PADI vs NAUI

[thirdcoastdiver]

Skills taught are almost identical.


Back in the old days a NAUI Instructor Program was one of the more difficult. Such was the case for my NAUI ITC vs. my PADI IDC. I don’t know if that is the case any longer or not. It literally is the Instructor you choose these days, not the agency.

+1 The instructor is the important part of the formula to success, not the certifying agency.

 

[smurf doc]

.........
My premise from an earlier post still holds true. We need one overall certification agency that has the effect of law, and will be the only agency that can certify anyone in the U.S. as a diver.
Many have said this will dilute the standards such as they are, this may be true initially, but the court system will force the standards to go up.............
We as the dive community should have the same thing, one agency that has the effect of law that is the only one who can certify anyone as a diver.

Rhenry, are you a Democrat? Or a lawyer? Or both?

Please leave the government and court system out of this. They will probably create a certification tax which will increase each year. They will probably create a bare minimum standard that is probably lower than what exists today.

Scuba diving is a sport. Open water training gives you the bare minimum with which to engage in the sport in a safe manner. Setting ridiculously high standards also is not going to help anyone. We don't need to make someone into a pro-athlete when all they want to do is play on the local level with their friends.

If the court system gets more involved than it already is in the U.S., you will scare more people out of the sport (via less instructors). The only ones who will benefit will be the lawyers.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Rhenry, are you a Democrat? Or a lawyer? Or both?

Please leave the government and court system out of this.

While I agree with your last statement, can we please leave politics out of the diving forums? That's what The Pub is for.

And to my concern, diving is NOT a sport ... it's a recreational activity.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Rhenry]

First agree lets keep the politics out of this. Every one jumps to conclusions and should have clarified my statement a bit more, what i said what the "effect of law", not making a law. There would be no government involvement other than to recognize this agency as the authority for scuba diving. What i am proposing is an NGO, and as such it would be run by us as a consensus, in a similar fashion to RSTC and WRSTC . The difference is that they would be the authority in certification.
We would have the flexibility to change rules that would improve our sport/recreational activity. The obvious government agency we are trying to avoid is OSHA, they given the chance would by proxy make rules for us. The back door approach. Look at it this way, if we band together and prevent the government from getting involved we will be far better off the the Orwellian scenario most of you bring up.

 

[shmuggy]

My buddy is a NAUI diver and I am a PADI diver. Each of us is happy with our choice of agencies. They are different but one is not better than the other. I will say this- if you are planning to dive with a diver from a different agency- it might be a good idea to talk more in depth about what to do in an emergency. He and I were told to do different things when you are in a problem but have arrived at the wrong boat ladder. I think a quick comparison of "what ifs" is a good idea. Might save a lot of inappropriate hand signalling.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

First agree lets keep the politics out of this. Every one jumps to conclusions and should have clarified my statement a bit more, what i said what the "effect of law", not making a law. There would be no government involvement other than to recognize this agency as the authority for scuba diving. What i am proposing is an NGO, and as such it would be run by us as a consensus, in a similar fashion to RSTC and WRSTC . The difference is that they would be the authority in certification.
We would have the flexibility to change rules that would improve our sport/recreational activity. The obvious government agency we are trying to avoid is OSHA, they given the chance would by proxy make rules for us. The back door approach. Look at it this way, if we band together and prevent the government from getting involved we will be far better off the the Orwellian scenario most of you bring up.

If the goverment recognizes it they will find a way to regulate, tax, and screw it up. Who will set the standards? Another body like the RSTC? Who will develop training materials? More dreck geared to the lowest common denominator? Who will oversee the whole thing? If it;s recognized by the govt they will. The only real change will come when people get off their lazy butts and educate themselves about what it is they are getting into. For that to happen they need to grow up and stop expecting things to be handed to them. I fear most of society is now beyond that. Maybe a good eye opener would do that. Unfortunately all that opens people eyes today is tragedies. And some still choose to remain sheep even when the truth is putting knots on their head.

 

[Blackwood]

FWIW, the govt isn't always abysmal at setting and enforcing standards. FAA is quite rigorous and (IMO) appropriate in the requirements for design, test, build and certification of commercial airplanes, for example.

But I wouldn't want my dive agency to be governed by a document the likes of FAR 25.

 

[Downing]

The only ones who will benefit will be the lawyers.

Speaking as a lawyer, cool!

Speaking as a diver, not so much. I've got the feds/state/county/city involved in enough of my personal affairs already. And as very wise man (Popeye the Sailor Man) once said, "Enough is enough and enough is too much."

 

[smurf doc]

While I agree with your last statement, can we please leave politics out of the diving forums? That's what The Pub is for.

And to my concern, diving is NOT a sport ... it's a recreational activity.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

I apologize for bringing up politics. It was the first thought that came to mind.

I also agree, in retrospect recreational activity is a better term. The line between the two is pretty blurry to me after seeing advertisements about competitions.

 

[Thalassamania]

FWIW, the govt isn't always abysmal at setting and enforcing standards. FAA is quite rigorous and (IMO) appropriate in the requirements for design, test, build and certification of commercial airplanes, for example.

But I wouldn't want my dive agency to be governed by a document the likes of FAR 25.

I think we both agree that 14:25 is a good set of regs. I think that we both agree that it would be inappropriate to have a detailed a set of regs for diving. I hope that we both agree that it would be possible for governmental or quasi-governmental agencies to develop a set of regs for diving that would work for diving as well as 14:25 does for aviation. 14:25 is clear evidence that it can be done right.

The question of politics and sport vs. hobby (whatever terms you wish) is an interesting one. A major problem, especially internationally, is that many countries tried to force diving into a "sports federation" model that had been created to handle things like soccer, hockey or basketball.