OW Class in a BP/W.... PADI version

[TSandM]

Actually, the knee pads are for people like me, who make a habit of falling down getting in and out of the water

 

[kidspot]

My knee pads have seen the same duty, last dive I ended up crawling/dragging myself over some lava rock till I could get to ground worth standing on... yes a bit embarrassing, but also hard on the drysuit lol Sooo glad for good knee pads!

 

[kidspot]

Very nice pics Snowbear! Good to see students strive for the example set before them...

 

[lakewinni]

Thats pretty much amazing.

 

[Jamdiver]

I've read a lot of threads in the main forums as well as the Instructor forums about the feasibility of taking or teaching Open Water Scuba Diver classes in a BP/W.

The students in these pictures are on OW Dive #3 of a PADI class. They are in Halcyon BP/W with one piece harness. They are in drysuits (a necessity when conducting OW class in 42F water with +8F surface temp and 30 knot wind :11: ) They are using more "conventional" regulator setups, though the Instructor and DM's were using the 7' hose/bungied B/U configuration.

Here's a picture of the instructor setting the example:

And a student making a decent attempt at emulating him:

And a buddy team:

While they were not perfect (yet), they put a lot of effort into buoyancy control and trim. The instructors and DM's set the example and the students want to dive like we do.

And yes, viz was incredible.... these pictures were not photoshopped other than to crop them. They were taken with the point~n~shoot Optio with no strobe

Wow i'm most impressed :14:.

Reminds me of when I learnt to dive........., oh no that's not right we were all flailing around

 

[Snowbear]

Wow i'm most impressed :14:.

Reminds me of when I learnt to dive........., oh no that's not right we were all flailing around

LOL... well, like I said, there was some flailing involved, but holy guagamole... these guys were catching on and during an "experience tour," they were relaxing and making remarkable progress at buoyancy control and even trim... I'm looking forward to having some new dive buddies this summer

 

[Ben_ca]

My knee pads have seen the same duty, last dive I ended up crawling/dragging myself over some lava rock till I could get to ground worth standing on... yes a bit embarrassing, but also hard on the drysuit lol Sooo glad for good knee pads!

But then again you're the only one on Maui diving a drysuit


Snowbear.... Bravo on the students and Instructor team.... Way to go

 

[MikeFerrara]

Forgive my scepticism, that can't be the 3rd dive that guy has ever made. I'm going to take a WHOLE LOT more convincing.

Why?

When I was teaching students had to look like that in the water before I'd take them to open water. Remember, according to PADI, students learn to dive in confined water and gain experience in OW. They should be able to handle the swimming around and looking pretty good stuff before leaving the pool.

Check out the website of Brando and Scott (the scuba guys are they called?). There are quit a few instructors helping students to dive like this every day. We found that 5 3 hour confined water sessions worked well for us. I, for one, have outlined how we organized it many times on this board. I'm sure other instructors have different methods but as you can see, the results are there.

Snow,

Give the instructor a pat on the back for me. Just as a "this is how I did it", I used to have students use an octo lenght hose for a primary and a short hose and necklaced backup. Some students opted for longer primaries from the start but I never got all the student gear set up that way just because we were forced to try to use what we already had. I used short(er) hp hoses with only an spg on them clipped off on the left (no consol). My wife gutted our consols and made wrist mounts for the analog depth guages and compasses using rubber tube, bungie, strips of inertube, hose clamps...and whatever else we had laying around.

 

[DiverBuoy]

Why?

Uhm ... I take it back a picture is merely a moment in time. I'd like to see a few videos with 1st and 2nd dive students. Every now and then there is a class with a natural, someone comfortable around the water all their life, they just get it nearly instantly. So of course I believe it's possible and retract my scepticism, I've seen it and taught it. But I'd sure love to see a continous video of first dive from this instruction group ... a full 20-30 min video uninterrupted, that would be a sweet model.

 

[MikeFerrara]

Uhm ... I take it back a picture is merely a moment in time. I'd like to see a few videos with 1st and 2nd dive students. Every now and then there is a class with a natural, someone comfortable around the water all their life, they just get it nearly instantly. So of course I believe it's possible and retract my scepticism, I've seen it and taught it. But I'd sure love to see a continous video of first dive from this instruction group ... a full 20-30 min video uninterrupted, that would be a sweet model.

Contact BCS (on this board). I'm sure he has video. There might even be some on his website but I don't remember the URL.

You could always try it in your own classes. Give them a chance to get off their knees, they can do it.