Question Tech Diving Habits for Open Water Students

[wetb4igetinthewater]

I don't know about you guys, but I think the previous statements (which I won't repeat as I'm jetlagged) should be taught regardless if the person is going tech long term or if they just want to look at pretty fish following a dive guide once a year on vacation.

 

[hawaiian.hokie]

Most importantly, they are people, and underwater essentially alone, so promote they let go of your apron
dive under into that big bad underwater place able to use their brain independently to better effectiveness

I've noticed a lot of freshly certified open water divers here in Hawaii are "nervous" to go find new buddies and go diving, and I think some of it is a lack of confidence to dive without the instructor there.

I try to promote this by having my students "lead" Open Water Dive 4. I give them a dive planning slate and have them go over the dive plan, and then verbally walk me through how we are going to do the dive (and safety considerations). I try to give them a few hypothetical problems to verbally work through as well (things like: what should we do if halfway through the dive, I start to struggle to keep my mask clear?)

It does seem to help their confidence levels post-certification

 

[hawaiian.hokie]

While these are good skills, techniques, and knowledge to introduce and emphasize, instructors are not permitted to create their own standards. For evaluation and certification, we may only apply agency standards.

You are 100% right, instructors cannot create their own standards. But I'm not looking to create new standards to evaluate and test them on.

My instructors only tested me on open water criteria. But a lot of the good habits they reinforced stuck with me throughout my diving career. That's really all I'm looking for - good habits to teach and model to students. Nothing that I would test or fail them on

 

[Feye]

IMHO, "Basic Buoyancy".

1. Adjust weight and empty BC when safety stop
2. Trim position
3. "Take off" instead of fin pivoting, if possible.
4. Streamline, even if they wear "rec" system. (clip octopus and console, arrange end of weigh belt, and so on)

 

[Seaweed Doc]

I've noticed a lot of freshly certified open water divers here in Hawaii are "nervous" to go find new buddies and go diving, and I think some of it is a lack of confidence to dive without the instructor there.

I try to promote this by having my students "lead" Open Water Dive 4. I give them a dive planning slate and have them go over the dive plan, and then verbally walk me through how we are going to do the dive (and safety considerations). I try to give them a few hypothetical problems to verbally work through as well (things like: what should we do if halfway through the dive, I start to struggle to keep my mask clear?)

It does seem to help their confidence levels post-certification

I do something similar: On OW 4, I tell students they're leading the dive. Pretend I'm not present. I'll position above and behind them and only intervene if something looks dangerous or they're headed the wrong way and it's going to make the dive either riskier or just unnecessarily less pleasant. (Most often they're close on their compass bearing back to the exit, but I might re-direct a bit to make sure.)

To the OP's excellent points:
- A greater reliance on frog kicks, helicopter kicks, and finning backward
There's little real instruction any kind of kicking, unless a student is doing it really badly. I'd like to see a standard that at least SOME kicking is taught formally. I do know some instructors emphasize frog kicks, others don't. I'm getting to a point that when I encounter somebody with a lousy flutter kick that I tell them to frog kick instead when under water. It's weird: Apparently in some cultural contexts breaststroke is the primary swimming method taught, rather than crawl. It always surprised me when somebody comes in with a great breaststroke kick and a lousy flutter.

- Nothing ever dangles (SPGs, secondary reg, etc). Everything is always streamlined and ideally clipped with a bolt snap
Not necessarily the bolt snap, but the "no danglies" is a PADI standard. (Not to say you haven't seen an instructor with students in tow with lots of danglies; that would be a violation.) The kit must be streamlined.

- Always attach bolt snaps using cave line or a zip tie (something that can be cut)
This presumes everybody has boltsnaps. I love 'em, but I'm not sure I'd mandate that particular method of attachment across the board.

- If you're diving a new gear setup, spend the first few minutes of the dive practicing deploying your secondary breathing source to help build some muscle memory
Good point, but most OW students aren't diving multiple different setups. Not a standard, but I emphasize that when diving with a new buddy you both go over how you handle shared air, where your weight is located, and how to release it quickly.

- If you loose a reg and can't find it on the first sweep, go to your secondary. Don't keep doing the same motion hoping for a new result.
The PADI curriculum mentions this, and I repeat it. When I teach, I tell them I'll let them try 2 sweeps and then I'm shoving my secondary in their mouth if they haven't gotten either of their own second stages.

 

[Polarorbit]

You are 100% right, instructors cannot create their own standards. But I'm not looking to create new standards to evaluate and test them on.

My instructors only tested me on open water criteria. But a lot of the good habits they reinforced stuck with me throughout my diving career. That's really all I'm looking for - good habits to teach and model to students. Nothing that I would test or fail them on

I don’t disagree. As I said, good things to teach, you just can’t make them a requirement.

 

[Polarorbit]

Cross over to a different agency. Every agency I'm an instructor with allows me to teach beyond their minimum standards and requires me to use the "loved one" concept as the final say on whether or not a person earns their certification.

I have instructed with more than one major agency. I’m not saying they have the standards perfect, just that you can’t change ad hoc.

I do in fact teach many of the things people mentioned here. For example, my students practice both primary and alternate regulator donation. They also see me use a long hose configuration. However, I cannot require them to use a long hose, for example.

 

[Polarorbit]

Which points mentioned would break the standards of your agency? Are you really saying that you're not "allowed" to go beyond the minimum required by your agency? That sounds very sad, and possibly a cop out...

A couple that a recall from the thread are backwards finning and deploying a SMB below the surface. Neither are part of the OW diver standards for PADI or SSI.

 

[arkstorm]

A couple that a recall from the thread are backwards finning and deploying a SMB below the surface. Neither are part of the OW diver standards for PADI or SSI.

While they might be useful skills, I wouldn't categorize backwards finning and dsmb deployment as "tech diving habits"

Do you mean to tell me that if you advised your students to utilize the primary donate configuration with the longer hose 2nd stage as their primary and the shorter hose 2nd stage worn on a necklace, that would violate your training agency's standards?!?

 

[Polarorbit]

Do you mean to tell me that if you advised your students to utilize the primary donate configuration with the longer hose 2nd stage as their primary and the shorter hose 2nd stage worn on a necklace, that would violate your training agency's standards?!?

Is that what I said? No it is not.