Thank heavens for PADI

[MikeFerrara]

Backwards swimming...

We demonstrate it to students and let them practice but some of you are right there are more important skills. I don't require that they master it in an OW class.

When does it come in handy...

The first thing that comes to mind is ascents and descents. It's a big help in staying a constant distance from your buddy as you descent or ascend.

I use a backward kick to stop. It's real handy to be able to be swimming along and stop on a dime and turn in any direction required.

I use a backward kick with one foot in order to turn.

As an instructor I can't imagine not having this tool but that's another story.

While I don't think one needs to master this in order to begin diving, I do think it's important to understand the control that you get with good technique so I think they need to see it.

 

[-hh]

MikeFerrara once bubbled...
Backwards swimming...

I suspect that this topic is really more symptomatic of a broader issue, which is namely the comfort level of novices

"Back in the old days..." basic dive training included confidence drills, such as Ditch-n-Don, Remove-&-Recover, and the NAUI Bailout.

These were eliminated under the alleged rationale that they were a "waste of precious training time", which if you read between the lines really means "...we're going to shorten the training - what can we get away with eliminating?"

The confidence drills were the casualty. The basis of the arguement was that they were contrived, and thus didn't relate to the "Real World", but the duplicity in this arguement is revealed when you examine what these drills do accomplish: they make the student experience firsthand and in real time the decision making processes of prioritized problem solving. For example, "do I resolve my flooded mask, or regain my regulator first?" With both problems simultaneously present, they need to cope with both while also deciding which is more important to resolve first within the context.

What it boils down to is that skills that help the diver actually manouver through the water with skill and confidence aren't as present in today's basic skills toolbox, and reverse finning is one of these tools. It isn't an absolute necessity for turning out a diver who's able to "survive" a dive, but it is an element that makes it a more enjoyable experience...and we need to remember that we're diving for the recreational enjoyment of the activity. As such, skills that help a novice diver become comfortable and competent in the water are a pragmatic necessity, even if its not on the same priority level as "learn enough to be safe".

When (reverse finning) does come in handy...

Underwater photography. The specialty courses touch on bouyancy control and "don't touch the reef", but not generally any other dive skills. I'll routinely invert, fin in, reverse fin out and then barrel-roll to another orientation, so as to get into best position for the shot and least obtrusive ingress/egress to the location. Forward and perfectly horizontal is the rare exception.



-hh

 

[Corregidor]

I agree, those drills were worth the effort. In my Rescue course I ditched gear/doned gear so often that it came to feel natural, second nature, methodical. I'm grateful for it.

Jim

 

[-hh]

Corregidor once bubbled...
I agree, those drills were worth the effort. In my Rescue course I ditched gear/doned gear so often that it came to feel natural, second nature, methodical. I'm grateful for it.

Jim

Glad to see that they didn't completely go away (BTW, did you also have Harassment Sessions?)...IMO, its a shame that they're no longer part of OW-I.


-hh

 

[Walter]

Confidence drills are still very much a part of some programs.

 

[-hh]

Walter once bubbled...
Confidence drills are still very much a part of some programs.

Of some, sure. But of PADI OW programs? Or would that be inappropriately exceeding standards?:tease:

-hh

 

[Walter]

Absence of confidence drills is a fault I find with PADI's standards.

 

[scubasean]

-hh once bubbled...


Of some, sure. But of PADI OW programs? Or would that be inappropriately exceeding standards?:tease:

-hh

I'm curious....Will someone please quote me the line(s) in the padi materials which disallows exceeding standards?

If it has already been quoted, will you please help me find it?

I'm not looking for an interpretation, but the lines right out of the instructor or other PADI materials....

 

[Walter]

I'll quote it for you tonight when I have the manual in front of me.

 

[Whirling Girl]

'Scuba Wars' made me more comfortable in the water and more familiar with my gear. And it's fun to steal someone's mask and take their reg and inflate their bc and unscrew their dump valve and turn off their air and loosen their yoke connector and set their tank free and steal their fins.

Only in a pool, of course.

Margaret