PADI Rocks!!!

[Blackwood]

IANTD is more college levelish and offers recreational certifications.

IANTD isn't college levelish in its editing.

WOW those books are poorly written.

Thanks again for your concern! But the only time I might look like some some sub-aquatic goth will be at my funeral, and that, by definition, will only happen over my dead body!

For now, if I may, I chose to take advantage of not being a member of the canine family, will enjoy the rainbow in all of its colors and set up my gear accordingly.

GUE students can look like rainbows if they so choose.

 

[shekes]

GUE students can look like rainbows if they so choose.

I have no prejudices against GUE. I am only not ready to enroll in any of the hardcore MIB agencies and I heard that DIR is all-work-no-play and have encountered plenty of paramilitary wannabe marine/extreme attitude from DIR people on this board. Do you have a nice GUE link for me?

 

[Blackwood]

I heard that DIR is all-work-no-play

Professionals aside, diving IS play in-and-of-itself. All DIR divers I know dive because they enjoy diving.

Do you have a nice GUE link for me?

gue.com/

 

[MikeFerrara]

You must have a very short attention span read my first few statements!... how can you say they are not good without any statistics?

I read your first few statements and apparently you want to use mortality rates as a measure of training effectiveness or something. I pointed out that divers who are self taught also survive. It does not mean that their training is good because they didn't have any. In that regard, PADI training is at least as good as no training at all because in all cases most participants survive.

Do you have statistics that show PADI training increses the chances of survival?

And you failed to mention who is better and how If you don't have answers to these ....then what in the world are you talking about?

If you read back through the thread you'll see that when asked what I would or have done differently and what the results were, I answered in some detail. I can't endorse any of the major recreational training agencies.

I would think that what I'm talking about should be clear enough...even though with divers in the water, the vis isn't.

 

[Hank49]

Hank49,

Good one! I'd probably make a miserable slave too.

Given your high spirited approach and your ability to learn diving in spite of your PADI training, have you considered getting your own tanks and compressor....and possibly boat? Then it doesn't matter what you think of any agency because you can go and dive where and when you please.
This is the route I've taken although is isn't the most cost effective unless you dive with lots of friends who share gas and pay you for fills.

 

[amitsi]

You can read their standards and compare it to what you know, from long experience, works and what doesn't work. Some practices produce good divers, other practices don't.

What standard are you refffering to? and which of there standards are you reffering to which do not match expectations?

Can you state examples please? I am listening cuz I wanna learn seriously pls share?

Standards are always subject to interpretation unless you have cold hard facts you are just one of those people who feel cool with the unpopular crowd lol!...

 

[amitsi]

I read your first few statements and apparently you want to use mortality rates as a measure of training effectiveness or something. I pointed out that divers who are self taught also survive. It does not mean that their training is good because they didn't have any. In that regard, PADI training is at least as good as no training at all because in all cases most participants survive.

Agreed here!

Do you have statistics that show PADI training increses the chances of survival?

The fact that there is no statistics on either side which means nothing is wrong with them!

If you read back through the thread you'll see that when asked what I would or have done differently and what the results were, I answered in some detail. I can't endorse any of the major recreational training agencies.

I would think that what I'm talking about should be clear enough...even though with divers in the water, the vis isn't.

.......become a PADI course director and change it as per your "high standards" if you are this passionate about bashing them

 

[Narcosis_Anonymous]

People always seem to blame the agencies for poor instruction. I think it has more to do with who is instructing the course and also who is participating in the course. I'm PADI certified but it was under unusual conditions that worked in my favor. When I was contracting in Guam a group of 6 of us(co-workers) signed up to get certified by a fellow co-worker who did dive instruction on the side. Of the 6 people who signed up I was the only one to complete the course. Everyone else dropped out for one reason or another. My instructor was going to call it quits and have me wait until he got another class going but decided to teach me 1 on 1 anyways. After completeing OW he offered to take me through AOW 1 on 1 and all I had to do was pay for the course material, a book and that PADI multi-level wheel thing. Needless to say I got my AOW. I can't honestly say if I would have taken AOW if it wasn't practicaly free and if I was in a different location. Because of my line of work in Guam I really got hooked up with serious deals on things in Guam like 2 tank boat dives for $20 and to get on the boat for some of the better dives like the Tokai Maru/Cormoran I had to have my AOW. My PADI experience was excellent in part because I had a great instructor and I have always been a water person, but it may have sucked under different circumstances.

 

[Walter]

What standard are you refffering to?

When I (and I assume others) refer to standards, I refer to the particular agency's published standards. PADI publishes theirs as "General Standards and Proceedures" in their Instructor Manual.

and which of there standards are you reffering to which do not match expectations?

Oh, they meet my expectations, but then over the years I've learned not to expect much from PADI. Things I believe PADI standards (and yes, I've studied them closely) should add to make it what it claims to be (a course that teaches people to dive safely) include:

1. require swimming (remove the option to snorkel instead of swim in the swim test).

2. decrease the 10/1 student to instructor ratio in the pool and the 8/1 ratio in open water.

3. require the swim test before any in water teaching.

4. require learning the frog, scissor and dolphin kicks in addition to the flutter.

5. require basic skin diving skills.

6. doff and don

7. bailout

8. learn to rescue panicked diver on the surface.

9. trim/body position

10. require students to be evaluated on swimming underwater on their check out dives.

11. learn the panic cycle and how to break it.

Read the standards, you may find more.

Standards are always subject to interpretation unless you have cold hard facts you are just one of those people who feel cool with the unpopular crowd lol!...

I'm always happy to provide facts.

 

[Walter]

I don't know if I can say lower or higher, but SDI's oopen water course contains less material, in that students are not taught the tables.

That's one reason I would never recommend an SDI course, but other than that I really don't know if their standards are better or worse than other agencies'.