NAUI Rescue Diver Requirements

[Addicted2H2O]

I'm currently taking the NASE Rescue Diver course, but am finding the material to be a bit lacking compared to some of the more "intense" training I've done through NAUI on my other certifications. Also, with the eLearning material, a lot of the questions on the exam aren't actually found in the videos or the manual. So we're studying the NAUI academic material as well. I believe, as is being decided by the instructor, by the time we're done with the dives this coming weekend, we're actually going to earn BOTH certifications (NASE & NAUI). We're of course covering all of the NASE requirements for the course but we're also adding the NAUI physical requirements as well.

My question is this: The NASE Rescue Diver course requires candidates to swim 250 yards as a swimmer and then 450 yards with snorkel gear. What are the NAUI swimming requirements for the Rescue Diver course?

 

[tbone1004]

Swimming:
225yd swim-no idea why this is 225 instead of 250, but whatever
15min survival swim-i.e. float
recover 10lbs from 10 ish ft-cue why I think ditchable weight is pointless

Skin Diving:
450yds kick
retrieve diver from 10 ish ft
misc. other skin diving stuff

Scuba:
Buddy breathe and AAS breathe
100yd tow
misc other scuba stuff

from the latest revision of the instructor manual

 

[Addicted2H2O]

Swimming:
225yd swim-no idea why this is 225 instead of 250, but whatever
15min survival swim-i.e. float
recover 10lbs from 10 ish ft-cue why I think ditchable weight is pointless

Skin Diving:
450yds kick
retrieve diver from 10 ish ft
misc. other skin diving stuff

Scuba:
Buddy breathe and AAS breathe
100yd tow
misc other scuba stuff

from the latest revision of the instructor manual

And these are the NAUI requirements correct? If so then I'm golden. We performed all of the skin diving skills in the pool last week so this week we'll be focusing on the actual rescue skills. I think there is one more skin diving skill that's not required by either agency but the instructor is putting in anyway. He wants us to do a mask, snorkel, fin ditch and don. We did a full gear ditch & don at the bottom of the pool last week. Trying to don a kit underwater w/ a weight integrated BC is fun at first, especially when you see everything blurred because you have no mask. Even funnier is that the next skill was breathe underwater for two minutes without a mask. I did that trying to wrap my legs around my tank so I could stay on the bottom long enough to put my mask on.

 

[shurite7]

And these are the NAUI requirements correct?

Yes. The requirements posted by tbone1004 are from the NAUI 2018 S&P. The snorkel ditch and don are not required for rescue.

 

[conundrum]

Skin Diving Ditch & Recovery, Scuba Ditch and Recovery and Scuba Bailout are NAUI leadership skills. Your instructor probably thinks that you have potential to go to professional level.

 

[Addicted2H2O]

Thanks for the info! Guess that means I don't have to do the free swim over again, which is a relief. He did mention that the ditch & don skills weren't required but that he was throwing them in anyway to make us better divers. I'm planning to at least get to the DM level, which is why I'm taking the RSD course now. Whether or not I'll progress to instructor has yet to be determined, but I'm certainly not ruling it out. Certainly wouldn't be for the money if I did.

 

[tbone1004]

Skin Diving Ditch & Recovery, Scuba Ditch and Recovery and Scuba Bailout are NAUI leadership skills. Your instructor probably thinks that you have potential to go to professional level.

we require the skin diving ditch and don for all OW divers and the other two skills from all of our AOW/Rescue divers

 

[MichaelMc]

A related question. NAUI leadership has an OW scuba recovery of 10 lb. from 20 ft., presumably of someone else’s weight belt. What is a good way to do that?

1. Drop down, grab the belt, inflate and manage your BC for a nice slow ascent, hand it back to who ever dropped it. Easy, and potentially not an uncommon task for a DM. (I did this version for simplicity; and then we moved on to distraught diver drills for a TA candidate who had helpfully ‘dropped’ her 10 lb. belt for us)

Yet..., one basic safety rule is to not use your BC as a lift bag. Which you’re doing in this evaluated drill. And 10 lb. is a little outside the insignificant weight range.

There are other, more tinkering, options.
2. Clip your DSMB to it to reduce the weight, inflate, rise with BC, taking the full weight in the last few feet, hand back belt, unclip and roll up DSMB.
3. Clip spool to it, ascend without it, hand spool to dropper with winding instructions, haul up cave line and belt, unclip, put on shoulder, retrieve and clip off spool, return belt.
4. Variant of 2. Clip cave line to assistant/boat, descend, clip a few double enders around belt as pulley, thread line through, ascend without it, pass off spool, haul up half the weight, maybe have it twist and tangle and lock half way up unless you stay a couple of feet away from the assistant/boat.

Which would/should you do?

 

[shurite7]

A related question. NAUI leadership has an OW scuba recovery of 10 lb. from 20 ft., presumably of someone else’s weight belt. What is a good way to do that?

1. Drop down, grab the belt, inflate and manage your BC for a nice slow ascent, hand it back to who ever dropped it. Easy, and potentially not an uncommon task for a DM. (I did this version for simplicity; and then we moved on to distraught diver drills for a TA candidate who had helpfully ‘dropped’ her 10 lb. belt for us)

Yet..., one basic safety rule is to not use your BC as a lift bag. Which you’re doing in this evaluated drill. And 10 lb. is a little outside the insignificant weight range.

There are other, more tinkering, options.
2. Clip your DSMB to it to reduce the weight, inflate, rise with BC, taking the full weight in the last few feet, hand back belt, unclip and roll up DSMB.
3. Clip spool to it, ascend without it, hand spool to dropper with winding instructions, haul up cave line and belt, unclip, put on shoulder, retrieve and clip off spool, return belt.
4. Variant of 2. Clip cave line to assistant/boat, descend, clip a few double enders around belt as pulley, thread line through, ascend without it, pass off spool, haul up half the weight, maybe have it twist and tangle and lock half way up unless you stay away from the assistant/boat.

Which would/should you do?

You should be able to bring a ten pound object from twenty feet without using the BC, a DSMB, or a lift bag. When you reach the surface then inflate your BCD. A good set of fins will be provide enough thrust to propel you to the surface, especially if you are neutrally buoyant before picking up the object. Skin divers do this without using a BCD.

 

[MichaelMc]

You should be able to bring a ten pound object from twenty feet without using the BC, a DSMB, or a lift bag. When you reach the surface then inflate your BCD. A good set of fins will be provide enough thrust to propel you to the surface, especially if you are neutrally buoyant before picking up the object. Skin divers do this without using a BCD.

Yes. You should be able to without BC. And that is a skin diver drill. But if you're a DM in full scuba gear, how should you do this exemplifying responsible safe diving techniques, for someone who has already been diving, is on compressed air from 20’ depth and using proper ascent rates... would you take 40 seconds of slowly decreasing your depth managed just with fins. Or use BC, or also reduce the weight, or just clip a line to it, get back in the boat and have the dropper haul it up by hand. And if this is a realistic DM task, what if they had dropped an 18 lb. belt?