Recency of training
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JamesK
Contributor
I've taken OW, AOW, Cavern, Cave 1 multiple times, and will hopefully take Cave 2 a couple more times as buddies progress up the ladder.
One of the reasons I became a tech DM was so I could go along with all my instructor friends classes and help out. I am usually the student(s) buddy in most cases and am required to do all the drills myself to either demonstrate to the students what needs to be done or show them it's important for the whole team to go through drills each time. It's also easier for someone to watch another diver that is not the instructor and be more connected with what they are telling them sometimes. Of course while this is gong on, I also get to do all the drills and skills each time I'm helping out in a class and it refreshes my memory and skills each time that are so rarely, if ever, used.
I learn something every time though. I even learn something from the students sometimes, or the instructor says something differently to answer a question that I hadn't heard before from a student.
It's always fun to join a class and relive the fun and excitement of all the new divers while refreshing your own skills and learning more and more each time.
OP
I actually have the opportunity to do that this year (play third teammate on a class) if I can find somebody else to do it with. I'm really looking forward to it.
Matt S.
Contributor
I'm sort of, kind of, interested in more advanced training... but I know that my lifestyle just doesn't permit for a dive schedule that would keep those skills sharp. I stick to "recreational" pretty fish dives because that is the skill set that I can maintain.
I'm not going to bother learning to fly a plane for the same reason... I can afford the lessons, but not the lifestyle required to keep using the skills safely.
I'm not going to bother learning to fly a plane for the same reason... I can afford the lessons, but not the lifestyle required to keep using the skills safely.
I am certified in every aspect of Diving and teach full Tec including Trimix and RB. Now my list is getting smaller, but I have always tried to take a class every 2 to 3 years and beleive it or not I still have classes (different RB's & CCR Trimix Cave) on the list. With running our Tec program, I teach failures, so with that, I am able to keep skills sharp and have to respond quickly to issues that come up. As and instructor and my style of teaching I am always getting reps with the skills and in a sense, task loaded with students, so for that I am lucky. All that being said, I love being a student,practicing skills and getting beat up by an instructor underwater. Even though you practice, just can't simulate being task loaded by an instructor!
Michael Guerrero
Contributor
Even if the scenarios are known ahead of time, running through them during the dive still makes sense.
To add some realism, you could tell each person their role, and have them execute it at an unknown time, with a knock-it-off time to abort the scenario if you guys are unable to resolve the situation. That way it's a little less scripted and there's a bit more unpredictability.
These can be done on less challenging dives specifically for the purpose of skill sustainment.
With regard to someone judging how well you did, a person ought to be his own harshest critic. His life is in his hands.
To add some realism, you could tell each person their role, and have them execute it at an unknown time, with a knock-it-off time to abort the scenario if you guys are unable to resolve the situation. That way it's a little less scripted and there's a bit more unpredictability.
These can be done on less challenging dives specifically for the purpose of skill sustainment.
With regard to someone judging how well you did, a person ought to be his own harshest critic. His life is in his hands.
OP
Wayne, I totally agree with you!
Michael, your assessment of your own performance is only as good as the quality of the analysis . . . when I took my classes, there were many situations where our team would make a decision on how to handle something, only to have the instructor point out things we hadn't thought about, or alternative approaches we didn't think of. Being brought up short for shoddy thinking is one of the things I really miss about taking classes. If I were good enough to know I had made a mistake, I wouldn't make them
Michael, your assessment of your own performance is only as good as the quality of the analysis . . . when I took my classes, there were many situations where our team would make a decision on how to handle something, only to have the instructor point out things we hadn't thought about, or alternative approaches we didn't think of. Being brought up short for shoddy thinking is one of the things I really miss about taking classes. If I were good enough to know I had made a mistake, I wouldn't make them
Michael Guerrero
Contributor
I guess I would hope the team could ID alternatives and errors during a hot wash, post dive. I hear you that none of us is perfect in our analysis of our own performance, and we're limited by our biases, experience, and egos. But I think it's about the adequacy and efficacy of the measures you take vs. all possible permutations. Someone will always be out there that has a different way of doing something that you didn't think of. But if you extricated yourself from situation without doing something grossly negligent or dangerous, you've skinned the same cat.
And to reiterate, this is something in lieu of taking an entire course over again. I'd say it would be less effective to take a course with an instructor that doesn't challenge you, than to practice on your own or with your team. So ideally you can find an instructor with the wisdom and experience to challenge you in ways you haven't thought of, but if that's not the case then this certainly serves a valuable purpose. Every dive is a training event.
And to reiterate, this is something in lieu of taking an entire course over again. I'd say it would be less effective to take a course with an instructor that doesn't challenge you, than to practice on your own or with your team. So ideally you can find an instructor with the wisdom and experience to challenge you in ways you haven't thought of, but if that's not the case then this certainly serves a valuable purpose. Every dive is a training event.
Yes, this was the way all diver training use to be conducted. I still find it valuable for OW students and find it odd that tasking skills are no longer required in the same way as they use to be. Especially when Instructor induced stress is proven to lower the incidence of panic in Divers (the reason why it's included in many military and commercial diver training programs). You don't need to be in a Cave, using a RB, or breathing Trimix at 300' to benefit from a more inclusive training program.
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