My AN/DP/Helitrox course

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My instructor said he was hoping to do classroom sessions with another student as well as me. That doesn’t bother me. I only wanted the diving portion one on one. Think the other student wants his dives elsewhere. Anyway, guy has been dragging his feet on getting bookwork done. He’s only just started AN book. I’ve been done for nearly two months. I’m sort of obsessive about that. If the other student doesn’t get his act together, then classroom will just be me.
 
I also like 1 on 1 for the dive. I don't mind multiple in class or pool as long as the other person is on the same level and a mission as me.
 
I’m not a spring chicken. I’m 51 in two months.

51 and not a spring chicken?

I know 70 year old women that run ultra-marathons.

We’re talking about floating around underwater with an adult pacifier.

Suck it up, buttercup :wink:
 
I dislike 1-on-1 because you're not going to get the same level of instructor oversight if the instructor has to "play" a part in the course as well. If the instructor is distracted playing the buddy, they're not playing instructor the way they should be. You're either diving with an invisi-buddy, or you're diving with an instructor that's also splitting their attention by being a buddy dummy. You're not going to get the same benefit as diving with a real buddy whose goal isn't to teach the course. If I had to do cave without a buddy, i guarantee I would not have gotten the same level of instruction if only because of the additional task loading placed on the instructor.

One instructor to a buddy pair is ideal.
 
I dislike 1-on-1 because you're not going to get the same level of instructor oversight if the instructor has to "play" a part in the course as well. If the instructor is distracted playing the buddy, they're not playing instructor the way they should be. You're either diving with an invisi-buddy, or you're diving with an instructor that's also splitting their attention by being a buddy dummy. You're not going to get the same benefit as diving with a real buddy whose goal isn't to teach the course. If I had to do cave without a buddy, i guarantee I would not have gotten the same level of instruction if only because of the additional task loading placed on the instructor.

One instructor to a buddy pair is ideal.
Student buddies also do "dumb" things (yea that goes both ways) which serve as great off-script teachable moments. Instructor buddies not so much.
 
The biggest lesson I learned on ANDP was about my attitude to random buddies and to be wary of making assumptions about them and in particular what they are thinking underwater.

I learned another huge and important lesson about ppo2 monitoring when I joined a MOD1 course for practice and screwed up badly by paying too much attention to what my buddy was doing.

My personal experience of this level of course is that the team aspect is pretty important.

When teaching, there comes a point when you are in the water with a couple of newish but qualified divers and you really want them to behave a buddy pair and ignore you being there. Very often they revert to looking to an instructor as authority for decisions they are capable of making themselves.

However, given the OP will just really start off doing the same dives as before with an extra cylinder for deco, I expect she will be fine.
 
As I’ve said before, I have no buddy to take the class with. The instructor’s other confirmed students for this year are either not local or want to do class dives in other locations (such as warm water).

As it is, the guy who might share my classroom sessions apparently isn’t responsible enough to get his bookwork done in a timely manner.

It is what it is. If YOU don’t like it, tough.
 
In Lake Erie with 6' chop (that's the most we would even consider recovering divers as possible) I believe it would be easier to just reboard the boat over the side like a seal than use the ladder. Which is to say if you got the timing just right you'd be almost level with the rails anyway. Predictably, we don't go out in that. 3 or 4' is more than dangerous enough with short Lakes swells.

Ah, the frustrations of being paired with a less motivated diver... I hope the instructor has set some sort of deadline for the slowpoke.
 
Classroom would just be instructor and I if the other guy can’t get his butt in gear.
 
Classroom would just be instructor and I if the other guy can’t get his butt in gear.
Sometimes you gotta do, what you gotta do to take a class. That said, it is very rare for an instructor not to be able to find a former student or just another friend to tag along on a dive and play buddy for a class.

Solo academic work is fine, but I have done enough advanced training to make having a "buddy" outside of the instructor a prerequisite for in-water class work. The difference in quality and experience is just night and day.
 
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