Rescue course ( PADI ) in SM ?

[Bubblesong]

It just makes sense to practice rescue in whatever rig your buddies and you regularly dive.
Since we dive warm and cold, but have only practiced rescue in warm gear, I would like to retake rescue skills in my local diving area. Hopefully, it won't cost the whole course expense, but I have to set it up for next summer.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

It just makes sense to practice rescue in whatever rig your buddies and you regularly dive.
Since we dive warm and cold, but have only practiced rescue in warm gear, I would like to retake rescue skills in my local diving area. Hopefully, it won't cost the whole course expense, but I have to set it up for next summer.

And what happens if you come across a diver that requires rescue and you are not familiar with his/her configuration?

 

[Aotus]

And what happens if you come across a diver that requires rescue and you are not familiar with his/her configuration?

It's not your job to know all configurations ever(IDC staff instructor, ok, it is YOUR job..). In any pre-dive check you should learn anything unfamiliar with your buddy's rig. If a DM or someone else in a supervisory capacity, you should also participate in the check if something is unfamiliar to you. If you run into a random person in trouble that isn't with your group, and they're wearing a rig with combination locks instead of buckles, pull out your trilobite and scuba-ninja the harness.


Remember kids, Rambo and Crocodile Dundee weren't scuba divers - Line cutters rock, Bowie knives stab.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

It's not your job to know all configurations ever(IDC staff instructor, ok, it is YOUR job..).

Haha! But seriously, it is MY job to teach as many configurations as possible to rescue students. I'll explain below.

In any pre-dive check you should learn anything unfamiliar with your buddy's rig. If a DM or someone else in a supervisory capacity, you should also participate in the check if something is unfamiliar to you.

Agreed.

If you run into a random person in trouble that isn't with your group, and they're wearing a rig with combination locks instead of buckles, pull out your trilobite and scuba-ninja the harness.

Remember kids, Rambo and Crocodile Dundee weren't scuba divers - Line cutters rock, Bowie knives stab.

Because BP/W are so prevalent here in the PNW, students will not get the maximum benefit from a rescue course if they do not cut BP/W off an unresponsive diver. With some inexpensive webbing, the tools for installing a rivet (and maybe sowing previously cut lines), I can give my students that actual experience.

But you've missed the panicked diver at the surface skill. What happens if they have an Aqualung i3 (The i3 Control System - Aqua Lung US - Personal Aquatic Equipment for Recreational and Professional Use) inflation system? Students are taught to look for the LPI hose coming over a panicked diver's left shoulder and inflate it.

But what does a rescuer do if one isn't there? They have to drop underwater and find it. Same with a panicked sidemount diver. Yes, rescue students need to be trained to rescue themselves and their dive buddies, but also divers that they come across. They have to evaluate the situation and how they will assist.

Cave Diver Harry in his blog talks about teaching the 3 A's (Four Keys to Teaching Real Buoyancy Control). I believe conducting a rescue course with introducing students to these alternate configurations contributes to their awareness, ability to anticipate, and to take the correct action. I'm just about that action boss.

 

[Aotus]

All good points, with one note: in SM, in all the configurations I can think of anyway, the inflator is/should be about at mid-upper chest level, in contrast to the i3 down at mid-low belly on one side.... That little elevator lever gizmo looks like it should have a bright red handle, and I can imagine that could be an issue finding or even recognizing it.

 

[gfaith]

I say we ban the aqualung i3

Back to reality <pop> I think this is a great discussion on Rescue Course and different configurations. Of course, SM divers never have problems and never need rescue.. Oops lost my touch on reality again

The post did make me go look at the I3 to see how in the heck you would orally inflate so all is good.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Of course, SM divers never have problems and never need rescue...

Indeed, that was my first thought. Don't we hear again and again how someone adopted SM because he was attracted to the idea of enhanced ability to self-rescue, the redundancy, etc.? I sort of think of PADI Rescue as being aimed at your average single-tank recreational diver. If PADI Rescue is amenable to SM, then why not backmount doubles?

 

[Bubblesong]

And what happens if you come across a diver that requires rescue and you are not familiar with his/her configuration?

Interesting question for a rescue diver boarding a cattle boat with many other divers just met that morning. Do a pre-check with everybody else on the boat?

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Interesting question for a rescue diver boarding a cattle boat with many other divers just met that morning. Do a pre-check with everybody else on the boat?

No, you get an instructor who trains you for different configurations so you can think if you ever are faced with such an emergency.

You can come across a diver from another boat btw in many places, so doing a pre-check with everybody on the boat (ridiculous) doesn't cut it.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Indeed, that was my first thought. Don't we hear again and again how someone adopted SM because he was attracted to the idea of enhanced ability to self-rescue, the redundancy, etc.? I sort of think of PADI Rescue as being aimed at your average single-tank recreational diver. If PADI Rescue is amenable to SM, then why not backmount doubles?

AFAIK, PADI has no problem with different configurations, including backmounted doubles. While I had a conversation with one of the training consultants about the i3 and sidemount, the response was 100% supportive.

I don't see PADI rescue as being aimed that way. As an instructor, it is my job to give the best course that I can. Teaching the bare minimum is embracing mediocrity, and that doesn't interest me very much.