Poll: Were you OW trained to standards?

[TMHeimer]

All I did was study the PADI OW book. Everything you/they need to do and go over is outlined in there.
My book is somewhat outdated now, some things have changed.

Same here. I studied the book for 2 months before OW. Those days seem to be gone with e learning.

 

[SuitableSkies]

My OW was to standard. It was with SSI and done over the course of 4 weeks, so there was plenty of time to cover all of the skills and internalize everything we practiced.

Unfortunately I moved before doing my AOW so I went to a different shop which was def not to standard. For instance, our location had some current, so the instructor made us learn navigation on land by doing the walk in a square drill and we never touched the compass underwater!

 

[Rilelen]

I did OW in 2015; every skill we did was the bare minimum needed to check it off the list. I.e., our four open water dives were exactly 20 minutes long, to a depth of approx 16' - the bare minimum.

And, looking over the link of skills in the original post, we did not do any of the snorkel skills, the five-point descents/ascents, free flow, or any underwater removal/replacement of weight belts or BC (we did these at the surface in a quarry - I vividly remember this because the instructor didn't know I was wearing a weight belt with 20 pounds of weight...guess what happens when you remove your BC while wearing a weight belt with 20 pounds of lead?).

I did AOW with the same shop (didn't know any better!), and it was much much worse; bad enough that even as a new diver with very few dives, I wrote to PADI and lodged a complaint. I never heard a word about it, to and to my knowledge the instructor continued to teach. That same class I roomed with a girl for the checkout dives who was doing her OW cert (we stayed overnight bc the quarry was a ways away); she came back to the room in tears after the first day of checkout dives because one of the DMs for her class (or AI, not sure which) was sexually harassing her.

I'm going to guess many of the people who had experiences like mine are probably not on SB these days...

 

[Still Kicking]

Looking back, my SSI class did not follow standards at all (unless they were radically different in 1994). We did not do any pool training -- we went straight into the ocean after the classroom session.

I can't imagine teaching students this way but, back then, I didn't know any different and it seemed to work out. I loved every minute of it despite having no preparation and learning skills in terrible vis. My wife, not so much

 

[Manatee Diver]

Apparently the giant stride isn't actually required. My instructor contacted PADI since I couldn't do one physically at the time. They just required you to be able to demonstrate a safe entry.

I was diving probably about four years, after I got my drysuit and water prosthetic, before I did my first giant stride. I still prefer falling backward into the water.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I did OW in 2015; every skill we did was the bare minimum needed to check it off the list. I.e., our four open water dives were exactly 20 minutes long, to a depth of approx 16' - the bare minimum.

And, looking over the link of skills in the original post, we did not do any of the snorkel skills, the five-point descents/ascents, free flow, or any underwater removal/replacement of weight belts or BC (we did these at the surface in a quarry - I vividly remember this because the instructor didn't know I was wearing a weight belt with 20 pounds of weight...guess what happens when you remove your BC while wearing a weight belt with 20 pounds of lead?).

I did AOW with the same shop (didn't know any better!), and it was much much worse; bad enough that even as a new diver with very few dives, I wrote to PADI and lodged a complaint. I never heard a word about it, to and to my knowledge the instructor continued to teach. That same class I roomed with a girl for the checkout dives who was doing her OW cert (we stayed overnight bc the quarry was a ways away); she came back to the room in tears after the first day of checkout dives because one of the DMs for her class (or AI, not sure which) was sexually harassing her.

I'm going to guess many of the people who had experiences like mine are probably not on SB these days...

Wow! I’m so sorry to hear all of that

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Looking back, my SSI class did not follow standards at all (unless they were radically different in 1994). We did not do any pool training -- we went straight into the ocean after the classroom session.

I can't imagine teaching students this way but, back then, I didn't know any different and it seemed to work out. I loved every minute of it despite having no preparation and learning skills in terrible vis. My wife, not so much

How did you vote, ‘below standards’?

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Same here. I studied the book for 2 months before OW. Those days seem to be gone with e learning.

I luuuuved studying the book, I loved studying the tables even more. I remember being fascinated by the tables and figuring out how to use them. Something about putting pencil to paper and doing the figuring, it made it real to me.

 

[rhwestfall]

1988 YMCA SCUBA Diver was quite extensive. My later years taking my AOW, Rescue, MSD, and to a small extent DECO procedures was re-hashing my initial learning. Yes, we actually learned to plan DECO dives (on air). My class was a full semester college PE class, 2x a week classroom, and 2x a week pool sessions. Work was extensive in becoming completely comfortable with the water. We even did a night dive at the end of our open water dives.

Never would have considered the idea of needing a DM to go diving......

 

[undrwater]

Certified PADI in 1995. We covered all of the material in the book. I felt prepared to conduct my own dive, and did upon certification.

I have no clue if we met standards. It wasn't even discussed. I couldn't answer the poll, because I don't know.