I want to improve!

[Rick Inman]

Diver0001 once bubbled...


Well...sort of.

In the PADI system you need 20 + resucue diver and a first-aid/cpr course to enter the DM course. You need 60 dives before you can be certified as a DM.

Same goes for instructor. You can start with 100 dives but you need 120 before you can be certified IIRC.

I agree with you, however, that these should be higher. If I had my way there wouldn't be any DM's out there with fewer than 200 dives and no instructors with fewer than 400. Expanding the boundaries of the prof certfications like this would give PADI the room to add a couple of water skills courses to the mix.

R..

Last night I went to make a dive with a guy, and he asked if we could dive for 20 mins, make a 15 min SI, then dive for another 20 mins. Than way he could "legally" log the one tank as 2 dives. He said he needs 50 logged dive to take the DM course (SSI), and that the instructor told him to get it done quickly by doing 15 min SIs on all dives to double the number of logged dives. How do you like THAT??

 

[wet]

I don't like that mindset at all...the guy wants to get a DM card by rushing through the process. This sounds like a person who would also make shortcuts when helping students/clients in a professional capacity and THAT is wrong.

The bad thing about professional certifications is that Dive Logs can't really be checked out for authenticity. In addition to the logged dive pre-req I would like to see a performance based pre-requisite for people who want to enter a DM or above class. I know that I was a NAUI SCUBA diver for about 20 years before shooting for DM and that I did an average of 6-12 dives a month for the entire time but never logged any of them prior to my decision to become an instructor so I began logging dives and having my log book stamped by the boats I used untill I could meet the reqs with dignity. It was my fault that I had not logged the dives and I was not going to fabricate the information. Logging dives is one of the things that I stress in my classroom sessions now. My instructor didn't do that and I now see how worthwhile it is.

Perhaps a situation that the diver would have to pay $x for the eval and if (s)he passed the evaluation the money would be applied to the cost of the class. If the person failed (s)he could get some additional training and pointers for the money spent.

There are ways to get around almost any rule in the world...but when it comes down to teaching a skill on which a student's life can depend, integrity is of great import.

 

[divermasterB]

1) Dive more

2) Dive more with people who are better divers than you. Gain from their experience.

3) Once you have your basic diving skills in check, take a rescue course. This will help you with the confidence, and teach you to prevent and handle unexpected situations.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Rick Inman once bubbled...


Last night I went to make a dive with a guy, and he asked if we could dive for 20 mins, make a 15 min SI, then dive for another 20 mins. Than way he could "legally" log the one tank as 2 dives. He said he needs 50 logged dive to take the DM course (SSI), and that the instructor told him to get it done quickly by doing 15 min SIs on all dives to double the number of logged dives. How do you like THAT??

I hate it ... instructors who tell their students stuff like that just shouldn't be instructors.

How about telling the guy instead to go out and use those 50 dives to get as much underwater time as possible? To challenge himself and concentrate on perfecting the basic skills he's going to need as a DM?

Seems that the instructor is more into getting the guy into the class than he is into instructing. Personally, I doubt the student will get much more than a C-card out of that instructor's class.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Dryglove]

Rick Inman once bubbled...


Last night I went to make a dive with a guy, and he asked if we could dive for 20 mins, make a 15 min SI, then dive for another 20 mins. Than way he could "legally" log the one tank as 2 dives. He said he needs 50 logged dive to take the DM course (SSI), and that the instructor told him to get it done quickly by doing 15 min SIs on all dives to double the number of logged dives. How do you like THAT??

Thats crazy. If hes gonna go that far i wonder how may dives he has made up and logged. Typical card collector. I dive to enjoy the underwater world and not to log dives to take courses to collect more cards. A lot of my shorter dives and shallow dives i dont even bother logging.

 

[Diver0001]

Rick Inman once bubbled...


Last night I went to make a dive with a guy, and he asked if we could dive for 20 mins, make a 15 min SI, then dive for another 20 mins. Than way he could "legally" log the one tank as 2 dives. He said he needs 50 logged dive to take the DM course (SSI), and that the instructor told him to get it done quickly by doing 15 min SIs on all dives to double the number of logged dives. How do you like THAT??

How do I like it? I think it's idiotic.

This is only 1/2 step (or less) removed from lying about it outright. I'm sure he'll make a hellofa scuba professional with that mindset. Just like his instructor.

R..