Is there a "hardest cert/most stringent certifier?"

[Blackcrusader]

Sometimes I read these threads and think damn, somebody expects a newly minted PADI OW to have the skill set of a cave tech diver using a re-breather. I've done both PADI and BSAC Sports diving courses. I was in a BSAC club which is quite different to taking a vacation to some far away country. I once was asked by a dive center manager if I would buddy up with a diver who had 8 dives since she got her OW. I'm like sure. We do nice slow current dive along a reef wall. I'm like only 8 dives you have to be kidding me. She was one of the best divers I had seen with PADI with so few dives but such great control of trim and buoyancy. She said her instructor was also a BSAC instructor and he would not pass any PADI OW who could not get trim and buoyancy correct. It's all about the instructor.

BSAC Sports diving as others noted is far more intensive in the courses than PADI as PADI is all about NDL and BSAC Sports was all about planning multi deco dives. I'm not really interested in doing any tec courses. I love getting into debates when a tech diver finds me at 45m with a 12l on air then tells me I am going to die. ( let's keep that for another thread OK? ) My BSAC instructor was also head of a commercial Pro Diving outfit at Shell in the country were in. I am sure I was taught some skills about how to rescue yourself that weren't in most training manuals.

Now I just dive on vacation and do so with dive centers. I'll dive with newbies or with those who are experienced I just want to dive and enjoy myself. Dive centers with PADI divers are pretty relaxed and staying within NDL is fine by me. I've done enough planned deco dives using multiple tanks for stops. Sometimes diving with people who are newbies can be fun, you can point out to them marine life they don't recognize, and they come from all walks of life. I've seen really good divers with less than 20 dives and really bad ones with 200 dives.

 

[captain]

Here is what certification was in 1970.

 

[jadairiii]

Here is what certification was in 1970.

View attachment 583214

Well, those standards just eliminated 3/4 of the divers out there, recreational and technical....

 

[GrumpyOldGuy]

My view is GUE is a very rigid diving system. Arguably it may be overkill for a typical rec diver and it requires diving with a small set of GUE divers to work well because it is different. For diving in high risk environments, nothing else comes close. It requires a lot of dedication to stick with it.
PADI is the opposite, almost anything goes and is taught is to the lowest possible denominator. As others said, some instructors go above and beyond, but that is their decision. Classes in warm water destinations are minimal, cool or temperate waters require more skill and the classes there tend to be better. The big pull is almost everyone recognizes PADI certs, even it it is minimal.
Once you get past the first 20 or so dives, its really up to you. Unless you really want to be an instructor / DM, you can take classes from different agencies / instructors and build up a skill set that reflects the type of diving you are interested in.

 

[stevensamler]

@GameChanger
I am sure there are some old NASDS folks here...
Early 70's NASDS with San Diego Divers Supply. Courses taught by current & former UDT/SEALS and other instructors. Basic OW course included harassment dives (turning off gas, ripping mask off, simulated OOA diver grabbing your reg (no secondary regs back them), on the surface mouth-to-mouth resuscitation drills, dropping weight belt-emergency ascent drills (no BCD-Mae West vest with a CO2 cartridge at best), no such thing as safety stops, mandatory dive table comprehension to pass, rough surf shore entry and exits (taught us to crawl in/out),
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
John Gaffney the founder of NASDS was a close personal friend -- I certified students as NASDS divers but never attended any of the NASDS instructor courses- I still have a stack of blank NASDS certifications.

I was also a close personal friend of Bill Hogan who wrote the NASDS instruction book Safe SCUBA ,. One , if not the best most enduring dive training books ever written-- hard back .printed on glossy high quality paper and certainly well illustrated with line drawing and photographs- I have several editions in my library

@mac64

What exactly do you wish to do? Why would you learn something just for the sake of it and look for the hardest way to do it. Is it spearfishing, underwater photography or maybe wreck exploration, diving is just a means to an end.

Practice emergency events in controlled conditions observed by one who is knowledgeable and skilled who can and will provide guidance until perfection is achieved
A prefect response to an imagined real experience until perfected
Then it is repetition ! repetition ! repetition !

But one must first achieve perfection for only perfect practice creates a perfect response.
This type of training created divers who could dive - not people who just dive .


sdm 111

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NASDS 1973 I was thirteen , my dad got me interested in diving. I used to tag along with him and snorkel with amazement as I watched the dive team slip into the deep Pacific Northwest style I/4" farmer john and three fingered mitts and lots of lead.