PADI Certification too quick?

[Boogie711]

you propably speak of your past experience when you learned how to dive aye?You put everyone in the same pocket,thats wrong!You have to crawl before walking and you surely forgot the time when you where crawling! : Peace

No, I strongly disagree with your characterization. I have no problem with crawling.

I do have a problem where the people who haven't learned to "walk" yet are teaching others how to do so. And that's what that post was all about.

As someone else on here earlier pointed out "it isn't that hard to blow bubbles." He's exactly right - but that's not diving. That's going underwater with a Scuba tank on and being a threat to yourself and the environment. And THAT, my friend, is what is happening far, far too often. And the sad part is, too often those people think that's all there is to it.

Diving is supposed to be fun. Think how much more fun it would be if people knew how to actually do it. Instead, they get taught how to kneel on a pool bottom or bob around vertically in the water column. That's not diving. That's just an accident in the water wearing fins. Or, sadly enough - some open water scuba instructors delivering 1 day PADI courses.

Sad.

 

[Buoyant1]

My LDS has us do one module per week, we start each session in the classroom, re-watch the video,then hit the pool (unless we're plagued by a storm, or have a few things to cover in the pool from the last class) but we do it in the proper order.

I have my 4th class tomorrow, and my 5th on thursday next week.

Then the other 2 people in my class are doing their check outs the following weekend, but I'm not available, so I'm either going the next or weekend after.

I think that was a decent enough time to learn and absorb the material, not too fast, not too slow... I read the initial post and can see how people could end up in serious trouble from the fast-tracking!

My wife saw that I could have gotten certified in a weekend down in the Keys and asked why I didn't do it that way...My response was "do you want me to come BACK from the dives, or do you want to collect an insurance payment"? I wasn't comfortable going that route.

 

[northwind]

My wife saw that I could have gotten certified in a weekend down in the Keys and asked why I didn't do it that way...My response was "do you want me to come BACK from the dives, or do you want to collect an insurance payment"? I wasn't comfortable going that route.

Assuming they will pay, It is a "high risk activity" after all

 

[northwind]

sounds like seal training to me!! punched in the stomach? i understand this is life and death, but wasn't the point in doing it to enjoy it and have fun?

Believe it or not, I was having fun, all I knew was that I had waited for years to learn how to dive. At the time I thought that all the BS was par-for-the-course. In hindsight, I think that I did learn alot.

 

[miketsp]

Geez,

I don't know if I was in a PADI course in '84 or I reported to SEAL training by mistake. I can't remember how long the class was, but i know it was a couple nights a week for quite a few weeks.

My instructor was a hard a**. We would regularly have our air shut off, masks yanked off, regs ripped out of our mouth, etc... He would throw our mask, fins, and BC/tank/reg into the bottom of the deep end and tell us to swim down there and suit up.

I remember sitting in the deep end of the pool breathing from a K valve without a regulator (not really a practical skill, but interesting)

I watched the instructor punch a guy in the stomach during a pool dive because he refused to stop holding his breath. (I think that that guy washed out).

A prerequsite for passing the class was being able to recall from memory all of the no-deco limits from surface to 130'.

I am curious to hear oter peoples experiences from that era, was this type of training closer to the norm at the time, or was my instructor just a loose cannon? If this is what every prospective diver would have to go through, I don't imagine that our sport would grow very rapidly.

I didn't know that PADI courses used ex CMAS instructors.

No, seriously CMAS isn't quite as bad as that, not for 1 star anyway, but certainly I've seen a few instructors teaching bottle breathing, and making sure their students know why to cut their HP and not their LP hose in case of problems with a reg.

I used to work with some professional divers in the early 70s that were BSAC instructors in their spare time and they went through much worse to qualify - or so they used to tell me.

 

[Coogeeman]

Sadly it’s the way of the course. I say sadly because more time is always better but it’s actually doable in the time that is allocated to you.

However there are a number of elements to consider....firstly the instructor, secondly the number of students in the course and lastly his or her ability to single out divers that are not ready to qualify for their OW certification. As an instructor you know students that are going to breeze the course and you know the students that are going to encounter problems.

If you have the time you'll get the problem students through if you don't then you have to be brave enough to defer them or to spend more time with them at a later date, but all being well the time allocated by PADI to complete a course is workable.

Coogeeman
:dazzler1:

 

[SeanQ]

My PADI Open Water Diver course was over the span of 5 days, with a total of 3 students. The 3:1 student ratio offered a fair amount of time to practice buoyance control skills in confined water, but I feel it wasn't enough. The first time I went diving after my certification and bumped into a rock (no marine life harmed, no worries) was enough embarassment to make me determined enough to solely work on controlling my buoyancy during the remainder of the dive, and the main focus of subsequent dives.

I feel that although PADI teaches the basic principles and techniques of diving, it takes a lot more time then what they give you to become versed with recreational diving.

 

[luvspoodles]

Sadly enough, this is done all the frickin time. And then those future split-fin, poodle-jacketed, air2 and ankle-weight wearing rototillers go out and start their DM training while wondering how to put 30 pounds of lead in their BC...They dive using their air-integrated computer to plan dives, and wouldn't know a dive plan if they fell over one.


... Then they become instructors after 16 ocean dives and 84 quarry dives, with an average depth of 39 feet. And the cycle begins anew.

It's enough to bring a tear to your eye.

Why do you sound so harsh? I just started diving over a year ago and have quickly discovered that I have a passion for this, and am constantly learning about diving-I read anything I can get my hands on. When reading your post I realized that I wear split fins, I have to wear ankle weights in the cold California water (not when I'm in the Carribean), and I have to wear 30 pounds of lead in my BC (with my 7 mil farmer john). This is the first sport I've ever done, and I am so proud of myself. The way that you said what you said made me feel like a total dork. It seems like I encounter these attitutes a lot being a women diver,especially in the cold water. I am mostly all of the things that you said, however I certainly know that I still have so much to learn, and do not plan on becoming a DM because of this. Try not to be so harsh on us newbies!

 

[getwet2]

The way that you said what you said made me feel like a total dork.

You will eventually learn not to take things so personally that you read on the board, everyone has their own oppinion on things and is free to express it here. That's part of why this board is sooooo much fun and even educational at times. People show you a different point of view that might not have occured to you until you read their post and you think about it and maybe even use a little piece of it in the future, or not, which might even make you a better diver.

Sometimes you might read something and take it a certain way, when the person that wrote it didn't mean it the way you took it or maybe they did but it really doesn't matter in the big sceme of things. Sometimes people exaggerate or are sarcastic (myself being in that second group), sometimes it's for humor purposes and sometimes not.

Those little icons :1poke: you can add to the posts usually give a good indication as to how the post was intended to be taken but not everyone uses them so take everything you read with a grain of salt and remember that eventually you might even piss someone off at some point on the board, even if you didn't intend to. There's usually a little bit of truth in everything that is said on the board but it all depends on your perspective of things and how you choose to use or not use what you read here.

We're not all Jacques Cousteau's but we're not all Daffy Duck's either, some of us are just a little Goofy! :jump013:

 

[Boogie711]

Poodles - I'm sorry you're upset, but I still stand by my statement.

I believe there are serious deficiencies in your gear configuration, but on the other hand - it's not all about gear configuration. Are you planning on seeking your instructor status anytime now? You openly admit that you are not. Which says to me you recognize the value in learning.

Now - to this gear configuration issue - every point I have made there is well debated even here on Scubaboard. Do a search on "split fins" or "ankle weights." While you're at it, simply curious - do you also carry a spare air?

Signed:

Boogie711 - (who has a long, LONG way to go before even thinking of pursuing an instructor status.)