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

[Snowbear]

I propose that these divers are in the long run more likely to spend money and to keep the industry financially healthy than what most instructors/shops turn out now.

Agreed!

I'm planning to dive with at least one of these students on Thursday. While I'll be loaning him most of the gear including tanks, this guy seems like one who is getting hooked and will soon be buying his own gear.

His wife has also expressed interest (especially after seeing some of my pictures), though if she takes the class, it won't be until the water temp warms up

 

[DiverBuoy]

Following is an attached picture (I hope I have done this correctly) of a student that completed her PADI o/w course with me yesterday. This was taken on dive 4. Some of the gear she brought down with her from the north. I train my students within PADI standards using a bp/w and long hose configuration.

This is not rocket science. What it takes is to reduce ratios for safety and then work with students intensively on training skills while maintaining buoyancy and trim in mid water.

Was she perfect… no but she was a much more confident and comfortable diver than she would have been with an on your knees approach.

PADI does not need to change. The standards are sound its just how we approach them as instructors that need changing. The CESA is really the only skill that PADI specifies exactly how it’s accomplished. The rest needs be taught consistent with safety.

Oh… she was “equipped” with a snorkel folded in a small pouch on this dive.

In the picture she's breathing off the alternate second stage or is her primary just yellow?? Of course its not some big faux pa, if it works and delivers air no sweat, the question is does she even know?

 

[Jason B]

In the picture she's breathing off the alternate second stage or is her primary just yellow?? Of course its not some big faux pa, if it works and delivers air no sweat, the question is does she even know?

That's her primary. Can you figure out why it might not be a good idea to have a yellow 2nd stage bungied around your neck? (hint: when diving the long hose, which reg get's donated to the OOA diver?)

 

[DiverBuoy]

I guess in all the configurations for DIR that I've dived personally or for those with whom I've dived both regs were 'uncolored' never saw this hybrid effect. The tricky part is "most" DIR-trained folks draw the line on diving with anyone not rigged and trained the same. Therefore this hybrid is an oddity because what is essentially being said here is I'll take you into my class with any gear configuration you want and with a few changes we'll make it partially compliant with DIR techniques. This way if you should happen to be in the water with someone who doesn't understand this gear configuration and trys to rip the YELLOW regulator from your person it won't strangle you. The point being is it's another half-way there imitation, these things are hard to throw together in a blender and make a decent tasting drink - to what end are you preparing? First we are saying you can dive your own rig I only ask you to extend your primary hose, make it your cheaper yellow regulator, and bungie to your neck the high quality reg you have.

So now for specifics ... many recreational rigs have a less expensive (lower quality parts) designed alternate second stage regulator, which is typically colored differently. You might typically pay hundreds of dollars less for this regulator to be built out of say zirconium or brass parts. However this is your yellow regulator which is known among the general diving community with whom you might find yourself underwater, as the 'donation' regulator, octo, or alternate 2nd stage. But in this 'partial implementation' of DIR training melded with PADI/NAUI where the long hose is now introduced along with the skill of donating the primary regulator, and the alternate is bungied to your neck ... you must be certain to use full time the $150 dollar regulator as your primary in case your average Joe Diver rips it from your mouth in desperation underwater, to avoid the scenario where the unfamiliar buddy in a state of his own panic should strangle you with your own alternate bungie.

Of course we could be talking again about accomodating divers with their own gear with only the change of some bungie and a long hose but not asking them to purchase a black colored alternate so that the high quality regulator can be used full time and donated when necessary. I'd love to hear your further thoughts on how all this is explained to the student and what exactly is discussed while not stepping over the bounds into telling the student what they really need is to quit this PADI class purchase the following rig and equipment and sign up for a DIR class.

 

[JustinW]

Those are awesome pictures. While I have yet to physically see a better instructor than my own actually teach (most i find frightening and I have posted threads describing the agregious events) I wish I would have been taught at this level. I was taught on my knees, never taught a frog kick but I never saw a tag line. We weren't taught surf entries the ridiculous ways of walking backwards into the swells or holding hands in a chain. We were taught in jet fins and we were in SP stab jackets.

This post has motivated me, If I ever decided to instruct, this would be the only way to do it!

 

[kidspot]

fwiw - I've dove with several DIR divers who had a yellow cover on their primary - I know I can get a yellow cover for either of my regs, or I could have bought one in yellow (or green) to begin with... I just happen to have gotten a black one instead. I've never heard anything against having a yellow reg on the long hose either...

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It has been nice seeing all these pics of new divers "getting it" ...

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JusinW - I agree that this post has been good food for thought and something worth holding onto for future reference...

Aloha, Tim

 

[Snowbear]

This post has motivated me, If I ever decided to instruct, this would be the only way to do it!

Thanks, Justin.... with an attitude like this, you'll make a good instructor if you go that route

I'm planning to bring my little camera on Thursday. It will be the guy's first dive after the cert dives. I will try to get some video clips as well as some stills. I certainly don't expect perfection, but I think he'll do better than most would expect from such a n00b

 

[Snowbear]

AFAIK, DIR doesn't specify the color of the faceplates on the regs. Usually I've seen the odd colored one as the backup, though. Until I broke it, I used a yellow ATX40 as a backup. Now I an ATX50, which just happens to be the same black as my primary.

When you're diving in a primarily horizontal trim with the backup reg bungied around your neck, unless the OOG diver in approaching from your anterior side, the only reg they're really going to be able to see is the one you're breathing from.

 

[Tollie]

The gear I have my students use… beyond their own personal mask, fins, snorkel and if they have one a wet suit is as follows:

Scubapro mk2 regulator and r190 2ed stages. The primary has a yellow faceplate and is fitted on a 5ft hose while the reserve is bungeed under the chin. Students also use halcyon ss backplates and wings. For gauges students use the uwatech depth gauge and compass worn as wrist mounts.

We spend practice time before going into the water doing modified s drills and re-rigging the long hose after deployment. It typically takes students 20 repetitions or so until they get it automatically. Clipping and unclipping the spg, well that does take a fair bit of practice to hit the d-ring.

Most assuredly the student know which reg they are using.

What I am trying to accomplish with my students is to develop in them a strong sense of buoyancy and trim as the foundation of safe and happy diving. We do talk about situational awareness and the importance of the team (buddy skills) in diving safely. I am also preparing recreational divers to dive within the limits of their training environment, which means 60 feet in clear and warm waters. Cold water, dark water, deep water, rough water is another matter.

Students come away from class with the motor skills trained repeatedly to take care of themselves and a buddy underwater. Now this is within the framework of a four-dive o/w course. I don’t expect students to dive like a GUE instructor. What I do expect is that they can clear their mask, recover their reg, ascend and decend slowly and horizontally, perform ooa shares smoothly and efficiently without loosing control of buoyancy, well within 5 feet or so. These skills and the other required skills of diving can be mastered in the conventional 4 dive course.

New divers do not need a GUE style o/w course (whenever it appears) to dive safely in benign conditions. What they do need are solid buoyancy and trim and the confidence that comes from repletion of skills under training. I believe that a much higher standard of training can be afforded students within the parameters of major agency standards. Students can be taught to dive as divers actually dive. It takes a real commitment by instructors to reduce ratios and to think about training to the standards as divers dive.

 

[TSandM]

Talking about the color issue with primary/secondary regulators -- I had the odd experience in Rescue class yesterday of having one of the "victims" give me an OOA signal. I went to donate my primary (which is black) and there was a long hesitation before she took it. She later told me that she couldn't see the reg -- all she saw was my black glove, and didn't recognize the regulator next to it. This is someone who does not normally dive a long hose or dive with anyone who uses one. That experience made me think there might be an advantage to getting a yellow cover for my primary. If I dive with other people who are schooled in the long hose, it won't be an issue, because they will expect precisely what I am going to do. But clearly it can be confusing for those who aren't.