Looking Back - Did Your OW Teach You Enough?

[Mantra]

Working out what belongs in an OW course curriculum is an interesting design challenge, for sure. You need to balance safety and skills versus length of course and associated cost. I think a good balance has generally been struck. If you are talking someone who does a resort course, and then doesn't dive again for a year, I think you could argue that the more skills given, the more there is to forget. Our sport has such low incident rates that something seems to have been done right.

I see the point, though, about allowing any kind of conditions to a dive on a basic OW card. I did a dive not long after getting certed that was to 20m, with current and strong surge, on a wreck, and it was a fairly brief and unenjoyable dive as I was so task loaded with a DM who wanted to set speed records to boot. It was a safe and even benign dive, but I was very unskilled for it.

We are about to take some more instruction, being at the point where after 20 or so dives we feel like we want to build skills a bit more. We practice skills on every dive, and I'm sure to do at least two mask removal/replace skills each dive because it was something that initially made me uncomfortable. So we are looking at buoyancy/trim, propulsion, buddy and nav skills, as well as instruction on moving to a long hose setup and shooting a DSMB. I don't feel that these were omissions in our initial instruction, though, but rather just that our diving is slowly evolving as we get more comfortable.

That said, I remain very suspicious of three day OW programs. I'm glad we did five. I think the OW skills are comprehensive and basic, but I really don't see how you could get them all properly in a fast-and-cheap type of course. It smacks of getting certification rather than skillset to me.

 

[mainedvr]

Had a very decent and patient OW instructor and my wife and I did private lessons. The only think I think (not sure if they teach it during OW or not) was CESA. We did have a tutorial on it but never actually had to do it. And they did not do it in advanced open water either.

But I think our OW course was what we needed to begin our adventure.

 

[cbm32]

I have to agree with Pane. I got one on one instruction and I feel I learned the basics pretty well. Certainly enough to be able to complete a dive safely with someone MORE experienced that I. Enough to complete a dive safely with someone with exactly the same experience??? Probably, but I sure wouldnt have been comfortable attempting that and I havent seen even one (in my admittedly limited experience) newly minted OW student that should really be turned loose with another newly minted open water student in the ocean. Yes, in most cases that could be done and they would probably survive unless they didnt realize their own limitations and decided to push the limits.

 

[Simon-]

Had a very decent and patient OW instructor and my wife and I did private lessons. The only think I think (not sure if they teach it during OW or not) was CESA. We did have a tutorial on it but never actually had to do it. And they did not do it in advanced open water either.

But I think our OW course was what we needed to begin our adventure.

Looking at your profile, it states that your certification agencies are SSI & PADI.

I can't speak for SSI, but a CESA is covered in both the pool and the open water with PADI at Open Water level. If you didn't do it, that is a breach of standards on the part of your instructor.

 

[Hawkwood]

I learned to assemble a scuba unit. I did not learn anything about gear selection.

I learned to breathe underwater, from a regulator. I did not learn to breathe slowly, and deeply, and comfortably.

I learned to swim underwater with a scuba unit. I did not learn to ‘Go slow’ while underwater, and enjoy my dive.

I learned the basics of buoyancy control. I did not learn much about trim.

I learned to regularly check my cylinder pressure and to surface with 500 psi in my tank. I did not learn much about gas management.

I learned how to descend and ascend, safely. I did not learn much about underwater navigation for that time after I descended, and before I ascended.

I learned how to log a dive. I did not learn much about dive planning.

At the conclusion of my OW class I was not a proficient diver. Certainly, I was not the diver I am today. I could not have learned most of the things that make me the diver I am today in an OW class. And, while I learned many skills during the course, it is not enough to know, you have to remember. Muscle memory development takes many, many repetitions, far more than could reasonably be accomplished in a class, be it 6 hours, 6 days, or 6 weeks - or, 6 months for that matter.

I should have been granted a C-card as an Open water Diver. I learned what I needed to learn, in order to begin to learn how to dive.

You put that perfectly!

As an instructor, I look can look back on what I "remember" from OW and can honestly say we did cover the material as per outline. That being said, at the time I was only interested in getting my OW so that I could dive on an upcoming vacation, something I had no desire to do in the first place and "knew" I would not do it again. So much for that thought.

 

[mainedvr]

Our course was SSI

Looking at your profile, it states that your certification agencies are SSI & PADI.

I can't speak for SSI, but a CESA is covered in both the pool and the open water with PADI at Open Water level. If you didn't do it, that is a breach of standards on the part of your instructor.

 

[TMHeimer]

I believed I had an excellent instructor. Having recently been a DM intern with her, I found that I was correct. But in the first year or so after OW I often thought "Why didn't she tell us that?" As Bob said, you learn so much more AFTER certification. I would assume it is related to the apparently much shorter class times than decades ago. I continue to practise the skills and read a page of one of my course manuals (plus a page of the EFR manual) each day to continually reinforce stuff. But I am one who has a poor memory and studies stuff a lot. And I practise tying the 3 knots we leaned in the Search & Recovery dive of AOW--though I may never use them. Boy can I tie a bowline.

 

[koozemani]

Enough, absolutely not. Enough to pass the course, yes. This is not a knock on the instructor, but IMO a knock on the requirements of the course. The reasons behind the required skills was explained and understood. The basics were taught and understood, but knowing what I know now, this was not nearly enough. Buoyancy and trim we're touched on, but alot of it I figured out on my own after the fact. Dive planning was discussed, but most of that went in one ear and out the other. There was simply not enough time to adequately cover everything that I now feel should have been covered.

I learned enough to follow a dm/guide on an easy tropical dive in warm water with amazing vis, but that's about it. I still remember my first unguided dives with my buddy(who was certified at the same time). There was definitely some apprehension as far as "ok, what now". Since then, we've gone out of our way to learn as much as we could, and dive as often as possible considering our location.

Finding SB really opened my eyes as to how much I didn't know. I can't imagine going through life diving with only that knowledge which I was taught during ow.

How many incidents involve divers who never went beyond what they were taught during their ow course? Not necessarily fatalities, just incidents resulting from ignorance, unfamiliarity with gear, or simply out of practice from their once a year dive vacation.

 

[Scuba_Noob]

For my OW course, I thought my instructor was very patient, experienced, and proficient in teaching. I felt that after the course, I had learned enough to be a safe diver and a safe buddy, as well as lead a dive. That's the basic minimum you should expect.

However, in addition, I felt that I learned enough to be able to independently improve my diving abilities as I continued diving. And that, I think is enough for an OW diving course.

 

[koozemani]

I should have been granted a C-card as an Open water Diver. I learned what I needed to learn, in order to begin to learn how to dive.

This sums up my experience as well. Well said!!