PADI necessary hidden skills

[Jcp2]

I’m too old for skiing now, but in the last few years that I did go, I recognized that I was not a young whippersnapper, so engaged the services of an instructor/guide for the first morning for him/her to help me with various deficiencies of technique and hopefully to learn something to focus myself on rather than falling down the mountain in a controlled fashion.

 

[tursiops]

I’m too old for skiing now, but in the last few years that I did go, I recognized that I was not a young whippersnapper, so engaged the services of an instructor/guide for the first morning for him/her to help me with various deficiencies of technique and hopefully to learn something to focus myself on rather than falling down the mountain in a controlled fashion.

LOL!
I have no idea what you are talking about.

 

[Storker]

Try a 50F water temp and a 20F air temp. Had that one yesterday...

50F/10C water is balmy. Try <4C/40F, and it starts getting... interesting.
20F/-7C air is close to my limit. Any colder, and my gear freezes almost before I can break it down, my zipper freezes almost before I have time to get out of the suit and rinsing down the gear plainly sucks. If it's colder than -10C/14F, I have better things to do than going diving. Like cleaning out the attic, doing the dishes or clipping my toenails.

 

[Sbiriguda]

My view is that teaching skills a student won't practice regularly isn't doing them a favor. I'd venture to say that 99 percent of students 2 weeks after open water can't remember how to use an RDP.

If you are losing basic skills, is it really of value to you to teach more advanced skills that you'll not practice frequently? I'm not sure it is.

I totally agree with this and I understood that this is actually a strength of the PADI approach

 

[Chavodel8en]

When I did my OWD, the dives were from the shore. Sure, no-one "officially" taught me how to start a shore dive (as in, it probably wasn't laid out explicitly in the curriculum), but we sure were mentored on how to do it. How official do you need every single item in the learning experience to be before you think that it has been taught?

Just to add to this discussion, here in California, surf entries seem to be a part of the standard curriculum. You can tell a class, as they are practicing various forms of entry (side shuffle, crawl, etc - only classes do the side shuffle, otherwise I've never seen it in the wild). I doubt they are "tested" on them (I dont recall being tested, although this was 17 years ago.). I suppose if a student doesnt make it out to open water to demonstrate their skills, you could say they "failed" shore entries.

Since then, I have had a couple buddies who have been unable to get through the surf entry (even though it wasnt that challenging either time). I imagine they were not trained in California.

 

[VikingDives]

Yes, exactly. Terrific advice.....but unfortunately rarely followed.

On the other hand, at least it lets the diver know that something exists and maybe what some of the main issues are. Probably this is better than knowing nothing at all. Yes, the physical skills go away, but the knowledge of what they are less so. You move from "you don't know what you don't know" to "you no longer know what you did know."

I don't disagree with this, but I'm factoring in training (time in the water) vs. education (book/classroom/eLearning). I think the education is valuable, but in an entry level class, I'm not convinced that the training is advisable or necessary. If I had my druthers, I'd teach much longer courses, but there are real world constraints on that training that make it impractical. I could put students in a small rubber boat, and have them roll into the water, but when I look at time spent versus value added, I don't think I'd be doing them any favors.

On the other hand, educating students about what else is out there is of value, no doubt.

 

[tursiops]

You can backroll from the edge of a pool during CW training.....takes the fear away from doing it later into deeper water. It is a valid way to enter the water, and so is not even a deviation from the standards.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

You can backroll from the edge of a pool during CW training.....takes the fear away from doing it later into deeper water. It is a valid way to enter the water, and so is not even a deviation from the standards.

Doesn't everyone using a pool teach this? IIRC, the PADI slates do specify such. I'm looking at the SDI ones and it is specified in CW3. I'd expect all WRSTC members to specific this in their slates/IG for open water courses. Now if instructors actually follow standards, that's another story.

Is the backward roll at the edge of the pool an ideal replacement for backward roll out of a RIB? No, but it is pretty darn close and sufficient.

 

[tursiops]

Doesn't everyone using a pool teach this? IIRC, the PADI slates do specify such.

Nope. The PADI standards/slates only say "deep-water entry" and most I'm aware of teach a giant stride.
YDNRC. (You Do Not Remember Correctly)

 

[TMHeimer]

Yes, exactly. Terrific advice.....but unfortunately rarely followed.

On the other hand, at least it lets the diver know that something exists and maybe what some of the main issues are. Probably this is better than knowing nothing at all. Yes, the physical skills go away, but the knowledge of what they are less so. You move from "you don't know what you don't know" to "you no longer know what you did know."

Agree. No knowledge is really useless. I don't practice the rescue skills anymore but still review the manual. Better than nothing, I think.