Poll: Were you OW trained to standards?

[blueskies_up_ahead]

Yes. The only one I can't remember is the no mask surface breathing. We did all the mask clearing, taking it off, swimming without under water, so I don't really care if we did it at the surface. Maybe they skipped it because everyone was sufficiently confident. Or we did it and I can't remember because it was a no brainer. I don't know.

 

[VikingDives]

I don't think there will be many good answers in this thread. PADI standards have been a moving target over the years. When I was trained, there were 20 skills in OW, one being buddy breathing. I wasn't trained on loose tank bands, because that wasn't a skill at the time.

Last I knew, there were 28 skills, but given that the standards aren't published publicly it's hard to really answer. Personally, I was probably trained "to standard" but the instruction was grossly substandard.

Most divers I see don't know they aren't good divers. Substandard initial training is so commonplace that they see others doing what they do, and they think it's the way things are done. How will they know what the standard is, if it isn't published?

 

[JuLe]

I am CMAS trained and very new to scuba, so I still remember well what my OW course was like. Our course was trained to standards, the thing is the standards are different.

I must say I was surprised when reading the PADI standards posted. For me, they seem to cover only the barest of minimums.
Our OW course covered all the skills listed there, but also things like (basic) navigation, light signals, rescuing (bringing up) an unconcius/incapacitated dive buddy, deploying a SMB, planning a dive and so on.

I suppose this is partly because here conditions are such that using a light is a must (low visibility) and being able use a compass makes a lot of sense for the same reason.

I think those standards listed by PADI work well when training divers in nice places where it's warm and the visibility is good. Here it is cold and dark and that is why even at basic level, a bit more is required in order for the instructor to sign one off as "safe enough"

And yes, we were encouraged from the start to learn and do all the skills while neutral and in a trim position. Touching the bottom and ending in even less visibility in a cloud of muddy silt is not a good way of doing things.

 

[blueskies_up_ahead]

I did my OWD with Padi and we did learn to use a compass (on a very basic level but let's be honest, it's not rocket science once you know the basics). It was part of the OW dives. It was a straight line navigation to a given point and back. First on land, then in water.

As for doing skills neutrally buoyant and in trim, I believe Padi started encouraging it but is not enforcing it. It would be interesting to hear from a Padi instructor. I was taught kneeling unfortunately. And that's where I agree most VikingDives' point that many divers don't know they're not good divers: trim and buoyancy control should be the fundamentals of OW training. But that takes a bit of time and courses are not set up for that (in terms of timing and price). Same goes for performing skills more often. Let's be honest, mask clearing should be practiced more, same as OOA situations. Critical skills need more practice. But how much can you cover in a course that is set up to recruit a maximum amount of new divers?

 

[Lorenzoid]

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.

I recall seeing a friend who had decided to learn to dive a few years before I did learn to use tables. Although I was an engineer and could certainly handle dive planning, it did not look all that fun to me.

Anyway, per my vote in this poll, when I got around to taking the course, it covered all the required skills, though I only know this in retrospect because the checklist of required skills was not something I paid attention to at the time.

 

[Belzelbub]

I answered with the results from my first OW course. That was definitely below current (and then) standards. My second OW course shouldn't have been needed, if the first was done to any level of satisfaction. The second was well beyond current standards.

 

[IrishLoaf]

I don't know if we were taught a whole pile beyond, as dealing with the standard skills is plenty for many people new to scuba, but we were certainly pushed beyond our comfort zones at various times—notice I didn't say pushed beyond limits, but comforts. So, everyone was tested a bit beyond what they seemed capable of doing. The instructor wanted us to experience what it is like to be slightly overwhelmed by something, not panic, and then bring it back under control. I suppose the whole lesson is that experience is experience, including things that could go wrong. It is one thing to talk about them. Another to experience them. I couldn't plug my LP into my BCD. He showed me underwater. I still couldn't do it. He kinda looked at me like, well, you gotta do this yourself because imagine if for some reason your buddy isn't around to help you. 3 minutes before it clicked in. Back out he showed me how. Things like that. We weren't handled with kid gloves all the time. In fact that sort of stopped really early on in the pool.

 

[TMHeimer]

I don't think there will be many good answers in this thread. PADI standards have been a moving target over the years. When I was trained, there were 20 skills in OW, one being buddy breathing. I wasn't trained on loose tank bands, because that wasn't a skill at the time.

Last I knew, there were 28 skills, but given that the standards aren't published publicly it's hard to really answer. Personally, I was probably trained "to standard" but the instruction was grossly substandard.

Most divers I see don't know they aren't good divers. Substandard initial training is so commonplace that they see others doing what they do, and they think it's the way things are done. How will they know what the standard is, if it isn't published?

Yes, the PADI standards change. I too was OW certified when it was 20 standards. It was still 20 when I started DMing OW courses but during that time it went to 24. Now you say it's 28....What are the new 4? I sometimes question why something is termed a skill. The loose tank thing-- seems that's something you can just figure out without training. They added dropping weights with the idea that the student will see how it drastically affects their buoyancy. "Ya think, DiNozzo?" I believe the first pool "skill" is (or was) breathing from a reg UW in the shallow end. Well, if you can't do that.....I do think the "mini dive" was an excellent addition. Not meaning to be very critical, just observing how things change over time, sometimes I think for the sake of change. I gave up a long time ago with all those changes that occur in EFR/CPR. We see that all the time in today's modern world. "I'm phoning you because the website changes too often when it was good in the first place".....

 

[Nick_Radov]

Choice D: Trained to standards in a 1999 NAUI OW course, but standards were inadequate or even wrong in some areas.

 

[happy-diver]

Having been a competent water kid, always full on fascinated in diving through Cousteau on television
a cool dude came to our school with some fancy gear, showed us stuff and taught us all the theoretical
and the don doff recovery and stamina things, in the school pool, all over six afternoons over six weeks

Everything diving in the ocean after that course I taught myself

I have no clue what any of it is with this constant referral to standards in regard to this so titled training

Many have been convinced that there is legitimacy in others BS

But then, the standards on here used to change every couple of years then it was months now it is days

So if you are diving and find an unnusual conundrum contact your trainer for permission before you act


So do the course real quick grab a ticket get out and go learning