PADI cert
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dmaziuk
Contributor
PADI made significant changes to its OW program last year. I don't know how different it is from SDI now, but I would be very surprised if they are all that siimilar now. Tursiops knows both programs, so he knows the differences better than I.
I hear what you're saying. AFAIK, the shop does not ever teach a class where some students are getting SDI and others PADI, in the same class at the same time. You have to tell them which one you want before you start, so they can give you either the PADI or SDI student materials. So, they could teach the same class, with all the same material taught (albeit possibly some things in a different order), and still meet the standards of whichever agency's name is on the student handbook. Does that address your concerns? From my POV as (at the time) a consumer and potential new customer, it made no difference. Whichever agency you choose, the material is what is sanctioned by the RSTC, right? So, if you're going to have the same instructor either way, then I don't see how the subtle differences within the OW course really matter. I would think any decent instructor is going to produce an equally competent student, whether the instructor was aiming for a PADI or SDI C card. And if the instructor is not at least decent, then it also would not matter whether they were aiming for PADI or SDI.
IOW, it's the instructor, not the agency (right?). Given that I was going to have the same instructor either way - and I consider the course to be "the same", even if they change the order around - I think my earlier statement, and what it implied, stands.
---------- Post added July 30th, 2015 at 04:16 PM ----------
I heard a rumor (from a PADI instructor, at a PADI shop) that PADI is no longer part of the RSTC. But, I have googled it and cannot find anything to substantiate that rumor. If they are still part of the RSTC, then I wonder how their OW program could be very much different than another agency's OW program that is also part of the RSTC. If they are not part of RSTC any more, then that would certainly help explain it if their program is a lot different now.
Anyone know? Tursiops?
---------- Post added July 30th, 2015 at 04:19 PM ----------
In semi-related news, both the shops local to me have just added SSI training to what they offer. One shop is dropping their PADI membership (correct term?) when it expires at the end of this year. I don't know what the other shop is planning regarding PADI, but they also already offer SDI and TDI.
They are a part of the RSTC. The RSTC identifies MINIMUM standards that all member programs are supposed to reach. Until last year, PADI's OW course was very much the same as the RSTC minimum guidelines. Last year they added a number of new items that make their standards pretty far beyond the RSTC minimums.
A couple of years ago, PADI and DAN did a joint study on scuba fatalities. They dtetermined what changes needed to be made to the OW course to help limit the potential for fatalities. This includes an emphasis on buddy skills, an emphasis on awareness of gas levels, more practice with OOA scenarios, emergency weight drop, and increased practice in oral inflation of the BCD. Students are also required to inflate an SMB.
They also added a significant increase in practice in neutrally buoyant swimming. They began by recommending (sadly, not requiring) that instructors stop teaching skills to students planted on the bottom on their knees but rather while neutrally buoyant in horizontal trim. If you read though all the additional skills described in the confined water portion of the class, you will see that students MUST spend a significant amount of pool time swimming while neutrally buoyant to be within the standards. (In the RSTC standards, one trip around the pool is about all that was required.) There is more hovering in the confined water course than before, including hovering after ahcieving buoyancy through oral inflation.
Gas management is now taught reasonably well in the course. On the final exam, for example, students have to identify the proper turn pressure on a dive after identifying a gas reserve and deciding to use the rule of thirds on the remaining gas.
Although they do not practice it in the pool beyond what was previosuly taught, the academic postion of the class includes all the main rescue skills included in the rescue diver course.
They must fix a loose cam band under water.
Dive planning is included. At the end of confined water course, students must plan and execute a mini-dive, during which the instructor will introduce problems (like OOA) for students to solve. In the OW dives, the final dive is completely planned and executed by the students, with the instructor simply attending to make sure all goes well.
They also added a significant increase in practice in neutrally buoyant swimming. They began by recommending (sadly, not requiring) that instructors stop teaching skills to students planted on the bottom on their knees but rather while neutrally buoyant in horizontal trim. If you read though all the additional skills described in the confined water portion of the class, you will see that students MUST spend a significant amount of pool time swimming while neutrally buoyant to be within the standards. (In the RSTC standards, one trip around the pool is about all that was required.) There is more hovering in the confined water course than before, including hovering after ahcieving buoyancy through oral inflation.
Gas management is now taught reasonably well in the course. On the final exam, for example, students have to identify the proper turn pressure on a dive after identifying a gas reserve and deciding to use the rule of thirds on the remaining gas.
Although they do not practice it in the pool beyond what was previosuly taught, the academic postion of the class includes all the main rescue skills included in the rescue diver course.
They must fix a loose cam band under water.
Dive planning is included. At the end of confined water course, students must plan and execute a mini-dive, during which the instructor will introduce problems (like OOA) for students to solve. In the OW dives, the final dive is completely planned and executed by the students, with the instructor simply attending to make sure all goes well.
All of that is new and in addition to the RSTC standards.
Wow! Props to PADI for stepping things up.
I wonder if my LDS price for a PADI cert will go up, making the difference between PADI and SDI even greater than the current $50.
dmaziuk
Contributor
(It's more of an idle curiosity, I grant you, so feel free to ignore it) You'd just have to do them twice in different order, that may be impractical and nobody'll want to buy both sets of materials and so on, but not impossible.
The problem is the definition of "or equivalent": if there is a large common subset then they are "or equivalent" and the small number of differing bits can be potentially structured to satisfy both agencies. If a newly minted PADI OW diver (with all the changes listed by John) is quite different from a fresh SDI OW graduate are they still "or equivalent"? Whose insurance company gets to decide that?
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