Open Water Course differences

[mislav]

I've noticed some new divers tend to get completely different experiences from the OW course than I did. I've done eight dives in four days, all of them in the sea. I never came near the pool for the first introductory dives. My mask removal skill was done on a first day in -10m depth! It was a shocker for me, but I've done it from the second try after bolting at first attempt with nose and mouth full of water... blurb... blurb...

During the course I had a faulty BCD, and had to do my buoyancy skills inflating it manually, had an instructor accidentally pull the regulator out of my mouth while trying to stop another diver from bolting to the surface... Also, my instructor was French, so I could barely make out what he was saying on his broken English and thanks to the PADI OW book and CD I managed to get a grip on things. But I overcame all of those problems and by the last dive I was completely comfortable diving. I have no complaints for my course or the instructor other than I wish I did more skills during the course. Some of those that I believe are required, unfortunately, I never did - freeflow breathing for instance.

How much can this course differ from the proper method? It seems to me a lot!

 

[wreckchick]

The PADI system is very rigid. There is almost no wiggle room at all when dealing with skills or environment. If you did your "confined" water skills in 10m, that's a standards violation. Not doing all of the required skills is a MAJOR standards violation. Having faulty equipment is a standards violation.

You should complain about your training. You should complain to PADI HQ.

Rachel

 

[Diver0001]

... my instructor was French,

Ah....say no more. For a moment I thought your experience was inexplicable.

R..

 

[MikeFerrara]

Lots of them are bad but it sounds like yours was worse. You might be well served to go take a real class someplace with an instructor you understand. Just when I think I've seen the biggest sheet for brains I see or hear of a bigger one.

 

[DiverBuoy]

See this comparative link:

http://diverlink.com/newdiver/agencycomparison.htm

 

[Captain CaveMan]

man my instuctor was Italian and i count understand him too. thank god for padi. i did 2 dives before and finish with the italian inst. so i kinda new what i was doing

 

[scubatoys]

Wow! Really looks like you got a Padi course... Pay And Dive Instantly.

You could just hook up with another instructor and have them go over all the normal required skills that perhaps you missed. It would probably be considered a refresher and probably cost about $50 - $75 and take a few hours in the pool. That might help you fill in the missing pieces.

In our pool room, we have all the skills we are going to do listed on huge wall posters, so students have no surprises and see everything they are supposed to cover. We do that instead of have instructors look at their "top secret - for my eyes only" slates.

 

[Diver0001]

In our pool room, we have all the skills we are going to do listed on huge wall posters, so students have no surprises and see everything they are supposed to cover. We do that instead of have instructors look at their "top secret - for my eyes only" slates.

That`s a great idea. I wish more instructors did things like that.

I thought it would be great to try something like this;

Every student gets tags with the names of the skills on them. For example, you could have a tag that said "hover motionless for 30 seconds". The student gets the tag on their wrist and only when *both* the student and the instructor are satisfied that they did it to the expected level would the student give the tag to the instructor.

No more issues about students wanting more than they get or feeling like they got rushed through it. Expectations of competence are shared and discussed, the issue of "how comfortable do you *need* to be vs how comfortable do you *want* to be" is put on the table and the student has both some responsibility for the process and a mechanism to control the tempo. Kind of like the scuba instructor's variant of "user acceptance testing".

Unfortunately, I'll have to become an instructor to try this experiment. Nobody I know is willing to put themselves out there.

R..

 

[PJP]

Its not the Padi system that has left you short of skills, it is your instructor.....the skills should be taught in confined water (pool or sea that gives you pool like conditions. Your mask skill in 10m of water should of been done in water shallow enough to stand.
Unfortunatly there is some instructors out there that seem to know better than the training agency they are teaching for...this is why there is a quility assurance department. I would certainly be contacting padi over your course training, no training agency want there instructors to devate from what is set down in the training standards.
You may of enjoyed your course...unfortunatly it sounds like you did not get the full course. Not all instuctors are like this......I would contact a dive shop and explain what happened in your training and ask them to take you though the skills correctly in confined water just to be sure.
Enjoy your diving

 

[Wobbegong_Thai]

Hey, I like rotrunner idea of the "Skill tag"

Do you patent it? I might try apply it to my next batch of students.