Master Rescue vs Padi rescue?

[noserider]

Finally looking to get my Rescue certifications (only taken me 25 years!), I can do a PADI rescue course locally but am tempted to go to Gozo and do the Raid course with Ritual divers but it would take 3 or 4 days out of a holiday.

The RAID master rescue course is looking favourite as the philosophy of RAID seems to be more aligned with my thoughts as to how diving should be and training standards seem to be more comprehensive than others, is this impression correct?

What can I expect on the course and are there any watch outs? and is there any real benefits doing the RAID version

 

[ginti]

The RAID master rescue course is looking favourite as the philosophy of RAID seems to be more aligned with my thoughts as to how diving should be and training standards seem to be more comprehensive than others, is this impression correct?

I believe you're right, but I am not sure 100%; probably @RainPilot can help.

However, I would focus my attention on the instructor rather than the agency

 

[noserider]

The difficulty would be the first time I would meet the RAID instructor would be in Gozo, however if we did not gel, I could just go diving

 

[ginti]

The difficulty would be the first time I would meet the RAID instructor would be in Gozo, however if we did not gel, I could just go diving

Look at their videos online (if they have) to evaluate their skills, and look around on the internet to check former customers' feedback. Lastly, get in touch, call them and verify four things:
(1) what exactly they teach during the course (they may teach more than the standards);
(2) what level of skills and experience do they expect from you;
(3) the minimum standard to pass the course;
(4) whether you like them or not from a personal perspective.

 

[RainPilot]

Rescue is the odd one out on many of the various agency discussions. There are many different philosophies regarding diving skills, but the Rescue course is not as much about actual diving skills, as it is about mindset, attitude and first aid type skills. From a standards point of view, the PADI course is pretty good, if taught by an experienced, conscientious instructor it is an excellent course. It will be more expensive than a RAID course in terms of cert fees and e-Learning (about 140 GBP vs 100).

I would hesitate before doing Rescue on a trip. A well conducted Rescue course needs time and focus, with the ability to easily add in a day or two if needed to bed down the learning. Doing that on a trip is, psychologically at least, trickier. Its also a good idea to conduct the practical OW exercises in conditions like you dive in most, so a UK rescue dive will be very different from a Malta one (drysuit vs wet, shore vs boat, waves vs calm etc)

I would suggest doing the course in UK regardless. Check with James or Olli at RAID UK if there is a course going in your area, PM me if you need contact details. If you do end up doing a PADI course at home, nothing prevents you from doing some diving with the RAID folks in Malta and picking their brains on the differences, since you're paying them as dive guides anyway, I imagine they'll be happy to offer pointers.

 

[noserider]

Rescue is the odd one out on many of the various agency discussions. There are many different philosophies regarding diving skills, but the Rescue course is not as much about actual diving skills, as it is about mindset, attitude and first aid type skills. From a standards point of view, the PADI course is pretty good, if taught by an experienced, conscientious instructor it is an excellent course. It will be more expensive than a RAID course in terms of cert fees and e-Learning (about 140 GBP vs 100).

I would hesitate before doing Rescue on a trip. A well conducted Rescue course needs time and focus, with the ability to easily add in a day or two if needed to bed down the learning. Doing that on a trip is, psychologically at least, trickier. Its also a good idea to conduct the practical OW exercises in conditions like you dive in most, so a UK rescue dive will be very different from a Malta one (drysuit vs wet, shore vs boat, waves vs calm etc)

I would suggest doing the course in UK regardless. Check with James or Olli at RAID UK if there is a course going in your area, PM me if you need contact details. If you do end up doing a PADI course at home, nothing prevents you from doing some diving with the RAID folks in Malta and picking their brains on the differences, since you're paying them as dive guides anyway, I imagine they'll be happy to offer pointers.

Thanks Rainpilot, it makes complete sense and really great to see a pragmatic response that does not push one agencies philosophy over another and this then attracts me even more to conducting training via the raid organisation.

I mainly dive in the tropics / warm water and I have never dived in the UK so doing a course in Malta makes sense however longer term it might be better to do one in the UK, however that opens up a whole new can of worms, buying a dry suit etc, but I do take on board what you say about building in extra time in case you need extra days.

I will reach out to James or Olli in the UK and get there take and maybe use the trip to Gozo as a holiday trip and upgrade another skill or two with the Raid instructors

 

[RainPilot]

I mainly dive in the tropics / warm water and I have never dived in the UK so doing a course in Malta makes sense

Yeah, in that case "train like you fight" applies. No reason to get a drysuit and deal with all that cold grey water if you don't ABSOLUTELY need to....


There are some excellent instructors in Malta / Gozo, not just for RAID. RAID UK and Malta is a single entity, I believe that it will be possible to do the theory, dry land and pool segments in UK and then do final dives in Malta, that may be an avenue to getting the best of both worlds. Either way, James and co will be able to give you the best advice. Good luck and enjoy, Rescue is still in my opinion the most valuable course most divers will ever do.

Let us know how it goes!

 

[noserider]

Do I need to switch my set up to a long hose and necklace? The course literature talks about using primary donate for OOA exercises? If so, should my primary regulator now be the yellow octopus? Both current regulators are the same Apex model

 

[RainPilot]

RAID is primary donate but not necessarily long hose. If you search for the DiveRite ”Advanced Open Water config” on YouTube etc you should see a pretty slick way of doing primary donate without using a long hose, and mostly using the same hoses as a standard reg set

 

[noserider]

Cheers Rainpilot - maybe I should come to the UAE to do the course

Finished the online materials today and must say I was really impressed with the material and quality of the courses even if some the quiz questions were tricky