Gaps in OW training

[sian_f]

I'm a newly certified OW diver, who is very excited to be part of the wider community of divers, but who has some reservations about her training!

As a new diver I quickly realised that there are many skills that a new diver will not encounter in the OW training, and that further practice and training are essential if you want to be safe and to make the most of your new skill. However, this post concerns skills that haven't been covered in the course, which really should have been practiced in order to become certified.

I've just "passed" my OW certificate in Turkey. A colleague of mine, who has dive master training, recommended the instructor to me. They dive together often, and the instructor has years of experience. I thought, therefore, that the training I would receive would be thorough. Unfortunately, I have the feeling that in other places, I would not have passed given my performance in some areas of the course.

One issue we have here is that there are few pools where people can do their confined dives. For that reason I did all my skills in one pool session, which took around 2 hours. There were a few skills that I couldn't manage. I had issues with full mask clearing (though I have no problems clearing a half-filled mask) and the freeflow exercise. I wanted to try these again, but the instructor told me that the session was over, and that we would practise these again the following weekend in the open water dives. Throughout the week I was apprehensive, as I did not feel ready to go straight to the open water without having "mastered" these basic skills.

In general, I feel comfortable under the water, and enjoyed my open water dives. I am almost there with my buoyancy, can equalize, use alternates etc. I can even swallow and burp with the regulator (as I'm sure you wanted to know that!) However, I still had a problem clearing the full mask, as I tend to inhale water through my nose, and it takes a few tries to clear it. I had the same issue again during mask removal and replacement. This left me quite tired and out of breath, and while doing the CESA, I totally ran out of breath just under a metre from the surface. I also asked the instructor if we were going to practise the freeflow exercise, and he said I could while he helped another girl having issues clearing her mask, but after the dive he just told me to go back to the boat.

As well as these things, I also noticed that we didn't complete buddy checks (I asked other, experience divers to check for me), we didn't perform sitting back rolls, we didn't use the dive table to plan dives or try any freedives.

My boyfriend is a diver in the navy, as well as a recreational diver and underwater photographer, which has made me both very keen to start diving, but also to train to the point where I feel I could cope in emergency situations, so that I can enjoy diving safely.

I'm going to take a refresher course while I'm back in the UK for a few weeks to work on these areas. I wanted to know whether others had had the same experience, and how they were able to "fill" these gaps through further dives. Did you ask to do emergency skills at the end of a dive with the dive leader? Were others sympathetic to your beginner status and were you able to take things slowly on your first post-certification dives?

Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated!

[ajduplessis]

I like your thinking and mindset towards scuba diving. You think and want to improve with the understanding of what is expected to safely scuba. I have read your response and agree that the level of training was not great even though you asked to practice more and the instructor moved on. I have no answer to why, some instructor just do enough and take your money.

I would suggest diving with the huddy who seems to be a good diver. Practice your lacking skills with him until you feel comfortable. I would also suggest start looking for a new AOW/Nitrox instructor. See my next point.

You also learned a good skill early on in your diving career. You know now to interview/talk to instructor before you spend you cash with them to understand how they train, operate and handle students. Is also a perfect time to explain your requirements and hear how he can accommodate you.

Congrats on your certification!! You will become a good and safe diver because you demand nothing less. Now go and find "that" instructor that thinks and act like you do.

[jar546]

Open water is not for practice during an OW course; it is to show competency. You should have "mastered" your skills in the confined water first before being allowed to move on to the open water. If what you say is correct, the instructor did you a disservice and more than likely may have violated the standards for the agency in which they instructed you.

[sian_f]

Jar546, that's exactly what I thought at the time, and one of the reasons why I was less than excited at the prospect of the open water dives. You place your trust in the instructor as they are the experts, and they should know when you're ready, when only you can really know if you're comfortable or not. We only had once chance to complete these skills when it came to the open water dives, whereas in reality I should have had more time before. I imagine that many students who might be in the same situation would be put off diving altogether if they have problems demonstrating the skills in the open water dive, where the situation is more "real" than in the pool. However, I'm determined to become more proficient at these things, even though getting a lot of water up my nose and spluttering a lot wasn't the most pleasant experience!

Ajduplessis, thanks for the vote of confidence As you can imagine, I’m reluctant to call myself an open water diver until I have those skills mastered! I’d love to continue with the AOW when I’m ready, but unfortunately there aren’t many course providers where I am. The friend who recommended the instructor was surprised and disappointed at the level of training I received, as he has dived with my instructor many times before. He also noticed that we didn’t do proper buddy checks (as he was there when I did my open water dives, too). I just hope that others will have more luck than me, and can get a recommendation from someone who has actually completed the course with their prospective instructor.

On a more positive note, I’m glad to have found this forum, and have already found some great advice from those ready to share their experiences – thanks!

[DivemasterDennis]

Not all intructors as as thorough as they ought to be, and I agree your training seemed rushed at the least. However, our learning as divers never ends. I still learn and get "better with every dive, as will you. Welcome to our world. Be safe, be active as a diver, and have fun!
DivemasterDennis

[freewillie]

If you ran out of air before you reached the surface during your CESA then technically you don't pass. By the book you should not receive certification until you pass all of your required skills.

The ongoing debate about OW certification is that you should have a bare minimum of skills to go diving. As they say, you should be able to plan your dive and dive your plan. The real question after OW certification is how confident are you to jump off a boat and go diving? If you are a solo diver on a boat and they buddy you up with a stranger, how confident are you in your skills or would you feel absolute panick and want to be next to a well experienced advanced diver?

Like driving a car, the more you dive the more comfortable your will be in your skills. You shouldn't be able to drive the Daytona 500 but you should be able to go to the store and back. The comfort with mask clearing and learning to breath through the reg and not inhale water through the nose will come with time. Being able to remove your mask completely is definitely a skill you need to be comfortable with. I had an issue once with my mask leaking. Nothing I did stopped the leak and it kept filling up at an alarming rate. I blew through (literally) 1000 - 2000 psi in just a few minutes I was blowing so much to clear the mask. Finally I took the mask completely off and put it back on. When I cleared the mask the leak stopped. I found out later sometime the angle of the strap can alter the seal and cause leaks.

Keep practicing and dive safe.

[DukeAMO]

I'm a newly certified OW diver, who is very excited to be part of the wider community of divers, but who has some reservations about her training!
...
I had issues with full mask clearing (though I have no problems clearing a half-filled mask) and the freeflow exercise.
...
However, I still had a problem clearing the full mask, as I tend to inhale water through my nose, and it takes a few tries to clear it. I had the same issue again during mask removal and replacement. This left me quite tired and out of breath, and while doing the CESA, I totally ran out of breath just under a metre from the surface. I also asked the instructor if we were going to practise the freeflow exercise, and he said I could while he helped another girl having issues clearing her mask, but after the dive he just told me to go back to the boat.
...
I'm going to take a refresher course while I'm back in the UK for a few weeks to work on these areas. I wanted to know whether others had had the same experience, and how they were able to "fill" these gaps through further dives. Did you ask to do emergency skills at the end of a dive with the dive leader? Were others sympathetic to your beginner status and were you able to take things slowly on your first post-certification dives?

Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated!

Welcome to the board! You sound a little like me, so I'll give you my perspective.

I had the most difficulty with the same skills. With the mask clearing, they never told me that if you're already vertical in the water, you don't have to look way up to clear your mask. I think the "look up" advice is based on the assumption that you start out being horizontal, not vertical. Looking straight up will make water run down your nose and make you gag. Just look horizontally or a teensy bit up while holding the top of your mask. If it takes a few tries, check your mask strap to see if it's twisted - that was almost always the problem for me, and I was surprised that a mask with a twisted strap will not clear. And make sure there's no hair under the seal. Mask removal is the same skill as the full flood and clear, with the extra mental hurdle of pretending you don't have a nose, since your nose is not sealed off by the mask. For the mask removal and flooding skills, remember to look down a bit, so water doesn't run into your nose.

With the regulator, I find it easier if I keep the mouthpiece mostly in my mouth and let the bubbles rush out of one side, and tilt that side of my mouth up so the bubbles don't rattle the mask as much. My initial problem was that I had the mouthpiece too far out of my mouth, and I was breathing in water. More gagging. Also, make an "O" shape with your lips to sip off of the air flow. You can feel the difference between air and water on your lips.

Taking a refresher course or AOW is a good idea. I personally felt much more comfortable in the water after AOW.

The end of each practice dive is a great time to practice the mask skills and the regulator free-flow. Just warn your buddy (and anyone around you) and have your buddy watch over you while you do it just below the surface.

I've found that the more experienced divers are generally sympathetic, yes.

[boulderjohn]

You indicate that your certification was through PADI. I am a PADI instructor, I can assure you that I cannot get a student through all the required skills in the confined water portion of the class in two hours. If you were to look at the list of skills to be done, I am pretty sure you will find more that were missing.

When I was certified, my pool session took about that time, too. When I later realized how many required skills had to be skipped to do that, I was quite surprised.

[Scuba_Noob]

A couple of interesting points in your original posts.

"I wanted to try these again, but the instructor told me that the session was over" - Two hours is probably not adequate time to train all the skills in the pool. My PADI OW class of four had eight hours. Also, if we had any discomfort with any skills, the instructor would take as much time as necessary to do it comfortably, even arranging for meetings at a different time. It's unnerving that an instructor would rush you or omit adequate training time because of 'the end of his planned session'.

You also mention that your instructor didn't perform proper buddy checks or have you go through all the necessary skills before the open water. He let you go into open water without adequate skills practice. Strange.

I'm thinking that this isn't the norm. My instructor was exemplary, but I'd assume that all other instructors at least complete all of the basics adequately (based on other course instructors I've had).

[Jim Lapenta]

I would not recommend an AOW course as your next move. Not by a long shot. It is often marketed as "five more dives with an instructor" but that is not what it should be. If you came to me for further instruction we would address all those skills and techniques as well as cover the likely missing pieces of information that you should have and then we would work on skills. Hard. No new cert, no new card, just skills, information, and comprehensive education. Find an independent instructor and interview him/her just like you would interview any employee. Because that is what they are. A professional that YOU are HIRING to teach you. In my book I have a list of questions you should ask of an instructor, a list of questions for shops, and a chapter on when you should seek more training in advanced or specialty areas. Right now is not the time for that. You need more thorough instruction in the basics. Until you get that any kind of advanced or specialty training is a waste of money.