I wish my instructor would have...

[TSandM]

As hokey as they might seem, I think the "smiley face" charts that are part of the new PADI OW class are an attempt to do exactly that, Rob.

 

[Hawkwood]

Having done a number of the new classes, the slate is quite useful.


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[bradells]

Well, like most here (and like most posts), did my OW And AOW in the tropics.

Great for its time and place but, like most, Trim and other propulsion would have been great. Buoyancy was proactive in my training (as with most people).

I now dive cold water with lots of DIR or DIR-like divers. GUE may have a few cons about it already mentioned, but that's about it. Diving with DIRMW (DIR-My-Way) divers is always an adventure. Some have a 'longer hose' which is the spare, and they breath on the short bungee (still all the same problems as a non long hose setup), to the inadequate BC for some dives (messing around with stage bottles).

Basically, everyone else takes a few items from DIR, whether its TDI/GUE/UTD/PADI Tec/etc.

Hearing some of the reasons why they do things their way sometimes makes sense (some OW instructors), but that is usually rare.

I'm all for taking training from different organizations and instructors, but sometimes that leads to the above scenarios.


Back to the OP question, really, is what diving in non tropical water is about and how to do it.

BRad

 

[geoff w]

... I wish my PADI open water instructor had knowledge of this type of diving, I might have learned appropriately.

... I wish my open circuit technical diving instructors were also rebreather divers, they might have steered me in this direction earlier and I'd not have to be relearning basics.

...

Realistically, how many PADI OW instructors are also highly experienced technical diving that are qualified to teach advanced tech certifications? I know a few, but wouldn't recommend them to a new OW student, since it's very rare for an instructor to be able to relate to neophyte divers and very skilled divers at the same level.

How much of a turn off would it be for most OW students if they were taught by an instructor who kept telling them they should be rebreather divers and open circuit was the wrong way to go? Any learning experience that starts out by telling students they're learning the wrong thing isn't destined for success

My OW instructor was extremely competent and knowledgeable, but he didn't try to push anyone in any particular direction - it was all about learning to dive, having fun, and each of us deciding what we wanted to get out of diving, not what he wanted us to get in to. That was almost 20 years ago. I dive more than he does now, but he's become a very good friend and I still look to him for advice on everything, and dive with him every chance I get because I still learn from him

When I was 15, I really wish I learned to drive in a high end Porsche or Ferrari by a competitive Le Mans race driver. I'd probably be dead before I turned 18, but I'd have so much fun getting there

 

[Diver0001]

As hokey as they might seem, I think the "smiley face" charts that are part of the new PADI OW class are an attempt to do exactly that, Rob.

smiley face charts?

Did I miss something?

I'm quite happy to judge for myself if a student has adequate control over a given skill or not...... I don't need a gimmick for it and I'm perfectly capable of communicating to them when I'm happy and when they need to do it again.... I don't need teletubby happy faces to get the message across.... lol

R..

 

[mathauck0814]

Realistically, how many PADI OW instructors are also highly experienced technical diving that are qualified to teach advanced tech certifications? I know a few, but wouldn't recommend them to a new OW student, since it's very rare for an instructor to be able to relate to neophyte divers and very skilled divers at the same level.

I do think that open water instructors should at the very least be qualified technical divers, not necessarily technical instructors. But that's just one guys' opinion.

 

[blinkswiler]

As an instructor (not tech or ccr), I'm privledged to introduce 1% of the population(approx) into the world under water. 50% of those won't make another 20 open water dives in their lifetime. Those that do, 1% might try tech. Due to cost, .01% might consider rebreather. Why would I structure a class for less than .001% (math not correct but you get the idea) of the OW candidates requiring those other dicipline's standards. that would be like requiring brain surgery training for applying a bandage to a finger boo-boo. Don't get me wrong, I'm fully in support of continued education and training but it needs to be training focused on the objective at hand. I attempt to continue my personal training but have no personal interest in tech or ccr. I'm sure I'd learn alot but its not focused on my current dive objectives.

 

[rongoodman]

I wish my OW instructor had just been able to hold a motionless hover in trim--maybe he could, but I never saw it in class. It made my first dives a few months later with GUE trained divers quite an eye-opener.

 

[kafkaland]

The problem is that most instructors are "aware" of "other procedures and equipment" but either reluctant to talk about them because of their own lack of knowledge, to insist that those "other procedures and equipment" are unnecessary for beginners. For example, most instructors, at least in my city, still thinks bp/wings + long hose are for tech divers only, and teaching proper buoyancy and trim in the beginning is too much task loading, unsafe and "sucks the fun out of diving". Most beginner divers will also listen to them because after all, they represents "the way the world learns to dive".

Of course there are others, like myself, who have wished my instructor would have told me about bp/w + long hose right from the beginning and let ME make my own equipment choice rather than make that choice for me. Of course if they do that, they would have missed that opportunity to sell me another set of gear, wouldn't they?

In my OW class the instructor mentioned during the pool sessions the long hose / primary donate protocol. Mostly to make us aware that other divers may do things differently than how we do it in class, and that's why it is so important to go over equipment and air sharing procedures with your buddy. It also made me curious, and I read up a bit on it - that's how I found out about DIR and GUE. I'm not sure I want to fully go that route, but many of the principles are certainly of value for me as I'm getting my equipment and mapping out my path.

 

[Hawkwood]

smiley face charts?

Did I miss something?

I'm quite happy to judge for myself if a student has adequate control over a given skill or not...... I don't need a gimmick for it and I'm perfectly capable of communicating to them when I'm happy and when they need to do it again.... I don't need teletubby happy faces to get the message across.... lol

R..

I wouldn't be so dismissive.

I thought the same, until I saw some check marks on skills that I though students were comfortable and confident with. Turns out that sometimes what we see and think are not what they think. What they think is important.

The Dive Planning Slate on the back side (or front side depending on your view point ), is also quite useful.