Rescue Course...

[Graeme Fraser]

When I took mine, most of the other students scared the crap out of me when I was the "unresponsive" diver being brought up from the bottom. All of said students had only done dives in OW and AOW prior to taking rescue, so <10 dives. My only suggestion is learn to do a controlled slow ascent from your safety stop, then go for it.

Yes, I always suggest the 'unresponive diver' is responsive enough to keep one hand on the shoulder dump in case the ascent gets a bit frisky. Oh, and a firm grip on their reg.

 

[Mustard Dave]

I did mine after around 25 dives. As I said in the thread on strength and aerobic conditioning, there is never a bad time to learn rescue skills, and you do not need to be perfect; you can (and should) continue practising your skills after the course and improve them.

I feel the best time to learn is at the earliest opportunity once you feel you are able to dive relatively instinctively and focus on the new skills.

 

[avfcmichael]

Thanks for all the advice so far guys - all very helpful!

 

[bomberkenny]

I just completed the course yesterday and my instructor really did gave me a hard time by challenging my physical abilities. I'm a PADI AOWD with 70 dives before this. I'm overweight to be honest and I hadn't exercised much. The first tough challenge I had was to tow an unresponsive diver, while removing his and my equipment and finning like a duck simultaneously while not forgetting to give rescue breath every 5 seconds. Then my instructor request that I haul the victim from the water to the shore using the fireman's carry, and that really stressed me out. It wasn't easy, but I "rescued" the victim and got my rescue diver certificate.

 

[Diving Dubai]

Thanks for all the advice so far guys - all very helpful!

As some other s have said. Being comfortable in the water, so you don't' get into a flap if you "lose your mask" for instance. Buoyancy and control for unresponsive diver underwater, and good Nav for search and recovery.

If the course is done well you will be mentally and physically tired post practical. People worry about getting an unresponsive diver out of the water. Don't Part of it it for you to try different methods to see what works for you and the conditions, to learn

Parts of the course will try to stress you and make you tired to replicate you being flustered and under pressure. People have no idea (I didn't ) how hard extended CPR is for instance.

A course I love teaching with a largest group where we can set up fun scenarios. Its a bit dull (to teach) if it's just one or two and an instructor + DM

 

[Jim Lapenta]

I recommend rescue as the 1st course a diver should take after OW. A good rescue course will be as much, if not more, about preventing an accident or incident as it will be responding to one.

 

[JBFG]

The first tough challenge I had was to tow an unresponsive diver, while removing his and my equipment and finning like a duck simultaneously while not forgetting to give rescue breath every 5 seconds.

To me this makes mostly sense as far as training goes (let's not get into a breath Vs hauling ass to shore debate). This exercise represent well what you would do to get someone to shore ASAP.

The fireman carry doesn't make sense at all. What you really want it to get the unresponsive diver onto a hard surface ASAP so that you can start chest compression. No need to carry the victim a long distance. Shore is an excellent place to do CPR. so what if his feet are still a bit in the water (assuming no broken bones or massive bleeding obviously).

 

[Erich S]

Back in the 70’s we had to be CPR certified to get our “Basic Scuba Diver” certification from PADI.
We also had to preform and master some basic rescue drills as well.

 

[TMHeimer]

Back in the 70’s we had to be CPR certified to get our “Basic Scuba Diver” certification from PADI.
We also had to preform and master some basic rescue drills as well.

I've read that before. Can you be a bit specific as to which basic rescue drills? I have often commented that 2 new divers have no rescue training (I don't consider 2 tows and OOG to be mainstream rescue stuff), and maybe no CPR cert.
Why would you guess the CPR requirement for PADI OW course was dropped?

I agree with bomberkenny in that the tow/equipment removal/rescue breaths was probably the hardest skill for me.

 

[Erich S]

We leaned cross chest carry and the ditching of equipment in addition to CPR from what I can remember.
The course lasted 5or so weeks so for a basic cert it wasn’t a cake walk.
The Open Water cert was the next step from
Basic.