Stress tests for OW/AOW?

[Belzelbub]

I'm not saying I like the idea, but it MAY be OK for an OW student who is very comfortable in water to begin with (as I sing that same old tune). But, many OW students have way too little "water" experience and comfortability IMO for this to have any place in the OW course of today (at least at the shop where I assisted for sure).

I agree with this. Far too many OW students aren't really comfortable in the water, so at the first sign of trouble, there is a decent chance that they will bolt for the surface. I could see how it wouldn't be a bad idea for a student that is very comfortable in the water, but I'm not sure that the limited exposure in a class is enough for the instructor to recognize that.

Hmmm, in my OW pool sessions in 2015, they did some of that including including distracting us while disconnecting and turning stuff off to see if we caught it during buddy checks. They did not let us splash with those issues. However, while we were doing swimming drills as buddy groups they did undo tank bands and pull octos out of holders so they were not where expected.

This makes quite a bit more sense. Gets the diver to recognize issues and things that could happen without actually putting them in any danger.

There should be a lot more swim tests at the start of pool sessions. IIRC, my kids did some level of this with their SSI OW. They've had no problem with it as they had been learning to swim before they could even walk. My oldest just joined a youth diving organization, and before they actually can dive with the group, they need to do some swim tests. These are tests that most that can swim well can probably complete, but could be a challenge for some OW divers. All need to be done without any swim aids.

1. Swim underwater 25M without surfacing for air.
2. Swim 400M in 12 minutes or less.
3. Tread water for 10 minutes.
4. Transport a person of similar size 25M in the water.

I recall doing most (or all) of these during my YMCA OW class back in 1997.

 

[Sbiriguda]

Here in Italy they always make this stress tests for Rescue courses, while they do that occasionally and only for "educational" fun in the pooll with OW and AOW. In the OW course there are some standard exercises (cleaning the mask, staying 1 minute without mask, giving and taking air from the emergency regulator to/from the buddy, etc.). Sometimes these exercises are repeated for fun under stress conditions in the pool.

 

[mmerriman]

Hi there!

Some of my local dive stores (in Hungary, Europe, diving mostly in Mediterranean and Red sea) sometimes makes a little stress test sessions for mainly OW/AOW (anybody can come who OW as minimum, but it’s definietly not for DM-candidates) divers which looks pretty awesome for me (Been twice.), but never heard anything on the internet about this kind of sessions. (Again, I’m not talming about DM-stress test. )
It used to be held in a 4m (about 12 foot) deep pool.
There is two types which I’ve met:
1.) The first is quite similar to DM-tests: hardest things are swim down to bottom of the 2 meter pool without anything (no mask, no fins, nothing), open the bottle, and suit up into full equipment and while breathing from a single 2nd stage (buddy breathing) exchange masks and fins.

2.) I found the second type more useful. It starts lile a regular dive, pairs form up, get into equipment, check each other and just swim around. The things is there are a few DM/DI who acts like pretty naughty fairies. First of all after we have have put together equipment, but before we suit up, there is a little briefing under which some faults just occurs from nowhere: inflator tubes disconnects, air valves are closed, dump valves are got disassemled, etc. Next thing is buddy-check which quite often misses these problems, every time there is a few diver who gets under water with some problem.
The next phase is when we (the victims) just swiming around while the sharks... err... the DMs sometimes just ripping out our regulators (sometimes they get ahold of it, so instead of searching you have to change to octopus), closing our water (you’ll learn really fast that you buddy have to be there, not the opposite side of the whole ocean), stealing some masks (find it or change to spare), stealing fins and weight belts/integrated weights or just pumping your BCD full with air.
Basicaly it’s all part of the OW course, but you’ll never learn till you have to handle it unexpectedly, and I found it more useful this then the first one.

Is this stress test truly this rare or just I wasn’t capable to find anything about it?

its hazing. its dangerous, and if its PADI, it a blatant violation of standards

 

[M-Cameron]

its hazing. its dangerous, and if its PADI, it a blatant violation of standards

if youre screwing with them just for your own enjoyment and you dont have protocol in place to ensure safety....then yes its "hazing"

if youre screwing with them so they can learn what a real incident looks and feels like, and you have qualified instructors to assist if the diver panics....then its actually valuable learning.

as far as PADI standards go...there was a time when teaching Nitrox was a violation of PADI standards.....not sure they are the end all be all as far as effective teaching goes.

 

[Jcp2]

I agree with this. Far too many OW students aren't really comfortable in the water, so at the first sign of trouble, there is a decent chance that they will bolt for the surface. I could see how it wouldn't be a bad idea for a student that is very comfortable in the water, but I'm not sure that the limited exposure in a class is enough for the instructor to recognize that.


This makes quite a bit more sense. Gets the diver to recognize issues and things that could happen without actually putting them in any danger.

There should be a lot more swim tests at the start of pool sessions. IIRC, my kids did some level of this with their SSI OW. They've had no problem with it as they had been learning to swim before they could even walk. My oldest just joined a youth diving organization, and before they actually can dive with the group, they need to do some swim tests. These are tests that most that can swim well can probably complete, but could be a challenge for some OW divers. All need to be done without any swim aids.

1. Swim underwater 25M without surfacing for air.
2. Swim 400M in 12 minutes or less.
3. Tread water for 10 minutes.
4. Transport a person of similar size 25M in the water.

I recall doing most (or all) of these during my YMCA OW class back in 1997.

I think 3. and 4. were covered in my PADI OW. 1. and 2. were not. The closest to 1. was the surface dive and the closest to 2. was the 200 m swim without time limit.

 

[Belzelbub]

I think 3. and 4. were covered in my PADI OW. 1. and 2. were not. The closest to 1. was the surface dive and the closest to 2. was the 200 m swim without time limit.

Interesting. I also have a PADI OW cert, and none of them were covered in that class. I could have actually passed that class without actually knowing how to swim. Of course, my PADI OW class didn't meet any PADI (or any other agency) standards, even for 1990. I got in the water one time to a max depth of about 8'. We waded in from shore.

My PADI OW class and YMCA OW class are like at opposite ends of the spectrum. Most classes would probably be somewhere in the middle.

 

[MightyDuck]

its hazing. its dangerous, and if its PADI, it a blatant violation of standards

I think there is some misunderstanding. It’s not hazing, no torture (definitly not waterboarding! ), is is not obligatory and not part of any course.
It is an independent educational session for those who want to try out the unexpected and learn to handle them while being in safe environment and while watched closely from DIs. There is no badge at the end of it, the only thing you being home is the experience. And of course anybody can lift to surface or even leave the pool, no shaming if anybody does.
And the end of the session there is a thorough talkover about what the DIs have seen and what did we learned, what was good, where do we feel the need of some more practice.

(I’m not defending them because I organize things or I’m in any close connection with them. I just found it pretty useful (got myself into Apnea and tech fundies to have work on my skills), and was curious if anybody has met something like this.

 

[HKGuns]

Interesting. I also have a PADI OW cert, and none of them were covered in that class. I could have actually passed that class without actually knowing how to swim. Of course, my PADI OW class didn't meet any PADI (or any other agency) standards, even for 1990. I got in the water one time to a max depth of about 8'. We waded in from shore.

My PADI OW class and YMCA OW class are like at opposite ends of the spectrum. Most classes would probably be somewhere in the middle.

I did one, two and four in my PADI open water course last summer.

I also removed and re-attached my gear at the deep end of the pool, had the instructor shut off my air after first being told.......Not the same as hazing, but gets you to understand how it feels.