Redundancy Required for Decompression Diving?

[DevonDiver]

In the case of an instructor that so visibly advertise for his school ,I take exactly the same approach.

Assumptions..

I don't own a school.
I dont sell equipment.
I don't sell vacations.
I don't sell courses.

I sell my time and ability to teach. I charge a daily rate of tuition. That can be a formal course, or a non-certification clinic. Whatever I do with students, I get a flat daily rate; nothing more, nothing less.

What I teach is diligently researched and tested. It's what I believe to be best practices... and what's most relevant and beneficial to individual student needs.

As a professional instructor, I spend inordinate amounts of time doing that research, keeping abreast of industry / community developments and practicing my own skills and protocols to an exceptional level. That's my daily job and I'm passionate about it. It's not diluted by another, primary, job... It's my only focus every day from when I wake to when I sleep.

My goal is to enable divers to achieve their goals and be safe in whatever pursuit or specialism they engage me to train them in....primarily sidemount, fundamentals, decompression and wreck penetration diving.

I don't 'clock off' at 5pm and go home. I spend my time with visiting students... whether that's extra evening classes or simply chatting diving over a beer at the end of the day.

Nor do I limit dives and training time... I put in the effort that my students need and want. My courses are demanding and it's the students who have to let me know to take it easier.

I really have no motive beyond that. The quality and recommendation of my diving students represent me. I wouldn't get very far by shilling them into buying the wrong kit or taking superfluous training... It'd tarnish my reputation.

If I wanted to earn more money, I could quit diving tomorrow and get a well paid job. Why dilute what I love doing for a few extra bucks?

I know lots of professional full-time instructors with the same attitude... people who've sacrificed bigger incomes and more attractive lifestyles to pursue a career doing what they love.

I charge $95-145 a day for that. Basically, what a London plumber earns per hour. That allows me a relatively humble lifestyle based on 3rd world cost-of-living. I don't complain, or give it up, because I sincerely love what I do.

I'd do it for free if I had an alternate income... But seeking other employment wouldn't give me the time to train, research and be available for students.

So tell me? Why is my advice worth less than some land-loving, part-timer that gets wet on occasional weekends and barely thinks about diving 95% of the time?

He was a "Pro Deo" volunteer instructor in a CMAS organisation and implies that such organisations are outdated and not safe when it comes to deco training.

I didn't "imply". I stated it directly.

Teaching decompression diving without proper equipment, protocols and skills is anachronistic to an era when people didn't know better...and had no other options.

That's in no way a sales pitch for my services... It's a merely a fact of procedural evolution in the diving community.

When I taught for BSAC I didn't do any decompression diving. I enrolled for TDI training and took advantage of learning a far more responsible and justifiable approach to safely diving whenever immediately surfacing isn't an option in recourse to foreseeable diving emergencies.

Agencies that persist in mindset and procedures that remain essentially unchanged since the 1950s are suffering from an incredible inertia...

My personal pet theory as to why... is that the club environment doesn't impose a competitive mandate to evolve...and that the individual personalities who drive such clubs often have neither the motivation nor inclination to put in the significant time and effort to develop themselves and their teaching in line with evolving practices and standards.

Pride makes it hard to admit you've been left behind... become antiquated... so this spawns a certain hard-headed and defensive mentality.... thus denying you've been left behind in the first place.

I still remember a senior personality from BSAC decrying the fact that there were still local clubs that refused to teach/use 'dangerous' nitrox.. that was in 2005/6...!!!

It's personality-driven anachronistic inertia... Just the same as 'defending' the relic practices of air deco to 50m+ on a single tank, jacket BCD, using decades old tables... Living in the past..and hooking your nose at people who moved with the times... and had the motivation and humility to keep learning new things...

 

[lermontov]

All you are doing is proving the point. What is best for the instructor or shop wins over the student or customer - sometimes they may line up and sometimes buyer beware...

yes I am agreeing but the way you write it is as though you've uncovered some great global injustice or that the LDS should be some sort of charitable trust

 

[lermontov]

Agencies that persist in mindset and procedures that remain essentially unchanged since the 1950s are suffering from an incredible inertia...

My personal pet theory as to why... is that the club environment doesn't impose a competitive mandate to evolve...and that the individual personalities who drive such clubs often have neither the motivation nor inclination to put in the significant time and effort to develop themselves and their teaching in line with evolving practices and standards.

Pride makes it hard to admit you've been left behind... become antiquated... so this spawns a certain hard-headed and defensive mentality.... thus denying you've been left behind in the first place.

very astute

 

[KenGordon]

Agencies that persist in mindset and procedures that remain essentially unchanged since the 1950s are suffering from an incredible inertia...

This hyperbole rather undermines your position. It seems like you have not been involved in club diving in a long time.

Almost all branches have multiple members with qualifications from other agencies. The purpose of a branch is to go diving. People need the skills required to do those dives. They are not automatically suicidal idiots just because they belong to a club. They go on BSAC courses and they go on other agency courses.

The way you tell it they all sit about in a bunker wearing blindfolds.

 

[DevonDiver]

If all these divers sought qualifications outside BSAC/CMAS etc etc..

1. What does that say about BSAC / CMAS-derived clubs?

2. Why don't BSAC /CMAS-derived clubs internalise the knowledge that their members are acquiring?

3. What does that illustrate about the relationship between the training provided and the level of dives members are empowered to undertake?

The way you tell it they all sit about in a bunker wearing blindfolds.

The way I tell it, they are enabled to sit around in a bunker wearing blindfolds.

Exactly how would you describe a leadership behaviour that allowed member divers to conduct very high narcotic potential, significant overhead ceiling dives on a single cylinder and no redundancy, using 30 year old tables?

People need the skills required to do those dives. They are not automatically suicidal idiots...

So, what you're saying is that the club system permits them to do dives that could be "suicidal".

However, some astute and prudent individual members recognise the insufficiency of their club training relative to the dives they are empowered/authorised to undertake.

So those astute and prudent individuals feel obliged to seek supplemental training from outside the club system?

The issue was that CMAS derived clubs were anachronistic and suffered from inertia in their approaches to decompression diving.

If club members are forced to routinely seek more modern and comprehensive decompression training from outside the club, isn't that supportive evidence for what I'm saying?

My primary point is that diving approaches and applications have evolved drastically since the 1950s. What used to be the norm might now be widely considered "suicidal"; but CMAS-derived clubs remain unable to modify their standards, limits and training requirements to reflect that.

 

[Storker]

CMAS-derived clubs remain unable to modify their standards, limits and training requirements to reflect that.

You obviously have experience from a large number of "CMAS-derived" (whatever that might mean) clubs since you can speak with such authority about what happens in these clubs.

 

[Freewillow]

It really panders to gross negative stereotypes ... and such stereotyping normally stems from some desire to justify ones own worth.

Thank you for providing the community and myself with your gross negative stereotypes.

You are really proving my point.

 

[Diving Dubai]

People seek training outside the club environment, because the clubs may not have suitably qualified instructors. My club has CCR divers & trimix divers but but none are qualified as instructors. Or people have chosen to a technical course in a different location, thus going with a different agency.

We do have a lot of Advanced instructors who can teach all the recreational and most of the Skill development courses (as long as they hold an instructor approval for that discipline).

The same could be said for any agency, the further you wish to progress (and by that I mean move into more technical diving), then you find less quialified instructors

 

[Bennno]

... but CMAS-derived clubs remain unable to modify their standards, limits and training requirements to reflect that.

The German CMAS clubs don't do deep air and 'old school' deco anymore. They have modified their standards and their training... some clubs do trimix and sidemount now and like PADI/SSI/etc. there are some great and some crappy intructors.
For entry level instructor ratings, the clubs usually have higher requirements than PADI and SSI.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

The German CMAS clubs don't do deep air and 'old school' deco anymore. They have modified their standards and their training... some clubs do trimix and sidemount now and like PADI/SSI/etc. there are some great and some crappy intructors.
For entry level instructor ratings, the clubs usually have higher requirements than PADI and SSI.

Do they support decompression diving without redundancy in gas supply?

Would Deep Air be disallowed and no-redundancy, decompression diving be allowed?