frndrfoe
Contributor
I re-certified with my kids last summer with NAUI and we did it then. My first OW cert was with YMCA in the late 70s and it was a heck of a coarse.
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I did that during NASDS certification in 1981. Six of us in class came in to the pool one day to find all our gear in pieces on the bottom. We all had to dive in and surface together with all the right gear on. At the time I had an orange/black Farallon mask so once I had that, the rest was pretty easy. Also I had just bought an At-Pac - an early weight integrated bc with a velcro jacket closure so that was pretty simple also. Not me but here's what that looked like: http://discountdivers.com/pix/seapro.at-pac.bcd.large.a.jpg
Back on topic, when I did my NAUI instructor course in 2003, the deep-end doff and don was a requirement for IDC pass. The main benefit I gained from it was the understanding that, no matter how pear-shaped things get underwater, priority one is to get breathable gas in your mouth. After that there is no rush, sort the problems out and think.
Not sure if this is the correct forum or not.
A friend in her 60s got certified through NAUI in the early 1970s. She said the following was part of the class:
You went down to the deep end of the pool, took all your scuba gear off, and swam back to the surface. You then swam back down, put all your gear back on, and then back to the surface.
She was surprised that wasn't part of the SDI OW class I'm in the midst of (check out dives in about three weeks). I asked my instructors about it today. They said it's not done anymore as students died while doing it. Any clue when that skill was dropped? I was just curious. The thought scared the heck out of me!