Question for old timers - NAUI OW class, early 1970s

[Marie13]

Not sure if this is the correct forum or not.

A friend in her 60s got certified through NAUI in the early 1970s. She said the following was part of the class:

You went down to the deep end of the pool, took all your scuba gear off, and swam back to the surface. You then swam back down, put all your gear back on, and then back to the surface.

She was surprised that wasn't part of the SDI OW class I'm in the midst of (check out dives in about three weeks). I asked my instructors about it today. They said it's not done anymore as students died while doing it. Any clue when that skill was dropped? I was just curious. The thought scared the heck out of me!

 

[MaxBottomtime]

I think that may be an urban legend about students dying. We did that as late as my Divemaster class in the early 90s except we would toss all the OW students gear into the pool and they would have to jump in and gear up underwater. If they surfaced with a piece of gear that was not their own they had to begin again. The secret is to grab a reg and mask first and then find your own gear.

 

[scubadada]

Not sure if this is the correct forum or not.

A friend in her 60s got certified through NAUI in the early 1970s. She said the following was part of the class:

You went down to the deep end of the pool, took all your scuba gear off, and swam back to the surface. You then swam back down, put all your gear back on, and then back to the surface.

She was surprised that wasn't part of the SDI OW class I'm in the midst of (check out dives in about three weeks). I asked my instructors about it today. They said it's not done anymore as students died while doing it. Any clue when that skill was dropped? I was just curious. The thought scared the heck out of me!

We did that very skill in the LA County course in 1970

 

[NAM001]

We did that in the 60's in the ymca coursre. This is rumor,,,,,, but I heard that those skills stopped when bcd's came out. Back then your rig was some what of a back plate set up with out a wing. We wore a horse collar. You loosened the waist strap and took the rig off over our head while beathing and put in on the bottom with your weight belt over it to keep it in one place. You shut off air and went to the edge of the pool. to put it on you dove in put on your weight belt turned on air and breathed. then put the tank on over your head, rolled and secured the waist belt. We did ths with out a wet suit on for obvious reasons. Today with the mass number of hoses and crap with a jacket and very buoyant wet suits it is just too difficult to do that. with the BCD you are better off inflating to get to the surface than you are ditching your rig. After all ifou cant get out of the water wit your rig you float it not sink it.

 

[Nemrod]

I took my first NAUI course in 1966 but the instructor (ex LA County) decided I could not do enough push ups (tanks on) so he refused to certify me (truly I was too young, 12 yo) so in 1968 he had me through the course again (no charge) and this time I could do plenty of push ups and easily best the entire class (of more than 30 students) during the required lap swimming.

Yes, we had to doff and don our gear in the "deep" end which was a springboard diving pool so it was probably 16 feet deep, doff, return to surface, surface pike dive and don the gear. All gear had to be removed, weight belt, mask, fins, tank, all of it. There was also swimming the circuit without a mask breathing at a tank at each of three or four stations. Then there was buddy breathing with both single hose and double hose regulators around the same circuit with and without a mask.

Each class began with lap swimming bare and ended with swimming in gear (weight belt on) or treading water, hands up. Oh, there was also harassment and turning air off and pulling masks off. There were no BCs, no octopus or safe seconds, and we mostly had J valves though I had an SPG in the second go around as did a few other people.

And, yes, there were push ups, the ladies got to do them from the knee, guys had to be on toes. The idea being if you cannot do push ups exactly how might you get up a boat ladder or hoist yourself on to your board or over the gunwale of a small craft.

Oh, the check out dives, we had to calculate our air consumption for the dive profile and we had to be within 300 psi of actual for the specified time.

The class was six weeks long and met twice per week from six until ten. The first one or two hours were lecture and problems and the remaining time was intensive pool training. You had to know the tables backwards and forwards.

Later in the mid 70s when I assisted instruction for NAUI classes (different instructor and different place) the drill sergeant stuff was gone but there was still doff and don, buddy breathing, lap swimming, stations etc.

My wife did the YMCA SCUBA Diver in 1979 and most certainly there was still doff and don, buddy breathing and timed swimming with gear as well. That class was also full up with people, over 30 students, and was six weeks, twice per week.

N

 

[diversteve]

I did that during NASDS certification in 1981. Six of us in class came in to the pool one day to find all our gear in pieces on the bottom. We all had to dive in and surface together with all the right gear on. At the time I had an orange/black Farallon mask so once I had that, the rest was pretty easy. Also I had just bought an At-Pac - an early weight integrated bc with a velcro jacket closure so that was pretty simple also. Not me but here's what that looked like: http://discountdivers.com/pix/seapro.at-pac.bcd.large.a.jpg

 

[Steelyeyes]

We did that in 75 when I got my first OW cert through NAUI. I think they should still do it. It makes you familiar with the gear and doffing and donning it it the water helps make you more comfortable in the water when things aren't perfect.

 

[Stoo]

I did my NAUI course in '74, and became an Instructor in '78. When I took the course, we did that "doff and done". We also did it "blacked out" for a little extra challenge. I don't know if it was mandatory or not, but by the time I was teaching it was not. However, most students were able to do it, and it was a real confidence builder.

We also did things like jumping off a diving board with all of our gear bundled and in our arms, including air turned off. The trick was to hit the bottom of the pool and reassemble you gear. All good fun.

I have head stories of NAUI ITCs in Canada where candidates did a similar exercise but jumped off a railway bridge, dropped 15' or so into a river and reassembled gear. This was in Peterborough, ON. I suspect it's true.

I never heard of anyone dying while doing any of these skills, but I think they were a fantastic way to build confidence, although the practical uses were minimal!

When I was teaching, the course was 8 - 12 weeks long, and included as many as 8 or 9 OW dives, including a night dive. Folks knew how to dive at the end of it. These days, it seems that the main purpose of an OW I course is to lay the groundwork for the 47 courses yet to come... :-(

 

[Searcaigh]

This was also part of BSAC course back in the 80s too

 

[Sam Miller III]

"My new diving hero......" Per Stoo

"When I was teaching, the course was 8 - 12 weeks long, and included as many as 8 or 9 OW dives, including a night dive. Folks knew how to dive at the end of it. These days, it seems that the main purpose of an OW I course is to lay the groundwork for the 47 courses yet to come... "

So true...It is step marketing applied to the underwater world. Just read the comments of the OP Or what others have posted....Do I need to know how to swim? I got water in my nose...Then sadly read the result of sub standard instruction in the accident section. With the sub standard instruction "Ya Gotta expect losses..."

The ditch and recovery aka D & R migrated into the civilian diving program via Scrip's Institution of Oceanography to the LA County UW Instruction Association in 1954, via one of the first true civilian training manuals "Underwater recreation."

LA county established NAUI in August 1960 and almost ten years later from NAUI sprung PADI.

A that time all required the D & R as a component of their basic and instructor training.

Bernie Empleman, an early diving educator in his 1957 book "The Science of Skin and SCUBA " which was changed to "The New Science of Skin and SCUBA" created the name "Doff and Don" aka D & D,

What ever the name D & R or D & D it is unquestionably one of the best SCUBA training exercises ever developed!
So sad that it has become too difficult for the modern diver to perform ....

SDM

Perhaps I should qualify my self....a little about me

LA Co UW instructor #11 UICC
NAUI instructor #27
PADI 241 ( or 2241 ?)
( and a heck of a lot more instructor organizations )

Pro 5000 award
California SCUBA Service Award 2013

LA county awards and honors;

Outstanding contributions to Underwater Instruction --1964
( I developed a number of the procedures now in use by many of you today as well as the instructor & diver classification system which was rejected by LA Co and NAUI but much later accepted by PADI... )

Outstanding Los Angeles Underwater instructor of the year 1969
(same year PADI came to life)

Dive master (an LA Co term) 1970 to 1973
a UICC team leader
trains UICC candidates
( 3 months of very involvement)

(For more information about my background suggest google my name plus SCUBA or Diver etc)
sdm

sam