DenverCoJeff
Guest
Hello Friends and Fellow Divers,
I don't know about the rest of you, but as someone who recently completed the Stress & Rescue course, I found myself wondering why it wasn't before the Advanced Open Water course.
My instructor who has been an active rescue diver in our chilly Colorado waters for 20 years was incredible. Remember hearing about the television helicopter that crashed in a reservoir here many years ago? He was one of the folks who recovered it.
Back to the point.... I love diving. I love the SSI certification. It has been a challenging combination of coursework, pool work, and open water work. I was fortunate to have instructors who practiced the Socratic method of teaching instead of the old dogmatic lecture style. While I was taking the Stress course, I found myself thinking how much I would have benefitted from this knowledge and awareness when I was taking my AOW. I brought up this point with my instructor and he shared that he thought the exact same thing. It seems that the paradigm has been one of each course in a certain order all the way to instructor and beyond.
Admittedly, it is not for everyone, nor should anyone HAVE to take the course, but it seems such a given. After practicing finding an unconscious diver on the bottom, rescuing a struggling or drowning diver, and the fine line between buddy-assist and buddy-rescue, I feel significantly more confident as a diver.
Again, I present this viewpoint as someone who loves learning and plans on becoming an instructor. My instructor shared that the diving industry has been so accustomed to the old paradigm of a certain class in a certain order that it is difficult to change. But the recognition is out there and it is slowly changing now. SSI does not require that you take AOW before Stress, but it can be an instructor call depending upon the diver.
Let the lively discussion begin!
I'd love to hear from anyone in the industry (especially cruise folks - who have to appreciate all the training that a passenger/diver can have).
Jeff
I don't know about the rest of you, but as someone who recently completed the Stress & Rescue course, I found myself wondering why it wasn't before the Advanced Open Water course.
My instructor who has been an active rescue diver in our chilly Colorado waters for 20 years was incredible. Remember hearing about the television helicopter that crashed in a reservoir here many years ago? He was one of the folks who recovered it.
Back to the point.... I love diving. I love the SSI certification. It has been a challenging combination of coursework, pool work, and open water work. I was fortunate to have instructors who practiced the Socratic method of teaching instead of the old dogmatic lecture style. While I was taking the Stress course, I found myself thinking how much I would have benefitted from this knowledge and awareness when I was taking my AOW. I brought up this point with my instructor and he shared that he thought the exact same thing. It seems that the paradigm has been one of each course in a certain order all the way to instructor and beyond.
Admittedly, it is not for everyone, nor should anyone HAVE to take the course, but it seems such a given. After practicing finding an unconscious diver on the bottom, rescuing a struggling or drowning diver, and the fine line between buddy-assist and buddy-rescue, I feel significantly more confident as a diver.
Again, I present this viewpoint as someone who loves learning and plans on becoming an instructor. My instructor shared that the diving industry has been so accustomed to the old paradigm of a certain class in a certain order that it is difficult to change. But the recognition is out there and it is slowly changing now. SSI does not require that you take AOW before Stress, but it can be an instructor call depending upon the diver.
Let the lively discussion begin!
I'd love to hear from anyone in the industry (especially cruise folks - who have to appreciate all the training that a passenger/diver can have).
Jeff