When should you do a refresher course?

[freewillie]

I'm going to start a new thread so not to hijack an earlier thread about refresher courses. Similar but slightly different question.

My last dive was about 9-10 months ago. I have AOW certification and 68 total dives to this point. I own most of my own gear except a tank and until last September dived at least once or twice a month. But parenting responsibilities with baseball coaching duties and a son who also plays club basketball I have not had a free weekend to actually dive. The one weekend I was free and thought about diving the surf rolled in conditions weren't appropriate for diving. My daughter also holds AOW certification and has roughly 30 dives at this point. She has not been in the water since last August when we dived Cancun.

I don't feel like I'm that rusty. Except for maybe some initial buoyancy issues I feel like my basic scuba skills are good enough to dive next week on vacation without a refresher. I also don't think my daughter's skills are adversely affected as she routinely goes several months in between dives.

Now I have another friend who has not dived in about 7-8 years. He previously dived quite a bit but has not been able to dive even on vacation over the past several years. We sort of planned to do a local beach dive but he has not gotten around to getting his refresher course. Whenever I ask him about diving it's usually, "have you done your refresher yet?" As answer is no we haven't made plans to dive yet.

So, how long in between dives would you recommend a refresher course; or, at what point would you feel as a diver you need to do a refresher course? At what point do you tell a friend maybe it's better to take one before you buddied up.

 

[wolflegresley]

Its funny you mentioned this, I just went through this with a friend this weekend. He hasnt dove in approx 2-3 years but said he did an honest self review and felt he was good to go. I simply asked him well lets do an "easy" dive in approx 30 feet of water and just test it out....he actually did fine but there were a few serious issues that I'm glad he re-learned underwater..I.E. forgot about the safety stop...at 30 feet its not a "CRITICAL" problem...but if we did 90 feet it could have been.

My answer is that a refresher should be done anytime a diver is not 100% confident in ALL of their drills/skills.

It may be acceptable to do a "check out" dive instead of a full refresher course...I bought the scuba tune up book to continuously review during my breaks in diving...but if for a second I didn't think I could teach myself a lost skill I would be taking a refresher...the cost of pride is far more than I'm willing to pay.

A diver who errs on the side of caution is ALWAYS a good diver in my books.

 

[boulderjohn]

I have taught a bunch of refreshers over the years. I find that if a diver comes to it with a decent number of dives and less than 2 years since the last one, they usually do not have much trouble and pick things up quickly. The more years, the more trouble. I would expect someone who has been out 7-8 years to need some help.

I had a couple a little while ago who had done a lot of diving years before but nothing for the past 11 years. They should have taken the entire course over again. They were part of a group refresher class, with almost everyone else within the previous 2 years doing fine. Those others spent a lot of time watching those two try to do skills.

I had someone in a refresher ask why there was a second regulator with a yellow face on the regulator set. It had been a while for her, too, and she should have taken a full class over again.

It is hard to put a number on it. When you put brand new students in a pool, some of them get it all right away with no trouble, and others struggle. The same is true for a refeesher.

 

[TMHeimer]

I've never taken or taught a refresher. If it's something you want to consider (as opposed to a requirement by a shop/op, etc.), I think the answer is to do one if you feel you need to. I have met people on boats who just finished OW "last month" and did a couple of dives since-- who most definately could use a refresher NOW! (guess that's just a comment on their training). Then again my brother dived a lot in the '80s (about 200 dives) and hardly at all since until we began a once YEARLY shore dive 3 years ago. He was a bit rusty on some minor things, but in general had no significant problems at all. I always recommend reviewing the manuals whether you dive regularly or not--go through the skills on land--ei. do a "fake" reg. retrieval, etc. I don't think there can be a set rule as to when a refresher should be done--depends on the person.

 

[Goodtime Adventures]

As you will have read in the other thread, industry standards generally recommend 6 months to a year. But it is dependent on the diver and their experience, and also what dives you are planning to do. In your case for example it may be a good idea if you were planning dives in differing conditions to whatever is 'the norm' for you - this could be anything from water temperature, visibility, currents etc. Basically anything that would complicate the dive comparatively to what you're used to and thus making it more important that the basics are simply automatic skills. It would also be important for an advanced diver to do one after a more extended period - no-one should want their first dive in a few years to be 30m/100ft, its just not fair to the diver, their buddies or leader.

In your case, I don't think I refresher is necessary, but for your friends who have not dived for several years, it absolutely is! In general I'd agree with wolflegresley though, you should do one any time you are not 100% confident in your own skills set. Better for you, better for your buddy and better for your dive leader. The problem with people who refuse a review (as per the other thread) that its not just their life they have to consider by cutting corners, its those of others on the dive and dive boat that may be adversely affected too.

hope this helps and happy a happy dive holiday

 

[supergaijin]

Scuba knowledge can be a quick and easy chaeck. Ask questions such as
"what is a no-decompression limit?"
"what is the recommended generl procedure if one accidentally exceeds this?"
"what is a safety stop?"
"how do you ascertain correct weighting before the dive?"

set up equipment, have a dry run through an OOA drill.

Maybe the diver in question will begin to see the light.

 

[uncfnp]

My opinion as purely a recreational diver and not a professional...

Part of the equation is at what point in your dive experience the break occurs. If diving long and frequently enough before the pause, the skills will be more ingrained with greater muscle memory. If the dive free interval happens closer to certification, the skills will be lost much more easily. A very gray area.


For the well experienced diver, a quick review of the appropriate dive manual for knowledge refresher and ideally a dip in a local dive site or pool should suffice. Hopefully with your planned buddy. Barring that, at least a mental review of procedures and a dry run (or three) at home. A simulated dive on the computer may also help. And make sure to include a review of the dive computer! I know that even six months dry can make my buoyancy more of a challenge (not helped by the new gear bought doing the SI!) and my first DSMB deployment will not be pretty. A technical dive or any diver out of the water for several years may require a more formal refresher.


For the less experienced diver, I agree with the 6 months to 1 year recommendation for a formal refresher course.

 

[timt97]

I've done a refresher a couple of times. I was 13yrs old when I got my OW. Did a refresher at 20yrs old after a 5 year break... Then another refresher last year after a 14 year break... I knew I didn't remember everything. But after getting in a pool to go over everything, it pretty much came right back. Very glad I did in a controlled environment rather than in open water with a buddy that was ready to go...

Buoyancy after that much time is a big one to work on, I didn't even think about a safety stop and was rusty on hand signals.

See if the 3 of y'all could go to a pool or shallow depth for "gear check" and buoyancy to get the right amount of weight... And do a thorough dive plan including safety stops and hand signals... No thumbs up because you see something cool!

Seems like most dive shops with pools don't have any problem with a tag along on training night at no charge.

Better to push him on a refresher, than for an emergency to come up underwater and him have no idea what to do.

 

[DivemasterDennis]

You friend should definitely do a refresher after years of lay off from diving. You and your daughter should at least do what we call a "pool workout." Less than a full refresher, but go to a dive center with a pool, pay a little for pool time and a tank and review setting up your equipment, some basic skills, weighting and buoyancy. My wife Debbie and I do this before a trip if either of us have bnot been in scuba in the previous 3 months. It's just a good practice. It also allows your to make sure all your geart is working properly.
DivemasterDennis

 

[cocoajoe]

Speaking just for myself, skills erode faster after a layoff in just about anything I can think of.
9-10 months? Pool work at the very least.