Diver Training: Kick-up the intensity, or not?

[ScubaSteve]

So, $350 + 2 extra dives (excluding membership since it would more than offset the air IMO) if you choose. I personally think I would have paid that (not much more than I paid for mine as it is) to get a better training experience. I feel that my OW certification was lacking.....or could have included more I suppose. We covered everything but it was to minimums.....they did not strive to put out excellent divers. They strived to put out "Capable" divers as quickly as possible.

I do believe your course is over the top but a middle ground would produce a pretty good diver IMO.

 

[DCBC]

Doff and don with a blackout mask? I'm assuming you do this as a controlled stressor, but I don't think the average recreational diver needs to be trained to that level of stress management. Similarly with the station breathing, and the gear removal to pass through a small hoop. Good heavens, you'd think you were training Full Cave divers!

The blackout drill and station breathing is used to develop confidence and to increase awareness (of the gas requirements of others and their equipment). The hoops check buoyancy and the small hoop is for situational awareness (present a situation in-which the diver has to solve a problem). This is done at the end of the program and is seem as a lot of fun by the students.

What a diver needs to know has been a debated issue by people involved in diver training. What is and is not needed? Personally, I don't feel that this program is a requirement for the majority of divers. For those in good physical condition, interested in a challenge, or desiring to make diving a career a course like this will prepare them in a way that other training isn't likely to do.

 

[Peter Guy]

If a similar program were available in your area, would you be interested in taking your training up a notch?

No. Nor do I believe it would be "taking [my] training up a notch."

If someone were to be interested in taking the class you outlined for the purposes of becoming a recreational diver, I would strongly advise against it. My Full Cave instructor in Mexico, who is a contract instructor for Mexican military divers, and I had a long discussion of this type of training -- a type that he fully embraced. Fully embraced until he realized it wasn't as effective as the type of training he does now which is the antithesis of this.

 

[PeterNBiddle]

You're basically describing Cross Fit or MMA except for SCUBA. Overkill for many but it's not meant for many. I'd do it.

I'd especially like a way to drill skills in a safe environment with added stressors (time, task loading, sense dep) regularly. This is the equivalent of open mat time for Jits schools. I'd do that (and pay for it) here in Seattle.

 

[Abdullah]

Not again.

I did most of that when I learned to dive 30 years ago from an ex army special ops diver. There was no chamber ride, but the conditioning, drown proofing, and in water exercises were very similar. There were a lot more dives to do than yours, as we did the rescue and deco training dives after the OW skills were mastered. It took most of a summer for me to finish it after work or on weekends and cost as much as my car.

It's all good training for an 18 year old on summer break, but I wouldn't have the time to do it all in one big slug like that today. And, if you're going to go to that level, the student should emerge with more than an OW certificate that is worth the same as the 3 day class at the resort hotel.

Now if you used this as the basic training for your OW instructor candidates, you might be on to something.

 

[DCBC]

...You have established a market presence whereas divers coming to you are indeed going the commercial route, etc. Under those circumstances it makes more sense to me. Besides, if almost everyone is passing anyway, the requirements are more of an obstacle than test and evaluation.

As you well know, all diving education involves test and evaluation. Training courses are designed to pass not fail. Some just require more effort than others.

Have you done any research on the topic of giving people too much information for the relevant task?

I've done research in the field of task loading and using various breathing mixtures at depth (when I was at DCIEM). Many of drills (blackout, station breathing, buddy breathing, harassment, etc.) included in this program were included in the LAC and NAUI Standards of the 60's, 70's and early 80's. I don't believe that if you examine the statistics, that you'll find that the task loading was so excessive that people couldn't complete the program.

---------- Post added May 10th, 2013 at 03:05 PM ----------

So, $350 + 2 extra dives (excluding membership since it would more than offset the air IMO) if you choose. I personally think I would have paid that (not much more than I paid for mine as it is) to get a better training experience. I feel that my OW certification was lacking.....or could have included more I suppose. We covered everything but it was to minimums.....they did not strive to put out excellent divers. They strived to put out "Capable" divers as quickly as possible.

I do believe your course is over the top but a middle ground would produce a pretty good diver IMO.

Thanks Steve, I use to run this program in Mississauga, almost your home turf! Thanks for your comments.

 

[Searcaigh]

Water temperature can be below 32 degrees F.

Really, that is intense, I know that salt water freezes around 28F however unless I had signed up to try out ice diving .... not what I would call fun.

 

[DCBC]

...Overkill for many but it's not meant for many. I'd do it.

Thanks Peter. You've hit the nail on the head: "it's not meant for many." I think that point has been missed. Anything outside of the minimum Agency requirements are often thought of as excessive. It's just another type of program; overkill for many, but not for some.

---------- Post added May 10th, 2013 at 03:20 PM ----------

Really, that is intense, I know that salt water freezes around 28F however unless I had signed up to try out ice diving .... not what I would call fun.

I think that we have a 78 degree F (26C) difference in water temperature between Dubai and Halifax today. That's really something!

 

[cb5150]

When I was younger and looking for a challenge, H-E-Double Hockey Sticks YES!

Now that I'm older and wiser, I want my water to be calm, clear, warm, relatively shallow and and full of colorful fish and coral. I like to go nice and slow and want an ice cold Dos Equis waiting for me back on land...so, H-E-Double Hockey Sticks NO!

 

[HIGHwing]

I've done research in the field of task loading and using various breathing mixtures at depth (when I was at DCIEM). Many of drills (blackout, station breathing, buddy breathing, harassment, etc.) included in this program were included in the LAC and NAUI Standards of the 60's, 70's and early 80's. I don't believe that if you examine the statistics, that you'll find that the task loading was so excessive that people couldn't complete the program.

I'm not asking for a body count, I'm treating the overall training program as a learning opportunity. In your estimation, do you think by adding [excessive] stress you're improving someone's ability to complete the learning process?