One Day OW Certification

[scuba_frog]

I was driving down the road the otherday and saw a sign outside a PADI 5 Star dive shop...Learn to Dive and Get Certified in ONE Day. So I called, mentioned that I was an AOW diver, and wanted to get more information for my daughter. This class consisted of doing the online PADI OW class and one 6-7 hour day in the pool (pool sessions take place when 8-10 people are registered...too cost prohibitive for anything less). And the OW dives were seperate. I mentioned to them that I thought 6-7 hours of confined water seemed an awefully short amount of time to learn and master all the skills. Their response was that PADI does not have any minimum time requirements to become certified. It is left to the individual instructor and his judgement as to the amount of pool time necssary.

In my opinion, one pool session to master all the skills is nowhere near enough time. This shop has had a bad reputation for years. How can they get away with something like that. Does PADI have any minimum pool requirements. If so, how can this shop put themselves above them...or is it the almight buck that drives this whole thing. Scary that some unsuspecting individual might take this class and wind up possibly injured or possibly dead because of a dollar.

Just curious what others think.

 

[spectrum]

6-7 hours in the pool is about what many students get, if they are lucky.

The problem with one day is stamina, thermal endurance and being able to assimilate all of it in one day. If a student is working hard to adapt there is no wiggle room and a lot of pressure to get it done.

I would not entrust my child to such a program.

Pete

 

[Teamcasa]

It looks like a false advertising claim at best.
Online course (min time must be over 4 hours, right?)
6-7 hours in the pool?
Plus 4 OW dives?

I doubt anyone could claim this is a one-day certification.
I would look elsewhere for my daughter's class.

 

[ligersandtions]

I think I did 8-10 hours of pool time, but we did it over two days. I can't imagine doing 6-7 in one day....I also felt that the time between confined water sessions was really important as it gave you time to reflect on the things that you did well, what you'd like to work on the next time out, and some time away to just decompress and relieve stress or whatever. And even if a pool is warm, it gets cold when you're kneeling on the bottom removing and replacing your mask...

It seems like this dive shop is trying to push through as many students as possible. I would imagine that some students would come out perfectly fine, while others will likely be unsafe and/or completely discouraged from diving again in the future after they're certified.

 

[300bar]

It's just a violation of standards,5 pool dives,you have to do entrys and exits for each one.
briefing and debriefing for each pooldive.
+ 4 OW dives in 6/7hours NO WAY.

 

[rje634]

But your not Certified until you do your 4 Open Water dives. Doing the 4 OW dives in one day along with the pool work would seem nearly impossible.
My shop has a weekend executive course that has the students in the water for about 7-8 hours over the span of two days. Then, there is a separate training weekend at a local quarry for the 4 OW dives. 2 dives per day with an optional fun dive after they are done with the required dives and "certified".

 

[BClendening]

That sounds like they're just trying to rush people through for their own benefit and profit. I'm not sure the total time I spent in the pool, although I didn't have any issues with any of the skills, aside from the dumb hand signals that I just kept doing backwards. But with the context of this post, I definitely wouldn't let my child, if I had one, in such a class.

 

[netmystar]

I got certified in a three day intensive course with SSI. We had to read our books at home fill in all the questions then come in for the first day theory and pool work started at 8 till 10:30 with theory then hit the pool form 11am till 6pm. Then a little theory the next morning and two open water shore dives followed by two boat dives the next day.

 

[scubadiver888]

I was driving down the road the otherday and saw a sign outside a PADI 5 Star dive shop...Learn to Dive and Get Certified in ONE Day. So I called, mentioned that I was an AOW diver, and wanted to get more information for my daughter. This class consisted of doing the online PADI OW class and one 6-7 hour day in the pool (pool sessions take place when 8-10 people are registered...too cost prohibitive for anything less). And the OW dives were seperate. I mentioned to them that I thought 6-7 hours of confined water seemed an awefully short amount of time to learn and master all the skills. Their response was that PADI does not have any minimum time requirements to become certified. It is left to the individual instructor and his judgement as to the amount of pool time necssary.

In my opinion, one pool session to master all the skills is nowhere near enough time. This shop has had a bad reputation for years. How can they get away with something like that. Does PADI have any minimum pool requirements. If so, how can this shop put themselves above them...or is it the almight buck that drives this whole thing. Scary that some unsuspecting individual might take this class and wind up possibly injured or possibly dead because of a dollar.

Just curious what others think.

Everytime I read something like this my first thought is, "Someone is in trouble." Then I check the Recreational Scuba Training Council (RSTC) guidelines (which are a minimum that PADI, YMCA, SSI, etc. follow). Just checked the guidelines...

There is nothing in them about how many confined water dives. They have to have the 4 open water dives, they list all the skills you have to do in confined water before you can do the open water portion. It looks like they are not violating the RSTC standards and therefore are probably not violating the PADI standards. There is a location on the PADI website you can report them (PADI Quality Management). Most likely your get a letter back explaining why they are not violating the PADI rules.

They are however conducting false advertising. If they are claiming certification in one day and you require 4 open water dives for certification, there is no way you can do that in one day. The RSTC mandates no more than THREE open water training dives per day.

Getting the online theory and the confined water training in one day does not get your your c-card. You need at least 2 days but even that would be exhausting (all the thoery, confined water dives and 1 open water dive day 1 then 3 open water dives day 2).

 

[scuba_frog]

Hey, I hear you guys. She did get her cert elsewhere...4 days of class room and 4 3-hour pool sessions with a 5th available if they wanted to come and work on skills before OW. She's 25 y/o and she decided that she did not want to rush through things...smart kid.

I just thought this one day thing was just plain crazy. I was vertified 5 yrs ago and I had at least 10 hours in the pool...and sometimes that felt like it was not enough. I just think these guys are just out to rush people throug so they can buy their gear through the shop.