jakubson:
But are you really giving them a C-Card? They ALREADY have a C-card. You only would be certifying that they know the theory of EAN diving. The previous instructor certified (through the OW or AOW) the theory AND practice of air diving.
More diving is good, but coupling required dives to Nitrox course still doesn't make sense to me. They are separate issues. In our course, we analyzed 4 tanks with two different analyzers, went through multiple scenarios, etc. I still don't see the NITOX SPECIFIC benefits of checkout dives.
While I'm replying to your post, I'm also extending this discussion to several other posts that I've read in this thread.
I'd like to offer several points, although one was touched upon, it was by-in-large glossed over. For those that are suggesting that as instructor's we rely on the presumed previous dive certifications as an indication of proper training, I suggest that in the real world you're nuts if you do that. Given the industry's trend towards shorter, quicker and cheaper dive training, I'd be hard pressed to put my name on a c-card unless, and until, I dove with a student. I regularly teach the DIR-F class across the globe, and in that capacity our students are required to have been previously certified and are required to have atleast 25 dives. That said, I can't begin to tell you the number of students I've seen that lack basic buoyancy control and lack significant amounts of situational awareness.
The Nitrox class makes a strong point in the academic portion about MOD's, and the resulting oxygen toxicity seizure that will occur to the extent that you violate said MOD. Accordingly, why in the world wouldn't you require that you demonstrate the in-water rescue procedure, and why in the world wouldn't you require that your student be proficient in that very life saving skill? Most importantly, why would you want to dive with someone that wasn't trained or skilled in that procedure? More often then not when I ask my students the proper procedure for a Oxygen Toxicity scenario they give the incorrect answer, one which removes any possibility of survival. Rescuing a toxing diver is a difficult skill to do in the absence of practice, but more often then not what you'll hear a student say is to put the diver's reg in his mouth and get him to the surface ASAP.
Furthermore, what many of you are presuming in this thread is that the primary method of avoiding Ox Tox is to simply stay above MOD's, which on the face of it is an extremely important concept. However, let's assume you have an OOA scenario at, or near the MOD. I've got tons and tons of video footage from students that routinely loose 10' or more of bouyancy during an air share, mask R & R, or even a lift bag shooting exercise. You're all assuming that the loss of bouyancy or violation of MOD's occur when nothing else is going on, so it's therefore easy to monitor your depth. All too many divers, newer divers especially, tend to fixate only on the immediate problem [ ie; the air share] to the exclusion of other situational awareness concerns [ie; depth]..
I think it's extremely valuable to see your students in the water, and make sure they have fundamental skills such as air shares with nuetral bouyancy down pat prior to issuing a c-card, and that can't happen without seeing your student in the water, nor can it happen if the extent of your Nitrox dive(s) during class were just "escort" type dives with no skills associated with the dives.
The curious thing about the dive industry to me is that it's one of the few "sports" in the world were the student dictates what important to learn, or where the student is more willing to rush through a "training" class and get his "diploma" a.k.a. C-card. Consider if you went to a golf pro or a ski instructor and wanted to learn to hit the ball straighter down the fairway, or learn to ski the double black diamond mountain, would you want to rush through the lesson?? Or would you want every minute you could get from that instructor?? The dive industry never ceases to puzzle me, because when I speak to a golf pro buddy of mine he continually tells me that when he sells a 3 hour lesson his students squeeze every second out of him, whereas in the dive industry the students are more concerned with the c-card then they are with the actual dive knowledge that the c-card purports to represent. Naturally, that is a generalization, but it's a pretty widespread mindset in the dive industry. In my mind, the real question I'd be asking my instructor isn't are you taking me for a dive, it would be why aren't you taking me for a dive?
Anyway, just my thoughts based on traveling the globe the last several years and seeing unacceptable levels of bouyancy control and/or situational awareness..
Reagrds,
Michael Kane
