In my experience training has been watered down but not in the sense of the number or type of skills but in the time spent on those skills and the level of skill that has to be demonstrated in order to be considered competent. When I first got certified demonstrating a skill once was not sufficient.
You hit this on the spot Tom! You also beat me to the punch on this. What you stated about time is the
issue, not the watering down of courses. I've known several people who have gone through the BSAC or CMAS system and their skills were the same. The significant difference was the amount of time developing and mastering the skills. Sadly, today's theme is wham bam thank you ma'am, a student does the skill then moves on to the next one without actually repeating it for muscle or mental memory (mastery).
What is interesting is that training agencies (at least NAUI and PADI) clearly state mastery is the intended goal. This brings up the question, why then do so many instructors not take the time with students to develop mastery. A couple of the answers are economics and people simply don't want to take the time.
A couple of decades ago, UC Berkeley professor and former NAUI director Glen Egstrom studied buddy breathing. He determined that it took an average of 17 successful practice experiences before a buddy team could be fully expected to perform the skill in a real OOA situation. He further determined that the buddy team must practice regularly to maintain the skills..
John, do you have a copy or link of this study?
Years ago I worked with a former Navy SEAL who stated he and his buddy were taught to hold each other in a head lock position when practicing / conducting buddy breathing and were required to practice it extensively to avoid failure.
[/QUOTE] Regarding real OOA situations, I have never been involved with or witnessed one. Several instructors I assisted told classes that, to paraphrase-- "We teach you the proper way to do the OOA drill, but it has been my experience that the OOA diver usually just grabs for the first 2nd stage available, usually the one in your mouth". That's what they said anyway.[/QUOTE]
This is something I've always wondered about. Several of my former instructors told me this and I heard it a lot when I was a DM. As I stated above, I have had to donate numerous times and have witnessed a couple OOA situations. Not once did a person reach for second stage that was in a person's mouth. They either gave the out of air sign or reached for the octo. In several cases, extremely low on air while at depth, or reg failing - once a piece of pine apple was stuck in the diaphragm from the previous renter who puked in it and lots of free flow in cold water, that I dealt with the divers gave me erratic signs (one right after another) such as something wrong, out of air, thumbs up, just pointing to the reg in their mouth with gigantic eyes, or shove his/hers spg in my face due to . At that point I donated, my long hose (primary), of course. I think many people, instructors, tell this story to emphasize a point, which is questionable good teaching practices. I wonder how many of those people have actually witnessed this. Perhaps a couple, but less than what is perceived.
In one of the books that I had to read for tech training (Fatal Depth, Deep Decent, Last Dive - can't remember which one) the author wrote about one of the guys who had a pink alternate and was teased about it. One day a diver did run out of gas during a dive. Who did he go to - the person with the pink octo because of the consistent razzing which was engraved in his memory.
It is not to say a panic person will never try to take the one in the person's mouth. Perhaps a person who was trained in buddy breathing or maybe one who is very distressed may do this. It is most likely a person in on the verge of panic or in panic mode will most likely bolt.
