The Philosophy of Diver Training

[Walter]

True ... but tropical diving usually means better conditions, less gear, and DM's to plan and supervise your dive (OK, not for YOU ... but the majority of tropical divers).

Conditions are often less than perfect in tropical locations. The only reason DMs often plan and supervise dives in the tropics is because so many divers started showing up with inadequate training.

Another fact is that the majority of dive training isn't about how to dive when everything goes right ... it's about what to do when something goes wrong.

Exactly! or how to prevent things from going wrong.

 

[boulderjohn]

Well, I was off line for weekend while I was busy bringing a class of students to the precipice of death. Hopefully they will pull off a miracle and survive their first dives. I see that things have continued in a stall pattern in this pattern, so I will join some of my other colleagues and big you all adieu.

 

[DCBC]

Or maybe they have a fear to over come or maybe they are having trouble learning one of those skills. Everything is easy once you've learned it.

Or they dive in a less than ideal location that doesn't allow the diver to paddle around like they were in a wading pool... Divers everywhere may find themselves in need of rescue; accidents happen and it's best to be prepared for the conditions.

 

[DCBC]

Well, I was off line for weekend while I was busy bringing a class of students to the precipice of death. Hopefully they will pull off a miracle and survive their first dives. I see that things have continued in a stall pattern in this pattern, so I will join some of my other colleagues and big you all adieu.

Since you appear to think it's required, I'll be praying for them. :wavey:

 

[Thalassamania]

Diving is a walk in the park ... with an atmosphere that you can't breathe. It's easy, and relatively risk free as long as nothing goes wrong, and if your properly prepared even then it's easy and relatively risk free. The amount of preparation required goes (I'd estimate) exponentially with the severity of the conditions, thus it is not unreasonable to throw on a tank and go in a pool with little more than an admonition to not hold your breath, whereas that would be scant preparation for diving on the Northern California coast.

 

[TechBlue]

and the congregation said "Amen!"

It ain't rocket science after all!

It's like flogging a dead horse, keep up the good work.

 

[The Chairman]

That is the problem, you don't even try and percieve that your students may experience anything out of the ordinary so of course you can just wave a wand and say "don't hold your breath and here is your C card, don't forget to sign up for your next module so that we can start to teach you about all the bad things that might might happen" But oh no, you can't say "bad or death" in a class can you? Because it might scare the students and stop them from diving??

Actually, you don't know how or what I teach my students. You surmise that because I do it differently that somehow it is inferior. Such is the Luddite POV. Technology makes my job easier, the academics more thorough and with the end result of having a very focused and capable student.

As an instructor, my focus is on efficient, applicable training which eschews the macho mentality in favor of an intelligent approach to problem solving. Some just don't get it, and their training is demonstrative of that. I am not restrained from saying "bad" or "death" in any of my classes, but I surely don't keep preaching Dying and Brimstone with every other breath! But then, I get the idea that the point of some instructors here is NOT to learn or improve, but to show the rest of us that our students will surely die.

 

[TechBlue]

Actually, you don't know how or what I teach my students. You surmise that because I do it differently that somehow it is inferior. Such is the Luddite POV. Technology makes my job easier, the academics more thorough and with the end result of having a very focused and capable student.

As an instructor, my focus is on efficient, applicable training which eschews the macho mentality in favor of an intelligent approach to problem solving. Some just don't get it, and their training is demonstrative of that. I am not restrained from saying "bad" or "death" in any of my classes, but I surely don't keep preaching Dying and Brimstone with every other breath! But then, I get the idea that the point of some instructors here is NOT to learn or improve, but to show the rest of us that our students will surely die.

Actually I pulled my post because I thought it was inappropriate and I knew it would just escalate the babble.

But in answer to your rebuttle, with the whittled down classes that your agency offers to allow the modular teaching that you seem so fond of. If a student should choose not to follow the modular route and take the training he was given in OW as sufficient for his needs ad finitum I don't care how intelligent or gentle your approach may be they are not prepared to go out and dive independantly but they are not aware of that fact, and that makes them a danger to themselves and whomever they may be diving with.

You are quite a drama queen and keep on referring to "eternal classes and macho mentality" The Hellfire and Brimstone is another over reaction.

My direction is provide better training for OW, don't add watered down courses for the "occasional diver" maintain a high standard and give the students a better start and knowledge, rather than pushing continuing education down their throat train them and give them enough information so they know why they should continue rather than just going after the "patches" and c cards.

 

[duskdiver]

Techblue..crossover?

Actually I pulled my post because I thought it was inappropriate and I knew it would just escalate the babble.

But in answer to your rebuttle, with the whittled down classes that your agency offers to allow the modular teaching that you seem so fond of. If a student should choose not to follow the modular route and take the training he was given in OW as sufficient for his needs ad finitum I don't care how intelligent or gentle your approach may be they are not prepared to go out and dive independantly but they are not aware of that fact, and that makes them a danger to themselves and whomever they may be diving with.

You are quite a drama queen and keep on referring to "eternal classes and macho mentality" The Hellfire and Brimstone is another over reaction.

My direction is provide better training for OW, don't add watered down courses for the "occasional diver" maintain a high standard and give the students a better start and knowledge, rather than pushing continuing education down their throat train them and give them enough information so they know why they should continue rather than just going after the "patches" and c cards.

 

[Guy Alcala]

Diving is a walk in the park ... with an atmosphere that you can't breathe. It's easy, and relatively risk free as long as nothing goes wrong, and if your properly prepared even then it's easy and relatively risk free. The amount of preparation required goes (I'd estimate) exponentially with the severity of the conditions, thus it is not unreasonable to throw on a tank and go in a pool with little more than an admonition to not hold your breath, whereas that would be scant preparation for diving on the Northern California coast.

Amen to that. I've encountered more than a few divers who got certified in vacation destinations who most definitely were incapable of having any fun in Monterey, even in relatively benign (local) conditions.

The first was when I had about 45 dives, and was asked by someone if they could buddy with me at the Breakwater. I said sure (I'd be a lot more selective now), asked about his experience (referral cert. in Aruba, just a few dives occasionally since then, no limited vis, cold, or rough water experience except for a single dive along the breakwater wall earlier that day, so at least he'd done a shore entry and exit). To his credit he knew he needed to go out with someone local. I decided to take him out along the Big Pipe to the metridium fields, assuming he didn't hoover air so that we could get that far.

I asked the guy to bring his gear over, and he did a few minutes later. Apparently he'd never done anything other than boat diving, because his gear was covered with sand from his earlier exit (6" spilling surf) which had knocked him down so he'd crawled out, and the deflator button on his corrugated hose was jammed open. I suggested that sand and valves weren't a good combination, and took him over to the shower at the top of the stairs to rinse as much of the sand off as possible.

We got the deflator button unjammed, and I inspected the rest of his gear. For some reason the guy was wearing a 7mm two piece with a hooded vest under that, plus a separate hood on top of the attached one. I asked him if he really needed all that insulation and didn't it constrict his movements (I was wearing a 7/5 1-Pc and dry suit hood), but apparently he was worried about being cold so thought he'd err on the safe side.

He'd apparently also never been taught, or had forgotten how, to do a weight check, because he seemed to be wearing far too much weight for his size (even with all that neoprene), which didn't help him move. If I'd been more experienced myself at that point I would have declined to dive with him until he got rid of some weight and neoprene, but since I'd only recently gotten my own weight down to a minimum and trim dialed in, I let it go.

So we walked down to the other end of the beach, with the guy already having problems due to overheating and being overweighted (he also wasn't in the greatest shape), and we had to take a break for several minutes while he got his wind back. We had about 1' spilling breakers at that end on a flat beach, no problem at all for anyone who was a decent swimmer or who'd ever been in surf before. You could just walk out through them, turning sideways on and letting the wave lift you up and set you down, then put your fins on beyond the breaker line.

This was beyond him. He got out to the breaker line, saw the first wave coming, and froze facing it. Naturally the wave hit him dead on, which knocked him off his feet, and that stressed him even more. I tried to get him to walk through the breaker line to the calm water just beyond it, but he couldn't/wouldn't move. He kept trying to get his fins on, but owing to his incipient panic and the constriction on his movement from all that neoprene, along with the waves constantly breaking on him, he couldn't do it, so I had to put his fins on for him then half drag him through the breaker line.

So we're outside the breaker line, I'm thinking 'what the hell's the problem?', and the poor guy is hyperventilating from all the exertion he's been going through. We stood out there for several minutes while his breathing rate dropped back towards normal. He still had the 'deer caught in the headlights' look, and given his time in the surf zone and all the churned up sand in the water there, I suggested another buddy check. Good thing too, because his deflator button was jammed open again, and I decided enough was enough.

Now all I had to do was get the guy back to the beach. That 50 feet took us about 5 minutes as he got knocked down in the process. He was unable to get up by himself so I tried helping him get back on his feet, but it was like lifting dead weight as he had no energy left. So he started crawling out, but stopped half in and half out of the water. I'm standing there next to him trying to get him to either drop his weights or else crawl further so he's completely out of the water, but he's too exhausted to take in what I'm saying so just sits there getting hit by surf every few seconds. Clearly he's beyond helping himself, so I get the weights off him and then, because he still hasn't moved, his fins, then haul him to his feet and get him above the surf line. I'm doing this still wearing all my own gear.

After making sure he's okay and capable of getting his stuff off the beach, I headed back out and had a very pleasant solo dive in moderate conditions.

I've seen plenty like that since, although I won't buddy with them unless I'm in a patient, instructional mood. I think there's plenty of blame to go around for that situation. First, me for a lack of imagination. At the time, it hadn't occurred to me that everyone didn't get certified in conditions like ours, and I just assumed that any certified diver was competent to deal with the 'easy' conditions.

Second, the guy's poor watermanship and physical condition, which caused him to use far more energy than he need have, stressed him out mentally, and left him with no stamina to deal with extra exertion. And third, the training he'd received before certification, which left him woefully unprepared to dive by himself or as a competent buddy, even though he was a certified Open Water Diver. What a waste of the guy's time and money.

Guy