What's the hardest class you have taken, and what made it hard?

[Tigerman]

Basic OW was a challenge... the PADI instructor the wife and I had was a real meat sausage, he kept texting and calling my wife for six months after the class… At least California has some good anti-stalking laws because PADI and the LDS didn’t care.

I thought the class was supposed to be the challenge, not getting rid of the instructor afterwards

 

[Akimbo]

Divemaster because I went into it not knowing how to swim. By the time it was over I had developed a very crude but working method that got me passed

How sad. This statement does not speak very highly of any diver trained by that organization or the organization itself.

 

[k ellis]

How sad. This statement does not speak very highly of any diver trained by that organization or the organization itself.

Depends on which way you wish to look at it. It speaks volume that it motivates people to learn how to swim. It did what it was supposed to and built water confidence.Id say that speaks volume.

 

[snowdog]

We both (My Wife and I) have gone through a lot of courses since the OW (including Stress and Recuse), and the most important part of any course... is the instructor.

 

[Peter Guy]

The "hardest class" I had wasn't a class at all (or so I thought). It was a series of "diving lessons" with AG which ended with Andrew telling the three of us we had earned a NAUI HeliOx card.

By the time I worked with Andrew, I'd already been PADIfied through Rescue, taking 5th DX's Essentials and Rec 1 and GUE Fundies (working on upgrading to a tech pass). The work with AG was totally different from anything I'd ever done before or since. The whole experience was that he would pick out weak points, expose them and then see if you could improve them. It really worked for me but NOT for everyone in the sessions.

I came out of the experience a much better diver than when I went in and that should be the result of every class, shouldn't it?

 

[Akimbo]

Depends on which way you wish to look at it. It speaks volume that it motivates people to learn how to swim. It did what it was supposed to and built water confidence.Id say that speaks volume.

What speaks volumes is a certifying organization that issues a basic open water C-card to people who can’t swim, let alone makes them dive masters without being very strong swimmers. This is not a personal attach. Don’t you think certifying weak swimmers as divers or even dive masters is imprudent if they have to perform a rescue?

I guess I am old-school where a person is expected to be confident in the water before starting a basic Scuba class.

 

[snowdog]

I am sorry... But I have to agree with Akimbo, it not an attack, it's just common sense.

 

[k ellis]

What speaks volumes is a certifying organization that issues a basic open water C-card to people who can’t swim, let alone makes them dive masters without being very strong swimmers. This is not a personal attach. Don’t you think certifying weak swimmers as divers or even dive masters is imprudent if they have to perform a rescue?

I guess I am old-school where a person is expected to be confident in the water before starting a basic Scuba class.

Ok my typing often leads to the need to clarify. I could not swim until I was a a divemaster. While a divemaster candidate I developed a crude but effective swimming stroke. Now to say I did not become a good swimmer would be an understatement. Do I think divers should know how to swim to be certified? Not necessarily at the start but I agree they should definately learn to swim during the course of their dive adventure.

I drug my feet but I did learn. 10 years of swim lessons did not accomplish what 1 month of determination to excel in diving did. If it were not for me being a diver I would never have learned to swim so this in fact is a good thing. Consider it a backwards learning method if you will. I learned through diving that being underwater was not a bad thing. I learned being on top of the water was not something to panic about either. I learned that breathing out while submerged is ok to do. (After all blowing bubbles is a major part of swimming right?)

I dont consider it a personal attack just stating what it did for me. Have people drowned because they had reason to shed their gear in the water? Absolutely. Some were world class swimmers and others non swimmers.

I am thankful more then anything though that I have a great Course Director that when I threw the towel in he threw it back and said he could not make me stay but he did everything but demand I continue on. He listened to me curse the world in his shop because I could not swim then calmly told me to get in the pool and he took time away from all of his things he had to do and got in the water with me and taught me how to swim.

Now I am not going to go in to details for obvious reasons but in my local area he is like any person I know in that many people love him some people hate him thats part of life but most cant understand why I am so loyal and devoted to his shop. He taught me to dive, he taught me to swim, he taught me how to be self reliant, he listens to me rant knowing its frustration and not hatred and he smiles at the end and always helps me learn things. Hes offered in the past to buy me breakfast when I showed up to help him teach discover classes that never showed up.

So I'd say diving to me is not putting on gear and getting in the water. Dive mastering is not getting in and helping students learn as I have diving has freed me from life long fears and showed me that one of the greatest joys of life is obtainable by even those who claim to not be able to meet the requirements. It showed me if at first you dont succeed to not try again but instead look at what I am doing wrong and rethink my strategies and listen to those of great experiences and look at why I failed and then not try the same thing again but instead try a new approach.

If life were meant to be simple my patrol car would not have bullet holes in it but its because of these bad things happening that we always find a way to improve it. So to make the point of my topic here the swim test is not designed to prove your a good swimmer or not. Its designed to show you can swim or that you can learn to swim if you cant. Agencies dont give lax standards so any one can pass they set their tiers up to help promote learning and push for people to become better divers through learning new things and building stronger confidence.

 

[Thalassamania]

Sort of like trying to teach someone with a balance problem to ski.

 

[fjpatrum]

Interesting thread, with some really good insights. For diving I've only taken a PADI OW course and it was trivially easy for me. Consider that fortunate or unfortunate as your bias dictates, but I'm reasonably happy with the training I received. Yes, it was certainly lacking in certain aspects, but I've learned a lot from Scubaboard so I'll say my participation here has been my best SCUBA class so far. The hardest part about that has been keeping out of the flame wars while occasionally throwing a little fuel on the fire.