The Perfect OW class...

[Amanda]

Hi

Just imagine you can create an OW class. What would you add ? What would you suppress?

My personal views on that are :

- Before introducing the BCD, try to get the student feel his/her OWN buoyancy... Like in the bottom of a swimming pool, with a tank and regulator only, working on the lungs volume.

- A few rescue notions. I consider it stupid that you don't even learn how to properly place a unconcious diver if an accident happens...

- A bit of u/w respect... can't do any harm when you see OW students walking on corals

- Proper ascent is definitely something I would add too.

Any thoughts ?

 

[Walter]

WOW, this will be a HOT topic with lots of disagreements.

I start with the 300 yd swim, 50 ft underwater swim and 15 minute float (broken into 5 min treading, 5 min drown proofing and 5 min floating). After we complete the swim test, I work with only the snorkel (plain J, no purges or extra unnecessary features) in the shallow end of the pool. Student learns to breathe with just a snorkel (face in the water), to blast it clear, to breathe through it partially flooded and to retrieve it from the pool bottom. Next we put the snorkels away and pick up masks. Students learn to clear a partially flooded mask, slowing increasing the amount of flooding until they can comfortably clear a fully flooded mask on one breath. Next we recover our masks from the pool bottom and clear them. When all students are comfortable with this level, we flood and clear the mask three times on one breath (I demo six times). Next, we put the snorkel on the mask and recover the pair from the pool bottom. Students can easily drop down, put on the mask, clear it, come up and leaving their faces in the water blast the snorkel clear.

We finish the first pool session learning how to use fins. Starting with cramp removal (buddy & self) and moving into different kicking techniques (flutter, frog, scissor, dolphin and sculling). That usually is all we have time for in the first pool session. The second session will finish anything we didn't complete and the concentrate on skin diving techniques.

 

[kjunheart]

Walter once bubbled...
WOW, this will be a HOT topic with lots of disagreements.

I start with the 300 yd swim, 50 ft underwater swim and 15 minute float (broken into 5 min treading, 5 min drown proofing and 5 min floating). After we complete the swim test, I work with only the snorkel (plain J, no purges or extra unnecessary features) in the shallow end of the pool. Student learns to breathe with just a snorkel (face in the water), to blast it clear, to breathe through it partially flooded and to retrieve it from the pool bottom. Next we put the snorkels away and pick up masks. Students learn to clear a partially flooded mask, slowing increasing the amount of flooding until they can comfortably clear a fully flooded mask on one breath. Next we recover our masks from the pool bottom and clear them. When all students are comfortable with this level, we flood and clear the mask three times on one breath (I demo six times). Next, we put the snorkel on the mask and recover the pair from the pool bottom. Students can easily drop down, put on the mask, clear it, come up and leaving their faces in the water blast the snorkel clear.

We finish the first pool session learning how to use fins. Starting with cramp removal (buddy & self) and moving into different kicking techniques (flutter, frog, scissor, dolphin and sculling). That usually is all we have time for in the first pool session. The second session will finish anything we didn't complete and the concentrate on skin diving techniques.

Walter, I wish I had gotten my OW from you!

My opinion with limited experience:

Amanda, I can't begin tell you how much I wasn't taught during my open water. I told my story on a different thread...I knew nothing when I went out on my first dive out of class. My dive buddy was the one who brought me up to where I needed to be. And my AOW instructor worked with me also to make up for the things I didn't do in OW. Basics like saving your buddy.

My experience is it is all in the instructor. Unfortunately you have good instructors and bad instructors. They can follow the same curriculum but not teach the same thing. If you care about the diver you put out there and for their safety, then you should do o.k. The fact that you are asking & looking for input shows that you want to give the most to your students.

If I were to choose the things that I missed out on (understand that there was a lot)...the most important to me was clearing my mask and feeling comfortable with breathing without panicking/holding your breath while you have no mask. Second would be buddy techniques. Yes, I learned how share air, etc. But my OW never went over basics on how to handle a panicked, out of air, or unconscious diver. Third is ascending. He never explained what to look for, tips on how you know you are going to fast, etc. he just had me follow him. I didn't know any better at the time. Thankfully I had a great dive buddy and a patient AOW instructor.

 

[PaulB]

My OW class incorperated pretty much everything that you have said....except for how to handel an unconcious diver...that probably would of been good.
I think they should have spent more time on bouyancy control. Sure we did the fin pivot, we spent time on the u/w platform and did stuff there...but all in all I don't think any of us had even average control of our bouyancy. I spent a lot of time working on it after my classes were over. If they spent more time on that...I don't think the destruction of coral would happen as much.

 

[ibnygator]

PaulB once bubbled...
I think they should have spent more time on bouyancy control. Sure we did the fin pivot, we spent time on the u/w platform and did stuff there...but all in all I don't think any of us had even average control of our bouyancy.

I agree with the comments about more emphasis on how to deal with a diver in distress u/w. We did the buddy breathing drills, but not with a person who was panicked or not cooperating. I believe that this could be easily simulated by an instructor.

I'm not sure how much more could be done on bouyancy in the OW class. I really think that only experience can get you to learn to control your bouyancy. You've got to dive, dive dive...

 

[jimisurf]

Bouyancy, bouyancy bouyancy and Safety safety safety!!

 

[Amphibious]

Amanda once bubbled...
Hi

Just imagine you can create an OW class. What would you add ? What would you suppress?

My personal views on that are :

- Before introducing the BCD, try to get the student feel his/her OWN buoyancy... Like in the bottom of a swimming pool, with a tank and regulator only, working on the lungs volume.

- A few rescue notions. I consider it stupid that you don't even learn how to properly place a unconcious diver if an accident happens...

- A bit of u/w respect... can't do any harm when you see OW students walking on corals

- Proper ascent is definitely something I would add too.

Any thoughts ?

Just a few thouhts.

Lung controled bouyancy with a newbie is just asking for a Lung Over-Presure Injury. Would never go near that in a basic class. can promote holding and skip breathing.

the rest? All of those are standard topics/lectures in ALL basic classes I've worked with/taught. Maybe not all Associations?

just strikes me as odd....

Willer

 

[Pez de Diablo]

Lawman/Jep, look out there is a new Troll lurking about!! Amanda what can of worms are you trying to open (colloquial English - can of worms= s**t disturber)

I think the PADI OW course covers everything, it was perfect. I was totally prepared for every situation that I have encountered since being certified.

 

[DiverBuoy]

Amphibious you've got to be kidding me. Breath control isn't stressed enough - it is one of if not the most powerful tool in a scuba diver's arsenol. Where in the world is your evidence, no where is your logic, that proper education on lung control causes lung-overpressure injury or results in a diver skip breathing? That's outrageous. I say this - diver's who walk out of a basic scuba course without this knowledge shouldn't dive. They should attempt to get their money back or take a class that will teach them proper lung control.

Back to the topic, I think we should spend less time stressing OOA scenarios, and managing OOA. Don't anyone quote me later as saying NO OOA SKILLS. A diver can be preparred for worse-case scenario and practice managing this but in far less time. It seems like too many of the skills and practice time are dedicated to teaching divers that it's ok to fail, it's ok to run out of air. Instead we should be spending more (read: way more) time working on air management, airway control, and breathing techniques, relaxing, and control. Air skills better emphasized would permeate almost 1/3 of what is learned in OW. Work a system to reward students who check their gauges every few minutes. One respected instructor friend of mine says he lays down the smack. If a student ever comes up from a dive with less than 500psi (in otherwords they didn't signal low on air and terminate the dive for the entire class like he instructed them to do well in advance) he tells them their diving is done for the day, makes them take a makeup dive later, and they have to pay him to do the makeup. Wow! He's only had to do this once he said - they must really get the message!

 

[MikeFerrara]

There was a pretty good thread on this a while back
Design your own OW class

The basics are the most important...
Buoyancy control including the mechanics of trim and Team diving skills. Generally neither are taught.

Most classes consist of learning to breath underwater in the pool and following the instructor around in OW. It's a joke that divers have to take a DIRF to learn anything about diving. Why do you think divers are so amazed when they see basic skills demonstrated in a DIRF class?