Helping Wife Learn Scuba

[Watershed]

I have a question for LDS's/Instructors.. My wife has shown alot of interest in learning scuba so when we move back home she wants to pursue a class. im not sure if it will be SSI/SDI or Padi ( i know alot of people do not like padi). with that being said she wants me to tag along in the pool with her. what is an instructors take on someone already certified tagging along?

1. will it distract my wife from learning the required skills or will it encourage/calm her?
2. does it annoy instructors/LDS when someone asks to tag along?

 

[spectrum]

No, I'm not an instructor but this has come up before. It's rarely a good idea.

If the lesson is private and the 3 of you have the chemistry there can be value in her training with her intended regular dive partner.

You being there can put undue pressure on her to get it right the first time and sometimes getting there is a messy process. Being alone with peers and professionals is usually best.

With 0-24 dives there is probably not that much you can bring to the process so just be preparted to be supportive if she has a rough session.

Pete

 

[j yaeger]

just say no......

my wife is the best dive buddy and life partner i could ever ask for

trained by another instructor....

have fun
yaeg

 

[Watershed]

thanks for the advice!

 

[knotical]

It really depends on the individuals. When my wife got certified, she asked me to accompany her. I did, and it worked out great.
I paid regular price as if I were a new student, and took the entire course. Good for me because I learned some new stuff.
Apparently good for her because she said it was. We got to act as buddies from the very start of her diving experience.

Our instructor explained that sometimes couples have issues and he reserved the right to separate us into other buddy teams if, for example, she became dependent on me, or I tried to teach her, etc. We avoided those pitfalls. She carried her own tanks, etc.

Ultimately I suggest you let your wife decide. Start with her in the class, but give her the right to kick you out, without recrimination or explanation. The fact that she asked you to tag along suggests to me that it will work out fine.

One more issue from the instructor's standpoint: Student-to-instructor ratios are limited by certifying agencies, and tag-alongs count as students for that purpose. Since you could be taking a spot that could be sold to another student, be prepared to pay full price.

As an instructor, I have trained many couples, and as long as we were all aware of potential issues and had contingencies, it almost always turned out well. I've also had a few couples who told us up-front that they didn't think it was a good idea to train together, so we simply put them in different classes. The only actual problems I recall were when one student was doing it primarily because of pressure from their "other half". That doesn't appear to be an issue in your case.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

I agree with Knotical. Usually I insist that the already certed partner do at least two or three pool sessions. I require they attend the one where we go over rescue skills and I want to see them do air shares and how they act as buddies before I will take them on checkouts.

If they are going to be diving together the worst thing I can think of to do is keep them separate until after classes and then just turn em loose. The already certed diver may be a cluster and I'll be damned if I'm going to let one of my students risk their safety by diving with them if I can have any say in it. I required one hubby to attend a private skills session with me - at no cost - before I would schedule his wife's check outs. He said he knew how to dive. She showed him he didn't in one session in the pool. She told him she was not going to dive with him if he didn't do the refesher with me. Mainly because he had never been trained to the degree that my agency requires for OW divers.

Now I do make it clear who the instructor is and what is and is not acceptable as far as attitude, interrupting lessons, and input from them. I do it in front of the partner and I usually don't have to say a thing. The looks they get from the partner are usually enough to get em back in line if they fall out of it.

I'd be leery of an instructor that did not allow the partner in the water. Shows a lack of control of the situation to me. So I wonder what other shortcomings they might have. And it's not a guy thing. I know a few women instructors who don't take crap either.

 

[Diver0001]

I have a question for LDS's/Instructors.. My wife has shown alot of interest in learning scuba so when we move back home she wants to pursue a class. im not sure if it will be SSI/SDI or Padi ( i know alot of people do not like padi). with that being said she wants me to tag along in the pool with her. what is an instructors take on someone already certified tagging along?

I handle this on a case by case basis.

If it's possible to accommodate it then I will but I'm very clear about setting expectations before we get started. Once the lessons start, I'm the boss. Watch if you want, participate if you want, but don't try to take over and keep your distance if your partner is struggling with something because that's when I need to do my job.

For the most part my experience with including certified partners of students in the lessons has been positive. It can also give me some opportunities to address any bad habits the partner might have and to address their role in supervising/diving with a rookie diver, especially a child. On the whole I see it as having mostly benefits.

That said, I've had a couple of cases that it didn't work out. One case of a father who wanted their child to take lessons but was so keen to make sure that that child understood what I wanted them to do that he repeated everything I did and distracted the child (along with making everything take twice as long). After the first day I asked him to stay out of the water but agreed that it would be ok if he used a mask and snorkel and watched the lesson from the surface. I brought him back into the picture during the check out dives because however you look at it, the father was this child's built in dive-buddy and I wanted to get them diving together.

In another case I had a diver (I believe he was a DM) who was very overbearing with his partner who literally pushed me out of the way to intervene when she was doing a mask clearing exercise and took on some water and started coughing. I was *not* amused and I kicked him out of the pool right then and there and wouldn't allow him back in again after that.

But those are incidents that don't make me shy away from including partners and don't detract from the main fact that it's generally a win/win.

R..

 

[SandyBramm]

I am a Padi and Naui instructor and have taught for nearly twenty years total, which just reminds me I am getting old, but anyway, I teach all of my courses as privates, or small groups that know each other already. I always allow family members to attend pool sessions, classroom whatever they like. It makes some people feel more comfortable having a family member around, alot of time, they are here on vacation and the "family" member doesn't really have anything to do while they wait.

If the family member is going to dive with us, which is something I encourage, I'll ask them how long has it been since you dove? If it's some length of time, or maybe they've got a bunch of new gear, I'll bring a tank and let them swim around too. What the heck I am there anyway, and...if they need a little tune up, or something fixed, I'll know before I jump off the boat with my student. I have had some dive along family members cause me more grief in the water than the student, so I just kind of work with everyone in a relaxed freindly manner. Ultimately, for me it's about my student having a good time, learning what they need to learn, and if that means taking on a family member great. If that is the "dive buddy" my student is going to have once he/she is finished with their class, I like to see how they are going to work together once they are long gone out of my sight, and most of the time it's very enjoyable for everyone, myself included.

With that being said though...I don't take crap from anyone, if you interrupt me while I am trying to work with the student, slow things down to much, argue with me, or just be disruptive in anyway..I'll tell the family member to do one of two things. 1. Let me earn the money they are paying me and let ME to the teaching, or they can start over with a new instructor.

I rarely ever have a problem, and I teach hundreds of kids, I tell the parents that I encourage them to all come do the check out dives together, but to remember...let me teach, and then I joke with them...hey your paying me right!

Well just my thoughts...if you and your wife get along great, I wouldn't see a problem, just remember be supportive, don't be over critical of her skills in the beginning, and things will be great! Good luck and if you ever make it to Palm Beach, come dive with us..both of you!

 

[Watershed]

Lots of great advice. Thanks ill talk to her about it.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

One other item. Wives/gf's are permitted to threaten to slap overbearing hubbies and bf's during training. I think that's in the bible somewhere. :=)

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