Just finished the rescue class...

[runamonk]

My wife and I just finished the rescue class. This was the hardest and most fun class we've taken so far.

We were pushed more than I thought possible. We learned alot of cool skills that I really hope we continue to practice so that if the time comes we know what to do or better yet what not to do.

Highly recommend this class to everyone. I honestly feel this should be a mandatory class .

 

[chewie]

great job. not only you would know how to handle yourself in an emergency situation, but others as well! it is trully a rewarding & fulfilling class. it is really beneficial & worthwhile. you would feel that you'd give something back by helping other divers if the dive leader or guide is not available.

 

[dlndavid]

DIVER! DIVER! ARE YOU OK? Congratulation, I thought it was a good course to take also.

 

[Dive 'N' Dolphin]

I want to take this class since my daughter is getting certified. You say its the hardest class. Do you mean physically or lots of book work? What would you recommend someone do to prepare for this type of class before actually taking it?


Thanks
Stacy

 

[fishballer]

Pizza!! Pizza!!!

 

[DeputyDan]

I would bet he means physically.

The class is absolutely worth it.

 

[chewie]

it's really a demanding course. but the rewards are something else. preventing something as simple as an low on air or out of air situation for another diver or having someone overcome their fear of something & having them enjoy the rest of the dive is reward in itself

 

[jeraldjcook]

I thought the class was mentally tough as well. Going through all different scenarios while running the beach (telling the other 2-6 people what you wanted them to do) I thought was challenging. I was always thinking of what else I could/should be doing based on number of victims, their condition, and what resources I had available.

 

[ClayJar]

When I and one of my buddies did our Rescue checkout trip, for some reason, I just *really* felt like ordering pizza that Saturday night. I just now realized that I'd been yelling "pizza" and chasing pizza all day.

Suddenly it all makes sense.

Incidentally, on the first day of the trip, I was watching the newbie divers gearing up, and I noticed a little girl whose BC straps looked *FAR* too loose when she strapped her tank in. I discreetly went up to her instructor and let him know to be sure to check her straps (as she was *his* student to teach). He was very grateful for the heads-up, and after the dive, he thanked me again and said that the tank would've definitely slipped out had he not strapped it down properly.

Would her instructor have checked it anyway and taken care of it? Almost certainly. Did my noticing it and alerting him cut off the chain of events which *could* have resulted in an incident or accident? Definitely. Was it a nice little bit of icing on the cake for the rest of the weekend when my instructor was out with a cold and the little girl's instructor finished off our Rescue skills? Hehe.

My Rescue/dive buddy and I pushed ourselves far more than the rest of the class appeared to be pushed. I'm sure they learned a lot, but we both had decided that we were going to learn everything we could and perform as best as possible. (We'd never done the bailout drill, for example, so at the end of a pool session, we asked to do it while the rest of the class was heading home. That was *fun*!) Having a strongly motivated class-buddy seems to work really well.

Of course, on the checkout trip, we were the only two Rescue students, so we got to be our own distressed divers, etc. I rescued my buddy first, but when I finished, I asked them why they didn't attack more. After switching up, they went out and ordered pizza (emphatically) again, this time trying their very hardest not to be rescued. After being physically attacked (including getting elbowed in the face and having my regulator kicked(?) out -- that purge button comes in handy sometimes!), I managed to subdue them and get them on their way back to "land".

The instructor commented that a distressed diver will usually grab the float I'd towed out and kept between me and my assailant/buddy at first. We said we did it that way the first time, but that we'd decided to try the distressed diver surface rescue again, this time at it's most difficult. From his reaction, I'd say he probably doesn't often see students trying to make their lives as difficult as possible. Of course, that also meant that he bumped up all the drills another peg or two, in order to make them as challenging as he could, which just made it that much better.

 

[jeraldjcook]

We had all sorts of distractions. The instructor had random people who just happened to be at the lake come up and try to distract us, offer to help, smoke around the O2, all sorts of things. Between the instructors, DMs, and students we had 11 people. It allowed us to have multiple victims, panicked buddies, good Samaritans, PITA people. Later, we even got some of the new OW students involved after they had finished their checkout dives. The instructors would be going over the later scenario and see how long it took us to notice the unconscious OW student on the surface, things like that. I highly recommend everyone take the course.