When should you do a refresher course?

[tursiops]

You should do a refresher when you need one. The problem is most people don't know or admit they need one.
The more experience you have, the more you can go without diving before you ought to refresh, but that is negatively balanced by the more over-confidence you have and the more complacent you get.

I think the one-year "rule" is not too bad, but it need not be a formal Scuba Review....a gentle dive with a professional and a good debriefing afterwards may be sufficient.
After 3+ years, the more important it is to do something more formal, if only because (a) the gear may have changed, (b) if your own gear it may have deteriorated, (c) you may have changed (older, fatter, thinner, tireder), (d) the conditions may not be anything like you were used too.

I've led lots of dive trips. One fellow on an upcoming trip is older and maybe becoming a bit unfocused, hasn't dived for 8 years, and never was all that competent (I've been out with him on a number of trips). For him, I'm requiring he do a formal scuba review in a pool before the trip, and that he dive with me on his first two dives. He is a special case, so he is getting treated specially. I'm also making sure his DAN insurance is up-do-date and that he has signed all the waivers....

 

[icechip]

I get into a pool in early spring before dive season gets fully underway to work on skills and drills. Then to a nearby lake in less than 25 feet of water once again to work with skills, drills and any new gear I might have gotten for Christmas. This helps me feel more prepared for ocean diving or whatever else the dive season brings.

 

[boulderjohn]

The dive shop with which I work recently asked me to do a private pool refresher for a woman about to embark on a dive trip. The experience demonstrates a benefit to doing a refresher prior to a trip when you really don't need it, and at the same time it shows why you might need it more than you think.

When I talked to her before we got in the water and asked her about her experience, I wondered why on Earth she was doing a refresher. She had a lot of experience, and she had not been away from diving all that long. We had a two hour session scheduled that she had paid for, but it took only a few minutes to see that she was highly competent in the water, at least in all the basics covered by a normal refresher. I told her that, and then I offered to make the rest of the time worth while by taking her to a more advanced level. She agreed, and we spent the rest of the time perfecting buoyancy and trim and working on advanced kicking techniques. She was very grateful.

On the other hand, the experience uncovered a real flaw, a very surprising and very dangerous one, in her scuba knowledge. She had all her own equipment--very upper end stuff--and we used tanks and weights from the shop. She hooked up her regulator with its AI computer on the high pressure hose and turned on her air. I happened to be looking over her shoulder as she checked the air pressure and said, "Yep, the computer is detecting the nitrox level correctly, too." It was reading 32%. I told her the computer does not have an oxygen sensor, and the nitrox setting has to be done manually. She insisted that no, the computer analyzes the gas and sets it for the correct percentage of nitrox. I told her that not only would the shop not supply 32% for a pool dive, it does not even have the capacity to make nitrox in its fill room. (We rarely have a need for it with all local diving very shallow.) There could only be air in that tank. She finally believed me. At some point in the past, she had understood her computer and set it for 32% while diving with that mix. At some point in her past she forgot that. On every dive after that, she had been diving with a computer set for 32%, no matter what was actually in the tank. That is a potentially fatal error that would not be caught on a normal refresher. If I had not been looking over her shoulder, and if she had not talked about the computer analyzing the gas, it would not have been caught.

 

[redacted]

The idea that some good (for the recipient) may come out of unnecessary training does not justify the requirement (or expense) of the unnecessary training.

There are some dive ops, including live-a-boards that only require an appropriate C-card.

 

[boulderjohn]

The idea that some good (for the recipient) may come out of unnecessary training does not justify the requirement (or expense) of the unnecessary training.

There are some dive ops, including live-a-boards that only require an appropriate C-card.

In this case it was the diver's choice--not a requirement of any kind from us. The real benefit was that she could go on her trip and say she had already had a refresher and would not have to do a required one at the resort.

 

[Hawkwood]

In this case it was the diver's choice--not a requirement of any kind from us. The real benefit was that she could go on her trip and say she had already had a refresher and would not have to do a required one at the resort.

Given that the costs for "courses" are often significantly more on trips than when done at home, if there is the slight chance of being forced to do one when on a trip, better off doing a simple refresher before they leave.

 

[boulderjohn]

Given that the costs for "courses" are often significantly more on trips than when done at home, if there is the slight chance of being forced to do one when on a trip, better off doing a simple refresher before they leave.

I have had several cases where people doing local refreshers were doing so because they knew in advance they would be required at the resort. They had me sign off on their log book that they had done it with me so that they would not have to do it there.

 

[Hawkwood]

Yup, we do a lot of that for folks. Saves them time on "the other end". We fill out their log books with a list of the skills done.

 

[redacted]

In this case it was the diver's choice--not a requirement of any kind from us. The real benefit was that she could go on her trip and say she had already had a refresher and would not have to do a required one at the resort.

There is clearly a need for such training. I have no problem when the diver is given opportunity to freely chooses such training. It is when a dive op introduces this as required training when the diver shows up to do his vacation dives that I have a problem, especially when the "requirement" is based on some arbitrary time. It makes my scam warning alarm sound when such a requirement is not established in advance.

 

[freewillie]

It's always an interesting notion of what should be required and what needs to be demonstrated for skills after a certain length of time. And usually the time frame becomes a relatively arbitrary choice of a week, a month, a year, etc. We certify drivers for life. I will tell you from experience of this morning's commute some of the driver's need to go back to driver's ed. I've seen divers on vacation boast about how long and how often they dive can't get the first stage on without help and then look like they are still in OW class. Then the newbie as my instabuddy who's nervous because he has only a few dives looks great underwater.

The notion of "you haven't dived in 6-12 months (or more)" and "need" a refresher seems just as arbitrary to me. I understand from the legal end why a dive operator would require a class. But I do have significant distaste for having something that is arbitrary and then required before I can dive and oh by the way it's going to cost me a few hundred dollars more - that I dislike. I should at least be given an opportunity to prove my skills before you make me open my wallet.

To me it's the variation of the eye ball test. If you look like you can dive and you look competent when you start to gear up you are probably going to be okay. If you look like you are unsure of the gear and the equipment and you look like you aren't comfortable then maybe a refresher course would be wise. If you don't feel comfortable and ask if you need one then the answer is yes, you probably do.