PADI Rescue Diver

Hi All, I am participating in my Rescue diver course next weekend here in the UK, I have heard alot of good thigns about it, I am also one of the firm believers that rescue is a vital part of being a safe diver, and a safe buddy, I am curious however
some people have told me this cause is amazing, others have told me its more difficult than the divemaster course
Those of you that have done it, what did you find most rewarding about the course? which bit did you find the most difficult? obviously the majority of answers are going to be opinion only, but I would like to get an idea for what i'm in for

Thanks for your comments

from any of the agencies is usually the most satisfiying course that people take from what I have read here. The course is physically challenging. Learning all the little things that may prevent an accident and learning how much you can do should one happen is something people seem to really enjoy.

Good luck with your course and have fun.

rescue is great. It is more demanding physically than DM. the best thing I got out of it was the confidence that not only could I help others, I was much more confident in my own ability to help my self. There is alot of basic first aid and ways of helping other divers in distress. I am not sur how practical it is in the "real world", but at leat you have a idea of the right way to do it. You should have a blast. Good luck

Phoenix once bubbled...
Those of you that have done it, what did you find most rewarding about the course? which bit did you find the most difficult?

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I did my Rescue course with a dive shop worker that was training to be a dive master. We did the panicked diver at the surface multiple times --- it turned into a contest to see if the "victim" could drown the rescuer. The instructor finally refused to let us do it again about the 10th repetition.

You will find that protecting the victim's airway while coming through surf, and at the same time maintaining rescue breathing is quite challenging.

Make sure you alert bystanders that it is all a drill. I did the course on a beach in Maui, after telling some nearby couples that were sunbathing. They later told us that at least 10 people passing by had initially gotten freaked out while we were doing our CPR drills.

Awesome course! I highly recommend it.

If you use Microsoft Word, and would like the "end of lesson" questions, you can go to my webpage below and follow the scuba links to "scuba documents".

The more I hear about the rescue course the more I really want to do it!

In fact although I have no intention of doing it before next season (I don't feel I have enough experience and confidence in my own skills as yet) I am taking my EFR course next week so that I at least have some sort of first aid training which will be useful to all aspects of my life.

I have heard some very funny stories about Rescue Courses. Last week when I was diving one of the staff members at the site was telling us about how he was playing the unconscious victim and was rescued at least four times by people who thought the was really in trouble, he said by the end he felt like putting a sign on his head that said 'victim on rescue course - I'm fine!'

Another one that I heard was about some guy who was warned that a rescue course was going on but was faffing about in the area and when the 'panicked diver' surfaced she flung her reg around behind her and broke his nose!

A dive centre that I taught with still squirm with embarassment whenever the incident is recounted where a Rescue Diver course was in full flow and the instructor had not bothered letting anyone in the area know that it was just a course of instruction.

Someone walking his dog along the clifftop heard the commotion generated from the rescue scenario and, thinking that he was being public minded and doing his duty, telephoned the coastguard.

Within minutes the local lifeboat had been launched and a coastguard helicopter, itself carrying out exercises in the area, had responded to the call.

Seemingly, and not suprisingly, the instructor wished that the earth (or sea) would open up and swallow them at that precise moment.

Enjoy your Rescue Course.

From the students view:

"Woah! A coast guard cutter! A coast guard HELICOPTOR? Talk about realism!!! My rescue class ROCKS! Damn my instructor is the greatest"!


-Dennis

Kev Martin once bubbled...
A dive centre that I taught with still squirm with embarassment whenever the incident is recounted where a Rescue Diver course was in full flow and the instructor had not bothered letting anyone in the area know that it was just a course of instruction.

Someone walking his dog along the clifftop heard the commotion generated from the rescue scenario and, thinking that he was being public minded and doing his duty, telephoned the coastguard.

Within minutes the local lifeboat had been launched and a coastguard helicopter, itself carrying out exercises in the area, had responded to the call.

Seemingly, and not suprisingly, the instructor wished that the earth (or sea) would open up and swallow them at that precise moment.

Enjoy your Rescue Course.

Click to expand...

The rescue class is probably the best diving releated class I have taken with the exception of Divemaster.

I would agree that rescue is as hard on your body as DM for the 2 days of Open Water work but DM as a whole is much harder (at least the way it was taught to me). It's not really fair to compare the two since the goal of both is very different. Rescue was a great experience. I DM for rescue classes whenever I can because I always learn something and my experiences as a DM allow me to create realistic scenarios for the Rescue students.

I recommend to anyone that hasen't taken it to take once they have become comfortable divers. It's not a great class for really new divers since there is a lot of task loading involved with a rescue. Just remeber to use EVERYTHING available to you during the class. That means people, objects whatever. The biggest mistakes I see are people really wanting to do well but they get tunnel vision and try to do to much without taking into account other people, floatation devices and even boats.


Good luck and have fun!


Scott

Thanks for the input everyone, I appreciate it
we have been doing panicked diver and unconcious diver rescue in the 4m pool for the last 3 weeks, along with lots of towing and simulated egress, looking forward to this weekend, even if i do already feel a bit knackered!