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

[waterwraith]

torbaydiver once bubbled...
Help to do a direct dissent and assent safely into deeper water!
All our training was done walking into and out of the sea from the beach .
The location of quick dumps on the BCD-didn't even realise they existed
how to cope with a stuck inflator !

How to deal with a stuck inflator was not covered in my BOW. When I had a stuck inflator on my first checkout dive I had to learn quick.

Practice turning a tank on and off in the water should also be an integral part of any BOW, unfortunately it is rarely covered.

My biggest pet peeve though, has got to be proper weighting for different situations. When I did my check out dives in a 5mm suit I knew the proper amount of weight to use, but when I switched to a 7mm FJ I had no clue on how much weight to add.

My current LDS has always been able to tell me approximately how much weight to wear with different suits. They are usually accurate to within a couple of pounds. So if they can judge that accurately then this skill can be taught to others.

 

[torbaydiver]

waterwraith once bubbled...


How to deal with a stuck inflator was not covered in my BOW. When I had a stuck inflator on my first checkout dive I had to learn quick.

Practice turning a tank on and off in the water should also be an integral part of any BOW, unfortunately it is rarely covered.

My biggest pet peeve though, has got to be proper weighting for different situations. When I did my check out dives in a 5mm suit I knew the proper amount of weight to use, but when I switched to a 7mm FJ I had no clue on how much weight to add.

My current LDS has always been able to tell me approximately how much weight to wear with different suits. They are usually accurate to within a couple of pounds. So if they can judge that accurately then this skill can be taught to others.

Yes I also had a stuck inflator on I believe my second dive, luckily it happened on my buddy checks, but it didn't exactly inspire my confidence with the hired equipment

 

[fgray1]

Was don't use rental equiptment.
Tanks OK
Fins OK
Wet suit (SO SO)
But Regulator and BCD I don't think so.
Fred

 

[MikeFerrara]

I have seen it happen a lot. Once I was teaching an OW class at Gilboa. We were inbetween dives when a diver suffered a rapid ascent due to a stuck inflator. After the ambulance passed and all the comotion settled my students started asking how to handle a stuck inflator.

The funny part is that learning to disconnect the inflator hose in a simulated stuck inflator excersize is a PADI requirement in confined water and my students had all done it. They just didn't remember. I think one remember doing something like that.

Just one of the many things that got me thinking about what's required to get students to a level where emergency management skills will actually work.

 

[zboss]

dealing with currents and wave action. One of the biggest surpises I got after starting open water diving in the ocean was the difference the water action can have on booyancy and effort. I was thinking that if we were to spend a day completing our pool work in a wave pool (we have a small regional water sports club with a wave pool for surfing, et. al.) to simulate the movement of water, etc. It would go a long way of simulating what happens in open water. I think the doff/don and mask removal, tired-diver etc. drills would benefit from a more challenging pool environment. Also- simulating acent and safety stop without a mask in this environment. Completing the open-water in a quarry simply didn't prepare me for some of the more challanging open water environments.

 

[Cave Diver]

MikeFerrara once bubbled...
The funny part is that learning to disconnect the inflator hose in a simulated stuck inflator excersize is a PADI requirement in confined water and my students had all done it. They just didn't remember. I think one remember doing something like that.

Yes it is a requirement. Maybe the problem is that the instructors (not saying you Mike) don't explain to the student the reason for the exercise. Rather, they just demonstrate it and expect the student to repeat it.

I personally find that I perform exercises much better when I can associate them to a scenario where I might need them.

 

[cliffdiver]

MikeFerrara once bubbled...

The funny part is that learning to disconnect the inflator hose in a simulated stuck inflator excersize is a PADI requirement in confined water and my students had all done it. They just didn't remember. I think one remember doing something like that.

Aw jeez! This is ugly! All this about stuck inflators, and it being a PADI requirement... and I sure wasn't ever required to perform any inflator-related exercises (except checking it out during your basic "BWRAF"), let alone handle a stuck one underwater.

Does this mean my BOW instructors ought be handed their heads??

 

[Cave Diver]

cliffdiver once bubbled...


Aw jeez! This is ugly! All this about stuck inflators, and it being a PADI requirement... and I sure wasn't ever required to perform any inflator-related exercises (except checking it out during your basic "BWRAF"), let alone handle a stuck one underwater.

Does this mean my BOW instructors ought be handed their heads??

That might be one solution.

Seriously tho, this is one of the reasons that I started this thread. There are a lot of deficiencies in BOW training and most of us here recognize that.

However, not everyone can put their finger on what was left out.

So by having everyone list skills that they wish they had learned, or learned better, it allows all of us to examine what we were taught and whether we feel we are up to par on that particular skill.

I'll have to say that I received pretty good training. While I didnt have perfect trim and bouyancy, I was shown what they looked like and given some direction on how to achieve it. I was also taught streamlining and to be aware of not dragging consoles or kicking up the bottom.

One thing that wasnt elaborated on was how much your gear placement (tank,weights, etc.) can affect your trim but this was a rather minor issue for me.

 

[hydroslyder]

I had the huge advantage of during my advanced cert. being able to dive one on two just me and two very advanced instructors, they were both serious cave divers, and amazingly padi instructors aswell. I learn very visually and learned alot just diving with these two instructors, and imitating things they did.

Things I think should be added to the OW course would be, bouyancy control, I pretty much taught myself this, and still dont have it exactly where I want it.
Proper weighting, It seems to me that Padi instructors give enough weight to sink the biggest of people, and some of the smaller guys go out empty their BC, and sink way to fast.
My third thing would have to be handeling emergencys, instructors should make this a very important part of the course, like just in the middle of something turn off a valve, or strip off a mask, or pull a reg. I think if there was a day of this type of training, there would be alot fewer diving accidents, and many more safe divers out there.

 

[theskull]

Hey Hydroslyder,

How can you highly praise the 2 PADI instructors who proved excellent models for you and at the same time broadly misaglign PADI isntructors in general as overweighting students.

Most of the accomplished cave divers and instructors I hang with are also PADI instructors--very good ones. And they're people. All PADI instructors are people, therefore most are average instructors and some are poor at it.

In all cases, though, if you ever get the chance to work with a couple OW classes, you will see how terribly frustrating it is to deal with an underweighted (or even perfectly weighted) student. They just flail on the surface and say "I can't get down" while kicking and refusing to exhale to get negative. Far easier, and better instruction to put extra weight on the first dive and then pare it off them as they gain confidence and relax more.

theskull