time in the water. Off to the pool...
Once again we put all our gear together on the deck and prepped it for use, but before anything else we all assembled at the deep end, jumped in and began our lap test. 100m of swimming to ensure we knew how to swim and were capable of it. After that we stayed in the pool but only used our masks and snorkels and began some free diving. The point of this was merely to learn proper snorkel techniques and to keep our face in the water at all times. For proper snorkeling we needed to learn how to purge water in it and proceeded with a couple drills. First was simply to breath hold, go under the water come back up and exhale sharply. The other method was to breath hold, go under, then as we surfaced, we looked straight up and began exhaling just before surfacing so that once on the surface the snorkel was already clear of water. Airway control was used if there was any extra water remaining. We each had to do this 6 times before moving on and getting out of the water. We assembled on the deck and put our gear on and learned the proper techniques to putting on your weight belt and how to assist your buddy putting your BCD on out of the water. This time around was much easier. The regs etc went on quickly and effortlessly and all the straps were loosened this time prior to my attempt to don my BCD. Weight belt first, followed by BC/Tank, then mask/snorkel and finally fins at the edge of the deck. Before the fins we did our predive safety check (BWRAF) and then got ready to walk into the pool. Our entry method this week was the giant stride technique and we were instructed to hold onto SPG, mask and reg and walk in. I don't think a single person entered the water with any sense of grace as most tumbled or stumbled in. I wouldn't classify this exercise as a fail, but certainly worth trying a few times more
Today I was smart enough to bring my GoPro HD camera with me and got a nice long video of the entire session in the water. Videos to be seen on YouTube soon. I think before mentioning our skillset for the day it is a good idea to point out the regulator set I got this week sucked. I've had experiences with hard to breathe regs before and it's not to say this reg was too hard, but it was certainly harder than the one I used on day 1. I also found that it wasn't very balanced in terms of staying in my mouth with ease. It seemed bottom heavy and the top part was trying to roll out of my mouth almost the entire time. This certainly didn't help things and was quite tedious. Furthermore I found the hose to be too short as well. When I moved my head to look left it felt like it was being ripped out of my mouth. You can be sure I took note of what type of regulator it was and I will make sure I don't use it again.
(The reg was an AquaLung Titan LX)
Once we were in the water, we got our weight situations worked out and then we did some review of day 1 at the bottom of the pool. We did several mask clears as well as doing a regulator recovery. Once our instructor was satisfied we surfaced to begin the new drills. We started with a surface swim to the other end of the pool with our snorkel in, then switched to our regs, dove down and returned and then did a reg to snorkel maneuver. This was repeated about 2-3 times. Lots of surface swimming and lots of snorkel-reg-snorkel-reg-etc. Confidence was had by all. Our next skill was to remove our low pressure inflator hose from our BCD. Removing the hose is a cinch, replacing it, well not so much.
As I was not liking my reg so much the next skill was quite challenging. We were instructed to do a no mask breathe and although I did this by myself on day 1 I sure didn't like it this time around. We started on the surface with a partially inflated BC to get used to the feeling of having no mask on and putting our face in the water. Perhaps it was the angle I was doing this at but water in the nose did not feel good and I struggled quite a bit. I did finally manage to get this but much more practice is needed. We then went to the bottom of the pool and took our masks off to do a 30 second no mask breathe and then put the masks back on and cleared the water completely. While we were down there we then did the out of air exercise. To many, the next exercise is quite terrifying. We were to kneel on the bottom and keep breathing while our tank was shut off. Once we breathed the tank and the lines out we gave the out of air signal and our air was turned back on. I seriously had more problems with no mask breathing than this one. I felt quite relaxed.
Lastly, we surfaced to prepare for our oral BCD inflation exercise. After figuring out how to do this and why one might have to do this we went back to the bottom to do it underwater. As many would guess we all breathed in full lung breaths and most started to surface quite quickly. I managed to dump my air but the signal to return to the surface was given and were then told to use small breaths. Back down we went to try it again and this time all of us were much more successful. We used this technique to balance on our fin tips to get neutrally buoyant, after that, free swim time.
As I didn't feel like getting too far ahead this time I spent the rest of my time with the discover scuba class that was going on at the same time as we played with golf balls, underwater frisbees and underwater missiles/darts.
As a quick point of reference my Day 1 pressure was from 3000-1700 psi and Day 2 was 3000-1400 psi. I know we used more air to stay buoyant in the deep end with our BCDs but apparently I'm an Air Hog!!! Need to improve my technique and buoyancy although I do think this was partially due to a bad reg and me breathing alot quicker this time.
I think it is noteworthy to point out to all new students and those about to take this course that if you are dealing with rental gear (and you probably will be) to make note of what you use each time. Make note of what works, what doesn't and what feels the most comfortable to you. I have seen many threads on this board asking which gear they should buy and according to the book it's about comfort and fit and of course ease of breathing. I think there is no point asking people what they would use when you have a perfectly good opportunity to try this stuff out yourself. Be your own judge and buy what feels the best to you from the resources at your disposal during these classes and "test dives".
As we ended the day we actually did 2 more things. A one handed weight belt release was performed as well as a deep water exit. Much the same as last week we took our BCD off in the water and handed it to someone on deck. Finally, disassembly and rinsing was done and day 2 was now complete. See you next week..........
DAY 2
Class began with more review from day 1 solidifying the fact that we understood the day one knowledge review and then watched another video. The video this time was quite long in comparison to day 1 and I found it informative as it summarized the reading again. We then, having read section 2 ahead of time, went through that knowledge review and wrote our 2 quizes (10 questions each) and that covered the days reading/video portion. We had quite a lengthy in class discussion on many issues including more elaborate dive logs and cases, the buddy system, the type of water and conditions to expect on our OW dives and what to expect. Things such as being prepared to have a full tank of air and burning through it quickly and sorting out buoyancy issues (apparently what noobs do). The instructors roles in regards to having to ensure we know what we're doing prior to receiving our c-cards was discussed in length. It seemed quite clear that they were not going to just sign off on us and collect the money. Liabilities and insurance were covered and the 2 women seemed to be on the ball and showed professionalism. As we live high above sea level and the lake we will be going to is even higher in altitude we got onto the topic of altitude diving and even dry suit diving as well.
I had a very specific question which apparently gets asked frequently which was: can you re-breathe your air from your BCD if you've lost your buddy and have an emergency and/or out of air situation. The consensus was that if that happened and you had no other choice then sure it's possible but you clearly didn't listen during class and/or follow any of the rules. We then went over the 4 steps that should have happened prior to that which were: always keep your buddy no further than an arms length away, check your air non stop, CESA (controlled emergency swimming ascent) and finally a buoyant ascent. Also, you may (most likely) be diving with a group so can likely get air from someone even if they aren't your buddy. I can appreciate these answers as if you follow the rules properly and are a good buddy there should never be a problem you can't safely resolve. However, I do feel the need to take extra precautions and as such will likely dive with either a pony bottle and/or spare air unit. The thought behind this is simple. If you have buddy separation for whatever reason and you are deep down (below 33 feet) and then have a malfunction not related to being out of air or careless then a redundancy system really could save your life. I'm sure others can relate to situations where they have had buddy separation and needed to surface to find them. You can only imagine what you'd do if you then at that moment had a problem.
After last class I had major buoyancy issues and sank like a cork and went to the shop to address these and found that I needed different equipment. This time round I ensured I got the right stuff and had a much more enjoyable time in the water. Off to the pool...
Once again we put all our gear together on the deck and prepped it for use, but before anything else we all assembled at the deep end, jumped in and began our lap test. 100m of swimming to ensure we knew how to swim and were capable of it. After that we stayed in the pool but only used our masks and snorkels and began some free diving. The point of this was merely to learn proper snorkel techniques and to keep our face in the water at all times. For proper snorkeling we needed to learn how to purge water in it and proceeded with a couple drills. First was simply to breath hold, go under the water come back up and exhale sharply. The other method was to breath hold, go under, then as we surfaced, we looked straight up and began exhaling just before surfacing so that once on the surface the snorkel was already clear of water. Airway control was used if there was any extra water remaining. We each had to do this 6 times before moving on and getting out of the water. We assembled on the deck and put our gear on and learned the proper techniques to putting on your weight belt and how to assist your buddy putting your BCD on out of the water. This time around was much easier. The regs etc went on quickly and effortlessly and all the straps were loosened this time prior to my attempt to don my BCD. Weight belt first, followed by BC/Tank, then mask/snorkel and finally fins at the edge of the deck. Before the fins we did our predive safety check (BWRAF) and then got ready to walk into the pool. Our entry method this week was the giant stride technique and we were instructed to hold onto SPG, mask and reg and walk in. I don't think a single person entered the water with any sense of grace as most tumbled or stumbled in. I wouldn't classify this exercise as a fail, but certainly worth trying a few times more
Today I was smart enough to bring my GoPro HD camera with me and got a nice long video of the entire session in the water. Videos to be seen on YouTube soon. I think before mentioning our skillset for the day it is a good idea to point out the regulator set I got this week sucked. I've had experiences with hard to breathe regs before and it's not to say this reg was too hard, but it was certainly harder than the one I used on day 1. I also found that it wasn't very balanced in terms of staying in my mouth with ease. It seemed bottom heavy and the top part was trying to roll out of my mouth almost the entire time. This certainly didn't help things and was quite tedious. Furthermore I found the hose to be too short as well. When I moved my head to look left it felt like it was being ripped out of my mouth. You can be sure I took note of what type of regulator it was and I will make sure I don't use it again.
(The reg was an AquaLung Titan LX)Once we were in the water, we got our weight situations worked out and then we did some review of day 1 at the bottom of the pool. We did several mask clears as well as doing a regulator recovery. Once our instructor was satisfied we surfaced to begin the new drills. We started with a surface swim to the other end of the pool with our snorkel in, then switched to our regs, dove down and returned and then did a reg to snorkel maneuver. This was repeated about 2-3 times. Lots of surface swimming and lots of snorkel-reg-snorkel-reg-etc. Confidence was had by all. Our next skill was to remove our low pressure inflator hose from our BCD. Removing the hose is a cinch, replacing it, well not so much.
As I was not liking my reg so much the next skill was quite challenging. We were instructed to do a no mask breathe and although I did this by myself on day 1 I sure didn't like it this time around. We started on the surface with a partially inflated BC to get used to the feeling of having no mask on and putting our face in the water. Perhaps it was the angle I was doing this at but water in the nose did not feel good and I struggled quite a bit. I did finally manage to get this but much more practice is needed. We then went to the bottom of the pool and took our masks off to do a 30 second no mask breathe and then put the masks back on and cleared the water completely. While we were down there we then did the out of air exercise. To many, the next exercise is quite terrifying. We were to kneel on the bottom and keep breathing while our tank was shut off. Once we breathed the tank and the lines out we gave the out of air signal and our air was turned back on. I seriously had more problems with no mask breathing than this one. I felt quite relaxed.
Lastly, we surfaced to prepare for our oral BCD inflation exercise. After figuring out how to do this and why one might have to do this we went back to the bottom to do it underwater. As many would guess we all breathed in full lung breaths and most started to surface quite quickly. I managed to dump my air but the signal to return to the surface was given and were then told to use small breaths. Back down we went to try it again and this time all of us were much more successful. We used this technique to balance on our fin tips to get neutrally buoyant, after that, free swim time.
As I didn't feel like getting too far ahead this time I spent the rest of my time with the discover scuba class that was going on at the same time as we played with golf balls, underwater frisbees and underwater missiles/darts.
As a quick point of reference my Day 1 pressure was from 3000-1700 psi and Day 2 was 3000-1400 psi. I know we used more air to stay buoyant in the deep end with our BCDs but apparently I'm an Air Hog!!! Need to improve my technique and buoyancy although I do think this was partially due to a bad reg and me breathing alot quicker this time.
I think it is noteworthy to point out to all new students and those about to take this course that if you are dealing with rental gear (and you probably will be) to make note of what you use each time. Make note of what works, what doesn't and what feels the most comfortable to you. I have seen many threads on this board asking which gear they should buy and according to the book it's about comfort and fit and of course ease of breathing. I think there is no point asking people what they would use when you have a perfectly good opportunity to try this stuff out yourself. Be your own judge and buy what feels the best to you from the resources at your disposal during these classes and "test dives".
As we ended the day we actually did 2 more things. A one handed weight belt release was performed as well as a deep water exit. Much the same as last week we took our BCD off in the water and handed it to someone on deck. Finally, disassembly and rinsing was done and day 2 was now complete. See you next week..........
DAY 3
Today started off pretty much the same as the others except we got our gear first today as many of us were early and this would accommodate a quick exit after the classroom section. Once again we watched the video on the section we just read (section 3) and then discussed many parts of the book in detail and went through many scenarios surrounding loss of buddy and emergency out of air situations. Various techniques were discussed especially on the CESA (controlled emergency swimming ascent) and what we'd be doing during confined water dive #3. We went over our knowledge review and did our quiz for the week. In addition to the book we got last week (I forgot to mention "How to use and choose dive computers") we received an eRDPml dive calculator today. We get to play with it and figure it out to plan our multilevel dives. Purchasing one is worth approx $25. I have heard of these and look forward to figuring out how it works this week before our next session. Now, off to the pool...
After gearing up, today's entry method was the backwards roll. One quick preview from the instructor on how to do it, the position you get yourself in and remembering to hold all your gear in place and a partially inflated BCD. Our pool has a ledge around it a few inches from the outer deck so we had to be wary of that so as not to hit it. Once in the water it was right onto skills, tired buddy tow and push for both of us for 2 full lengths of the pool. After that was done it was time to descend to the bottom. We performed even more review of the first couple days (clearing masks, reg recovery etc) then we did our out of air and share air with our buddy as well as swimming a full length of the pool while on our buddies air supply. Once we switched back to our own reg we had to do our own reg recovery so everytime we had to do a skill there would be some part of a review done from other classes to help solidify these skills. Each buddy pair did this a couple times before settling back to the bottom at the deep end. Our goal (in between skills) was to be working on being neutrally buoyant and doing fin pivots for virtually the whole class. Any swimming was to be performed neutrally buoyant as well (we did many laps of the pool this day).
Another skill we learned (and one other student got to practice for real) was the cramp removal technique both solo and with the assistance of our buddy and vice versa. Next we got to perform our regulator free flow exercise. Again (like I tried on the first day) breathe very cautiously and "sip" the air with half the reg out of our mouth with our head tilted sideways so as not to flood our mask or knock it clean off. Now that I knew this was possible I had no problem trying it out and although uncomfortable and less than ideal, it was easy to do.
Finally we practiced our CESA maneuvers. This skill was stressed the most and we practiced it the most as it is a life saving type exercise if you have buddy separation and run out of air (bad buddy, bad SPG checking).
Once we were done our skills we were free to swim about as we saw fit. More practicing of skills was encouraged. I found even with virtually the same equipment and clothes and weight belt I was not sinking. I managed to find a clip on weight and used that to gain properly buoyancy and found my fin pivots to work alot better. It's surprising what an extra couple pounds will do for you. I wouldn't say I mastered this but I'm certainly improving on it. This is one area I need to work on the most as I am a big guy and am compared to Styrofoam or a cork at the best of times. I also made sure to do several mask clears including pulling it off completely a few times. Today I found this to be much better, although I still can't open my eyes underwater. The chlorine burns too much and every time I open my eyes I start to panic a bit and seem to want to breathe through my nose. Simple solution so far is to just keep them closed and do everything by feel. No problem. I also found my regulator much better this time (Aqualung LX Glacia - NOT Legend Glacia) and the hose to be correct. I thought about this problem a bit before my pool session and wondered if my tank was too low on my back and this time tried putting it higher and had no hose issues but at the same time I think my tank was too high this time. I definitely hit my head on the first stage doing my backwards roll entry and several other times during the dive. For whatever reason I also felt my gear was crowded on me this time. I kept grabbing my snorkel instead of my BCD inflator and my octopus kept getting in the way of my primary reg even though they were all in the right spots.
My own reflections for the night are that I need to ensure the right weight going down (was off by only a few pounds), work on neutral buoyancy, a few more mask removals and when I decide to buy gear I need to get the right sizes and even look at custom hose lengths too. I'm 6'3" and need to accommodate a bit more for size. This whole experience so far has been great and I love going out each week. This is certainly a great way to de-stress after a long day of work. Time to play with the eRDPml now. See you next week..........
Today started off pretty much the same as the others except we got our gear first today as many of us were early and this would accommodate a quick exit after the classroom section. Once again we watched the video on the section we just read (section 3) and then discussed many parts of the book in detail and went through many scenarios surrounding loss of buddy and emergency out of air situations. Various techniques were discussed especially on the CESA (controlled emergency swimming ascent) and what we'd be doing during confined water dive #3. We went over our knowledge review and did our quiz for the week. In addition to the book we got last week (I forgot to mention "How to use and choose dive computers") we received an eRDPml dive calculator today. We get to play with it and figure it out to plan our multilevel dives. Purchasing one is worth approx $25. I have heard of these and look forward to figuring out how it works this week before our next session. Now, off to the pool...
After gearing up, today's entry method was the backwards roll. One quick preview from the instructor on how to do it, the position you get yourself in and remembering to hold all your gear in place and a partially inflated BCD. Our pool has a ledge around it a few inches from the outer deck so we had to be wary of that so as not to hit it. Once in the water it was right onto skills, tired buddy tow and push for both of us for 2 full lengths of the pool. After that was done it was time to descend to the bottom. We performed even more review of the first couple days (clearing masks, reg recovery etc) then we did our out of air and share air with our buddy as well as swimming a full length of the pool while on our buddies air supply. Once we switched back to our own reg we had to do our own reg recovery so everytime we had to do a skill there would be some part of a review done from other classes to help solidify these skills. Each buddy pair did this a couple times before settling back to the bottom at the deep end. Our goal (in between skills) was to be working on being neutrally buoyant and doing fin pivots for virtually the whole class. Any swimming was to be performed neutrally buoyant as well (we did many laps of the pool this day).
Another skill we learned (and one other student got to practice for real) was the cramp removal technique both solo and with the assistance of our buddy and vice versa. Next we got to perform our regulator free flow exercise. Again (like I tried on the first day) breathe very cautiously and "sip" the air with half the reg out of our mouth with our head tilted sideways so as not to flood our mask or knock it clean off. Now that I knew this was possible I had no problem trying it out and although uncomfortable and less than ideal, it was easy to do.
Finally we practiced our CESA maneuvers. This skill was stressed the most and we practiced it the most as it is a life saving type exercise if you have buddy separation and run out of air (bad buddy, bad SPG checking).
Once we were done our skills we were free to swim about as we saw fit. More practicing of skills was encouraged. I found even with virtually the same equipment and clothes and weight belt I was not sinking. I managed to find a clip on weight and used that to gain properly buoyancy and found my fin pivots to work alot better. It's surprising what an extra couple pounds will do for you. I wouldn't say I mastered this but I'm certainly improving on it. This is one area I need to work on the most as I am a big guy and am compared to Styrofoam or a cork at the best of times. I also made sure to do several mask clears including pulling it off completely a few times. Today I found this to be much better, although I still can't open my eyes underwater. The chlorine burns too much and every time I open my eyes I start to panic a bit and seem to want to breathe through my nose. Simple solution so far is to just keep them closed and do everything by feel. No problem. I also found my regulator much better this time (Aqualung LX Glacia - NOT Legend Glacia) and the hose to be correct. I thought about this problem a bit before my pool session and wondered if my tank was too low on my back and this time tried putting it higher and had no hose issues but at the same time I think my tank was too high this time. I definitely hit my head on the first stage doing my backwards roll entry and several other times during the dive. For whatever reason I also felt my gear was crowded on me this time. I kept grabbing my snorkel instead of my BCD inflator and my octopus kept getting in the way of my primary reg even though they were all in the right spots.
My own reflections for the night are that I need to ensure the right weight going down (was off by only a few pounds), work on neutral buoyancy, a few more mask removals and when I decide to buy gear I need to get the right sizes and even look at custom hose lengths too. I'm 6'3" and need to accommodate a bit more for size. This whole experience so far has been great and I love going out each week. This is certainly a great way to de-stress after a long day of work. Time to play with the eRDPml now. See you next week..........
I'm really enjoying this thread, and you sound like a fun student to teach. I like students that think!
One comment about the water stinging your eyes -- As unpleasant as it is, I'd work through this. (I hate pool water in the eyes, too.) The reason I say it is that I just came home from the Red Sea, where the salinity is very high. Any time I got water in my mask (and it happens!) I felt like somebody had dripped lemon juice in my eyes. Being able to maintain one's composure and breathing while the eyes are stinging is a safety thing, because you can't always avoid getting water in your eyes -- and you can guarantee that the time it will happen is when something ELSE is not going right. For example, your buddy has a horrible cramp, is losing buoyancy control because of it, you go to help and his flailing arm hits your mask . . . I call these sorts of weaknesses "rattles", and the ocean will eventually find a way to use them against you. So, when you know what they are, you should really work on conquering them. (Sometimes you only find out what they are when the poo hits the rotary ventilator
)
One comment about the water stinging your eyes -- As unpleasant as it is, I'd work through this. (I hate pool water in the eyes, too.) The reason I say it is that I just came home from the Red Sea, where the salinity is very high. Any time I got water in my mask (and it happens!) I felt like somebody had dripped lemon juice in my eyes. Being able to maintain one's composure and breathing while the eyes are stinging is a safety thing, because you can't always avoid getting water in your eyes -- and you can guarantee that the time it will happen is when something ELSE is not going right. For example, your buddy has a horrible cramp, is losing buoyancy control because of it, you go to help and his flailing arm hits your mask . . . I call these sorts of weaknesses "rattles", and the ocean will eventually find a way to use them against you. So, when you know what they are, you should really work on conquering them. (Sometimes you only find out what they are when the poo hits the rotary ventilator
)
Tropicalwolf
Contributor
First off, this thread is awesome. Many new divers are going to learn quite a bit from the detailed information presented.
In regards to the instructor's quip about rebreathing BCD air and how "if that happens you didn't follow my instructions in class"...I hate that attitude. If someone has a question, especially a new student, answer the question. Don't belittle their question by claiming the "circumstance shouldn't have happened," they know that. I like students who think outside the box and bring up interesting hypotheticals.
In regards to the instructor's quip about rebreathing BCD air and how "if that happens you didn't follow my instructions in class"...I hate that attitude. If someone has a question, especially a new student, answer the question. Don't belittle their question by claiming the "circumstance shouldn't have happened," they know that. I like students who think outside the box and bring up interesting hypotheticals.
dark rider
Registered
XS-NRG, great read! I just completed the classroom/pool portion of my NAUI OW (Scuba Diver) last weekend, and will be doing the checkout dives soon. While not exactly the same, it sounds like there are a lot of similarities between the two classes, as is to be expected. Instead of doing the stretched out course, I did the 3 day compressed session, and it was a lot of material, and long pool hours! I had an absolute blast with it though, and can't wait to do my checkout dives. Good instructors certainly make all of the difference, as does properly fitting and comfortable gear! I was lucky to have both. While the rental gear was decent, I went ahead and purchased my own prior to class, so I got to train in what I'll be diving with regularly. It was pricey, but I plan to get plenty of use out of it, so I have no regrets making the purchase up front.
TSandM,
Yes I will progressively get there. Still getting used to the urge to breathe through my nose and suppressing that urge. I will continue and will report back. Thanks. :cool2:
Tropicalwolf,
Yes I understand that and agree too but at the same time there is quite a bit of merit to the instructor saying something like that. Portraying it as a safety issue and a constant reminder to be careful vs attitude has a fine line between it. Saying that can really help en-grain the information as long as it's not pretentious. I don't think it was meant to be belittling, but I can see how some could take it that way. Point is, peoples feelings need to be back burnered a bit sometimes. Outright blatant abuse is not acceptable but this is a potentially dangerous sport and people should get a bit of a wake up call from time to time to keep them in check. This situation actually reminds me alot of my early days in firearms training. Our high school had an indoor range on the school grounds and anyone was able to partake but the rules were strict as hell and the 70 year old guy that ran it was the most anal you can get but rightfully so considering the circumstance. One mistake and you're dead or someone else is. Thinking back this actually helped me out alot. Attention to detail is critical and when it came time for me to do my certification to get licensed and then again when I became a range officer I had no problem as safety had been verbally beaten into us. Taking the Simon Cowell approach is sometimes the best approach. Don't candy coat something when it demands 200% attention.
dark rider,
Yes there will be differences. Again, one first aid course vs another will be different but the end result will still be essentially the same. I think cramming the course into a weekend is crazy. How do you actually retain this info when you're in a non stop cram fest??? I would surely pass it then have to refer back to the book over and over afterwards to constantly remind myself of what's going on. I wish I had the money to purchase everything before or during this course. I would have loved to get training/instruction using my own gear so I could know it inside out. I would recommend anyone new to diving that is truly serious to consider this option prior to taking the course. Maybe I'll win the lotto tonight and can buy all the high end stuff and use it for the rest of the class
I'm glad this thread is useful and helping people out. The whole point was really to clearly outline for newbies what actually happened and what to expect. I had no clue really as to what was going to happen and had a bit of a hard time trying to figure some of it out. This is why I was glad I had a 20 year old book to give me a brief taste of what to expect. I hate going into situations blind if I can avoid it.
Yes I will progressively get there. Still getting used to the urge to breathe through my nose and suppressing that urge. I will continue and will report back. Thanks. :cool2:
Tropicalwolf,
Yes I understand that and agree too but at the same time there is quite a bit of merit to the instructor saying something like that. Portraying it as a safety issue and a constant reminder to be careful vs attitude has a fine line between it. Saying that can really help en-grain the information as long as it's not pretentious. I don't think it was meant to be belittling, but I can see how some could take it that way. Point is, peoples feelings need to be back burnered a bit sometimes. Outright blatant abuse is not acceptable but this is a potentially dangerous sport and people should get a bit of a wake up call from time to time to keep them in check. This situation actually reminds me alot of my early days in firearms training. Our high school had an indoor range on the school grounds and anyone was able to partake but the rules were strict as hell and the 70 year old guy that ran it was the most anal you can get but rightfully so considering the circumstance. One mistake and you're dead or someone else is. Thinking back this actually helped me out alot. Attention to detail is critical and when it came time for me to do my certification to get licensed and then again when I became a range officer I had no problem as safety had been verbally beaten into us. Taking the Simon Cowell approach is sometimes the best approach. Don't candy coat something when it demands 200% attention.
dark rider,
Yes there will be differences. Again, one first aid course vs another will be different but the end result will still be essentially the same. I think cramming the course into a weekend is crazy. How do you actually retain this info when you're in a non stop cram fest??? I would surely pass it then have to refer back to the book over and over afterwards to constantly remind myself of what's going on. I wish I had the money to purchase everything before or during this course. I would have loved to get training/instruction using my own gear so I could know it inside out. I would recommend anyone new to diving that is truly serious to consider this option prior to taking the course. Maybe I'll win the lotto tonight and can buy all the high end stuff and use it for the rest of the class
I'm glad this thread is useful and helping people out. The whole point was really to clearly outline for newbies what actually happened and what to expect. I had no clue really as to what was going to happen and had a bit of a hard time trying to figure some of it out. This is why I was glad I had a 20 year old book to give me a brief taste of what to expect. I hate going into situations blind if I can avoid it.
dark rider
Registered
I think the key with the compressed schedule classes is to read all of the materials and watch the videos beforehand. I would have felt overwhelmed by the content, had I not done so up front! I picked up my packet 2 weeks before the class started, and the instructor/dive shop owner actually told me to go through it all beforehand for familiarization with concepts and principles. I made a list of questions I wanted to ask when we covered the topics in class, and it actually worked out quite well.
The extended pool time is one nice benefit of the condensed classes. Although total water time is probably less, it was nice having it in longer sessions, because you get plenty of time to master the skills before moving on. I really felt quite comfortable at the end of the second day, and did not feel that I was rushed at all. My only regret was that the class was over... Soon enough, I'll be logging real dives though, and the anticipation and excitement is even greater than what I had for the actual class. I can't wait!
The extended pool time is one nice benefit of the condensed classes. Although total water time is probably less, it was nice having it in longer sessions, because you get plenty of time to master the skills before moving on. I really felt quite comfortable at the end of the second day, and did not feel that I was rushed at all. My only regret was that the class was over... Soon enough, I'll be logging real dives though, and the anticipation and excitement is even greater than what I had for the actual class. I can't wait!
RonFrank
Contributor
Exactly! I can not speak for anyone else, but I got the materials a month before hand, and went through the entire book twice. I also gave me time to purchase all my gear, and much of it was used.
I can understand why folks hold off on the gear. I see a Lot of used gear for sale and most of it was purchased for an Open Water class and was used maybe twice. Good deals to be had!
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