My openwater qualifying dives, I was not good enough.

[TSandM]

kasdeva, from the beginning, you have had one of the most screwed-up OW classes I've ever read about, and I've read about some doozies.

I have dived off a RIB in those kinds of seas. It is NOT a beginner's dive. A "hot drop" or rapid negative descent is not a beginner's skill. This was a setup for an ear injury -- many new divers are very task-loaded on descent, remembering to breathe and add air to the BC, and it's common for them to forget to equalize even if they DON'T have any additional stressors.

I am sorry that you perforated an eardrum (I hope you have a doctor's appointment scheduled?) but I am very glad that you decided not to give up diving, because your bad experience was not your fault. Maintaining poise and managing malfunctions is something that comes with practice, and in my opinion, you didn't have enough pool experience to get really comfortable with anything. So when you had to manage several things at once (mask clearing, descending, and equalizing) it was just more bandwidth than you had available. Don't be too hard on yourself.

I'm not going to argue with your decision to retake your class. I don't know that it's absolutely NECESSARY, but if you can afford it, it's probably not a bad idea, because more pool time will do nothing but make you more comfortable and facile with the skills you need. Please take my advice from the other thread, and look for a shop with some technical connections, if you can find one. At the least, read Walter's sticky thread on "How to find a good OW class" and take those questions to your next shop. You deserve a much better educational experience than the one you have had to date.

 

[pnw_diver]

They should never have taken you into the water for your checkout dives in those conditions.

+1. I generally would not dive at all in those conditions if I could help it. Asking OW students to do so is out of line, IMHO.

 

[gypsyjim]

Kasdeva, from your story it really sounds like you will be a thinking diver, and learn from your mistakes. Your intro was rough, but if those are typical dive conditions for your region, that is how you train and test.

The conditions you describe would make many many divers decide it was time to spend the day playing poker, and dive another day. Under the circumstances you made some mistakes, but you kept thinking and learning, and you will become a better diver in the end, than many that I see, with lots more certications under their belt.

I say, go for the extra training, if you think you want to. It sure won't hurt you to train under a few different instructors, especially if dive conditions in your region are anything like what you encountered those first two dives!

 

[FlyinV]

That sounds like terrible conditions to do an Open Water class in.
I question the judgement of the instructor taking students out in that.

 

[fnfalman]

7-ft swells? Drift diving? All for OW checkout?

I'm glad to see that nobody got permanently hurt or killed.

There's hard core and then there's foolhardy. I think that the latter is the case for this occasion. I suppose the instructors "know" what they're doing, but drift diving for OW checkout is crazy.

 

[boulderjohn]

OK, I just learned in the other thread that the certification you received was from NAUI. I know that NAUI instructors are allowed a lot of latitude in their decision making, but I don't know a lot beyond that. I know that if this were PADI, you would have had a whole range of standards violations, but I don't know enough about NAUI to pass judgment. I am pretty sure that the standards violations I saw in the pool sessions were still violations with NAUI, though.

 

[danvolker]

Wow! I am big on getting people with natural skills into "bigger " dives, sooner, but this dive was insane for initial OW dives.

Anyway, next time , if you have to dive conditions like this again, use Triptone so you don't get seasick....Also, figure the idea of doing an immediate negative descent is a good one whenever you are in a strong current drift dive---so just be aware that the moment you hit the water, the clearing of your ears begins and continues every few feet til you reach the bottom.

When you heal up from this last ear injury, you will most likely want to take pseudofed or some other fairly strong decongestant, to make certain your eustachian tubes are clear for your next dive.

Dive boats and instructors have liability issues which could easily prevent them from giving you the advice of the triptone or pseudofed, but there is a very large group of divers that do this every single dive....

Regards,
DanV

 

[ZenDiver.3D]

This should never have happened like it did, form start to finish. And those were completely unacceptable conditions for your check dives. I can say, however, that if you do not give up, you are going to make one Hell of a diver one day.
Heal, and then find a true instructor. Oh, and please report this ridiculous person who ran your class. She was not any type of true instructor, if she did all the things the way you report.
You got robbed, but you came through it. Don't give up.

 

[String]

Im not overall against the conditions - if they're the normal conditions for the area and thats what people are learning to dive in then they should train for it.

"hot drop" (i assume you mean rolling off a boat that isnt moored) is the normal methods for large parts of the world and in no way a skill that shouldnt be on an OW course. Lots of people learn to dive off small boats in swells - its the only option.

However, IF its PADI and no CESA or other things done its a standards violation and they should be informed.

 

[boulderjohn]

However, IF its PADI and no CESA or other things done its a standards violation and they should be informed.

It's NAUI.

He did two skills in the first dive, which would be a violation if it were PADI--not sure about NAUI.

We don't know what skills were done in the second dive.

He did not appear to do any skills whatsoever in his aborted third dive. he could not equalize, ruptured an eardrum, and surfaced. He essentially did not actually do the dive at all.

He did not even get in the water for the fourth dive.

I'm guessing there may have been some violations along the way, but I am not familiar with NAUI standards and procedures.