Instructor closing valves?

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A friend of mine in her OWSI class had a leak, so the dive master turned off her air without her knowing.

Unfortunately, I can't convince her to get back into the water.
 
Many people underwent the kind of harassment described in these last few posts in the earliest days of scuba instruction, and they therefore tend to think that it was the norm then. It wasn't. Here is a quotation from a history of NAUI, written primarily by NAUI founder AL Tillman, NAUI Instructor #1. He is describing the gathering of instructors in Houston in 1960 that was truly the founding moment of NAUI:

One of diving instructions most controversial issues was whether students should be harassed to determine their resourcefulness and instant reactions to emergency situations. Things like flooding masks and turning off tank air were the ways some instructors set up their boot camp mentality reputations as tough course operators. Some instructors encouraged "horseplay" - students doing dirty tricks to each other such as pulling a weight belt release, and many students hated those instructors for taking up formal course time with it. But those same students were also grateful for that class harassment later on in unexpected situations during which they were able to cope.

At NAUI Houston, there seemed to be an equal split of opinions on this matter. NAUI took a stand by not incorporating this loose emergency training into the Houston Curriculum. What everyone has always agreed about is that it is more fun being harasser than harassee. (PDF p. 19)​
 
GUE instructors are absolutely prohibited from closing valves. My husband also tells me that PADI instructors are prohibited from closing valves. But it is not the case for all agencies.

I vividly remember a dive that began a relationship with an instructor that was incredibly developmental for me, Peter, and my friend Kirk. Kirk and I had already been through a completely unprecedented failure scenario we had not handled to the instructor's satisfaction. We then descended and I shot a bag and tied it off. Kirk moved off with the reel, and ignored the fact that I wasn't following him, because I couldn't -- my manifold had been wrapped in the upline. So, of course, Kirk got put out of gas, and came hightailing back to me to get some. I donated, and put my backup in my mouth, and there was nothing there. I had a moment of adrenaline rush, and then I looked at Kirk, who was clearly breathing off my right post regulator, so the only logical answer was that my left post was closed. I reached back and opened it, and felt enormously proud of myself for having thought the thing through.

It was a challenge with no precedent in my experience. I found it to be a growth event, causing increased confidence in my ability to cope with the unexpected. But I think you ought to know the people you are working with VERY well before you throw that kind of question to them, because I could easily have failed that scenario, and ended up in panic AND entangled. I completely understand why some agencies would prohibit the practice.
 
During Open Water Diver's Course Confined Dive #1 (Pool side) while we are learning to assemble our kit I go through the following steps:

1) Place SPG against the back of the BCD while turning on the gas (air) valve
2) Look at the SPG and read pressure
3)Take a few breathes from the 1° Regulator; watch for movement in the SPG
4)Take a few breaths from the 2° Regulator; there might be some difference due to the quality of the 2° (Alternate Air) Regulator
5)Turn-off the gas valve
6)Look at the SPG - still reads pressure since the line is pressurized
7)Take a few breathes from the 1° Regulator while watching the SPG; notice the pressure needle moving down
8)Pay attention to the last few breaths as they will become "laborious" just before your run "Out Of Air"

All this is done on the safety of dry land with a opened then closed valve.
 
Long video. Was the valve turned off inside the cave or in OW?

I had pool exercises during my CMAS 1 training (in 2000) where we'd be swimming around and the instructors would close our air, pull a mask, a fin...
There was none of that in the sea.

I think it's a good exercise. Helps students to solve problems as they happen and the way they happen. When a diver needs to clear the mask, when does it happen because the diver decides to calmly do it while kneeling on the bottom? It happens when during the dive someone else suddenly kicks the mask. I've seen several OOG situations. If divers let themselves get to that point, they are not monitoring their gas. So again, isn't simulating this a good exercise?

This was done in the pool. Still, are the risks higher? Probably. But not training divers properly will have higher risks in the future. Of course agencies and instructors don't care so much about this as they won't be liable.
If people don't want these risks, stay home.

During tech training I never had my valves closed, except when I did it during valve drills and feathering from a stage.
 
I've never had an instructor do this, and I'm pretty sure if one did that I'd never get back in the water with him.
 
During my cave training, I had a horrible time reaching my left valve post. During one of my dives, close to gradualtion, he did a lights out (I was blindfolded, instead of a true lights out)air share drill with me. He would reach over & shut off my left valve. If I did not get to it quick enough, he would turn it right back on to let me have air,.. then after a few moments turn it off again, until I could reach & manipulate it myself. Amazing, when you need air, how quickly you can get to those valves. He was always in control of the excercise & watched my stress level carefully. At no time was I panicked or horribly stressed, he would not let it get that far. To this day, I still have a little trouble reaching that valve, but can do it. It does have its uses, if done carefully kept under strict control,... that takes an experienced & knowledgeable instructor.
 
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