Diving Classes Then and Now

[TMHeimer]

I love these threads because there is so much opinion and so few facts.

Has the general OW course been "watered down" over the past couple of decades? I don't know -- I wasn't diving 20 years ago.

BUT, I was diving 45+ years ago when I took OW as a freshman in college -- 1966 and got my cert in 1967. Has the class changed? You bet. There are, to me, two big changes -- the first is that in 1966 we spent a fair amount of time skin diving BEFORE blowing bubbles. The second change is that our gear was so "primitive" compared to what we have now -- BCDs, Computers (hell, gauges), Alternate Air Sources, Dry Suits, even small things like SMBs and decent lights.

It is a fact that, during my 1966 class, I had to walk in the snow, uphill both ways (really, honestly) to get to and from my OW class but that was the only harassment. Otherwise what we learned in the classroom doesn't come close to what people are supposed to be taught today. The in-water skills -- honestly, I don't recall them as being any more onerous or comprehensive than what we learn today. We may well have done the "raise the body from the bottom" or a ditch and don but I am not at all convinced doing those at the OW level is important -- actually I am convinced they are not important.

A member of SB who is an educational expert, often discusses educational theory and the concepts of need to know vs. nice to know (my words, not his). I agree with him that the training of a scuba diver should be concentrated on what is needed to be known to be a safe, competent diver and the modern teaching methods seem to do this as long as the instructor is capable of doing it (and I will not get into that can of worms).

From most of the posts I read here, it would seem your 1966 class was quite a bit different from the norm. I also get the idea that there was less of a "norm" back then as well.

 

[RJP]

So, the main difference is what you came out with after OW training. I came out of my LA County Basic Scuba Diver course with the skills to be an independent diver under the usual conditions in Southern California, and did so. Much later, late 90s, I recertified with my son in the PADI system. Preparedness following OW certification was considerably less than my initial certification.
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As the saying goes "it's the instructor, not the agency" when it comes to this sort of thing. I never trained "back in the day" so I can't draw a specific comparison.

I did my OW with a PADI instructor in 2006. Pool/academics with four total students for three weekends in a row. Sat & Sun 10-4:30 or so. Probably somewhere around 32-36hrs by the time you trim out lunches, breaks, etc. I assumed at the time that was pretty standard and that the instruction I received was generally good/high because - having not yet discovered SB - I just figured anyone who is a scuba instructor would be a GOOD scuba instructor. (Would anything to the contrary ever occur to the average person showing up for a class?) That instructor made it clear that the goal of an OW class was to produce a diver who had the knowledge, competence, and confidence to independently plan and execute OW dives. I took him at his word.

I had no real idea what the quality of my instruction was for a while, though my first clue was that the instructor in WPB with whom I did my checkout dives (scubakevDM here on SB, who was teaching with an OP I found by complete chance in the phonebook based on where I was able to find a Marriott hotel for a free weekend stay) repeatedly asked me during the course of the weekend if I had REALLY never been diving before. He couldn't believe that my only experience/training was a standard OW pool/academic class. He specifically told me to congratulate my OW instructor for having done such a fine job in preparing a student. When he asked me how I had found such a high-quality instructor he seem surprised that it was the complete random chance mention of "there's a dive shop right down the road" by a former work colleague I hadn't seen in ten years.) The only advice that scubakevDM had for me was "I don't tell most new divers this, but you should probably get nitrox certified before going diving anywhere." At the time, I didn't understand why he wouldn't tell most new divers this... but assumed it had something to do with the fact that I finished several 30-40min dives with 1000-1200psi remaining.

Like many people, I had gotten OW certified for the occasion of an upcoming vacation. With my temp OW and EANx cards in hand (Did EANx with the same NJ instructor who did my my OW pool and academic) I called the on-site dive op at the Maui Ritz Carlton (Kapalua Dive Co) to book a dive package. Since I was the only diver in my family, I wanted to ensure I had a decent buddy (had started reading SB by then) so I asked about guided shore dives. The owner explained that I might want to consider taking AOW because although five AOW dives - three shore, two boat - did cost $50 dollars more than four guided shore dives the AOW class also included charter costs for two dives at Lanai (Cathedrals 1&2) which were really worth doing. He wasn't sure who the instructor would be. So I showed up on Maui with no more in-water experience or training than CW pool sessions and my four OW checkout dives... to meet another instructor who had a hard time believing that I was a newly certified diver. (The still-wet ink on my two temp c-cards should have been a giveaway.) This instructor (Robert Carr, if anyone knows him, say hi!) was great. After whichever knowledge reviews and instruction were needed for each session he had me plan and brief the dives. I was a pretty good diver coming into AOW, and was much better coming out. Isn't everyone? With my dive count/experience now being 125% greater than it was before starting the course, it was certainly my expectation that I would be.

A few days later we were on the Big Island where I hoped to do some diving. Arriving at the Hilton I pulled out the phone book at the hotel and booked some dives with Dive Makai - they may have had the nicest add in the phone book. Arriving at the boat I introduced myself to one of the folks from the op (who I met years later crewing on the Truk Odyssey - Todd Emmons) who was clearly a bit nervous about having a noob show up with three temporary c-cards, 9 dives in my logbook, brand new gear, and no buddy. I vaguely recall there being discussion about who from the op was going to keep a close eye on me and several passengers being fairly adamant that under no circumstances were they going to ruin their dives by being my buddy.

Now, I list out this detail not to brag that my innate, superhuman diving abilities enabled me to become God's gift to scuba in only 9 dives but rather to highlight two seemingly conflicting pieces of information that go right to the heart of the "training then vs now" discussion:

1. Most people - based on the reaction of three different, experienced dive ops and several experienced divers - believe that implementation of contemporary OW courses is inadequate and utterly incapable of turning out knowledgeable, competent, and confident divers.
2. Somehow - using nothing more than a phonebook and a map of NJ - I was able to find a random dive shop that IS able to implement a contemporary OW course that turns out knowledgeable, competent, and confident divers.

My conclusion regarding "Diving classes: then vs now" based on my own training experience nine years ago all the way through being an instructor currently?

Although running a good OW course under today's standards and performance requirements appears to be surprisingly uncommon... it's surprisingly easy to do.

 

[daniel1948]

I'm not sure how much time my OW class took overall. This was 5 or 6 years ago. In-water time was four tanks: We'd do a shallow water session, then an open water session on the same tank on each of four successive days. Each day we had some time after the skills portion to swim around a bit and enjoy the scenery. (It was a de-facto private class, since I was the only student there that week.)

In addition I had to read the book, which took the better part of a day or two, and I had to watch a DVD which did nothing but repeat the information from the book, so the DVD was just time wasted. There was also an orientation on land before each shallow-water session and before each open-water session.

I believe that the program was entirely adequate for me to be a safe diver for the type of diving I do: Warm-water, high-vis, recreational diving, nothing deep, and never alone. Does the Navy course make more-competent divers? Certainly. But I could not pass it. Would I be an even safer diver with that level of training? Of course. Except that I would not be a diver at all! It's all about risk:benefit. The benefits to me are worth the risks, given that I assess the risks of the kind of diving I do, with the training I've had ("watered-down" PADI) to be small compared to the risks I take every time I get in a car. Just getting to the dive site involves risks.

I think that a properly-conducted OW course from a good instructor with any of the training agencies is a good balance of work to risk. The better the equipment, the fewer skills are needed for an acceptable level of risk. If I spent 1,000 hours of training and $100,000 on equipment, maybe I could make diving safer than sitting at home. But that's 1,000 hours and $100,000 I could not use for other fun stuff.

More training is always good, and to dive in more difficult conditions a wise person will invest more in training and gear. But I think that the present standards are good for the kind of diving they are intended for.

Always with the caveat that no amount of training or standards will help if you have a bad instructor.

And anyone who feels the standards are inadequate can take more training. I would take more training if I had any interest in any kind of diving other than that which I do.

 

[NAM001]

No for the most part. It didnt in the 60's. My OWD in the YMCA in 68 was the equivilant of todays ow to master diver.

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Did the AOW course even exist in 1970?

 

[Peter Guy]

TMH -- I have no idea if my class in 1966 (a university, 15 week one) was "the norm" (assuming there was such a thing back then - pre-PADI and NAUI quite new). I honestly don't remember all that much about it since I was a freshman and EVERYTHING was new to me.

Being a long time swimmer and used to harassment (i.e. fighting) with my siblings in the pool, I wouldn't have noticed anything like merely taking my mask or turning off my air supply. I do know the instructor didn't beat me with a rolled up copy of Skin Diver Magazine!

 

[RJP]

And anyone who feels the standards are inadequate can take more training. I would take more training if I had any interest in any kind of diving other than that which I do.

Sadly, it s the rare under-trained/under-skilled diver that it is aware that they NEED more training... irrespective of what the standards are.

As I heard a diver say once "I could tell I was over-weighted because I crashed into the bottom a lot harder than usual."