Why do so many poorly skilled divers...

[MXGratefulDiver]

want to be DM's?

OK, this is a negative post by definition given the title but it's something I run across everyday. There are exceptions of course but for the most part the worse divers I know all seem to be DM's or working on their DM certs. I don't get it.

I'm not talking about experienced divers with good skills who decide to become DM's for whatever reason. I'm talking about newer divers or experienced divers who don't have great skills. They all seem to want to be DM's. When they become a DM they have even less chance to dive and gain experience because they are now helping with a class every weekend.

There are many DM's who silt up the place when they dive, can't navigate or put their fins on without help, can't plan a dive in current and don't dive much other than to help with a class. I'm not talking about warm water destination DM's. I'm talking about non-professional local DM's. If these kinds of divers are role models to newer divers no wonder so many divers think being vertical is the norm and silting is no big deal.

It's great that so many people have the desire to teach and to help new students. It would be even better if they had to be good divers first before they could become a DM.

I went diving with 2 DM's the other night. One didn't signal when he decided to turn the dive at 100 fsw and race suddenly up the slope to 20 fsw and the other one got out of the water with 200 psi. I went diving with another DM who couldn't put on her own fins and self-admittedly couldn't navigate. All three of these divers rarely dive at the many great dive sites available in our area. When they do dive it's at the same place over and over.

I helped an instructor with a DM candidate where he had to lead a dive with "problem students". I was to be such a student and was to make his life a little harder but before I had a chance he silted the place up so badly that none of us could even see him as he "lead" the dive.

I guess it's not important that I figure this one out but I don't get it. Why are so many poor divers so enchanted by the DM cert?

Because dive shops talk them into signing up for the classes before they're barely out of OW ... giving them the sales pitch about how "you'd make a great DM".

I can think of a couple of shops in our area that really push DM classes ... starting at the OW level. They crank out DM's like so many sausages ... and most of them end up with cert cards, but no real skills. They go from class to class to class with no actual diving experience ... and at 60 dives, their instructor signs their DM card.

Locally, this is a subject that kind've makes me mad. At a certain level, I'd like to see all the shops in our area do well ... but not at the expense of pushing poorly trained divers through programs with little or no time in between classes to actually learn how to dive. Especially not DM programs ... which are supposed to be about leadership. How the hell can you be a leader when you have no actual experience with what you're supposed to be leading?

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[gcbryan]

I think one of the biggest surprises for a newer diver after getting a little experience is that the divers they look up to are no longer DM's and instructors but rather certain experienced divers in the community. That's not to say that there aren't experienced DM's and instructors that are role models as well. Most newer divers however always assume that someone who is an instructor or DM is a great diver to be emulated and that is frequently not the case. Many instructors that I know never dive (don't have the time or the interest) outside of class and therefore are better at teaching than diving.

 

[Ontwreckdiver]

I agee that 20 dives is not even close to being enough to start the DM program. I think the minimum number of dives should be at least a 100. There was no way my skills were good enough to demonstrate to anyone at 20 dives. I was thinking the same way about the rescue course. 2 ladies came into the LDS while I was there, and said they were rescue certified but only had been certified for 1 year and only had about 20 dives each. Everything is nice and controlled during the class, but in the real world someone with 20 dives is going to most likely panic.

 

[gcbryan]

Because dive shops talk them into signing up for the classes before they're barely out of OW ... giving them the sales pitch about how "you'd make a great DM".

I can think of a couple of shops in our area that really push DM classes ... starting at the OW level. They crank out DM's like so many sausages ... and most of them end up with cert cards, but no real skills. They go from class to class to class with no actual diving experience ... and at 60 dives, their instructor signs their DM card.

Locally, this is a subject that kind've makes me mad. At a certain level, I'd like to see all the shops in our area do well ... but not at the expense of pushing poorly trained divers through programs with little or no time in between classes to actually learn how to dive. Especially not DM programs ... which are supposed to be about leadership. How the hell can you be a leader when you have no actual experience with what you're supposed to be leading?

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Yeah, it does seem to really be a problem around here. Most of those that I'm referring to don't even want to be instructors so it's not an issue of trying to move up the professional ladder too soon. It seems to be those who really aren't into actually diving all that much but rather like the social status of being a DM (is their any?) and helping out with a couple of classes where they will be viewed as more experienced than they are. They rarely have time for actual dives because all their time is spent around the fringes of diving without actually doing a lot of diving.

I know some people who volunteer at the Aquarium(diving in 20 feet of water),work 4 hours a week at a dive shop just to be around diving, help out with classes every now and then in 30 feet of water, join a dive club but never go on club dives. As I said earlier, I don't get it.

 

[rjack321]

I dunno Gray but it seems that the DM-cert has some sort of mystical status, at least here in the PNW.

I just wish those who are interested would just get out and become model divers before seeking the card supposedly demonstrating their 'leadership' status at 50 dives (or whatever the requirement is). Many of them need serious help to dive at some of our most basic shore dive sites.

I don't have a DM cert BTW. Between my BP, wing, waist (and crotch) straps over the weight belt, long hose, bungied backup, lack of snorkel, gauge mode dive plans, and everything else I'm pretty sure I'm disqualified. :d

 

[24940]

Between my BP, wing, waist (and crotch) straps over the weight belt, long hose, bungied backup, lack of snorkel, gauge mode dive plans, and everything else I'm pretty sure I'm disqualified. :d

As long as you have cash, there is a DM program waiting for you. It does suck when the DM candidates look more squared away than the DM Instructor, though.

 

[rjack321]

Many instructors that I know never dive (don't have the time or the interest) outside of class and therefore are better at teaching than diving.

Although there are worse things...
Like a rediculously obsese local DSAT deep and trimix instructor certifying people to 300ft who doesn't (and shouldn't) actually do those dives.

 

[rjack321]

I know some people who volunteer at the Aquarium(diving in 20 feet of water),work 4 hours a week at a dive shop just to be around diving

I actually discussed this with my aquarium buddy yesterday. He logs his dome dives, I don't bother. 20ft (max if you lie on the bottom) on surface supply with "current" supplied by a few jets doesn't count.

 

[El Cid]

It seems like half the DM's around here are too bothered by the fact that they should, oh I don't know, lead divers along a cool reef as opposed to just log some bubble time. Case in point, last weekend my roommate was working two dives as part of his adventure diver cert. His instructor and the DM for the trip spotted a bimini top on the bottom and tried to recover it. They probably spent 10 minutes on a drift dive working on this while everyone else had to fin into the current to wait on them.

I was happy to notice that with my whopping one whole search and recovery dive from my advanced cert dives, I spotted a number of things they were doing wrong. On the first attempt, a string broke and the top started to come down on the other divers! (Note to self: tie the lift bag to the most structural piece of the object....like the aluminum frame, not the strings holding the top on!) and on their second attempt at shooting it to the surface, it was lost again at sea.(Nuther note to self: SLOWLY accompany the object to the surface, burping air from your BC and lift bag along the way.)

At least they got to log their two dive day and move on to whatever their next goal is.

This has been another Deep Thought from Jack Handey........

 

[Stu S.]

If you can't dive, you fail the test, right? Can't swim those laps? The instructor sends you home, as you are not good enough to be a diver. That was considered a good thing, when I learned the sport.

I suppose 30 years later, nobody much fails. That requires a new category called dive master to be an aid to those that need it. Many are excellent, but you guys are saying that some of them maybe should have.... failed.

Scuba is something that if you can't get it right, you should fail. This is not tiddlywinks.

Trouble is, you can't sell stuff to the person you failed and sent home.