I failed the pool test!

[highdesert]

The OP's original "instructor" was not just stupid, he was downright dangerous. In 53F water, there is a fair chance that he would have to be scraping someone off the bottom of the pool and giving them mouth to mouth. This guy should lose his instructor's cert, and right now.

 

[oly5050user]

Seems to me that if the water temperature you read at the bank was 53 degrees it was most likely the area ocean water,not an indoor pool.
We have an indoor pool and keep the temp at 80. When conducting the first module in the pool during an ow class if the students have a wet suit they are free to use it.If not they go in bathing suits.
Well after completing that first module any students that did not have a wet suit usually buy one for module 2.
Being cold is not only uncomfortable but unsafe.There would be very little information retained while going hypothermic.

 

[Kingpatzer]

Frankly, if you know the pool water was 53* and are not guessing at that or extrapolating in some way, I strongly urge you to report this instructor to PADI, demand an immediate refund, and find another instructor.

 

[DivingPrincessE]

Seems to me that if the water temperature you read at the bank was 53 degrees it was most likely the area ocean water,not an indoor pool.
We have an indoor pool and keep the temp at 80. When conducting the first module in the pool during an ow class if the students have a wet suit they are free to use it.If not they go in bathing suits.
Well after completing that first module any students that did not have a wet suit usually buy one for module 2.
Being cold is not only uncomfortable but unsafe.There would be very little information retained while going hypothermic.

Hmm, making students by a wetsuit for open water...glad I didn't do my cert through your shop. Most of the shops around here provide free rental gear (including wetsuit) for students going the o/w cert.

 

[oly5050user]

Hmm, making students by a wetsuit for open water...glad I didn't do my cert through your shop. Most of the shops around here provide free rental gear (including wetsuit) for students going the o/w cert.

I see your facility charges about $200. more for a ow course than we do,also much less pool time is involved as well as classroom time. Though It does include training dives ,is cost to student less if they take a referral? If $200. less with referral then we are close to the same price. We are in NYC area and costs are higher here than where you are.
I did not "make them buy" suits..As I said water temp is 80, and can do pool work in bathing suits..most of our customers plan a trip to islands soon after course and would need suit anyway..they choose to buy one for the comfort.
A 3mm suit costs anywhere from $80./$170..relatively inexpensive option.Remember diving is a equipment intensive activity and does require investments in time and equipment to enjoy. We supply tanks,regulators,bcd's at the pool .Also all the time they need to feel comfortable in water they want.
Teaching to dive is a business and thereby has to be ran like one.If we supply 3mmm suits for pool use the costs for a class would have to go up accordingly for all,even for ones who have their own suit.Suits do not last very long and would need to be replaced every year for pool use.So the fees for a course would have to go up another $25. to $40.
Have to stay competitive with other facilities in area ,and they do not supply suits either or charge more for a course than we do.

 

[TwistedGray]

Water Temps: We all had a computer with us that read out the water temps. Everyone was around 51-53. It was 51 in the bottom of the deep end. That's how I figured out how cold the water was, not by some random guess or assumption.

Rental Gear: We thought, Boss thought, that we had all the gear we needed here and wouldn't have to rent anything. Although we have about 4-5 wet suits and 1 dry suit, none fit myself of the other guy who was using our stuff. We have a few tanks, and fins, and various other small stuff, but not nearly enough to piece together a full equipment set. Needless to say, we had to rent the gear: $175 between the two of us. However, the rental originally was from yesterday until the end of Jan. Now we get to keep everything until we are "done" with our tests.

 

[Spearo]

Get in warm pool and do it again and again till you get it right, this time without the idiot, then go and find another instructor and "nail it"!".

Best of luck to ya!

 

[DivingPrincessE]

Water Temps: We all had a computer with us that read out the water temps. Everyone was around 51-53. It was 51 in the bottom of the deep end. That's how I figured out how cold the water was, not by some random guess or assumption.

Rental Gear: We thought, Boss thought, that we had all the gear we needed here and wouldn't have to rent anything. Although we have about 4-5 wet suits and 1 dry suit, none fit myself of the other guy who was using our stuff. We have a few tanks, and fins, and various other small stuff, but not nearly enough to piece together a full equipment set. Needless to say, we had to rent the gear: $175 between the two of us. However, the rental originally was from yesterday until the end of Jan. Now we get to keep everything until we are "done" with our tests.

Free class or not, this instructor sounds like a moron. Everyone should have a complete set of gear that they try on before the class. You should not be expected to do the class in these conditions. If you stay with this guy out of some twisted obligation to your boss or friend, you will probably regret it. The instructor obviously doesn't care about your safety or you actually learning to dive. Learning to dive (for free or not) is worthless if you don't learn the proper techniques and safety information that you should be learning in an open water course. If he is going to cram all this into one pool dive and a couple of open water dives, you are not going to know what you NEED to know to be able to dive on your own without killing yourself. Do youself a favor, find a new instructor...

 

[jd950]

None of this makes any sense. Four laps with snorkel is not the swim test (assuming a normal 25 yd pool). A mixture of wetsuits and one dry suit? Too weird. Who was learning the dry suit? A "few" tanks and fins, but not enough? Who rented the stuff? Didin't you ask to rent a set of gear, that would, theoretically cause a reasonalbe shop to rent you what you need. I assume you read the manual before the pool sessions. That should have given you a clear understanidng of what gear you needed and an understanding of hypothermia.

A real instructor expects you to swim 200 yards and do a 10 minute tread in 53' water for OW certification, despite your lack of experience (not that experience actually matters, that is just stupid). Sure, you can wear a computer in an OW course, but all of you had computers, to swim in a pool? Even though you did not have adequate basic gear? This is just too bizarre.

You are then doing mask clearing and other skills without having done swim and tread, or more accurately, having failed at it? I guess in a wetsuit? I thought they didn't fit? Or were you doing the mask clearing, reg exchange and other skills while still too cold to even swim in the pool? And then you are supposed to take off the wetsuit and do the swim, after the other skills? You haven't ever snorkeled and have not been been swimming at all in 5-6 years but you are going to jump in a very cold pool and swim 200 yards, or snorkel 300? Assuming you are not just making this stuff up as a joke, this is absurdity and I would dump the whole thing. Are you sure this guy was an instructor? Go find an real instructor and legit operation, or scrap the plan.

Or, if it is a joke. It isn't a very good one.

 

[Gombessa]

53 degrees is just stupid. That's exactly what the water temperature was in Monterey this weekend, and I didn't see a single person there who wasn't wearing a drysuit or a full 7mm + hood. Well, there was one instructor in the water without a hood on, and we all looked at the guy and said "Damn, he's hard core."