He said that his instructors doesn't have the training if something happens with it while I'm diving. I'm already in the Divemaster program and can't leave. It's also the only shop in our area. I just didn't understand it's a Tec skill to have a Alternate Air source or that it would require hours and hours if specialized training. I asked would it matter if I had it mounted to my tank and was told... It just causes more problems than it prevents.
edit: It's filled with air only for emergency and not considered a part of my diving air supply.
This is quite worrying. Why are you doing the DM course? Are you looking to travel and work as a DM (and possibly higher), is it just for your own benefit, or would you work for his shop?
If it is the first option, I'd certainly consider going elsewhere (which may mean travelling if he is the only shop in your area). If he is as bad an instructor as he sounds, do you really want to be passing on his nonsense? You also have to think whether you would be employable if the poor standards of training show. If it is the second option, you have to ask yourself what value you are getting out of it. If it is the third, you'd be mad to have anything to do with them.
He said bailout/pony in most of our conversations. I'm kind of irked, he's a professional friend. I spent this money and prepped for the sole purpose that I would be doing nearly all of PADI specialties including Deep diver this weekend. I'm being told we need to meet a required 130feet in 50 degree water because they want us to be narc'd and know how it feels. I have a farmer john wet suit 3/5, I know I'm going to be cold and narc'd because I did a 100feet at the same place in 54 and was shivering the whole dive. I wanted my "bailout" for this dive. I have red flags going off everywhere but all the instructors have done this same dive so if they can do it I should too.
I learned to dive in the UK, around this time of year. My training dives were in a quarry used as an organised inland dive centre. The temperature would have been around 57 degrees F. Everybody was in a drysuit and that is all the school teaches in. I have dived at the same site in a 5mm wetsuit when it was a couple of degrees warmer because I wanted to do a weight check before travelling somewhere warmer. I would say 60 degrees F is the coldest water I'd get in wearing a wetsuit.
Is this 50 degrees at the surface? You may find it is much colder at depth. Shivering your nuts off on any dive, but in particular, deep dives is not good. It will affect your concentration (particularly when narcosis is thrown into the mix too), it will make you uncomfortable and the DCI risks are greater. There is also the issue of regs being more likely to free-flow, so deep diving without a redundant gas source is suicidal.
This is a warning of what can go wrong, from my deep spec. I was diving with the instuctor I did my OW course with. There were two other students - one was a club member I had dived with several times and the other I'd never met. We were going to a very deep flooded slate quarry. It is not an organised dive centre, so there are no facilities. If you have an issue, Prince William is taking you to the chamber in his helicopter. The quarry is 110m at its deepest, but there are shallower shelves. It does get very cold all year round, and it is also very dark. Before the course, the instructor had us in the pool to try wearing a pony bottle as he said we would all be carrying one.
On the day of the course, there were only two ponies available, so he said there would be one per buddy pair. He would buddy up with the other club member and I would buddy up with the other lad. I would carry one pony, and the other club member would carry the other.
In the water, we dropped down a shot line tied to an old car and began to move away. My buddy and I were following the instructor and the other club member. I felt my buddy wasn't where I wanted him - he was always trailing behind and I was having to always look back and forth to stay with him and the instructor. We all had torches, and he gave me a circular signal, which I understand is 'okay'. I returned the signal and looked forward. At that point, I saw the instructor look back and swim back and past me like a torpedo. I looked around and couldn't see anybody. I then saw the instructor come up to me with the other club member and they dragged me to the shot line.
As we ascended, I looked at my computer. We were not hanging about, but I never got an ascent warning. My buddy was on the surface, being looked after by two divers. Everybody was okay and we left the water.
The instructor was clearly worried and began to find out what had happened. Apparently, he found it difficult to breathe from his reg. The 'okay' signal he gave was actually him trying to attract my attention. Because I read it as 'okay' I looked forward and kept going. He then decided to head for the surface. The two divers were on the shot at 6m, and had fortunately just cleared deco. They offered a reg but he kept on past them. They ascended and made sure he was okay.
He told us that he could breathe most of the way up, but it was difficult. At 6m he was completely out of gas. When the instructor checked his kit, there was still gas in the tank and the reg seemed fine. The cylinder and regs were taken to a service technician, who found nothing wrong with them.
During the dive, there were three of us who did something wrong. The victim got his signals wrong; if he'd given me the correct side to side signal, I would have gone over to him. I had never dived with him before - I should not have assumed he would be familiar with torch signals and reviewed them during the buddy check. The majority of blame lies with the instructor though. Number one, we all should have had a redundant gas source - a shared pony is only of use to the person carrying it - the other diver can only use it if he can get to his buddy, which defeats the object. The instructor also made sure we all had torches - signals should have been in the briefing. I also felt he should not have been leading - he should have been in a position where he could watch the group.
I now have a personal rule that I will never exceed 30m without a redundant gas source, unless I am in warm clear waters with a large group. In poor visibility, that may be even shallower.
Anybody advocating deep diving in cold water with inadequate exposure protection and no redundant gas source is a f*****g idiot. An instructor taking students into such a situation is a f******g incompetent idiot.
