I've always used jacket type BCD's with students for the simple reason the dive shop that I teach for discourages any type of technical diving--including the gear.(I was told don't leave my double tanks around because they will SCARE students!) Anyway, have or do any of you instructors started new OW students with a backplate and single tank wing? How did they do? Did they get over the tendency for it to put their face in the water on the surface? Since I've started diving a bp/wing I hate my jacket BCD. I want to use the same gear as the students for class hence starting them with a BP/wing. It feels a lot more natural underwater. I want to create the BEST possible diving expieriance for my students, so I think using better gear helps that. What do you guys think? The ONLY disadvantage that I see is on the surface the BP/wing tends to push you a little face down until you get used to it.
new OW students in BP/wing or Jacket BCD
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check out the 'infinity' system from Halcyon. its actually designed with recreational divers in mind, complete with pads and adjustability to make it more 'new diver' friendly and less intimidating.
And in the even that some of them choose to 'grow' in the extended range direction, from what i hear, they (wkpp) are using it in the big pushes in Wakulla.
Halcyon Infinity | Halcyon Dive Systems
And in the even that some of them choose to 'grow' in the extended range direction, from what i hear, they (wkpp) are using it in the big pushes in Wakulla.
Halcyon Infinity | Halcyon Dive Systems
flw
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I prefer to teach new divers using a wing set-up - though not with the backplate, just a basic travel wing - none of them have gone to a jacket style when buying their own gear. Just having less clutter on your front makes teaching a whole heap simpler - and avoids me teaching in disimilar kit to a trainee. I wouldn't be comfortable diving in a jacket syle, so why teach students that way.
At some point I will often give them a jacket to try out for a dive, and having trained with a wing - not ome of them likes the constricted feeling it gives.
An additional benefit is you need less training kit, cos wings are much less size dependant
At some point I will often give them a jacket to try out for a dive, and having trained with a wing - not ome of them likes the constricted feeling it gives.
An additional benefit is you need less training kit, cos wings are much less size dependant
We use BP/W's for Discover Scuba Programs, OW students, etc.
Students do fine with them. (Why wouldn't they?)
There is no "tendency for it to put their face in the water on the surface" with a properly adjusted/weighted/trimmed rig. Certainly not for new divers who have to get used to whatever gear they are in, so they don't notice a "difference" from a BCD.
Especially good because you're much more able to get a better/precise fit for 100% of people with a BP/W and harness. Particularly true for people who are really skinny/fat/tall/short or otherwise not an off-the-shelf S/M/L/XL. Recently did a Discover Scuba Diving birthday party for a dozen 12yr old girls. They ranged in size from 4ft nothing and 65lbs, all the way up to 5'8" and 150lbs. Not a problem with any of them.
Students do fine with them. (Why wouldn't they?)
There is no "tendency for it to put their face in the water on the surface" with a properly adjusted/weighted/trimmed rig. Certainly not for new divers who have to get used to whatever gear they are in, so they don't notice a "difference" from a BCD.
Especially good because you're much more able to get a better/precise fit for 100% of people with a BP/W and harness. Particularly true for people who are really skinny/fat/tall/short or otherwise not an off-the-shelf S/M/L/XL. Recently did a Discover Scuba Diving birthday party for a dozen 12yr old girls. They ranged in size from 4ft nothing and 65lbs, all the way up to 5'8" and 150lbs. Not a problem with any of them.
That is the only student gear I have. And as I dive with BP/W or my Zeagle, I have no issues there... If students bring their own gear, we take the opportunity to compare and let students familiarize themselves with varied types of gear. And I have steels, aluminum 80's, yolks and dins, and yes, twins laying out there for all to see. I definitely don't think it scares Anyone but the instructor who doesn't want to, or doesn't know how to explain them.
It sounds like YOU want what YOU like and that is no crime.
As an independent instructor, dive shop manager or dive shop owner, many people chose to put students in the gear they WANT them to use &/or buy.
Where your students are going to do most of their future diving would seem a logical consideration for what gear to use for training.
If the students will be buying their own gear and mostly diving locally, the gear used by the majority of the local divers who own their own gear should be seriously considered for training.
If the students will be renting and mostly diving warm water vacation dives, the typical rental gear both locally and in those warm water locations should be seriously considered for training.
Another consideration might be the way your OW course is structured. In my neck of the woods most OW classes are hopefully ~24 hours with the instructor to complete the entire course, and the vast majority of students in typical warm water rental gear very well may be appropriate from nearly every perspective.
XXL Back Inflates cover most of the students that obviously lied on their medical release, a lie which most knowledgeable instructors knowingly ignore. :shocked2:
If you are going to continue working for a dive shop owner or manager who mandates using typical rental gear, similar to the majority of the gear sold in the shop, that seems to be the way it will be.
As an independent instructor, dive shop manager or dive shop owner, many people chose to put students in the gear they WANT them to use &/or buy.
Where your students are going to do most of their future diving would seem a logical consideration for what gear to use for training.
If the students will be buying their own gear and mostly diving locally, the gear used by the majority of the local divers who own their own gear should be seriously considered for training.
If the students will be renting and mostly diving warm water vacation dives, the typical rental gear both locally and in those warm water locations should be seriously considered for training.
Another consideration might be the way your OW course is structured. In my neck of the woods most OW classes are hopefully ~24 hours with the instructor to complete the entire course, and the vast majority of students in typical warm water rental gear very well may be appropriate from nearly every perspective.
XXL Back Inflates cover most of the students that obviously lied on their medical release, a lie which most knowledgeable instructors knowingly ignore. :shocked2:
If you are going to continue working for a dive shop owner or manager who mandates using typical rental gear, similar to the majority of the gear sold in the shop, that seems to be the way it will be.
Or you just do what I do. Have them in jacket, back inflate, and BPW during the course. Then they decide on what they want to use for checkouts if the gear is available. Even newly certed divers should be able to do this as gear selection is part of the dive planning process. Two of my OW students have purchased jacket bc's after trying a back inflate in the class I have going currently. Two previous ones went with Zeagle Express techs. The point is that the student and not the shop should make the decision.
But even going into the check out dives of a 50 hour OW course do most new divers know enough about their current educational situation and future in diving to make the decision?
If one is very picky about who they allow as a student, that approach may be the right one, but if you work for a shop or operator that gives you classes full of the random students that signed up that week, who may or may not be candidates for a picky course, many of those students may not know enough to know that they don't know enough to make such decisions.
What the other north eastern people said. And you fall through your jacket and hit the bottom. Some here are going that way for adjustability interchangeability of components and lifetime lasting reasons. If you start with the right stuff you are more likely to continue and for some, doubles are something to aspire to whether they need them or not and withholding options from prospectives treats them dumb and if your immovable except with dynamite stoneage mob thought it beneficial to themselves they would probably start with rebreathers.
Bouyancy control devices are designed for "under" water use and to that unconscious person bobbing around face planted in the ocean somewhere, G'day.
Bouyancy control devices are designed for "under" water use and to that unconscious person bobbing around face planted in the ocean somewhere, G'day.
halemanō;5342701:...but if you work for a shop or operator that gives you classes full of the random students that signed up that week...many of those students may not know enough to know that they don't know enough to make such decisions.
Well, they'll certainly be better informed - if merely for knowing of the existence of options - than someone who was handed some or other poodle jacket and told "that looks about right" before getting in the pool.
Part of me feels like a good shop/instructor would do well to PROHIBIT students from buying their own gear until the END of their OW course, encouraging them (if not forcing them) to try various configurations along the way.
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