We might stop diving

[Diver0001]

I watched as he described the process to her. She asked, "So do I blow in or suck out?" He explained it to her patiently.

sounds like a natural blonde.

R..

 

[bowlofpetunias]

Ok I confess I am a natural blonde:doh: I do remember clearly the free flow reg exercise, gear on and off surface and bottom in the pool and ocean, mask clearing, mask taken away thrown in the water.. go find it exercise. CESA horizontal in pool and from bottom in ocean with the instructor beside me.... reg in for safety but we had to make an audible noise without interruption so he could tell we weren't cheating or holding our breath. Compass exercises. Oral inflation at the surface fin pivots but only with power inflate. I can not for the life of me remember oral inflate underwater! I do think I would remember that one because in all honesty that one would have been pretty scarey for me at that stage!

I think my instructor was pretty through, took us to some more challenging sites than most of the other instructors did to make sure we got the most out of it. He said some of those sites were not much different from the conditions in a swimming pool and not adequate practice. I remember the conditions blew up and I was on the surface trying to get back into my gear bobbing around thinking I would be there forever! I have a fused wrist which made it more difficult. He said being able to do the exercises in the pool was only so you knew how to approach them in the ocean. He stressed that he felt students needed to be able to do the skills in challenging conditions to give them the best chance to be safe in a real emergency.

I teach various levels of First Aid for a living from Industrial/Occupational/advanced life support on down. I remember 13 or so years ago when I first started teaching here full time I was teaching a "Re-certification course". I was watching the students and thinking "I wonder what idiot gave these people a certificate in the first place". Then a year or so later I was teaching a course and realized "I'm the idiot who gave them their last certificate". Lesson learned you can only teach and assess them on the skills they master at the time of training. You can do your best to present it so they can retain it but you can not control what they retain long term. Some may have wind up with medical issues that effect their memory, some may decide they know better.. some may just go have a cup of coffee and wash everything out of their brain

Back on topic.. It is up to all of us to do what we can to maintain the appropriate skill level to dive safely. It is vital that we are honest with ourselves about our ability to do any given dive. If you think you may not be ready for the next dive..."Don't Dive!" There are many ways to live and to die.. Diving does not have to be the one you chose for either! Choose wisely!

 

[boulderjohn]

Years ago I was highly involved in school reform, and I made many presentations while working half time for the school district as a staff trainer. The rest of the time I was working for the same district as a teacher. My main goal was to get the teachers to understand that it was more important to have them learn to focus on teaching students to think about and use information rather than to simply memorize information. One day in spring I was preaching that message on a staff development day, and I was getting a lot of resistance from my school's history department, which firmly believed that memorization of facts was the be all and end all of education. The example they used over and over and over and over and over again was that students needed to know the key details in the Dredd Scott case, a critical moment in the history related to slavery and the Civil War.

A few months later it was the first day of school for a new year, and I was teaching Advanced Placement English to high school seniors, all of whom were the top level students in the school, all of whom had just finished taking American History from teachers who firmly believed that students had to memorize the details of the Dredd Scott case to be successful. I started the school year with a simple one question quiz: "Tell me what you know about the Dredd Scott case." Not a single student--not one--had any idea what I was talking about.

Think of that the next time you run into a diver who does not appear to know some detail of the OW class.

 

[TMHeimer]

I don't actually recall whether I had to orally inflate for fin pivot (2005) or not. But I'm sure I did, as the 8 instructors I have assisted at the same shop always cover this.

Memorizing: Is good. Of course you have to understand what you are memorizing! I have all sorts of lists. Also routines and a lot of OCS.....so I've been told ... and I agree with her.....

 

[bowlofpetunias]

That hits on a very important part. I keep telling my students and the other trainers I train...the certificate should not be their primary goal. They need to understand what they need to do and WHY they need to do it. If they understand the basic process and Why we do it.. they have a better chance of remembering what to do.. even if they don't remember the steps there is a good chance they will be able to to work their way through what to do. In both diving and first aid.. foundation knowledge, staying calm and acting out of a knowledge base are important. Time is a factor so practice to maintain skill sets is vital.

 

[brnt999]

I mean this respectfully:

More people die in car accidents in one day in the US than die while diving in a year.

Will you stop traveling by car?

I read these comparisons all the time and to my thinking they are fundementally wrong. They are comparing apples to oranges. More people die in car accidents in one day in the US than die while diving in a year. Well more people take driving trips in one day than divers in the US do dives in one year. A dive is comparable to a driving trip--a drive to work, or a drive to the grocery store.

 

[StefinSB]

Hi John, I really appreciate that you try to tell everybody that they don't remember their OW class but I too never did the oral inflate before the pin pivot excercise but rather used the power inflate. The cesa was also, as people mentioned before, horizontal and not vertical for "safety" according to my Padi instructor. My buddy took his OW with SSI a few month ago and reported exactly the same. So maybe this is written different in the instructor manuals but obviously not followed for whatever reason.

Years ago I was highly involved in school reform, and I made many presentations while working half time for the school district as a staff trainer. The rest of the time I was working for the same district as a teacher. My main goal was to get the teachers to understand that it was more important to have them learn to focus on teaching students to think about and use information rather than to simply memorize information. One day in spring I was preaching that message on a staff development day, and I was getting a lot of resistance from my school's history department, which firmly believed that memorization of facts was the be all and end all of education. The example they used over and over and over and over and over again was that students needed to know the key details in the Dredd Scott case, a critical moment in the history related to slavery and the Civil War.

A few months later it was the first day of school for a new year, and I was teaching Advanced Placement English to high school seniors, all of whom were the top level students in the school, all of whom had just finished taking American History from teachers who firmly believed that students had to memorize the details of the Dredd Scott case to be successful. I started the school year with a simple one question quiz: "Tell me what you know about the Dredd Scott case." Not a single student--not one--had any idea what I was talking about.

Think of that the next time you run into a diver who does not appear to know some detail of the OW class.

 

[Drewpy]

Bill I can't answer the question either, but I can relate to your training issues.I was certified in 89 and I have not moved past the OW/Nitrox training because I have not been able to find a local (BA) instructor that I feel would actually teach me something. I don't want the PADI pick 5 BS, and after talking to many ppl here I find shops lacking that? I have done deep, boat, wreck, night, etc and dive a drysuit and have probably 300 dives both cold and warm, and don't think that would make me a better diver. I did take a discover DIR class many years ago and enjoyed it, but it seemed a little hard core and I was not willing to switch out most of my gear. I wish I could find a competent instructor like Bob or Jim to further my education.
Maybe Bob wants a paid vacation to Monterey to cert me in AOW..

We are lucky to live in a place that has such great diving! The conditions can be hit or miss, but I'm sure you have had some epic experiences in Monterey/Carmel. Think of what great dives and adventures you will miss out on if you bail. If conditions suck, Monterey is not a bad place to be.
But then again..if that fear is in your head, It will not be enjoyable. Diving was a lifelong dream fulfilled after living and snorkeling in the Carribean as a small kid, and one I wont give up easily.

Best of luck whatever you both decide to do.

Drew

 

[vladimir]

I read these comparisons all the time and to my thinking they are fundementally wrong. They are comparing apples to oranges. More people die in car accidents in one day in the US than die while diving in a year. Well more people take driving trips in one day than divers in the US do dives in one year. A dive is comparable to a driving trip--a drive to work, or a drive to the grocery store.

If you click on the link in my post above (the first of three above), it will acquaint you with the micromort (1-in-a-million chance of dying). It will allow you to make apples-to-apples comparisons between a scuba dive, a hundred-mile drive, and an administration of general anesthesia, for example.

 

[flots am]

If you click on the link in my post above (the first of three above), it will acquaint you with the micromort (1-in-a-million chance of dying). It will allow you to make apples-to-apples comparisons between a scuba dive, a hundred-mile drive, and an administration of general anesthesia, for example.

It actually won't, since there are no statistics on the number of dives done per year or the number of active divers or the types of dives they do.

flots