Rescue Diver Cert.

[saf_25]

What would be the downside to just getting a few of your diving friends together and practicing rescue skills on each other from time to time? You can do this anytime, at your convenience and pace, and not pay anyone to keep your skills current.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Nothing, and that's what we do now. However, I think that it's seen by some of my buddies as more of an obsessive thing when I suggest it now (which I will admit to being at times), but if it were structured into part of the curriculum to emphasize the need to practice and refresh the skills, then I think it would become a more accepted practice (like the refresher courses are).
Plus, who knows, my friends and I all might be missing something - after all, we're all just "laymen" practicing. It's nice every now and then to have a professional look over your work. The same reason you don't just breathe into a doll at home with your friends, you actually take the CPR class from a trained instructor.
And, for those people now who take the class and don't think about it again and don't bother to practice (because, hey, I know how to rescue you if I need to - I took the class 5 years ago!), I think this is a good thing. It's not like it's something where you'll need the class to be current for anything, so if you want to just practice with friends, that's great, but for those who wouldn't otherwise think about practicing, this at least plants the seed that these are skills that can go stale without practice.

 

[saltyballs101]

For those who have a rescue diver certification, how many dives did you have when you started the training? I want to get the training as the next step, and I'm thinking that I'll wait and see how I feel after at least 50 dives before I sign up. I'm just coming up on 25 right now. I know it depends upon a lot of things, but I think it's clear that you want to be very confident in your own diving before you start worrying about rescue procedures. I just don't want to start too early.

I guess I also need to take a first aid/CPR class first, no? And is AOW a pre-requisite? The PADI website wasn't really clear.

I got my rescue cert this year and it was the most fun and challenging course so far. I had 60+ dives prior to the course but I imagine it is how comfortable you are with your skills. First Aid/ CPR were prerequisits and I strongly recommend the Dan O2 course.


:scubadive
mikey