What one thing do you wish you'd learned in BOW?

[theskull]

The biggest oversite in my OW training was not letting us know how many local sites could be dived and who would do them with us. This greatly limited my diving for many years.

The shop was so intent on selling their tropical tours that they pretty much disuaded us from looking for nearby dive sites.

As you all now know, frequent diving can be better than any quality of instruction if you have been given the basics already.

When I am involved in classes now, I always make sure the newly certified divers know that there are many good local dive sites and that I would be happy to go diving with them just about any weekend.

theskull

 

[Albion]

FreeFloat once bubbled...


Hear, hear. And I almost believed my instructor and DM who said "If you're moving, it's because you're moving your fins every so slightly - most divers, even experienced ones, cannot keep their fins completely still"

Went to palau a few years ago and did the blue corner reef hook dive, bascially you hook your self via about 3 foot of line to the top of the dropoff, you are not going anywhere this is just holiding you in the current , but i looked down the line of divers to see most of them still fining away burning the air up

 

[NickR]

I think there's a theme emerging here...I would have to agree that buoyancy skills were just not taught properly in my BOW. I know it takes a long time to really get the hang of it, but more could have been done to teach the basics. That would at least give new divers a chance to practice effectively after the class.

I also agree with previous posts that the life saving skills are not taught enough either. When I look back on my own OW training it looks as though we only had to achieve the necessary minimum to pass, without any regard given to making us feel absolutely comfortable with those skills. I learnt while on holiday in the Bahamas and I think the resort dive school didn’t want the course to be too hard otherwise people would just go to one of the main schools on the island.

Things like breathing without a mask and mask removal and replacement were probably the things I disliked the most (taking the reg out of my mouth and replacing never bothered me that much). Luckily, I realised that I had a deficiency in my skills and I took the opportunity to practice these skills on my own in a pool and then open water. That built up my confidence and skills to the level that I thought I should have been at after the BOW.

Take it easy
Nick

 

[eod]

I miss diving theory, mostly physiology as I knew the physics already. The tables would be so much easier to use if you know where the values come from.

Then of course, bouyancy control and trim. Didn't see any of it until I took peak performance bouyancy.

 

[Snowbear]

timhernandez once bubbled...
Very frustrating to be diving with a few of your more experienced friends and watch them laugh at you while you bounce around trying to figure things out.

Did they at least offer to help you after they got done laughing?

 

[WaterDawg]

1. A demo of good bouyancy
2. That "no-stop diving" dosent mean you can ascend from 60ft to the surface in one min every dive.
3.that you shoulndt use your hands for swiming

 

[Scott M]

For my .02

The short answer: Timing of the class.

The long version:
My buddy and I did our OW class as a private class (timing issue). I can not say enough about the one on one training we received. Our instructor was very good and touched on mostly everything including bouyancy. The OW class as I understand it is a license to learn how to dive. Once certified it is up to you (and your buddy if you have one) to progress with those skills to a point that you are comfortable enough to handle situations should they arrise.

If I had to do it again I don't think I would change anything about the class other than the timing. I finished my OW this past fall and was unable to get in the water to practice the skills I was just taught. I did fine in class but now what? Am I really ready? Since I am not sure I have asked a lot of questions in this board, have read everything I can find regarding diving and have scheduled some skills/pool time with a DM to fine tune the skills I have learned. The way I see it it is now up to me to become a diver.

Scott

 

[GDI]

:doctor:
"The Art of Diving" does not end in the pool or at the dive sights. In fact it starts in the classroom usually with the statements "your taking this class does not quarantee a certification card will be issued within the basic number of hours of instruction" and "your open water certification card is the starting point of learning to dive"
I may seem harda**ed on this approach but then word of mouth is working fine for getting future students. I have taught a short term class of three days in length but my students who completed the training were bang on. I have and continue to turn away many offers to teach those three day programs I am not in favor of them, skill and theory, understanding and development needs time. If I am accused of anything it is that my classes are said to take time to complete, but thorough.
Buoyancy and trim is taught early to permit the student time to develop the skill to some degree of acceptance. I also tell my students that buoyancy, good buoyancy is the signature of a good diver. To this degree I agree that buoyancy and trim need to be at a priority in instruction.. Some of my students are better than others, and some still need work, but they are all aware of the need to keep improving.
We also need to teach students to think when they are underwater, the impact they have on the environment, the ability to respond to a problem or situation. In truth the only true emergency in diving is a OOA situation, everything else is only a inconvience.
Take the time to teach go for quality not quantity and believe it or not the quantity will come.

 

[IndigoBlue]

GDI once bubbled...
:doctor:
As a instructor I teach Bouyancy and trim during the first pool session of my classes, I have on average 3 pool sessions. Not everyone gets buoyancy or trim right away. I take them to dive sights where they can see the results of poor buoyancy, hopefully I can do this without impacting on other divers. I give them plenty of time at the end of each pool session to play. Almost always they work on buoyancy, as if it is like some sort of fustration with them. In fact when I am teaching them the skills I make sure that I am in the neutral position, not touching the bottom. I believe in setting the example. The 3rd pool session is used to fine tune their skills and get the students correctly weighted before the open water dive site. By the end of the second pool session I have the students attempt to perform all skills while in the neutral position or without stopping to fin kick. I always review each skill in each session at the start and end of each class. I also play a little game of what I call "Thinking Diver" where I introduce realistic problems to them and have them respond, hopefully correctly based on their training. Now having said all of this and perhaps blowing my own horn. I believe that my students learn all basic skills with profficiency. My intent in teaching them is to learn to scuba dive and not just a series of skills. Therefore I believe the most beneficial skill to learn, is to learn the art of diving correctly. Complete and not just one skill

I like using 3 pool sessions as well. The first is all shallow end training. The second is deep end applicaitons and tours. The third is all emergency procedures, and anything else that could go wrong on a dive. Buoyancy gets major emphasis starting in the classroom. The last thing they will each do on the 3rd pool dive is a complete rescue of a submerged diver, even though they have not yet had a CPR class yet. Hopefully this will stimulate their interest to take the CPR and rescue classes later.

For the ocean, I like 3 days of diving with 2 dives per day. For the most advanced, speedy learners in the class, I will customize their class as a combined basic OW and nitrox course, to keep them challenged and interested. For the slower students, I may sometimes assign them their own divemaster. Every dive begins with some drills and ends with a tour.

3 days / 6 dives is not the limit. No one gets a C card until they are completely comfortable in the pool and in the open water as well, with perfect buoyancy control. This usually keeps me lined up with fresh diving buddies for weeks after the regular class has ended, until everyone gets it all right.

The stated goal of the owner of the store is -0- accidents and -0- deaths. He is a great owner, and he supports the instructors by being flexible with schedules and extra training for the students.

Teaching is not rocket science, it is more like learning curve waiting to happen.

From the sound of some of the above posts, it sounds like the quick 4 dive courses are not working. But then, I never thought they would.

 

[DeepScuba]

Hmmmm, what one thing do I wish I had learned. Well, a toss up of proper trim (What a stroke I looked like (Looking back at it I mean)) OR maybe SAC rates/proper air management calcs.

I guess it's wouldn't be considered BOW if you learned everything at once though would it.