Poll: Were you OW trained to standards?

[Eric Sedletzky]

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

Here, a 12 year old can ride a bicycle out on the street in traffic but they have to follow all the traffic rules. They haven’t even taken any driver training, how are they supposed to know all the rules? The only rule imposed upon them is they have to wear a helmet.
But god help you if you dare mention self educating yourself on how to dive, you might die!
I mentioned maybe there should be a place you could go after self educating yourself to get a permission slip to buy air fills and get on a boat, but the instroketers and dive shops shot it down in fear that their jobs might be at stake.

 

[TMHeimer]

Here, a 12 year old can ride a bicycle out on the street in traffic but they have to follow all the traffic rules. They haven’t even taken any driver training, how are they supposed to know all the rules? The only rule imposed upon them is they have to wear a helmet.
But god help you if you dare mention self educating yourself on how to dive, you might die!
I mentioned maybe there should be a place you could go after self educating yourself to get a permission slip to buy air fills and get on a boat, but the instroketers and dive shops shot it down in fear that their jobs are at stake.

I THINK that's what my older brother kinda did in the '60s. I know he was never certified and got air fills at a gas station. Well, the deepest he probably went was 20-30 feet, but he's alive and 80 years old.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I THINK that's what my older brother kinda did in the '60s. I know he was never certified and got air fills at a gas station. Well, the deepest he probably went was 20-30 feet, but he's alive and 80 years old.

Back before there was much of any formal training who exalted the dive gods to become the first to form the agencies and become the rulers of the kingdom? Just curious
Home schooling.
Yes, it is possible to learn to dive and be perfectly SAFE being self taught. It requires discipline though and maybe that’s where the idea lacks in todays world?

So far about 15% of the people who answered the poll say they were not certified to standards. A percentage of the respondents also say that even if trained up to full standards the standard is so low that they barely teach you enough to not kill yourself. That’s kinda scary!
So these people put blind faith into a system with “pro’s” to teach them and they get this? Pathetic!
I could see 2% or 3% falling through the cracks, but 15%??
I personally believe the global number is a log higher. Scubaboard I think in general has a better trained clientelle than just the average run of the mill bubble blower around the world…IDK?
As long as nothing goes wrong, sure why not?
Good thing gear is as good as it is and easy to use otherwise these people would be screwed!

 

[Doc]

In the total universe of certified divers, how many have the slightest clue as to if standards were followed? Our sample here is skewed.

In 1968 i completed OW and AOW in a swimming pool. Absolutely to standard. In January.

In that era, there was a noted exception , “if local conditions allow” for skipping real bodies of water (ice).

So far, so good.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

In the total universe of certified divers, how many have the slightest clue as to if standards were followed? Our sample here is skewed.

In 1968 i completed OW and AOW in a swimming pool. Absolutely to standard. In January.

In that era, there was a noted exception , “if local conditions allow” for skipping real bodies of water (ice).

So far, so good.

Well, they would have to be written down somewhere I suppose?
The poll asked if you were trained to standards in your era according to your agency. I would hope that people payed enough attention to the agency materials to see if the instructor did all the stuff they were supposed to.

 

[stretchthepenn]

The poll needs an "I don't remember" option; my OW class was 27 years ago, and any answer I provide would be a guess.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

The poll needs an "I don't remember" option; my OW class was 27 years ago, and any answer I provide would be a guess.

I think if someone was grossly undertrained enough to have had an impact and form a memory, that’s more what I’m looking for. Not so much small details.
I can’t specifically remember everything we did in class either, but I do know overall that we did everything we were supposed to do.

 

[eelnoraa]

What would you have needed in your OW to feel comfortable diving?

What eventually made me feel more confident and safe are these :
1. gas planning, basically the rock bottom planning
2. proper steps and practice to handle some form of failure in water: buddy system failure (lost of buddy); gas share initialed at different time of the dive, not just kneel at bottom facing buddy signaling out of gas. Certain equipment failure such as BC. And even how to carry a buddy ascending properly.
3. doing things at mid water instead of kneeling. We are not kneeling most of the time or at all, why do the most important life saving skill only kneeling as in most PADI class.
4. situation awareness. the learning is here what should we be aware of. Knowing the concept, we can get the list of items to pay attention, and we can practice to pay attention.

So my rec learning path
- OW, learned that I didn't learn enough
- AOW, zero, should demand a refund
- The above 4, GUE fundie

 

[Cthippo]

I did my OW as a private class last year and it was great. I read the PADI manual and had practiced some of the skills ahead of time, plus was already very comfortable in the water. I was clear when I went in that I was interested in local wreck diving and would probably end up diving solo and while they discouraged that, they also focused on additional skills that I would need. 1 classroom session, 3 pool days, and four OW dives, each 40-45 minutes, over two consecutive days. All dives were in cold, limited vis water, and I had to plan and brief the final dive. I can neither confirm nor deny that we may have gone to 63 feet on one dive .

While they sold me a bunch of stuff I probably didn't need, I will say that the training I got was top notch and I would recommend my instructor.

 

[2stroketony]

In light of another thread going on about AOW lacking, I’m curious about what your OW course was like.
Did you get trained to standards?
Below standards?
Or maybe the instructor went above and beyond and trained you above written standards?
Below is a list I found of the PADI OW skills:

PADI Open Water Skills List • All Skills in Order

Full PADI Open Water Diver Skills List, covering all the scuba diving skills you can expect in the PADI Open Water Course. Including Video Explanation!

www.scubadivingtips.net

This doesn’t include the book theory part which is part of it. I’ll look for that as well so you can reference it if needed.
I didn’t include any other agencies because I’m PADI trained for OW and that’s all I know.
However you can add to the poll with any other agency that applies and discuss it if you wish.
I know some standards have changed so the list may be slightly different from what you recieved, but if you have a story to tell about your OW from the past please feel free.
This is not meant to be an agency bash, I’m just curious to take a pulse of how it went for scubaboard members.

I was trained right to standards in my open water class, and maybe a little beyond when it came to site conditions, how to read the ocean and also how to use a compass. We were trained to plan and conduct a shore dive in our own with another new OW diver on the Northern California Coast.
I have no complaints other than I wish they didn’t overweight us and normalize that, and also they trained us on our knees which was standard at that time.

I was trained to standards and more so. NAUI 1983. Instructor was an old navy trained diver. Lots of pool work. Lots of dive table planning. Even did CPR without protection as in mouth to mouth. Night dive during one of dive. Experienced double hose, single hose, full face. I felt pretty confident and looking back it was very comprehensive.