Poll: Were you OW trained to standards?

[Belzelbub]

I'm not a good respondent: I was YMCA certified in 1985. The standards were far more involved than what we see now.

Same, but I'm not a good respondent on both ends of the spectrum. I have two separate OW certifications. My initial was so far below standards it was ridiculous.

My second was a YMCA course (with optional NAUI and CMAS cards). A few years after you, and they weren't still doing deco in that class, but everything else matched. I think mine was over 6 weeks in a summer course at college. 3 classes each week. 1 was a one hour lecture, the other two were labs. Labs were about 3 hours each day. First 20-30 minutes was going over academics, tables, etc. The rest of the time was spent in the pool.

A course just taught to standards would be somewhere between those two.

 

[AnthonyNR]

I was not certified to standard in the least bit. I have prior diving experience from living in FL, diving dirty as a teenager doing stupid stuff. Had a firm grasp on the basic.

While deployed last year, had an opportunity to work with a LDS in Romania, many of the instructors were on the Romanian Military’s dive team. My dive-buddy and I took a certification class which consisted of drown proofing, underwater navigation with low-vis/night diving, and general shenanigans such as turning our valve off, knotting LP hoses, ripping off fins/masks.

All in all, was a great experience and a great group of guys with decades of experience.
We continued diving with them the duration we were there after their class and were always a top notch group/guide, even beyond being an LDS.

Oh, and I got an open water cert out of it.

I still follow them on the book and hope to dive with them again when the opportunity presents itself.

 

[Green Frog]

My training had two major phases. In the late ‘60s I took a Phys Ed class at college (Wake Forest) that was a full semester of class and pool work based on the then-current NAUI test. It ended without an open water experience, so I never achieved certification.

Jump forward about 25 years and I began taking PADI courses at and through my local dive shop. My OW was done, AFAIK, by the book, and we went down to FL to do some controlled OW checks in the Gulf. Due to poor communications this fell through, and we went to Plan B diving in one of the springs. That part of my original training was a little sketchy. Soon after we got back to Lynchburg I signed up for AOW with the water work done at a quarry. One of the assistant instructors for the quarry trip was on a little power trip, but I overcame.

After that, I hung out at the shop as a part time worker to help pay for the gear I was accumulating. Eventually my training reached the level of Rescue Diver, after which I just went diving... no more training, and that shop was sold anyway.

I dove fairly actively through the remainder of the ‘90s and into the oughts and early teens, but slowed down significantly during the late teens. Now I’m older, but starting to become a bit more active diving once again.

 

[Green Frog]

hi @rsingler! I haven’t heard from you for a while. I hope all is going well with you and that you and yours will have a very Merry Christmas and a happy holiday season. For those who haven’t followed my (mis)adventures in Vintage Dive Gear, Rob is the one who was most responsible for making my return to active diving possible.

 

[happy-diver]

Predating online courses, (what is that anyway) some friends, ran open water
first day a basic explanation of gear assembly and then straight into the pool

Then with all the pent up excitement checked, on they got calmly with theory

now that's a pretty good standard

 

[MaxAir]

I got my PADI OW back in November 1987, from a shop in Burnaby BC Canada. Classroom and pool sessions ran over a couple weeks. The OW dives were then held over a cold (47F air temp) and rainy weekend at Horseshoe Bay in 47F water, wearing a wet suit I swore I'd never dive in the PNW again unless it was in a dry suit, and since then have not yet purchased a dry suit... so have never dove again in the PNW. On the verge of ordering a dry suit now, which may change that status fairly soon! LOL.

Anyway, to my recollection some 35 years later, the training was pretty much to the book and mostly adequate. I say "mostly" because I recall some of the people struggling a bit with the OW skills but due to the cold the instructors (1 on Saturday and a different instructor we had not previously seen on Sunday), our group of 4 newbies were all let through and issued the golden ticket regardless.

As for the OP #1 mentioning a thread about AOW lacking, yeah I need to find that thread because, man, I have some supporting info about my experience regarding that POS "training". Oops, a bit of an opinion spoiler there.