Instructor closing valves?

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KZuA7o1NIY

I suppose it isn't as bad as this hazefest^. Are you referring to a specific agency or class when you say training? I am sure each agency has a policy outlining what is and is not to be conducted in a class.

I can see how turning off a divers' air for training may not go over well as it does carry a bit of risk, but if a diver knew he or she was in a training atmosphere and there were other divers supervising with air on hand, surely the risk could be well mitigated.
 
Better to learn on a training dive ... Then in real time... it's called training for a reason...

Jim...
 
When I did my technical dive training in OW, we all had our air shut off many times. The instructor was very good at sneaking up on us and shutting us down when we least expected it. It usually worked out. One day my buddy's air was shut off, and I donated. When I switched to my alternate, I got nothing. I immediately figured out that the instructor had shut off my left post to simulate a left post rolloff, and I turned it back on. No problem. A few months later the same instructor did the same thing with two other students, but this time the student did not act appropriately and bolted to the surface, ripping the regulator he had just donated out of his OOA buddy's mouth and taking it to the surface with him. They were both OK, but that was potentially a two dead students episode. Now that I am teaching tech in open water, I will not turn off my students' air.

When I did my cave training, no air was actually shut off. The instructor signaled students to be OOA. That's what I do.

Actually putting students out of air may be a little better for them, but it is not a risk I am willing to take.
 
During my SCUBA diver class, NAUI, the instructor and several others would turn off valves, yank fins off, yank masks off. I am pretty sure is was customary and routine in those times. N
 
During my SCUBA diver class, NAUI, the instructor and several others would turn off valves, yank fins off, yank masks off. I am pretty sure is was customary and routine in those times. N

Yeah.
Same here.
I was fine with it.
I was told it was coming.
I regarded it as a game of sorts.

Chug
Still getting over the sad fact that Debby Boone's "You Light Up My Life", was number one for ten consecutive weeks when I got certified.
 
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During my SCUBA diver class, NAUI, the instructor and several others would turn off valves, yank fins off, yank masks off. I am pretty sure is was customary and routine in those times. N

Ah, the good old days!
 
During my SCUBA diver class, NAUI, the instructor and several others would turn off valves, yank fins off, yank masks off. I am pretty sure is was customary and routine in those times. N

Same with my CMAS class in the mid-80s. First day of class the instructor told us that we would think he's trying to kill us. He sure wasn't wrong. However, he also said he wanted to develop confidence in us that when S*** hit the fan, we'd keep our wits about us and work thru the problem. He was right on that front too.
 
Same with my CMAS class in the mid-80s. First day of class the instructor told us that we would think he's trying to kill us. He sure wasn't wrong. However, he also said he wanted to develop confidence in us that when S*** hit the fan, we'd keep our wits about us and work thru the problem. He was right on that front too.

My LA County instructor in 1975 told us that he was teaching us how to handle stress.

I still can hear him bellowing, "My students do not panic! They may drown...but they do NOT panic."

There was something to that, but it does not foster a good learning atmosphere.
I would never shut off a student's air without their full awareness.
 
I was watching this nice video about cave diving training and noticed that at one point during a blackout drill the instructor closes a student's valve. I thought that was a big no-no during training.

Like several others who have already responded, my initial open water course (NAUI/YMCA in 1986—you could request either card from the professor/instructor) incorporated several pool skills involving black-out masks, regulators being ripped away, fins being stolen, divers being flipped around and upside down (as if in a turbulent shore exit gone awry), air being turned off, etc., etc., etc. Some protocols had to be strictly adhered to: You couldn't lose contact with your buddy; you had to signal out-of-air, wait a brief period of time (~30 seconds), doff your tank, bring it around in front of you, replace your regulator, turn your air back on, hold on as you endured more "intenseness." Of course, students weren't subjected to such harassment on day one. Students were *developed* over an entire semester. They were subjected to increasingly more intense skills as the semester progressed. We all were always briefed; we all knew in principle that "things" were about to happen.

Despite what some may think, this wasn't a macho thing. I don't recall any chest thumping or fist pumping. There were male students and female students (some of whom were quite petite).

I've written here before that I believe this type of training has real merit. I think it has made me a more competent diver. I believe I personally benefitted from having gone through such training, a couple of times in real life intense situations.

I know of at least two places where this type of thorough training can still be had.

Safe Diving,

rx7diver
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/
http://cavediveflorida.com/Rum_House.htm

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