Weird skills your instructor thought you needed

[tep]

OK, I've seen some skill come up lately that some folks thought were "weird", as in "why did your instructor want you to learn *that*???"

OK, what weird skills did you have to learn, and did they ever turn out to be practical?

Here are some I had in my initial NASDS class, back in the dark ages... Had to do only a few of them when I recertified a few years ago.

orally inflating instead of power inflator - I find that this gives me less bobbing up than the power inflator. I thought he just didn't trust this new fad called a BC.

vertical with head down - in 15' deep pool, fins can't reach surface, head can't hit bottom - learned to breathe a reg that was a little wet (upside down), I can look under ledges, and I learned better buoyancy control

take off mask and put it on upside down and do some drills with it like that - I have no idea why

breathe with 2nd stage upside down - maybe in case I have to share air and my buddy gives me his octo upside down?

in 3' (pool) try to stay horizontal, but face up instead of face down, don't break surface, don't hit bottom - buoyancy control??

swap entire rig (BC, tank, reg) with buddy, in the pool so buoyancy wasn't a huge problem - to make us more comfortable?

turn my own air off and on (at 10' in the pool) - more comfort things?

 

[sphillips3]

I actually teach many of the "weird" skills you list in my Open Water classes. In general, the reasoning is this:

The most basic skills (e.g. breathing, mask clearing) really pretty easy. With enough concentration any student can do this, but not be very comfortable and not have any "reserve" left to deal with unusual situations. It's not possible to create entanglements or other real emergencies - so we require the student to do "strange" skills that are all generally designed to task load the student and get them thinking about prioritization, problem solving and build confidence. I try to make the students uncomfortable in stages by task loading them with more complicated skills or getting them out of their comfort zone in a safe and controlled environment (I'm an arms length away so I can terminate the exercise at any point, provide an assist, etc) and then let the student complete the skill or solve the problem by themselves. The struggle, such as it is, is part of the process. If it takes 15 minutes to do a ditch and don, but the student completes the skill unassisted, then it is a success.

The students get new challenges in each session (reduces boredom), get experience in problem solving and learn the #1 mantra "As long as you have air, you can solve any problem". The confidence boost students get by working through these skills is really apparent. They learn that little problems that bothered them in the first class (an inch of water in the mask, for example) are just that, little problems that can be dealt with routinely.

Everything is designed to teach the student that the place to solve the problem is underwater, working by themselves or with a buddy, and not to just head for the surface every time the mask comes off, or a weight belt slips, or the tank slides out of the BC. In no way do I try to haze, harass or "wash out" the students - if a student is really struggling with a skill, I either go back to the preceding skill, or terminate the exercise and work on something else - I try to end every class with a "success" to leave the student with a confident feeling regarding the class.

We don't put a limit on the number of classes needed to complete all the mandatory skills, as long as the student has a good attitude and shows at least minimal progress. We've had some students take close to 20 pool sessions to get all their skills up to standard but then turn out to be pretty good divers that really enjoy the sport.

 

[novicediver]

Now that sounds like a fun class.

 

[John_B]

IIRC, the PADI instructor and DM that did my pool sessions were fairly constrained by what they could teach in my OW class.

 

[jridg]

I enjoy coming up with new 'skills' to practice when I am helping with a class. The upside down hover is a favorite from way back.

I have also been known to doff all my gear in the deep end, surface, then return to the gear and re-don it all.

It's fun, and it keeps you in top form

 

[ZenDiver.3D]

Problem solving skills.... You need them, these help you learn to be calm and confident, solving any issues. They work on your skills.....

oral inflator- if you have an emergency and are out of air or the power inflator hose malfunctions, you are going to want to be able to adjust the air in your bc......

Mask skills- all configurations help you manage multi-tasking and having water in your mask.

buoyancy skills and hovering- practice as many different positions and directions as you can... Fun too.

wet reg breathing- you need to learn to stay calm and that you Can get air and handle a little water in the reg.

All back to problem-solving.. Good stuff.

 

[din7]

he wanted me to rub his feet. never did figure out where that'd be applicable, but maybe one day...

 

[tstormdiver]

Breathing from a free flowing regulator....... That was until I had it actually happen to me. The good thing was this skill was covered in my instructor course only a few weeks before it actually happened. I had not practiced that skill since my OW course up until then. Because I had recently practiced it, I was able to breathe off the regulator for a few moments & get the post shut down & go to my other regulator (I was wearing doubles for my Adv. Nitrox course) at 95ft in our quarry. Free flows & freeze- ups can be a common thing there because, at depth, the water temps stays at about 42⁰ F all year long. Before that episode, I had well over 120 deep dives in that quarry & never had a problem. Never say never........

 

[keyshunter]

One skill that comes to mind is clearing the second stage via the "tongue method".

 

[Jafo123]

Our instructor had us sit and ride our BC with tank and all rigged on the surface then slip your arms in slide off the end and right into your bc. Never have used it in real diving or ever seen it done anywhere else.