Rescue dive (PADI)

[scubadiveilat]

Scuba Diving is primarily about having fun.

Enjoy it. learn while enjoying. By making an enjoyable activity you'll succeed dramatically. Also Rescue is an excellent course. Pay attention and question everything. If you want to take it to a professional level. Stay focused, and ensure your up the standards in the CPR and EFR procedures as they change. Keep up to date with articles and readings after the course.

Have fun and enjoy!!! you'll become a better dive buddy for others.

 

[oreocookie]

For me, the class was a confidence builder and a chance to learn that you're capable of more than you think you are. There were times when my instructors pushed me and times where I pushed myself, times when I didn't want to continue or get back in the water for the next set of exercises and times when I could wait to get to class. Our class laughed, we were serious, we got frustrated and we got silly, but most of all, we had fun in the process. I have peace of mind now, knowing that I know what to do if my buddy gets into trouble and she knows what to do if I get in trouble.

Have fun and enjoy the class. Don't worry about making mistakes because you and your classmates will make them, as long as you learn from those mistakes and learn to recognize and correct your mistakes on the fly.

 

[lsorenson]

Welcome Englishman...

I don't know if you have 4 dives or 24 dives but I am a bit surprised that nobody has spoke up and said you may want to practice a bit more on what you have learned....

I don't know why so many choose to do a cram session when it comes to this... Now maybe I am speaking out of turn and if so, please let me apologize for doing so but I would think it would be much more important at this stage to work on fundamentals... To be honest, if I was just starting out I would worry about it being "ME" needing to be rescued...

No disrespect intended and I hope you fare well...!

lee

PS for what its worth, I am one of those who believe no one should be allowed to start on their AOW with less than 25 dives... Just an opinion and nothing more...

Best to you...

 

[D_B]

That's an important point made about already having the basic fundamentals down before taking rescue.

I do disagree on some minimum number of dives needed before starting the class, everyones different, if your comfortable under water, have the basic trim and buoyancy down , no constant swings ether way, then you can take the class without being distracted by having to work on basic control issues.

I took it with less than 16 OW dives, and while I had a specific reason to take it with so few dives, I was certainly a safer diver after doing it.

One of the most rewarding things is to see that you can do things you might not thought yourself capable of, and to know that your a safer diver , for yourself, and for your buddy

 

[elmer fudd]

One thing I would highly recommend, if you regularly dive with another newbie or newbies, (maybe you took up diving together), then take the rescue class together. When you're diving, you want someone there who can recognize a problem and save your life if necessary.

 

[Thalassamania]

I was thinking about why rescue (regardless of agency) tends to be a really good class and I think it may be because instructors who are willing to teach rescue skills likely are the very same instructors who go the extra mile in everything else that they do. I wonder if teaching rescue regularly is not a criterion that we should add to the list of items to look for when selecting an instructor?

 

[Englishman]

Thank you all very much for taking the time to reply to my post - as of 3pm yesterday I am now a PADI certified rescue diver. All of your positive feedback was a great help and I DID find the course to be tough and challenging (mentally & physically) but also fun getting to know my 4 other victim/rescuers. I think it will make me both a more concientious and confident diver. I think (and I realize my limitations) it will make the friends that I dive with
More forgiving about my air consumption! I do realize that since a) I only started this bizarre hobby in may and; b) have maybe 14 dives to my name (of which about 6 are recreational) that the air consumption may actually improve. Thanks for being gentle with the new convert.

 

[Sortsol]

I just stumbled upon this post and unless I am gravely mistaken, I was in Englishman's Rescue Class. If I hadn't known beforehand, I wouldn't have been able to tell while underwater with him that he was a newbie either. As most of you said, this class was well worth the time and effort/$$$ we put into it. The instructor truly cared and it was evident in his teaching. It helped that we had a great group of guys in the class and while we were pushed to our limits a time or two, we also found time to laugh at and learn from our mistakes. This course served to help us better our selves and learn our own limits while teaching us important skill that we all hope we never have to use other than in practice.

 

[thkhoo]

Congratulations Englishman! Congratulations lacycroft! A bit late to this thread but I'm with most of the earlier posts: Rescue is probably the best and most rewarding course I've done. And Englishman, welcome to scuba - Your wallet will never be the same again.

 

[Sortsol]

I'll second that wallet comment!