Dispelling scubaboard myths (Part 1: It is the instructor not the agency)

[stuartv]

I didn't see the freshly minted diver in the 1970s, so I can't compare.

I believe, though, that in both the 1970s and today, it depended then and depends today dramatically upon the individual instructor--which is the whole point of this thread.

I asked about averages. Do you think any individual instructor makes a difference to the average competence of newly minted OW divers?

The real question I'm trying to ask is that if you compare the average level of diver competence of divers being produced, not at the very beginning of scuba as a sport, but in the hey-day of the "OW certification takes weeks and is hard" era of training and compare that to the average level of diver competence being produced today, do you think new divers are better, worse, or about the same compared to back then? You can take "back then" to be whatever era you have experience with.

Your earlier post quoted my statement that many might argue that today's new divers are less competent than new divers from "back in the day". Your post seemed to be an attempt to refute that notion. It seemed to suggest that new divers today are more competent than (or equal in competence to) new divers from back when everyone had to go through a many-week course that was more physically demanding than today's courses and included much more time in the water. I am just seeking clarification on what you actually think.

 

[stuartv]

I've been hit a number of times, and only once was it because I didn't do long enough stops. Most often it'd because I was dehydrated.

This implies that longer deco would not have prevented you from getting hit. I'm curious how you know that.

 

[Wookie]

This implies that longer deco would not have prevented you from getting hit. I'm curious how you know that.

Vestibular hits are different than type I and II hits, kind of. Length of stop (and length of chamber treatment) doesn't seem to effect the bubble that causes the hit. You have it or you don't. Everyone I knew that has had one, who are all scientific divers aside from me, were well within any limits, and the only way to collapse the bubble is to go back to the depth where it formed. My symptoms resolved in the chamber the instant we got back to the same depth I started feeling woozy at. Although I did a full table 6, the rest of the ride was to satisfy protocol, IMO.

 

[diverintheflesh]

I would disagree. The only reason people get bent is that they go diving. Doing enough decompression (slow enough ascent, safety stops, however you want to say it) works for some, but it's hard to rehydrate under water. I've seen lots of cases of the bends where someone did plenty of "decompression", but that isn't always the most important contributing factor, in fact, that one is relatively easy to control.

Doh! You revealed the secret. Now Patty is going to find out. There is a second way. Don't come back from the dive.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

... PADI released its new standards and publically stated that teaching skills while neutrally buoyant was the PREFERRED approach.

I pray that one day it will be the required approach. Not holding my breath that it happens anytime soon.

 

[Saniflush]

I pray that one day it will be the required approach. Not holding my breath that it happens anytime soon.

You aren't supposed to hold your breath.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

You aren't supposed to hold your breath.

Except when I orally inflate a DSMB and I haven't let go yet!

 

[boulderjohn]

I am just seeking clarification on what you actually think.

And as I said, I have no basis of comparison, since I was not there. I quoted someone who was not only there, but who was a leader in the development and evolution of the certification process throughout those years, because I figured he had a better idea than I would ever have.

If the issue were the question of what the Civil War was like in Georgia in 1865, I might quote someone like General Sherman. If you asked me for my personal observations of the conditions there at the time, I would also have to pass.

 

[2airishuman]

I like lectures. I don't care if it has been proven not the most effective teaching/learning method.

Different people learn best in different ways. Well-designed curricula use a combination of methods to try to reach as large of an audience as possible.

 

[Lorenzoid]

So the guy who founded NAUI thought NAUI divers were competent. I'm not sure I would give that opinion much more weight than John's.