Panic During Training

[MiG29]

300bar, I agree. Of course, tastes differ and many people like these experiences. I've learnt I don't, plain and simple.

stefo2, ok, now I understand. We had the same system. That's when back onboard the instructors signed all the certified divers' logbook. When our last dive happened with the DM, that was the very last dive for the whole group so people were already partying. Probably it had an effect on the headcount. But I see your point. Also you see very clearly the purpose of trip. It indeed was for experienced divers and I was just a tag-along thing. There were about 20 divers onboard, the programme was tight and in between/during their dives they squezed me and another newbie in. Hard pressed for time, not enough concentration for newbies.

Bronson, szia, hogy vagy? Koszonom a biztatast. I've realised my experience could be useful to instructors because every student is a different person, with his or her own ideas, tolerance etc, so I guess you need to approach them differently. Perhaps some instructors haven't realised this. It's not enough to be one hell of a diver, you need to be a good teacher, too. You need to be able to be trusted and this trust needs to be maintained during the training. Then your student will enjoy learning and will learn quickly. Yes, I know now that no frigging way I'm going to remove my reg first Not that I need to think of air share now

bobh 60435, thanks for the encouragement. I would need a damned patient and emphatic instructor to get be back underwater. You know I almost 'died' there and this memory is a pretty strong memory. But who knows, I might bump into one some time and then I'll do it

 

[bsee65]

I think it is irresponsible for anyone to tell you to keep diving, and unfair of anyone to tell you to quit. Your "instructor" was an idiot. He did some very stupid things. If that was the end of the story, then you would hear everyone tell you to give it another shot without reservation. However, you related the incident of repeating the OOA exercise and sucking in sea water a second time. That does make one wonder if diving would be a wise activity for you. Only you can answer that question.

Lesson #1, though, is that you, and only you, are responsible to make sure you get safely back to the surface and shore at the end of a dive. It doesn't matter how many certificates your instructor has, he can still screw up. I think that maybe you didn't understand this when you went for that octo a second time and kept at it until you were sucking in sea water. How long was that anyway? A minute or more? Pushing that hard when there are other options was a bad decision. Bad decisions under water can result in death. You have to decide if you have the right kind of mind to dive. Give it serious thought, because it is a serious question. Then, decide for yourself. Don't let anyone push you toward a decision that you might later regret.

All that said, if it were me, I'd give the training another shot with someone who has a clue. Your error could have been the result of a lack of experience and training. If that's the case, getting a good instructor to finish your certification will give you an opportunity to try again. Always dive within your limits and don't go with a more experienced diver to any place you wouldn't go by yourself.

 

[AfterDark]

There has been plenty of comments critical of the instructor, which he has certainly earned. What I want to point out is this:

I'd like you to consider that you are perhaps now better prepared to be a recreational diver for having had this unpleasant experience. You know what it's like to have panic set in and you have demonstrated that you can overcome it. I think you'll be a very good diver.

Right you are!
MIG29 is probably too polite to say this but, I'm not.
That's what training is for. He didn't have an instructor he had an accident waiting to happen with a instructor cert. He could have had the drowning experience instead.

 

[AfterDark]

I think it is irresponsible for anyone to tell you to keep diving, and unfair of anyone to tell you to quit. Your "instructor" was an idiot. He did some very stupid things. If that was the end of the story, then you would hear everyone tell you to give it another shot without reservation. However, you related the incident of repeating the OOA exercise and sucking in sea water a second time. That does make one wonder if diving would be a wise activity for you. Only you can answer that question.

Lesson #1, though, is that you, and only you, are responsible to make sure you get safely back to the surface and shore at the end of a dive. It doesn't matter how many certificates your instructor has, he can still screw up. I think that maybe you didn't understand this when you went for that octo a second time and kept at it until you were sucking in sea water. How long was that anyway? A minute or more? Pushing that hard when there are other options was a bad decision. Bad decisions under water can result in death. You have to decide if you have the right kind of mind to dive. Give it serious thought, because it is a serious question. Then, decide for yourself. Don't let anyone push you toward a decision that you might later regret.

All that said, if it were me, I'd give the training another shot with someone who has a clue. Your error could have been the result of a lack of experience and training. If that's the case, getting a good instructor to finish your certification will give you an opportunity to try again. Always dive within your limits and don't go with a more experienced diver to any place you wouldn't go by yourself.

This guy was a uncertified trainee, the instructor is responsible for getting him safely out of the water, if he could do it himself he wouldn't need lessons! The on your own stuff comes after training. The instructor lets this guy down, gets him rattled and you ask way he didn't think to hold on to his reg? He was probably trying to figure out way he didn't drown. Give the guy a break he was diving with a

 

[MiG29]

Guys, I appreciate your great comments and I welcome all opinion. It's a great forum and has taught me more than my training since I joined 3 days ago.

bsee65, you're right, I've been asking myself the same question. I doubt I would make a proficient recreational diver because these experiences have had a strong psycholigical effect on me and I doubt my ability to fight panic down there. I've had my share of crazy things because of my job and I will always love flying upside down but maybe being underwater is not for me. Though I did enjoy very much a trip onboard a Navy submarine and it didn't panic when the boat dived, but it was so much easier inside But your points are so good I'm thinking of making a post in the Newbies' column of the psychology side of it, which is I recon an underrated side of diving. Some rookies might find it useful. By the way, bad decisions can result in death above water, too.

AfterDark, thanks. There's truth in all of your comments. He was a dork and I was a dork but in different ways.

 

[bsee65]

You weren't a dork, you were just out of your element. You don't have to be hard on yourself to take an honest look at the situation. If you take your time learning, do you think you will react better should some situation arise that requires you to adapt in order to survive? Diving doesn't happen in a closed system and there can't be a pre-defined answer for every problem. You'll learn skills, but you'll occasionally have to make an important decision if you dive long enough. If your personality will allow for you to keep your mind on what you're doing and think a few moves ahead, you'll do fine. If you can control your urges to do things that might increase risk to levels beyond your ability, you'll do fine. Experience and practice will teach you what you can handle if you let it and don't get ahead of yourself.

 

[bleeb]

bsee65, you're right, I've been asking myself the same question. I doubt I would make a proficient recreational diver because these experiences have had a strong psycholigical effect on me and I doubt my ability to fight panic down there. I've had my share of crazy things because of my job and I will always love flying upside down but maybe being underwater is not for me. Though I did enjoy very much a trip onboard a Navy submarine and it didn't panic when the boat dived, but it was so much easier inside But your points are so good I'm thinking of making a post in the Newbies' column of the psychology side of it, which is I recon an underrated side of diving. Some rookies might find it useful. By the way, bad decisions can result in death above water, too.

I think you have the intellectual and emotional potential to make a very proficient diver. You've been through a bit of a scary situation, but you're not the first one that we've seen here on SB that's been through this level of fright, and that's gone on to become an above average diver. After all, you've already demonstrated one of the most important qualities, and that is being a thinking diver and trying to analyze the errors in what happened. As for the scare and possible near panic (and I'm not willing to concede quite yet that it was a complete panic) absolutely no one is immune to panic given the right circumstances and I think the collective judgment is that this was certainly a situation where such problems were likely. You may or may not have an extra bit of emotional baggage right now, but with a decent teacher, you'll be able to learn the individual skills well enough so that you'll be certain in your own mind that you can deal with similar situations in the future with a minimum of fuss. For instance, as a beginner, you have to think about reaching to find your primary or your octo or one of your buddy's regs. Imagine a couple of years in the future when you do any of these so automatically that there's another reg in your mouth before you have time to consciously think about the situation. Sort of like riding a bike, or learning to fly.

 

[Bronson]

Mig29, en lit a jo koszonom. szingapur jonnek, es mi szive, szivesen kap on tanusitott. (english: come to Singapore and we will get you certified.) There is a group of instructors that are easy and patient at Singapore PADI Scuba Diving Centre:.Waikiki Dive Centre:.Five star Training Agency:.Scuba Equipment Retailer:.Deepoutdoors:.Tilos:.Henderson:.Camaro:.Mares:.Dacor:.Sherwood:.Tusa:.Bare:.Mask. If they can train me they can train anyone. Good crew.

Fid repulsz mig29?

 

[divezonescuba]

I don't think anyone brought this point up yet.

On OW dive one you are not suppose to be doing OOA skills like this. The OOA skills are performed on OW dive 2 after the student has had an opportunity to become accustomed to the environment.

In addition, the instructor is also supposed to be prepared for situations where the student doesn't do the skill properly for whatever reason. It should never have gotten that far. In this case they should have stopped the exercise as soon as you removed your regulator from your mouth early. They should have also either detached their octo for you or given you their primary regulator and then used their own octo once you were ok. When we OOA exercises in student teams, I actually hold my octo in my hand in case there is a problem.

OW students are only allowed to dive during daylight which is one hour after sunrise to one hour before sunset.

Numerous standards violations were committed by this instructor. PADI actually sends out a certain percentage of questionaires to OW graduates to randomly determine if instructors are following standards. While many QA cases are for more minor things, these are serious issues which need to be addressed.

 

[stefo2]

I don't think anyone brought this point up yet.

On OW dive one you are not suppose to be doing OOA skills like this. The OOA skills are performed on OW dive 2 after the student has had an opportunity to become accustomed to the environment.

It has been bought up already, and it wasn't the first, but the second ow dive, just the first one with this instructor.