PADI necessary hidden skills

[wetb4igetinthewater]

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

One of the things I've learned from @boulderjohn is the theory of interference, where as a result of overloading students with information, they retain less (so overteaching is as effective as underteaching). This is something that I think carefully about when I augment the SDI courses I teach. I add dives/performance requirements, but only at a level that I hope most students retain long term (not enough data, so far looks good, but first rule of Dunning-Kruger club....).

 

[yle]

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

BRRRRRRRRRR...

At least diving in San Diego we get 60 to 65 F air temps after our 50 F water temp.

 

[Marie13]

BRRRRRRRRRR...

At least diving in San Diego we get 60 to 65 F air temps after our 50 F water temp.

And then there’s the slipping around on the snow...

 

[yle]

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.

This didn't occur to me until I'd been teaching for a while. I read a review on Tripadvisor of a diver's experience with a dive op in Cozumel, describing their "dangerous" method to have the divers enter the water. It was a backward roll, of course.

It struck me that new OW divers that had never had backward roll explained or demonstrated probably would think the crew had lost their minds. Thinking of the poor dive op that got an undeserved negative review prompted me to build a small bench specifically designed to set up by the pool, allow a student to gear up while sitting, and then backward roll into the pool. And backward rolls became part of my OW course pool work.

 

[Marie13]

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.

Doing your OW in a drysuit would be a comparable local skill. Did that myself here in the Great Lakes area.

 

[yle]

How about diving from and getting back on board one of those rubber dinghy things and negative entry?

Negative entry is definitely a skill that would be useful to introduce in the context of a class. Not necessarily a beginner class, but at least an environment that allows an instructor to explain and demonstrate the skill without any pressure on the student.

I remember the first time my son and I were told we'd be doing a negative entry for a dive in a current, and it was a completely new concept for us. I can certainly see how the situation has the potential for trouble, especially for new divers that are still working on honing their skills.

 

[Sbiriguda]

[OT] well concerning backroll there are 2 risks as long as I understand. First, you can backroll on the cliffs or on another diver if you don't watch where you are going. Second, you can get hit by your own gear or lose the mask or the regulator if you don't hold them properly during the backroll. For the first one I assume people must have some understanding of life in general when they dive. For the second perhaps throwing away their mask so they have to buy a new one and whipping the people with a pressure gauge during the training might let them understand WHY it is necessary to hold the gear correctly when backrolling. [/OT]

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

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

The morning of my first dives for AOW, it was a clear winter's day, in the low 20's. Water was 45-50. Once I got in, "this is so warm!"

While in a crushed neoprene dry suit, it still sucked getting out and getting out of my kit. Fortunately, I got my beanie on quick after removing my hood (and took it off momentarily getting out of my neck seal).

Those conditions, it isn't getting in that is tough (which I know you know). It is the getting out.

 

[Sbiriguda]

I have been diving under a frost lake in the Alps I beat you all there is only Antarctica worse than that

And when you go down you realize there is nothing to do apart from watching some nice air bubbles trapped in frost ice

 

[jborg]

Well that’s like diving in the sea here, except we don’t get any nice frost bubbles to watch either. :/