tbuckalew
Guest
I don't reply to many posts as my thoughts an feelings are expressed by many others that post before I read the thread. However, I do have a couple of things to say.
The concept of training is to teach someone how to do something without killing themselves or those around them. The question is, how do we do this and how far do we take it?
When I was first certified by NAUI in the late 80's, buddy breathing was taught and we practiced it every closed water session once we reached that point when the skill was introduced (about midway through the course). In the mid-90's when I was working to become an instructor (NAUI and YMCA) the same was taught. My wife and daughter are a week away from their OW and I helped with that class. It is still taught and is still practiced.
Will buddy breathing ever be needed? Probably not. Is an emergency skill not needed then? This skill IS NEEDED! The premise of teaching an emergency skill is for use in times of emergency. Not every rental reg has an octo. Not everyone uses an Octo. You can't tell how well maintained that octo is (or the hose its attached to). I've seen many who are too cheap to get their octo serviced but will get their primary serviced. Double-failures are rare, but do happen, therefore the skill needs to be taught and taught properly until the student is comfortable with the skill. Failure to do so simply does not prepare that individual for the emergency.
To use an over-exagerated example...our main roads are full of stop lights, not stop signs. So should we stop teaching what stop signs are all about since stop lights are so reliable? No, again the example is extreme, but it shows what I'm talking about. If you take the same premise of an emergency (two people relying on each other's backup equipment in an emergency) but change the situation, say shear face rock climbing, would the skill be less important?
Stuff does happen. Not that often, but it does. The safety concerns I have are that so many agencies are working on cranking out numbers and not skillful divers these days in order to increase profits. The concept of teaching "just what you'll use most of the time" and only spending a few minutes glancing over the details of everything else (like the gas laws and buddy breathing as well as other emergency skills) do nothing for the student. Teaching emergency skills to a student until they are relatively comfortable does more then teach them the skill, it improves their confidence underwater and that does more to keep them from panicing in an emergency than alot else. Experiencing something for the first time (or when the first time lasted five minutes) would lead many to panic and injur themselves or their buddies.
Understanding WHY they do something is just important as teaching them HOW to do something. If agencies STILL taught the basic emergency skills as they used to, then if you ended up paired with a buddy that did have a problem, there wouldn't be a problem. However, now that this emergency skill is no longer being taught by all (and by many just barely) if and when those emergencies do occur (and they do) both buddies have a greater chance of injury or death.
You can say whatever you want, but it doesn't change the facts of the matter. Yes, it is extremely rare. But you can never say never and my life and that of my buddy is worth more than a "why worry about it".
The concept of training is to teach someone how to do something without killing themselves or those around them. The question is, how do we do this and how far do we take it?
When I was first certified by NAUI in the late 80's, buddy breathing was taught and we practiced it every closed water session once we reached that point when the skill was introduced (about midway through the course). In the mid-90's when I was working to become an instructor (NAUI and YMCA) the same was taught. My wife and daughter are a week away from their OW and I helped with that class. It is still taught and is still practiced.
Will buddy breathing ever be needed? Probably not. Is an emergency skill not needed then? This skill IS NEEDED! The premise of teaching an emergency skill is for use in times of emergency. Not every rental reg has an octo. Not everyone uses an Octo. You can't tell how well maintained that octo is (or the hose its attached to). I've seen many who are too cheap to get their octo serviced but will get their primary serviced. Double-failures are rare, but do happen, therefore the skill needs to be taught and taught properly until the student is comfortable with the skill. Failure to do so simply does not prepare that individual for the emergency.
To use an over-exagerated example...our main roads are full of stop lights, not stop signs. So should we stop teaching what stop signs are all about since stop lights are so reliable? No, again the example is extreme, but it shows what I'm talking about. If you take the same premise of an emergency (two people relying on each other's backup equipment in an emergency) but change the situation, say shear face rock climbing, would the skill be less important?
Stuff does happen. Not that often, but it does. The safety concerns I have are that so many agencies are working on cranking out numbers and not skillful divers these days in order to increase profits. The concept of teaching "just what you'll use most of the time" and only spending a few minutes glancing over the details of everything else (like the gas laws and buddy breathing as well as other emergency skills) do nothing for the student. Teaching emergency skills to a student until they are relatively comfortable does more then teach them the skill, it improves their confidence underwater and that does more to keep them from panicing in an emergency than alot else. Experiencing something for the first time (or when the first time lasted five minutes) would lead many to panic and injur themselves or their buddies.
Understanding WHY they do something is just important as teaching them HOW to do something. If agencies STILL taught the basic emergency skills as they used to, then if you ended up paired with a buddy that did have a problem, there wouldn't be a problem. However, now that this emergency skill is no longer being taught by all (and by many just barely) if and when those emergencies do occur (and they do) both buddies have a greater chance of injury or death.
You can say whatever you want, but it doesn't change the facts of the matter. Yes, it is extremely rare. But you can never say never and my life and that of my buddy is worth more than a "why worry about it".
