Learned Wrong...

[dumpsterDiver]

I learned from reading scuba board that a BP/W is going to make me more comfortable, more streamlined, have better trim etc. etc. I now have two BP/W's and just bought a scuba Pro Classic BC (which is not much different in design than 20 years ago) I'monly using the SP Classic right now.....

 

[DaleC]

Is anyone curious yet about the correlations between this and the thread mentioned in the OP?

 

[Blue Sparkle]

All through my dive certification classes I learned to only dump air via the inflator hose because "these rental BC's don't have hip dumps." As you can imagine, I found out later that they did, and now (with my own BC) that's what I usually use. But it took a while to get out of the inflator habit.

 

[boulderjohn]

Originally taught when OOA to ditch reg and blow bubbles while swimming up. Before OW class was over they changed it to keep reg in mouth to possibly catch one last breath before surfacing.

Not long ago an old timer on an SB thread was quite insistent that it was dead wrong to put the regulator in the mouth during a CESA because if you do, you will be tempted to inhale. Apparently that thinking was once quite prevalent. He held to that belief even though people pointed out that if you are desperate to inhale with the regulator out you will inhale water and drown, whereas with the regulator in the worst than can happen is that you don't get more air. He held to that belief even though people pointed out that you are not only likely to get "one last breath," you are likely to get several last breaths during the ascent.

 

[VooDooGasMan]

Dump the classic is a great bcd and great lift capacity for twin tanks, great travel bcd also.

I have really never learned wrong, as I was taught right out of a book and with experience divers, as diving the Great Lakes there was respect for the water, it is not easy getting back to shore when the wind kicks up so you always dove flawlessly no matter what, and only to a depth you are comfortable.

Cave Diving was still for the courageous, so out of all I learned in cave diving it has not changed just the equipment and gasses. Having the long hose so you can take your twins off was the cool thing to go through tight spaces, I had a long hose 15 years before Dir came out.

Now I can Imagine that things get learned wrong nowadays with an OW student to an Instructor in a year and all the students that get taught by them. Although it would seem nowadays that people research on the net to make there own decision if wrong or right.

 

[Mike Boswell]

That split fins are better for swimming into a current.

That todays instructors are terrible compared to back in the day.

That split fins make you go faster and are easier on your legs.

That today's scuba training is terrible compared to back in the day.

That weights need to be ditchable in emergencies.

That today's scuba divers are terrible compared to back in the day.

That you don't need to be a good swimmer to be a good diver.

That training agencies should not be profitable.

That every diver must go as slow as humanly possible, and then slow down some more.

That Local Dive Shops are the work of the devil.

That you can't spend 8 hours in 80-degree water without becoming hypothermic.

That older divers are better divers.

That PADI will lead to the End of Days.

That the safest diver is the best diver.

That young instructors today just want to party and hit on their students.

That cave diving is the ultimate in diving achievement.

 

[Akimbo]

Originally taught when OOA to ditch reg and blow bubbles while swimming up. Before OW class was over they changed it to keep reg in mouth to possibly catch one last breath before surfacing.

Not long ago an old timer on an SB thread was quite insistent that it was dead wrong to put the regulator in the mouth during a CESA because if you do, you will be tempted to inhale...

I suspect that belief was derived from submarine escape training towers. Here is my take on the trade-offs: If you are in a low air, rather than out of air, situation keeping the regulator in your mouth and slowly getting some gas on ascent is the best plan. A classic free-ascent is appropriate for true OOA cases where there is a total supply failure and the ascent rate is likely higher. To mitigate barotrauma risks the classic submarine escape posture is safer and is difficult to do with a regulator in your mouth:

... One of the Navy divers I worked with had recently come from duty at the submarine escape tower at New London. He described instructions to boat sailor candidates more like:

• thrust your lower jaw forward
• look up at about 45-60°
• gently purse lips like blowing your lover a kiss (I like that part, which is probably the only reason I remember this guy)

The idea is to find a physical position that makes it difficult, awkward, or uncomfortable to close your airway. Yelling requires too much conscious effort at a time where you may have more important issues demanding your attention. It probably would expel air faster than necessary as well…

I still practice free ascents at least once a year, but have never been in a position were resorting to it was necessary. The value is knowing that I can and the sense of calm that results.

 

[TSandM]

That cave diving is the ultimate in diving achievement.

Of COURSE it is! All we cave divers say so . . .

 

[waterpirate]

I can't believe know one dragged this instructor tail out into the shallows.

When a student asked about rapture of the deep, aka narcosis the instructor replied when diving deep he witnessed a student take the reg out of their mouth and try to give it to a pretty fish. wtf? I then heard it again at a quarry in PA when walking by a student debrief. Is that tale included in a agencies IT curriculum?
Eric

 

[Akimbo]

Mike, I’m not convinced that these meet the criteria of wrong:

…This made me curious about what divers were taught that was wrong as opposed to incomplete, overly simplified, a different technique, or less efficient…

That todays instructors are terrible compared to back in the day: I imagine people that say this really mean: “Most of today’s instructors I have met are terrible compared to my instructor”. IMHO, this is a human nature thing. We are less critical of people we have developed relationships with. My parents said the same thing about their K-12 teachers.

That today's scuba training is terrible compared to back in the day: What they are really saying is the abbreviated schedule for basic diver training is terrible compared to classes that were 3-5 times longer. I have yet to meet an instructor that couldn’t produce better divers with more time (and money). That is like reducing a Bachelor’s program to one year. I don’t care how much curriculums, training aids, and techniques have improved, it doesn’t fully compensate.

That weights need to be ditchable in emergencies. That is wrong… for saturation divers. I have yet to hear an intelligent reason why that is not a valid safety option for all other divers, recreational through surface-supplied. Granted, a belt that is accidently lost can also be a hazard.

That you can't spend 8 hours in 80-degree water without becoming hypothermic. This is an issue of interpretation. Age, gender, body mass, health, and exposure protection all factor in. Pre-WWII studies of shipwreck survivors indicated that this was true for some survivors, but didn’t differentiate between morbidity or low core temperatures of more vulnerable passengers and those in their prime. The US Navy did laboratory immersion studies on young healthy males and found the numbers to be higher, but did measure drops in core temperature in that time-frame.

It depends on how you define “becoming hypothermic” — Mild hyperthermia is usually defined when the body temperature drops to 32–35° C/90–95° F. A 3-4° F drop in core temperature is not especially dangerous for most people healthy enough to dive, but it meets the definition.

I will leave others to comment on others in your list.