Greetings from Oakland!

[Fabs]

I'm not NAUI fluent. How does one go from basic O/W cert to Rescue Diver in one week? I thought PADI Rescue required AOW plus 100 dives. Evidently experience is no longer required. I must be living in the past (again).

NAUI has two different Rescue Diver classes: Scuba Rescue Diver (which requires only OW certification and CPR/first aid certifications) and Advanced Rescue Diver (which requires the Advanced Scuba Diver certification).

I got certified through the PE class at UC Berkeley. It is a one semester class with 2 hours of lecture and 2 hours of lab (mostly scuba in the pool except for two labs of CPR/first aid) per week. At the end of the class, we went down to Monterey for 3 weekends, on which we did: 1) the required 5 checkoff dives for the Basic Scuba Diver (one of which is a skin dive), 2) one additional dive that we had to plan and execute ourselves, with the instructors watching (this is an additional, personal requirement of our teacher), 3) beach rescue exercises + 2 required checkoff dives for the Rescue Diver certificate.

By the time we went to the ocean we had already practiced all of the basic and rescue skills in the pool (I would guess about 20 hours of time in the water). Compared to the experiences of some other students that I read on scubaboard, I felt VERY well-prepared by the time we went to the ocean and I enjoyed it from the very first dive.

At this point I only have 10 scuba dives in the ocean and I would definitely agree that I am an inexperienced diver. But I really think that the skills taught in the NAUI Scuba Rescue Diver class should be taught in ALL OW certification classes (surfacing an unconscious diver, extrication from water,...). I think the main problem here (as so often) is that the competition between the certifying agencies forces them to include as few extra skills as possible in the basic classes to make it possible to become scuba certified in very little time. I think the way I learned scuba at UC Berkeley is a much better approach, but it took 4 months and I imagine not many people would agree to that if they can get certified in one weekend.

Also, I think the names for the certifications are kind of silly. I do not feel like I am a "Rescue Diver" although I have the "Scuba Rescue Diver" certification card. It's similar with the "Advanced Diver" and "Master Diver" certifications. How could someone be "Advanced" or a "Master" at something he or she did 11 (min. # of dives for AOW) or 19 (min. # of dives for Master Diver) times?

 

[g1138]

Also, I think the names for the certifications are kind of silly. I do not feel like I am a "Rescue Diver" although I have the "Scuba Rescue Diver" certification card. It's similar with the "Advanced Diver" and "Master Diver" certifications. How could someone be "Advanced" or a "Master" at something he or she did 11 (min. # of dives for AOW) or 19 (min. # of dives for Master Diver) times?

Trust me, having even that one session doing full rescues can be a life saver. I've done the whole scuba program at UCSC. Prior to my Rescue class, the instructor never made her Rescue class do a full rescue.
ie. Rescue from the bottom followed immediately by 50yd tow w/ rescue breathing and then carries up onto the beach w/ CPR and crowd control.

My class was the first to do a full mock rescue after the Scientific class had an ugly set of rescues (half of which were trained by her previously).
When member's from my class reached Scientific we did much better. Rescue class has now been doing full rescues ever since.

It may not seem like you learned much but it has added something to your arsenal of knowledge. The important part is to now rehearse those procedures and practice it in your mind, so you're prepared for the future.
If you got a TA cert, you should definitely ask to help out the scuba program so you can get even more practice.

As for the Master Diver title, I'm not even going to get into that online. That's better saved for a face-face conversation.
I think UC Berkley's Sci Diver class will cert you as a Master Diver. It's more a badge of knowledge if anything.

 

[svracing]

I'm a little late to the action. But Welcome! My wife and I are in Hayward. She went through Cal and got her cert. Is Jim still teaching the class? Having a truck I was voluntold to go to some of the camping trips. [-]Enjoy the class, you will be getting[/-] (Bah, just read the last posts) You got a much more thorough scuba education than any 2 weekend class.

See you in the water.

James

 

[mattaphore]

Jim's still teaching the Cal class I really like his teaching style and he's got top-notch teaching assistants. Really patient with us newbies and very thorough with the material. Spending almost every Wednesday night on SCUBA in the pool before going to the ocean made the required open water dives a piece of cake. With many more skills to learn, I'll definitely try to take the Advanced/Nitrox class with Jim next semester.

Also, the "Full Rescue" in nice flat-ocean conditions served as a great reminder of how nasty things can get in bad conditions. I hope I don't ever have to make a rescue, but I'm glad that I learned how to.

 

[ad6e]

Thanks for the info re: NAUI rescue.

Certainly sounds like a great program. Yes, things change a lot over time if you wait long enough. I was first certified in the Philippines in 1973. That PADI class took 6 weeks, 6 ocean dives, and they gave me an Advanced O/W card. We used "J valves" and "Mae West" BCs (orange, with CO2 cartridge). A depth gauge that worked was a novelty. Sometimes I'm surprised I survived. After years of no-diving, I got back into it again a few years ago. I took a refresher class, then the PADI Rescue class (one week). One can only wonder what it'll be like in another 30 years.

Anyway, welcome to the deep!