Running with Scissors

[scubadada]

As Thal pointed out, nitrox was once the forbidden gas and was frowned down upon by the training agencies. Now, nitox use is ubiquitous and training is even available online (including by PADI).

Currently, solo diving certification is only offered by SDI. I would not be surprised if, eventually, solo diving is offered by additional training agencies (perhaps even PADI) as the advanced specialty course it should be, with appropriate training, experience, equipment, and attitude prerequisites. This type of training should increase a diver's ability to be self-reliant when neccessary. Whether to use the training and certification to dive solo, is a personal decision.

Expansion of the training agency pool for solo diving may depend largely on demand ($$). Somehow, I don't see this as a big money maker like many of the post OW certifications certainly are.

Good diving, Craig

 

[Paladin]

My dive buddy, on the rare occasions when I have one, is not responsible for my safety. I am. It is my responsibility to watch my air supply, my bottom time and maintain an awareness of my surroundings.

For various reasons, the majority of my dives over the years have been solo dives. When planning each dive, I take into account the conditions under which the dive takes place and I set personal limits, based on what I know of my abilities and limitations, and adhere to those limits.

The two times I allowed myself to get into trouble occurred, in fact, when I was accompanied by a buddy. I learned from those experiences that diving with a buddy can lure one into a false sense of security and tempt one to be stupid. Fortunately, Fuzz was an experienced and attentive dive partner. Then again, we were both trained in an era when basic SCUBA instruction was much more intensive and encompassed many more aspects of SCUBA diving.

I did not get my training from any agency. In 1965, I was taught by an ex-Navy diver who taught me to dive the Navy way, with a two hose regulator, J valve, watch and depth gauge. Self-reliance was drilled into me right from the get-go. Until a few weeks ago, I had never even used a BC. I once owned a simple, inflatable vest that I wore for emergency use, but it was never inflated. After diving with it for a couple of seasons, I tried inflating it just to check it out and it popped all its seams. I chucked it. After hearing all the hoopla about how necessary a BC is suppose to be, I decide to rent one. Besides, the quarry where I wanted to dive required that I wear one. In the end, I decided it was not worth the hassle and simply left it deflated.

I dove for over a decade (much of it solo) without the need for a C-card, until my mentor passed away due to a heart attack. With him gone, I needed a C-card to get mt tank filled, so I got a Basic Scuba card to fulfill that function. I finally decided to get my OW in '92; again, for the sake of convenience.

C-cards, in reality, don't mean bupkiss. The classes teach very little above and beyond the basics, which is just enough, in my opinion, to get a greenhorn into trouble. The whole "certification" deal came about because the dive industry was trying to cover its own butt and head off possible Federal legislation. In truth, diver with only an OW can do whatever he wants with it. It's his neck. It's up to him to know his personal limits and to know when to call a dive.

I have read any number of posts here from people who proclaim that if one has a certain level of C-card that they must adhere to arbitrary limits set by some certifying agency and stay within a set boundary of activities for that level. With a few notable exceptions, such as cave diving, deep/saturation diving, nitrox, etc., this is a crock. Back in the '50s and '60s, many of us ancient divers were doing all sorts of "specialty" stuff without the blessings of any agency or their exalted C-cards. We just did it. We started out simple and slowly pushed the envelope little by little, learning as we went. We learned from each other, either directly or from the written accounts of those who had gone before us.

One of the most important lessons I learned back in the early days was to know the difference between confidence and arrogance. The confident diver knows how far he can push the envelope and remain relatively safe. The arrogant diver only thinks he does.

SCUBA diving is not a "safe" sport. It never was and it never will be. Every time a diver straps on his equipment, he is taking his life in his own hands. Whether or not he returns to the surface alive and well depends entirely on the decisions he makes while below. To teach otherwise does a disservice to the student and sows the seeds of possible disaster. The dangers inherent in SCUBA are glossed over in modern classes so as not to scare away prospective customers. The indistry points to arbitrarily set activity limits, "buddy diving", BCs, dive computers and such as things which make SCUBA a "safe" sport. And people die.

When my personal security is on the line, I would much prefer to dive solo than to rely on many of the freshly-minted, cookie-cutter divers being turned out these days. It is not my intention to offend anyone, but this is the way I feel.

On the other hand, I don't mind diving with a tyro if the object is to help him gain some experience and become a better diver. When I know from the start that I have to keep an eye on him and keep him out of trouble, I don't mind it at all. As long as he pays attention.

I have, in the past, taught a few people how to dive using the methods I learned and they went on to breeze through the certification process. One thing I drilled into their nitrogen-fogged brains was this: Stupidity kills. I am, in fact, teaching both of my sons now. When they go to their class next month, they will be ahead of the game.

But I digress. The point I'm trying to make here is this: Solo diving is a choice that must be made on an individual basis, based on one's level of confidence in one's abilities and limits and not dependent on what level of C-card one possesses. Just make absolutely sure you know the difference between confidence and arrogance.

I hope you my ramblings have not been too boring for you guys.

 

[Yellowmask]

The confident diver knows how far he can push the envelope and remain relatively safe. The arrogant diver only thinks he does.

And the inexperienced diver (i.e. me, with a grand total of 12 logged dives) is only just figuring out that there is an envelope. And it's a lot bigger that you thought.

Why does PADI fixate on soloing while allowing those other violations of their "safety net" to slide by without comment?

From my perspective as a very new OW diver, I always assumed that the emphasis on buddy diving on the PADI course was to prevent newly-qualified divers from getting the idea that hey, I've done a few dives, I can do CESA, I can fin pivot (so my buoyancy control must be okay, right?)... so it can't REALLY do any harm if I just take my shiny new equipment and do a nice shallow dive on my own? I've got my new skills, sure I can get myself out of trouble! Or hey, I know I'm meant to stick with my buddy, but we're in nice clear water and there's an interesting-looking fish over there, so he'll be fine on his own for a few minutes whilst I swim over and take a few photos?

Perhaps the issue is that s-word diving is pretty seductive when you've just got your C-card and you're all excited to try out your new skills and explore the wonderful world under the water, and it's probably the easiest "violation" to rationalise yourself into. Sure, you wouldn't dive deep (nitrogen narcosis). Sure, you wouldn't go into a wreck (might get yourself stuck on something). Sure, you wouldn't dive under the ice (way too cold and the ice is over your head!).

But s-word diving, well, that's kind of like ordinary diving, right? And all you need to do it is your ordinary scuba equipment, and your brand-new OW skills... and a total absence of any real understanding of the many, many ways things can go wrong both under the water and on the surface.

I hasten to add, I sure as hell don't think that way myself, but if even a fifth of the horror stories I've read about inexperienced divers on the net are true, I can easily see some people thinking like this and charging off blindly without any understanding of the work it takes to plan a safe (or reasonably safe - no such thing as 100% safe) dive. After twelve dives, I think I'm just beginning to understand the depths of my ignorance. (And I'm really, really lucky to be diving with a school where the divemasters are genuinely interested in seeing their divers progress and the teaching goes on all the time, even on fun dives.)

By teaching only share air, buddy breathing (optional) and CESA instead of including self-reliance, independence and problem solving we are saying to students “this is the way to handle a problem”.

I guess it depends on if your focus is specifically on why PADI has an anti-s-word diving stance, or more generally on why the OW course doesn't teach anything other than the most basic skills (CESA, share air, etc.) Is there an issue over the fact that introductory scuba training focussing on developing the right attitude whilst diving would mean:

a) this would be a lot harder to measure and take more time and expense than performing fairly basic mechancial skills on four OW dives,
b) would schools then have to be prepared to say to students "sorry, you've failed the course?"

Maybe more dive schools should fail new divers, I genuinely don't know, not having the experience to judge. Right now, you plunk down your money, and you expect to get your OW certificate. That could change, but given the demands of the market, will it?

My two cents, your opinion most welcome.

 

[Paladin]

Yellowmask,
There was a time when an instructor would fail a student, or have him repeat a section of training that he was having trouble mastering, if the student's performance wasn't up to snuff. But, then, in those days, SCUBA training courses lasted for weeks, not days. More time was spent in training and more skills were taught than happens today. 12 dives would have been a good beginning, but nowhere near number to be completed before a new diver was let loose on the world.

It is true that many people who might have been interested in SCUBA were scared off by the stricter, more intense regimen of the old school instructors, but once a student had persevered and was released "into the wild", as it were, they had a pretty good understanding of what they were doing.

Today, in my humble opinion, the dive industry has become more concerned with quantity over quality. If I were an instructor in today's market, I would fail a student without hesitation if I had any doubts concerning his abilities. I would offer remedial training if he wished, but I would not feel right about passing a student who just barely squeaked by. If he should later become another statistic, I would feel that I, as his instructor, had let him down.

But this is my opinion and can be taken with a grain of salt. My knowledge of training schools has been acquired, for the most part, second hand. My instructor was not certified through any agency. He learned in the Navy and he taught me the same way he had learned. He was an exacting taskmaster and he never let me slide on anything. He grilled me mercilessly and never let me forget that inattention and stupidity kills. Years later, I nearly proved this on two separate occasions. Both times I was diving with a buddy and let myself become too relaxed and complacent.

To this day, when I am diving (whether solo or with a buddy) the one thing that is on my mind is survival. I automatically assess every situation and weigh the risk factors, what might possibly happen and what I would need to do to solve a potential problem. And whether it is worth the risk in the first place. I have countless solo dives under my belt and nary a problem during any of them. I've kept each and every dive within a preset set of limits where I knew for a certainty that I could handle any emergency that might arise within those parameters.

Diving is fun and each dive is an adventure. But it is inherently dangerous. My survival depends on the decisions I make when underwater. SCUBA equipment is man-made and like any mechanical device, can fail at any time. The only thing the diver has that he can depend on with any true reliability is the biological computer that sits between his ears, and that's only if he is determined to use it properly.

You are right to be concerned, and cautious, concerning your experience and abilities. At 12 dives, you are a rank greenhorn with a lot to learn. Take it slow and easy. Think through every action. Continually ask yourself "Can I do this? What if?" Ask the advice of other, more experienced divers, then decide for yourself if that advice is suitable to you and your abilities.

Learn from the mistakes you manage to survive. I once nearly bought it because I needed my dive knife and it was strapped to my leg, out of reach. I now carry two knives: one strapped to my leg and another strapped to my arm.

When you're sitting around, daydreaming about diving, throw in an occasional emergency, think through what you would do to get yourself out of trouble.

Whatever you do, THINK. Think before the dive. Think during the dive. Think after the dive. Stay attentive to where you are and the conditions that surround you. Any time you begin to feel apprehensive or uncomfortable, there is usually a good reason. Back off, reassess what you are doing. If you cannot shake the apprehension, get out of the water. Figure it out while you sip a cold drink and relax in the sun and air.

SCUBA diving is fun and exciting. But it isn't safe. If you don't believe me, go down to about 20 feet, take a big lungful of air and let yourself drift to the surface. See what happens. Or go down to 100 feet, stay longer than the tables allow, then shoot to the surface. It's gonna hurt.

SCUBA diving isn't safe, but it's survivable. But that can be said of most of the things we do every day of our lives. Driving a car. Flying in a plane. Eating at a restaurant (Don't laugh. How many cases of food poisoning have you heard about?).

The point is, it doesn't matter if you dive solo or with dozens of buddies. Stop thinking, allow yourself to become complacent or do something you're not ready for yet, and you are going to get bitten. Or worse.

"A man's just got to know his limitations."
"Dirty" Harry Callahan

 

[Cave Bum]

And the inexperienced diver (i.e. me, with a grand total of 12 logged dives) is only just figuring out that there is an envelope. And it's a lot bigger that you thought.

Yellowmask,

Thanks for taking the time to post this. I'm the OP, the original poster, and I was looking for input from both instructors and from recent students. We've had a lot of feedback from instructors and divemasters but, until now, not much useful feedback from the student side.

From my perspective as a very new OW diver, I always assumed that the emphasis on buddy diving on the PADI course was to prevent newly-qualified divers from getting the idea that hey, I've done a few dives, I can do CESA, I can fin pivot (so my buoyancy control must be okay, right?)... so it can't REALLY do any harm if I just take my shiny new equipment and do a nice shallow dive on my own? I've got my new skills, sure I can get myself out of trouble! Or hey, I know I'm meant to stick with my buddy, but we're in nice clear water and there's an interesting-looking fish over there, so he'll be fine on his own for a few minutes whilst I swim over and take a few photos?

So now you are a few fin stokes away from reaching your buddy in a single breath. Every diver has done that. Would some discussion of self-selficiency and situational awareness have helped given you to tools to think 'what if...'? Or did you already have too much on your plate? I assume from your answer you were trained PADI, what if they had eliminated the 'take a PADI site tour with a PADI professional' or 'take an advanced course' in section five?

But s-word diving, well, that's kind of like ordinary diving, right? And all you need to do it is your ordinary scuba equipment, and your brand-new OW skills... and a total absence of any real understanding of the many, many ways things can go wrong both under the water and on the surface.

I guess it depends on if your focus is specifically on why PADI has an anti-s-word diving stance, or more generally on why the OW course doesn't teach anything other than the most basic skills (CESA, share air, etc.) Is there an issue over the fact that introductory scuba training focussing on developing the right attitude whilst diving would mean:

a) this would be a lot harder to measure and take more time and expense than performing fairly basic mechancial skills on four OW dives,
b) would schools then have to be prepared to say to students "sorry, you've failed the course?"

The main issue, of course, is money. Competition for the almighty dollar. If the course is too hard or too long or costs more then the other guys course, you'll loose customers.

I'm more worried about PADI giving the impression that a diver never has the ablity to survive on his or her own if for some reason they find themselves without a buddy in the middle of a dive. I'm not advocating solo diving for new divers. I'm advocating including in the current open water course more emphisis on self-suficient/self-reliant skills. Do you think that would have gotten through?

Maybe more dive schools should fail new divers, I genuinely don't know, not having the experience to judge. Right now, you plunk down your money, and you expect to get your OW certificate. That could change, but given the demands of the market, will it?

I wasn't thinking of 'Pass/Fail' criteria, I was thinking of exposing new divers to the concept. One thing I learned several years ago in helping institute a quality control program in a manufacturing company I worked for was that 'problem solving' is not a natural human skill, it is, rather, a learned response. It has to be taught. I was thinking in terms of introducing these concepts to new divers as opposed to having achieve mastery of them.

My two cents, your opinion most welcome.

You comments have been most appriciated! Thanks for taking the time to post them!

Be safe and have fun in the water! Bruce

 

[Paladin]

The main thing I noticed from Yellowmasks post is the depth of her wisdom. She's gonna go far.

 

[D_B]

Thank you for posting Yellowmask

The day still exist that an instructor wont just pass a student because he payed the money ... I do know this, as my instructor will not pass you unless he thinks you can be a safe diver, that could mean more instruction one on one, if your honestly trying (without any extra charge) ... or that could mean dropping you from the class, if your not making an effort

 

[shoredivr]

Just this spring when I went to Malaysia, I was basically on my own; part of the group, but no one's buddy,.... the odd man out. There was an even number of us on the boat, but one family of 3 absolutely refused to recognize me as a buddy or that I was really even there. They basically had the attitude of my wife/ husband/ daughter/ father is my buddy & no one else. I was informed of this from the very beginning. Not diving really wasn't an option (it is,... but I had paid good money to see what I saw), so I looked at every dive as a solo dive. I would take note of the environment, dove well within my limits & went throuigh the list of "what if's" that I could encounter out there. I hung close to the group (as there were others who would have been glad to offer assistance, if needed, but did not want another person as a buddy). In the end, I'm glad I wasn't buddied up with this family, as they proved to be very poor divers (reef care, buoyancy control, situational awareness), as they only vacation dive 1-2 times a year.

Yes, given the parameters, I thought that was coming.....

 

[shoredivr]

The SDI Solo Diving course is promoted not as a course intended to train divers to be solo (although many divers use it that way) but rather to increase the diver's ability to independently deal with potential emergencies that may arise when separated. This is addressed by teaching redundant configuration, dive planning and procedures that will allow the diver to avoid or handle emergencies in much the same manner as is taught in a technical diving class.

In that regard, it undoes the damage that has been done to basic OW certs in the 20-25 years since the industry as a whole took a hard left turn in the direction of the dive travel industry and started pumping out DM dependent divers rather than training competent divers who could plan and conduct a dive without the assistance of a DM and with a fair degree of self reliance.

What PADI and other agencies should be saying is the reality of the situtaion - that absent a lot more instruction and time in the water, a modern OW and even an AOW course prepares you to dive with a DM, and diving with an equally inexperienced buddy adds basically nothing to your odds of safely finishing the dive. They need to shift from "always dive with a buddy" to "always dive with a DM", at least until the student completes the levle fo training and experience needed to be more independent under water.

I do agree with your post, however there have been recent posts where the competency of the DM is in question. Which leads me back to self-reliant training.

I really got a lot out of the solo course I took. If nothing else, I got pushed to do more than I thought I could do, and that was useful. I also found the rescue course did the same.

 

[shoredivr]

And the inexperienced diver (i.e. me, with a grand total of 12 logged dives) is only just figuring out that there is an envelope. And it's a lot bigger that you thought.

After twelve dives, I think I'm just beginning to understand the depths of my ignorance. (And I'm really, really lucky to be diving with a school where the divemasters are genuinely interested in seeing their divers progress and the teaching goes on all the time, even on fun dives.)

Good post. After checking your profile, I see: "Newbie diver.... learnt to dive with the Dive Centre Newcastle in the chilly waters of the Firth of Clyde near Bute."

I know exactly where Bute is located. Fun to see it named on SB.

As a cold water diver myself, what gets said here is "if you learn to dive in cold water, you have an advantage". So even though you may not think so, IMO you're ahead of the curve.

Ok I'm out of this thread now