Swimming and finning standards?

[mkutyna]

So do you guys have to do all of your skills on the same night? We've got to do most of our skills all on one night.

450 swim, 900 snorkel, 25 underwater, skin ditch, scuba bailout, scuba doff and don, scuba ditch, 20 min tread with full gear and empty bc, 100 yd tired diver tow right afterwards and I'm sure I'm forgetting some of them.

I'm definitely going to be loading up on the bananas before that night.

 

[ClayJar]

So do you guys have to do all of your skills on the same night? We've got to do most of our skills all on one night.

I'd have loved to, but instead I've had to grab one or two here and there. For example, while working a basic scuba class, I did the tread with them and just kept it up a while longer while everyone was getting out to go to lunch. I'm hoping to knock the rest out in one block now that the academics are done and it's all wet from here on.

450 swim, 900 snorkel, 25 underwater, skin ditch, scuba bailout, scuba doff and don, scuba ditch, 20 min tread with full gear and empty bc, 100 yd tired diver tow right afterwards and I'm sure I'm forgetting some of them.

Do they have an order put together? If I had the choice, I'd probably do the 25 underwater, then the 450, then the 20 minute tread, then the 900, then the scuba bailout and ditch/recovery, then the 100, then anything else (buddy breathing, gear exchange, etc.), and finally the skin ditch and don. (That would give a bit of recovery time between the distance skills, and 450-900-100 is in the order of toughest to least grueling.)

I'm definitely going to be loading up on the bananas before that night.

I'd also recommend a couple quarts of Gatorade. For one thing, I know my throat was *parched* by the end of the 900, and it's *much* easier to keep up a grueling pace when you're hydrated. Dehydration will knock you down and have you sore for days, whereas simple exertion just needs a nice (and often *large*) meal. :biggrin:

 

[mkutyna]

I'm not 100% sure of the order but it's something very similar to what I stated. There's 9 students in the class so I'm pretty sure my instructor wants all of us to do the timed stuff at the same time.

 

[fisherdvm]

I'm not 100% sure of the order but it's something very similar to what I stated. There's 9 students in the class so I'm pretty sure my instructor wants all of us to do the timed stuff at the same time.

I've heard of some people doing it all in 1 night. But if you failed one, you can keep on repeating that one task until you passed. My instructor was kind enough to split it over 3 different days. First day, I did the tow. Second day, the float and fins. And last day, the swim. I would likely have passed all 4 exams on the same day, but not with good scores. I can't see the point of doing it all in 1 day, except to prove endurance. I do not think it is a PADI requirement.

 

[mkutyna]

Yeah, my instructor told us if we don't pass the skin ditch on the first try, we have to do it correctly two times in a row. I can do it okay, I'm just getting hung up on doing it demonstration quality.

What sucks is I'm being sent to a conference for work next week and then the week after is our skills evaluation so I've got to make sure and have this down pat before I leave.

 

[ClayJar]

I can't see the point of doing it all in 1 day, except to prove endurance. I do not think it is a PADI requirement.

Ah, but it *could* be a requirement for this instructor. The listed skills (450, 900, etc) match the NAUI S&Ps, so I'm assuming it's not a PADI DM course. :biggrin:

There's 9 students in the class so I'm pretty sure my instructor wants all of us to do the timed stuff at the same time.

Wow! Nine students?!? That's quite a bit different than my LDS, but then again, Florida's quite a bit different than Baton Rouge, eh?

We began our DM course with the amazingly huge number of three hand-selected students. I was one of those invited this round, and with one dropout (due to intractable scheduling conflicts), our class is down to two. I guess we're seen more as apprentices than students.

Yeah, my instructor told us if we don't pass the skin ditch on the first try, we have to do it correctly two times in a row.

Hehe, yep, that certainly sounds like a NAUI instructor. (That would be one of those additional requirements that they're allowed to add, as long as they let you know ahead of time, hehe.)

 

[fisherdvm]

Ah, but it *could* be a requirement for this instructor.

You are going to be one mean SOB, Clayjar.

Now, if I were an instructor, I would make my DM students wear pink split fins, and matching pink snorkels.

 

[ClayJar]

You are going to be one mean SOB, ClayJar.

I wouldn't make everyone do all the skills on one night, although if someone wants to show their stuff, I wouldn't stand in the way.

It would seem reasonable, on the other hand, to say that from some date onward through the end of the course, you should be able to do the swims, and one can be pulled out at any time. They're not there just as tests to be passed, after all; they're there as benchmarks to be achieved and surpassed.

Of course, if I did that, I would also have to make the deal that if I pull one on them, *they* can pull one out for me as well. That would seem both a great incentive to keep myself in shape as well as a great motivator for them (knowing that I hold myself to the same standard).

 

[mkutyna]

My class is a university class so that's why we have so many. The BOW sections have about 140 students total and the AOW class has about 30 students.

Last semester's DM class had three students and only one was certified by the end of class and a second one only recently finished up his certification requirements so I expect that by the end of my class only 3 of the 9 students will get certified.

Oh yeah, we are NAUI.

 

[ClayJar]

My class is a university class so that's why we have so many.

Oh, cool! I'd have loved to do scuba while at LSU.

The BOW sections have about 140 students total and the AOW class has about 30 students.

Hmm... so if all 140 were in confined water at once, that would require [*checking the S&Ps*] a minimum of seven instructors and [*math*] a minimum of 14 active-status assistants to accommodate 140 students using the minimum number of instructors. Or you can trade each pair of assistants for another instructor, with the minimum number of people being 14 instructors and no assistants, which would be a mad house.

(Clearly, the S&Ps and my ChemE degree are conspiring to make me enjoy that paragraph all too much. When I start pining for the linear programming and optimization software we got to use, I certainly must be across some line somewhere. :biggrin

Last semester's DM class had three students and only one was certified by the end of class and a second one only recently finished up his certification requirements so I expect that by the end of my class only 3 of the 9 students will get certified.

Sounds like one of the Chemical/Environmental Engineering cross-listed classes we had. The first class, the lecture hall was *PACKED*, but as you were leaving, you invariably heard all the EnvE students commenting about how hard we ChemE people make our classes. By the second class, there were seats, and by the drop date, you could picnic. (*We* thought it was a rather fun class, but admittedly, we're a bit of an odd bunch.)