Open Water Fitness Tests

[tursiops]

PADI is in the business of defining their own standards, though, and if that means augmenting the dictionary for what "continuous" means from their perspective, then that's what they do.

Yes, technically, any reverse in direction has a zero motion component but the reality is people don't recognize that as a discrete moment in time unless they hang on the side of the pool.

This is the correct answer to dmaziuk's concern, of course, but it doesn't fit his narrative so he will find some way to reject it. Moreover, to assert one has to stop to reverse direction is one-dimensional thinking. In two-dimensions, one can keep moving while turning. PADI understands that, so all is well.

 

[dmaziuk]

This is the correct answer to dmaziuk's concern, of course, but it doesn't fit his narrative so he will find some way to reject it. Moreover, to assert one has to stop to reverse direction is one-dimensional thinking. In two-dimensions, one can keep moving while turning. PADI understands that, so all is well.

Actually my concern is that according to you I must report my instructor to Scuba Police for making an assessment of my swimming proficiency that wasn't based on your interpretation of PADI's multi-dimensional definition of a linear vector of a dictionary word. Unless the student is wearing mask and fins, in which case it's presumably OK to hang on the side of the pool.

 

[TMHeimer]

Must prolong this.......Where does mask and fins fit into the discussion on the straight swim test. Or are we now talking the m/f/s/ 300 "alternative"? Does it say "continuous" for that one? I realize I should know that, but who cares?

 

[TheHuth]

For clarity, I was not allowed to push off from the side. So the stops and turns added a tremendous amount of work.

 

[dmaziuk]

Must prolong this.......Where does mask and fins fit into the discussion on the straight swim test. Or are we now talking the m/f/s/ 300 "alternative"? Does it say "continuous" for that one? I realize I should know that, but who cares?

That is the part I was poking fun at in the first place, see #24:

... either: a) continuous 200 yard (183 metre) surface distance swim and a 10 minute survival swim/float without the use of mask, fins, snorkel or of other swimming aids;b) 300 yard swim using mask, fins and snorkel, and a 10 minute survival swim/float without mask, fins, snorkel or other swimming aid.

Continuous in not a requirement for the 300 m alternative.

 

[TMHeimer]

Ok I see what you're saying. I don't think very many instructors have been confused by the wording because it says continuous for one and not the other. Maybe could be worded differently? Based on this wording, what sort of "non-continuous" thing do you think you would be allowed to do on the 300 that you wouldn't on the continuous 200? Perhaps the standards writers assumed that doing flip turns where you touch the pool end is just a normal part of swimming, so that's included in continuous regardless of the dictionary definition? If not--as you suggest--why would you be allowed to touch the pool end with one type of swim test and not on the other (well, the other is a snorkeling test really).

 

[tursiops]

There are eleven angels on the head of a pin. Jeez. What a useless discussion.

 

[Texanguy]

I got certified with a few of my friends and we are all lifeguards on a the usa swim team so we raced we didn't get any rest at the wall because we did our swim tests at the dive site there really wasn't a wall. I've done a lot of swimming and I would say 300 meters with fins would definitely be easier. Another thing I will add is that being a good swimmer also is a good reflection of a person's confidence in water . I'm so used to swimming I'm not really bothered when my mask floods because it happens all the time in the pool. I don't panic when I suddenly don't have air because again I swim all the time I think the swim test has a lot of Merit.

 

[dmaziuk]

There are eleven angels on the head of a pin.

Cute but wrong.

(The answer is up to 8.6766*10^49)

 

[boulderjohn]

I can't believe this thread.

Let's apply some common sense here. What is the purpose of the swim test? Obviously, it is to see if you can swim a specified distance without needing to take a rest. What would be the point in adding a requirement that they can't even touch the wall when they turn or that they can't come to a stop, no matter how briefly, when they turn around? Such a requirement would provide nothing to the test that has anything at all to do with its purpose. With that context in mind, it is obvious that continuous is intended to prevent the student from holding on and taking a rest. In all my years of instructing I never dreamed I would run into anyone arguing otherwise.

We ran into something along the lines of this argument a few years ago regarding the skills for removing the weight belt and the scuba unit. In the pool sessions, students are supposed to be able to do it both on the surface and "on the bottom." Some instructors were talking about the fact that they have students do the "on the bottom" skills in mid water, while neutrally buoyant. (I demo it that way and give students the option.) Other were arguing that because it said "on the bottom" in the standards, it meant students were required to be firmly planted on the floor of the pool. We finally contacted PADI and got a quick response saying that "on the bottom" really meant "not on the surface." Mid water was just fine.

It is really easy to ask PADI these questions, and if you aren't convinced on the swimming test issue, just give them a call.

As for the original question, I have to admit I hate the swim test. I have never had a student fail it. After they have swum half a lap and I can see they are going to be fine, I wish I could just call them out of the pool so we could get on to scuba instruction. For that reason, a number of instructors I know try to turn it into something of an instructional session by requiring everyone do the 300 version with MFS. Some students have little snorkeling experience, and snorkeling for 300 yards is a good learning experience for them. It is also a good time to spot and correct poor kicking technique with the fins.