I have a couple of concerns about the PADI course.
An instructor can qualify to teach this class by being a PADI OW instructor, documenting 20 wreck dives and sending in the money for the specialty instructor card. The instructor may or may not have ANY training or experience diving in overhead environments but they can now teach it!
While the course may optionally include penetration (to the same limits of a cavern course), the wreck course does not require the same level of line drills (on land and in OW) as other overhead courses (including a cavern course). ok, students are required to run a line outside the wreck first but there's more to using lines and I don't think this is sufficient at all. They leave too much out to go into here.
The "emergency procedures listed also leave a lot to be desired especially since they leave so much out concerning line use. Another one to be aware of that jumped out at me is what they recommend in the case of a silt out. They recommend sitting still until it clears. that works in a cave where there's some flow but in a wreck it could take hours or even days for a silt out to clear...I hope you brought plenty of gas.
The course outline includes, what I would consider, an incomplete and inadequate explanation of the rule of thirds. I say that because gas matching isn't mentioned although there is no requirement for all students to use the same size tanks. Also, the outline instructs that the penetration third includes the descent. That's ok but it doesn't take into account that the ascent may be much slower and use more gas than the descent. The outlined prodedure should (if we assume gas matching) get divers out of the wreck in the event of gas loss but it may not get them to the surface. There is no discussion of taking individual RMV or ascent time/volume of both divers into account when calculating ascent gas reserve. They do, as usual, recommend a 15 ft hang tank. That's great but you have to be able to get to it. Keep in mind that one of the main reasons for applying the rule of thirds is to have enough gas to get both divers back to the surface in the worst case of a total gas loss at max penetration...wich is also not stated.
Can the instructor fill in the blanks? Where did the instructor learn it and who made certain that they did? Cearly the author of the outline wasn't up to speed.
Without the penetration option, the course might be a reasonable introduction to basic wreck diving. The penetration portion is a mess though and a potentially dangerous mess at that.
For the instructors here who said that they teach bag deployment at depth...the course standards don't mention it. PADI may consider it "adding a skill" and therfor not approve of the addition.
An instructor can qualify to teach this class by being a PADI OW instructor, documenting 20 wreck dives and sending in the money for the specialty instructor card. The instructor may or may not have ANY training or experience diving in overhead environments but they can now teach it!
While the course may optionally include penetration (to the same limits of a cavern course), the wreck course does not require the same level of line drills (on land and in OW) as other overhead courses (including a cavern course). ok, students are required to run a line outside the wreck first but there's more to using lines and I don't think this is sufficient at all. They leave too much out to go into here.
The "emergency procedures listed also leave a lot to be desired especially since they leave so much out concerning line use. Another one to be aware of that jumped out at me is what they recommend in the case of a silt out. They recommend sitting still until it clears. that works in a cave where there's some flow but in a wreck it could take hours or even days for a silt out to clear...I hope you brought plenty of gas.
The course outline includes, what I would consider, an incomplete and inadequate explanation of the rule of thirds. I say that because gas matching isn't mentioned although there is no requirement for all students to use the same size tanks. Also, the outline instructs that the penetration third includes the descent. That's ok but it doesn't take into account that the ascent may be much slower and use more gas than the descent. The outlined prodedure should (if we assume gas matching) get divers out of the wreck in the event of gas loss but it may not get them to the surface. There is no discussion of taking individual RMV or ascent time/volume of both divers into account when calculating ascent gas reserve. They do, as usual, recommend a 15 ft hang tank. That's great but you have to be able to get to it. Keep in mind that one of the main reasons for applying the rule of thirds is to have enough gas to get both divers back to the surface in the worst case of a total gas loss at max penetration...wich is also not stated.
Can the instructor fill in the blanks? Where did the instructor learn it and who made certain that they did? Cearly the author of the outline wasn't up to speed.
Without the penetration option, the course might be a reasonable introduction to basic wreck diving. The penetration portion is a mess though and a potentially dangerous mess at that.
For the instructors here who said that they teach bag deployment at depth...the course standards don't mention it. PADI may consider it "adding a skill" and therfor not approve of the addition.
