Advise on Rescue Diver course

[Welshman]

pay attention to the Instructors and ask whatever questions you feel are relevant - don't worry if they turn out to be a non issue. Better that you get things absolutely clear now. Other than that enjoy it. It's a really good course.

Regards

 

[bwerb]

I'm getting really excited about this. It does however seem a little bit like the fraternity initiation thing...you don't exactly know what's coming but keep waiting for the hammer to fall.

Dives will be done around Vancouver (mid 40's water temp). Visibility should be somewhere between 8' and 40' depending on plankton activity.

The one thing which I find a real challenge about diving in the Pacific Northwest is all the weight you have to carry up and down trails to the water. With a drysuit on, I need 35# to get bouyant. This is going to be real fun!

 

[Butch103]

I recieved my Rescue training this past summer and it certainly was the best course yet. It really challanged your diving skills. It also gives you a little more confidence and awareness of your surroundings. :boom: :boom: :saver:

 

[Arnaud]

How physical is the Rescue course? I really want to do it for all the good reasons you guys have listed. I'm a good swimmer, not a great swimmer, and by no means an athlete.

I remember a bad episode during my OW when we did the tired diver drill. I had to drag my instructor back to the boat in the ocean after a 45 minute dive and against a current. I ended up being the one who was really tired, ran out of breath and had to be dragged back to the boat... Not a glorious episode. Since then, I got better fins, but still...

What's your experience in taking the course?

 

[DiverBuoy]

And to think there were 24 people on that other thread ... that voted you don't have to know how to swim to dive

- forget passing the rescue class.

 

[Arnaud]

Hey, relax!

1. The incident I related happened 3 years ago.
2. Since then, I've gotten my AOW, several specialties, been diving 3 to 4 times a day whenever I could, and done a number of beach diving in Malibu, swimming against the swell in cold water, with a steel tank and 29 lbs on my belt. If I weren't a swimmer at all, I'd probably be staying home, watching TV, instead. Yet, I haven't read anywhere in Padi's stuff that you had to pass the lifeguard swimming test to become a diver.
3. As far as I understand it, Search and Rescue is a non-professional certification. It's not a credential to go out and save the world. It should make your diving better and safer, but it doesn't rise to the level of a DM or an Instructor where you are truly in charge of others.
4. One of the basic PADI principles for rec diving is to dive with a buddy who has a comparable level of experience, unless the buddy is a professional diver. The other basic principle is to dive within your own limits. As an example, if someone can't swim, it's probably not a good idea to go off shore diving, whether or not the ocean is rough.
5. I find it interesting that PADI has way less accidents than, say CMAS, yet does not require quite as much physically. Probably something to do with decompression diving being far more dangerous than not being a great swimmer.
6. When I posted my message, I was asking for others to relate their experience. Not for an expedited judgment on what I should do or not do. The latter I will reserve for my instructor who happens to be a Padi Course Director.
7. I don't think that calling board members idiots will make anyone improve their diving. Did you say you were an instructor?

 

[DiverBuoy]

Arnaud once bubbled...
Hey, relax!

1. The incident I related happened 3 years ago.
2. Since then, I've gotten my AOW, several specialties, been diving 3 to 4 times a day whenever I could, and done a number of beach diving in Malibu, swimming against the swell in cold water, with a steel tank and 29 lbs on my belt. If I weren't a swimmer at all, I'd probably be staying home, watching TV, instead. Yet, I haven't read anywhere in Padi's stuff that you had to pass the lifeguard swimming test to become a diver.
3. As far as I understand it, Search and Rescue is a non-professional certification. It's not a credential to go out and save the world. It should make your diving better and safer, but it doesn't rise to the level of a DM or an Instructor where you are truly in charge of others.
4. One of the basic PADI principles for rec diving is to dive with a buddy who has a comparable level of experience, unless the buddy is a professional diver. The other basic principle is to dive within your own limits. As an example, if someone can't swim, it's probably not a good idea to go off shore diving, whether or not the ocean is rough.
5. I find it interesting that PADI has way less accidents than, say CMAS, yet does not require quite as much physically. Probably something to do with decompression diving being far more dangerous than not being a great swimmer.
6. When I posted my message, I was asking for others to relate their experience. Not for an expedited judgment on what I should do or not do. The latter I will reserve for my instructor who happens to be a Padi Course Director.
7. I don't think that calling board members idiots will make anyone improve their diving. Did you say you were an instructor?

Yes. I am an instructor. I choose my words carefully. I can't post what I really think about the people defending those positions on diving without knowing how to swim. I think they got backed into a corner and are defending a false premise. I call them as I see them.

Back to you. I'm glad to see you've gained so much experience. I'm glad you are comfortable in the water and I'm sure you will gain valuable self-rescue skills and learn to an even greater degree the value of being a good swimmer in your rescue class. I'm sure you'll get the best if your CD friend is teaching it.

GOOD SWIMMER is GOOD ENOUGH.
BAD SWIMMER or NON-SWIMMER IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH.

 

[Arnaud]

Thank you!