Poll: Competency after OW

[TSandM]

I see a lot of posts from people saying you shouldn't be passed out of OW unless you really have certain basic skills. I also see a lot of posts from people saying they observe divers who clearly DON'T have those basic skills. I've also read posts from divers saying they DIDN'T have those basic skills at the end of OW. So I'm curious.

Did you, at the end of your required OW dives, have the follow competencies:

1. Initiate a descent without difficulties, control the rate and posture of your descent, and arrest the descent before contact with the bottom.

2. Be able to select your own required weight and evaluate whether it was appropriate, and adjust your trim as needed.

3. Be able to plan a dive, including some kind of rational gas management and navigation, and execute that plan.

4. Be able to make a controlled ascent at a desired ascent rate, and hold a 15 foot stop within reasonable accuracy (say, plus or minus five feet) without visual reference.

I had the tools to handle #2. 1 and 4 were hopeless, and I'd never heard of gas management.

So how about the rest of you? Is it common to be that competent at the end of OW?

 

[lamont]

I see a lot of posts from people saying you shouldn't be passed out of OW unless you really have certain basic skills. I also see a lot of posts from people saying they observe divers who clearly DON'T have those basic skills. I've also read posts from divers saying they DIDN'T have those basic skills at the end of OW. So I'm curious.

Did you, at the end of your required OW dives, have the follow competencies:

1. Initiate a descent without difficulties, control the rate of descent, and arrest the descent before contact with the bottom.

I think I actually had 2 out of 3. I'd tend to get too close to the bottom, not quite get myself neutral and use a finger to push myself up, though. My dive buddy in BOW had ear issues, and I did treat buddying seriously enough to realize that I needed to go slow and stick with her so that required controlling my rate of descent.

2. Be able to select your own required weight and evaluate whether it was appropriate, and adjust your trim as needed.

Not very well on weight. Not at all on trim.

3. Be able to plan a dive, including some kind of rational gas management and navigation, and execute that plan.

Very rudimentary navigation on shore dives like following a depth contour out and back... No concept of gas management beyond keeping a lot in reserve (guessing), staying above 60 fsw and checking the gauge every couple of minutes...

4. Be able to make a controlled ascent at a desired ascent rate, and hold a 15 foot stop within reasonable accuracy (say, plus or minus five feet) without visual reference.

Not a snowball's chance...

Even around dive #20 or so I got lost from the group I was diving with due to a huge siltout and tried to do an ascent in blue water and violated my ascent alarm enough that my computer gave me a mandatory ceiling. I did get it under control enough to stop below that ceiling and let it clear (15 seconds or something like that), so it wasn't just ballistic, but it wasn't very pretty either...

 

[WaterDawg]

Come on now, I didnt even know what trim was, much less think it was desireable.

 

[dherbman]

I worked at the LDS when I got certified, so was pretty immersed in all aspects of diving and spent a lot of time in the pool. It also came pretty natural to me. I actually had a pretty severe fear of drowning and didn't know how to swim when I got certified. However, once I had fins on, I was in my element. I guess I learned to swim after about a year of diving. It's hard to drown when you have a 7mm farmer john on.

Certification was kinda unusual. I did 80% of the NASDS OW course and then the LDS dropped NASDS for SSI, so I started over. SSI mandated 6 pool sessions and 6 OW dives as I recall. These dives consisted of 2 each lake, river and ocean. They also pushed skills pretty hard.... Free ascents, buddy breathing, mask off excersises, submerged doff and don.....

I was pretty dialed in by the time I was certified. I don't think it is very common these days.

OK, trim was what I had done to my hair back then. It was not how I dove.


Well, looks like I'm wrong again. 7 votes so far for having the skills down out of the gate....

 

[bradshsi]

I'd say 1 and 2 I was ok with.

4 was questionable because the safety stops on all my OW dives were in view (and hence visual reference) of the reef, so I don't know how well I would have fared out "In the Blue". We did however have to swim out into the blue while holding our depth before ascending as the boat was not allowed near the reef.

3 was limited to the generic "Surface with 500 psi" nonsense, so I'd have to say no to that one. Of course looking back I realize that I was never taught to work out how to ensure that I could even achieve 500 psi.

(My eternal thanks to Lamont for educating me on the concept of "Rock Bottom").

 

[midwayman]

1) pretty much going down wasnt a problem
2) weight I know how to do in theory, but never actual practice. I dont think trim was mention other than as a swimming posture.
3) again, in theory I know how to plan, but we never had to execute our own plan.
4) Ascending at a rate isnt a problem. holding the safety stop is a little bit without a line to hold onto. I imagine that sculling doesnt help.

I voted no. While Im equiped with most of the knowledge, Im far from confident in execution.

Did you, at the end of your required OW dives, have the follow competencies:

1. Initiate a descent without difficulties, control the rate and posture of your descent, and arrest the descent before contact with the bottom.

2. Be able to select your own required weight and evaluate whether it was appropriate, and adjust your trim as needed.

3. Be able to plan a dive, including some kind of rational gas management and navigation, and execute that plan.

4. Be able to make a controlled ascent at a desired ascent rate, and hold a 15 foot stop within reasonable accuracy (say, plus or minus five feet) without visual reference.

I had the tools to handle #2. 1 and 4 were hopeless, and I'd never heard of gas management.

So how about the rest of you? Is it common to be that competent at the end of OW?

 

[Lisa0825]

1) pretty much going down wasnt a problem
2) weight I know how to do in theory, but never actual practice. I dont think trim was mention other than as a swimming posture.
3) again, in theory I know how to plan, but we never had to execute our own plan.
4) Ascending at a rate isnt a problem. holding the safety stop is a little bit without a line to hold onto. I imagine that sculling doesnt help.

I voted no. While Im equiped with most of the knowledge, Im far from confident in execution.

Thatis EXACTLY how I feel. Thanks for saving me the effort of typing it all out!

edited to add: I feel that I was taught all of these things, but until I have more chances to practice them, I won't feel confident about them as skills. That should change next month!

 

[String]

If you arent capable of exhibiting all the skills required for the course you should not have passed the course. A qualification means just that, you meet the standard and are qualified for diving within the restrictions set by the course.

Yes experience is needed and so on but that doesnt mean you can be excused being unable to complete core skills.

 

[dkktsunami]

I was a concrete block in a scuba suit.

 

[Lisa0825]

If you arent capable of exhibiting all the skills required for the course you should not have passed the course. A qualification means just that, you meet the standard and are qualified for diving within the restrictions set by the course.

Yes experience is needed and so on but that doesnt mean you can be excused being unable to complete core skills.

I can do all of the skills, but there is a big difference between being able to do something and doing it with confidence. I don't think the number of dives done in the OW class is enough to build that kind of confidence. I practiced driving a car and even a bicycle much more before I felt confident. Skills take practice to maintain, especially when they are new skills.