trolling. Or, applying new knowledge

[OneBrightGator]

That's a carbon copy my PADI IDC, my Course Director whopped my arse six ways to Sunday.

My divemaster class was tough too, learning to control yourself (doing skills) is one thing, learning how to manage other people is a much wilder beast.

 

[TX101]

I can't answer for PADI...

However, for the NAUI Instructor Training Course

Demonstration Quality Skills are required before the ITC.
Rigorous aquatics skills test (timed, etc)
Accurate and extensive knowledge of diving academics are also tested.

But you learn...

How to teach (few really know how)
How to manage students in and out of the water
How to manage (reduce) risk to yourself as well as your students
How to manage problems, issues and accidents

It was the only class that has ever humiliated me. Only those who have not attempted it will ever trivialise it.

I wasn't trivialising it. Although if you believe some of the comments on here about instructors sometimes, I find it hard to believe it's a great course.. but in my post above I certainly wasn't taking that stance.

However, you proved my point. There is no new dive skills introduced with the instructors course. The main part of it seems to be managing other people and assuming that the hypothetical rescue diver in my original example isn't teaching an OW class, I believe my point is still valid.

btw, thanks for working on the upgrade for us Netdoc. I appreciate it, honest!

 

[The Chairman]

The new "skills" are in teaching and managing divers. Again, while that might not seem like much, it's incredibly important to the safety of the student, both during and following the class. You should have all the skills MASTERED by this point. Imparting knowledge should not be a haphazard process, it is indeed a science and that's why the class is so stinking hard.

 

[Nomaster]

I was having a problem with this thread and didn't know what it was until NetDoc said something about people wanting to obtain permission to go beyond their training and skills. That was it.
I was feeling uncomfortable about casual readers who might believe that ScubaBoard veterans were advocating something that no one here was, taking unnecessary risks.
Others were talking about trust; but before trust in others we must learn trust in ourselves, if a casual reader were looking for permission to do something silly, they might not have built the skills to determine who was qualified to give advice and what advice was worth taking.
None of us can control what this hypothetical not-too-careful reader might read into or do with what they think they read on a thread such as this, we can only hope that they continue to read long enough to realize how serious the discussion is.
This is one of the areas I see a real need for the professional instructor, the need to assess the students maturity to move on to the next step. A "good" mentor or a "good" instructor can do this, but my fear is that the casual reader might skim read and not develop the consciousness to make these observations.
This letter might best join the many I've deleted before posting, but this is a "What if" kind of thread, and I'm interested in what kinds of thoughts my concerns bring to the folks who are engaged in this discussion.

Tom

 

[miketsp]

Well simply from an insurance perspective - if you want to still be insured, you should never exceed your qualification. But at the extreme end of the scale, what happens when you want to dive OC beyond 100m? because that's the deepest qualification you can get.

..snip..

Where did you get this information about dive insurance not being valid beyond your qualification?
I thought it was strange when I read it and today I was at a nautical fair and I took the opportunity to talk to the DAN representatives.
They told me this was BS and they had never heard of a claim not being paid for this reason.
Just to check we sat down together and read all the documentation and policies carefully.
On their unlimited depth policy it's exactly what it says - unlimited.
The only condition is that the insurer has to be satisfied it's not a suicide attempt.
In fact nowhere does it say you even have to be certified at any depth.

 

[TX101]

Where did you get this information about dive insurance not being valid beyond your qualification?
I thought it was strange when I read it and today I was at a nautical fair and I took the opportunity to talk to the DAN representatives.
They told me this was BS and they had never heard of a claim not being paid for this reason.
Just to check we sat down together and read all the documentation and policies carefully.
On their unlimited depth policy it's exactly what it says - unlimited.
The only condition is that the insurer has to be satisfied it's not a suicide attempt.
In fact nowhere does it say you even have to be certified at any depth.

Well, there are more insurance companies in the world that provide dive insurance than just DAN.

However, to be honest I've never read it on the DAN policy - I've just been told about it by the DM/instructors on boats in both the Red Sea and Menorca. They could have been talking about their policy, rather than any personal policy.

Also, I don't pretend to be any authority on anything regarding diving - see my .sig