Open Water Courses and the Swim Test

[DeepSeaDan]

…Hello Jepuskar,

With all due respect, I believe you are confusing personal capabilities ( yours & the people in your examples ) with the populace as a whole.

Just within my teaching experience I can site you examples from both ends of this spectrum; consider:

Ø The middle-aged lady, average physical condition, poor swimming skills. I gave her my standard spiel about continuing with the course on the condition that she improved her swimming & met the standard prior to o/w, & she agreed. The first night on scuba, she breezes through the skills & is completely relaxed & competent in all we asked her to do. She passed the swim test months later & is an excellent novice diver.

Ø The 19 yr. old who literally left a wake in his path as he ploughed through the water…one of the best swimmers I’d ever seen. Scuba? Anxious, hesitant & unsure of himself . He did certify eventually, after considerable effort by our teaching team, & is now an enthusiastic, competent diver.

Aha you say! My point is proven!

Well, no.

These people represent the exceptions in the populace who, by their nature, defy the norm. Statistically ,they are a minority. The majority of applicants to scuba do benefit from possessing adequate swimming skills, for some of these reasons:

> Conditioned response to swallowing water – anyone who has done laps in the pool using front crawl knows the chop created by training swimmers causes the occasional, unpleasant, inadvertent mouthful of water. The first time it happens you have to stop, cough through it, & plow on. In time however, you get so that you can minimize the intake & control your response to the point where you just keep on swimming.

> Mouth Breathing – a great way to get used to the way we breathe u/w.

> Surface diving skills aquired

> Rescue training introduced


There are other benefits to add to the list, but I think you can see my point.

Policies / Standards must reflect the needs of the majority.

Have fun in your next session of compression!

Regards,
D.S.D.

 

[SOUTH DEVON]

I was allowed to wear my wetsuit during the swimming and treading water test, as I said that I had forgot my swimming shorts, and the Paddi instructor was happy , I also had swimming goggles on! Obviously because of the extra buoyancy I floated quite easily so I would suggest asking if you can wear a wetsuit in the swimming pool for the test, say you feel the cold or something!
Steve

 

[DSJ]

If you have a choice of swimming strokes, try the backstroke. Right now I'd have a problem doing the front crawl for long due to my poor technique, but I could lay back and swim quite a ways.

I don't float well, but I easily passed the ten minute tread/float test by floating with the occasional kick to keep my legs up and a bit of sculling with the hands to stay in one place.

A second suggestion is to pick up the book "Total Immersion" which teaches how to do the front crawl efficiently. I bought a copy over the weekend and I'll be working on my crawl over the next few weeks. According to the author it's a matter technique, and the first one is reducing your frontal area/drag in the water by proper body positioning. It's probably a familiar refrain if you've read many posts here. I haven't read the whole book yet, but it seems the author knows how to teach the front crawl such that even novices can figure it out and use it to cover well over 200 yards.

I'd say you might want to work on that in combination with your pool training, even if you decide to pass the test with the back stroke.

David

 

[FreeFloat]

jepuskar once bubbled...
In the words of Master Chief Billy Sunday,

'Swimming ain't got jackshiznit to do with diving'.

If your getting certified with PADI, skip the swim and snorkel the 300 yards, mask, snorkel, fins..you can't go wrong. It is an extra 100 yards, but you'll probably be more comfortable.

It's NAUI (I think) although the instructor is also an instructor with TDI (from what I recall him telling us)

As far as treading goes, lie on your back, submerge your ears in the water, look straight up, bring your legs/feet up but keep them in the water and relax....use your breathing to keep your mouth/nose out of the water.

If you exhale too much your going to sink more then if you just exhale a little. You only need to do it for 10 minutes, once you get the hang of it, you'll get bored.

I actually did a little test on my personal buoyancy this afternoon in the pool. Seems that when I relax completely and just "hang", my hair is lucky if it sticks out of the pool.

 

[FreeFloat]

I'm not BAD when I'm actually under the water. I feel a lot calmer too. However usually when I'm under the water I have mask/snorkel/fins and neoprene of some thickness on, so that is most likely a factor.

Actually, sign me,

FreeSink (sigh)

 

[FreeFloat]

o2scuba once bubbled...
You have to retrieve a 10lb weight from the bottom of the pool?

Which agency are you training with?

NAUI, I think.....although the instructor is qualified TDI instructor as well.

I don't fault him at all - in fact I think he's being lenient (or is it hopeful??) in letting me continue. I wouldn't let me continue. Sure he may have high standards but I don't think he's wrong in setting them as long as they're reasonable, and fairly applied. All the other students seem to have fish genes in them with the exception of just one other person, and that person is very very buoyant so has no problems treading, etc. Which sort of makes me stand out in the crowd.

 

[jepuskar]

I am kind of confused as how you feel you know how the 'populace' as you call it, deals with swimming and Scuba diving? Your a swimming instructor, scuba instructor, both, you have done studies on this?

Please tell me what swimming in your swim trunks and then putting on a BC, mask, fins, scuba tank, WEIGHT, ohh and dont forget that snorkel, wetsuit etc....have to do with each other?

From your teaching experience examples and the two different sides of the spectrum, basically what your saying is, no matter what level of swimming ability one has, there is noway to determine their Scuba diving ability or comfort level. This tells me that one does not have a direct correlation to the other.

Good swimmer = poor comfort with scuba
Poor swimmer = excellent comfort with scuba
Good swimmer = excellent comfort with scuba
Poor swimmer = poor comfort with scuba

What I am trying to say is, once you put the gear on it all changes.

Respectfully yours,

jason

 

[Ceberon]

I'm sure if you pick two random people, one a good swimmer, one a poor/non-swimmer, and compared their initial scuba skills, the good swimmer would on average be better than the poor swimmer. Simple comfort underwater does not completely change if you have a full set of gear on. A lot of non-swimmers are somewhat afraid of the water. A lot of non-swimmers have problems moving efficiently underwater.

I grew up swimming quite often. My parents have a pool, almost all of my vacations have been to lakes for swimming, my family has always been close to the water. I do not kick like mad at the surface on our surface swims, I know quite well if my feet go above the water I'm wasting energy.. I see muscle bound 18 year olds in open water courses kicking with their legs flailing in the air.. they get to the end of their navigation surface swim panting. I know when swimming underwater that hands are fairly useless, so I do not wave them around when I'm going somewhere, I just hold them out of the way until I need them to grab a piece of equipment.

I think there are probably plenty of non-divers who will feel fine once they're suited up, but in general, it's a very useful thing to be comfortable and be able to swim well in the water.

 

[FreeFloat]

Ceberon once bubbled...
I think there are probably plenty of non-divers who will feel fine once they're suited up, but in general, it's a very useful thing to be comfortable and be able to swim well in the water.

I sure hope I'm one of those.

I don't have a problem surface swimming with fins on, but when I try to surface swim without, it seems I have some-awful trim problems, e.g. my feet seem to want to "hang" and I have no idea how to get my body level at the surface.

I don't have a problem being horizontal underwater and in fact I prefer being that way as you see more and have better directional control. (and sink less). When I'm vertical I tend to sink unless I'm finning and finning only stirs up whatever's beneath you.

I know when swimming underwater that hands are fairly useless, so I do not wave them around when I'm going somewhere, I just hold them out of the way until I need them to grab a piece of equipment.

So do I.........the instructor did mention it to us during a little talk we had, and complimented me on not using my hands at all. In fact so far it seems to be about the only thing I do RIGHT ;-0

 

[FreeFloat]

DivingGal once bubbled...
The agency that Freefloat is training with is not PADI. She told me which one, but I'm not 100% sure -- I believe NAUI, she'll have to confirm that.

I've asked to be allowed to come out and take pics on her OW check out dives. Before I'm allowed, the instructor is going to ensure I have the necessary dive skills. So this weekend while I'm visiting I'll be getting my check out dive. I'm supposed hit bottom, stir up the s***t and bump into everything right?

Don't forget to lose your mask, grope blindly, knock your own reg out and grab the instructor's in a fit of "panic"