Aren't "100" Dives enough!?!

[dgreenh]

100 dives is a lot of dives for a recreational diver. Most divers don't ever get close to that number. You need a variety of dives in different locations and conditions to gain confidence and experience.

If the goal is to become an instructor 100 dives seems to be the norm and seems to be working... but I personally think that 100 dives as a divemaster (divecon) with students should be required before you go to instructor. Students always find unique ways to surprise you in a class and the more experience that you have anticipating and dealing with these events the better off you and your students will be. Experience with students will make you an instructor that is much better equipped to handle whatever the students might throw at you.

 

[Chris12day]

Okay, I read the complet thread and find a few things funny.

1) I like Walters responses. He sounds like a good guy.

2) The same questions from new divers are still valid over time. How hard could diving be, I've seen it on TV.

3) "I have never been on a boat, but I am going to be the best boat captain ever -- mentality". My guess is the op must have gotton sea sick and decided diving was not for him. Or he found out he 16,000 pounds per year was a poor salary.....

4) At leasr someone knows how to use the search function!

Safe diving

 

[RonFrank]

An instructor buddy with a decade of teaching experience and 1000's of dives almost quit after a mishap a couple years back. Two students (AOW) doing a night dive at Blue Hole sunk to the bottom (80'ish) and sat their paralyzed with fear. The maximum depth for the dive was 30'. We hooked up with the instructor coming up at 50' as she was heading to the bottom, but she did not take the time to try and signal to us what was wrong. She found the students on the bottom freaking out with less then 500psi between them. She was able to bring them up without issue even if it was a quick ascent.

The bottom line the students quit diving, and the teacher stopped diving for six months. Stuff happens even to very experienced divers/instructors.

 

[Rick Murchison]

I've been instructing something or other since I was a teenager (swimming, canoeing, horseback riding back then), including over 25 years as an active flight instructor (both civilian and military) and about 15 years now instructing scuba... One thing I've learned is that just about the time you think you've seen it all, a student will find a new, unexpected, never before seen or reported, wonderful and magnificent way to try to kill himself, or you, or both of you!
Keep a weather eye out, lads...
Rick

 

[Walter]

DevonDiver[/URL]]I wonder what the original thread participants are doing now... and whether their views on experience have changed 11 years later?

The opinions I expressed in this thread 11 years ago are pretty much unchanged.

RonFrank[/URL]]Walter has not been on the board for a couple years, maybe longer.......

I haven't been nearly as active in the last couple of years, but I still pop in every so often, I last posted in January. Thanks for the kind words, let me know when you'll be back in Florida.

Superlyte27[/URL]]And if walter = the OP.... 102 posts is hardly "a big part of this board for a long while" just by looking at his start date, end date and total number of posts.

I'm not the OP.

Chris12day[/URL]]I like Walters responses. He sounds like a good guy.

Thank you.

 

[Thalassamania]

Welcome back Walter, we've missed you.

 

[Jax]

The opinions I expressed in this thread 11 years ago are pretty much unchanged.

I haven't been nearly as active in the last couple of years, but I still pop in every so often, I last posted in January.

Hi, Walter, welcome back!!!

We missed you!

 

[300bar]

I've been instructing something or other since I was a teenager (swimming, canoeing, horseback riding back then), including over 25 years as an active flight instructor (both civilian and military) and about 15 years now instructing scuba... One thing I've learned is that just about the time you think you've seen it all, a student will find a new, unexpected, never before seen or reported, wonderful and magnificent way to try to kill himself, or you, or both of you!
Keep a weather eye out, lads...
Rick

And to any new instructor(wannabee) Just believe uncle Ricky on this one. It's a daily thing for ALL of us

 

[oreocookie]

One thing I've learned is that just about the time you think you've seen it all, a student will find a new, unexpected, never before seen or reported, wonderful and magnificent way to try to kill himself, or you, or both of you!

I'm tempted to think that having some experience with this from the student's perspective is also beneficial. I'm not saying that aspiring instructors should actively search for a situation in a course that will result in them doing something silly/idiotic/just-plain-inadvisable, but if you don't breeze through all your training, I imagine there's a better understanding of the student who does something really dumb or just doesn't breeze through a course. I've been in such a situation, and though I can now laugh about it and point to a whole bunch of things I missed or ignored, it made sense to me at the time, and left to my own devices I was probably a danger to myself then. I've learned from that experience and I think that when I do eventually go pro, I'm not going to be expecting everything to go right the first time around and when somebody does do something funky, I'll have personal experience to help me understand what might be going through their head.

On a side note, I'm also wondering what eventually happened to the OP. What are the chances they didn't end up getting their OW at all?

 

[jaycanwk]

I would think quality is more important than quantity.

I suppose that magic number of dives necessary in order to achieve quality is gonna be different for everyone. At some point, somebody at P.A.D.I., N.A.U.I., et.al., has to pull a number out of their bum and print it in their standards manual. That number is not gonna please everyone, but hopefully it will please the majority of whom ever is concerned and result in the best overall outcome.

See also: "how young is too young to dive?"...... "how young/old is too young/old to drive a car?"...... "how young is too young to drink alcohol?"..... etc..