Considering doing SSI Stress & Rescue. Critique please?

[Tom Smedley]

If you don't get an answer from Watson go directly to Doug McNeese. He is also on Facebook. He, above anyone else, is highly concerned about the quality of SSI courses.

The SSI Stress and Rescue Course classroom is divided into two sections:
1. How to recognize signs and sources of stress. Heading off and preventing an accident is the best and safest form of rescue. What is stress? Stress in diving and Detecting and dealing with stress.
2. Accident management, Skills needed to deal with panic and rescues, conditions that complicate rescues.

There are two pool sessions and minimum three open water sessions. In my class I break the open water skills into five loggable dives.

You should have had a textbook each, read and done the chapter review questions for handing in to be placed in your training record, watched the video, and made at least 80 percent on your final written exam. Some stores will allow a family to share a textbook but the study and chapter questions should be done individually.

Certification as an SSI Stress and Rescue diver also requires currency in First Aid and CPR and oxygen provider as a prerequisite.

 

[The Wolf]

Actually was about to post an open thread to SSI when I noticed this one and thought I would chime in..

My girlfriend and I recently took the SSI Stress & Rescue class and found out the hard way that not all classes (or instructors) are created equal.. Our class was a super basic, bare-bones class during which the instructor never even entered the pool. All in all, it was something like 30 minutes of class and 30-40 minutes of pool, covering not much more than tows. I posted another thread asking for input on SSI S&R as well - that might help you as well:

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ad...s/296826-ssi-stress-rescue-class-details.html

I strongly suggest doing as much research as possible on what the class will cover prior to enrolling / paying up.. Don't find out the hard way like we did - we're trying to get a refund or re-take from a better shop, but there is a lot of back & forth and SSI themselves are not helping us much (They seem to be ignoring my emails, actually)

I both emailed & snail mailed the question of "What is this class supposed to cover?" to Watson DeVore at SSI and so far have been completely ignored. Will probably post that as an 'open letter' to SSI in another thread some time soon.

Anyway - if you find a good instructor / shop it's probably a great class! But for us, to this date, our experience has not been so good.

Its disappointing to hear they (SSI) never got back to you. I did the course and did it over a weekend including dives out and different scenarios. Passed all of them with flying colors but i think it varies diver to diver. not all divers make great SNR's or divemasters or instructors but, it was def. well worth the money invested.

 

[The Wolf]

My experince was interesting: dived with 2 other open water 2 divers, and in the midst of the dive, instructor disappeared, leaving me with the 2 divemasters. Did a quick look about but couldn't spot him. Proceeded for 5 minutes along the agreed heading and still didnt find him so i took control and instructed both other divers to surface with me. Got to the surface and found the instructor waiting.

So I guess I wasn't the only one who has been through this scenario.

 

[yarik83]

I guess I should put in my 2 cents.

I have not taken SSI stress and rescue nor any other rescue class. I am certified in cpr but on a completely unrelated to diving level. What I can tell you about SSI stress and rescue class is that I was a test dummy... well a search and rescue subject for a class that my local dive shop taught. I got a nasty cold afterward because diving in 1 mil suit for 1 hour in 50 degree water while it was barely 60 above surface was not my idea of "helping" more importantly I did not get much of a reimbursement for subjecting myself through such pain but regardless of that the real reason why I took that course is because I wanted to find out what the class was like.

I never saw the book but I am sure that it puts common sense in writing at a cost of $100 for the class. .Actual physics part of the course involved me having to swim out into the lake and sit tight while diver had to locate me. Even with 50 feet visibility they could not find me sitting right in the open. 3 tries later my teeth were chattering but they finally figured out how to find me. What followed after was nasty because apparently safety stop was not important (well may be its not important to a diver who have just got in but 40 minutes at 40 feet has got to count for something eh?) So I was stripped of weight and my fins (another diver picked those up) and flipped face up. Guy blew like 2000 psi of air of my tank while bringing me up and at surface removed my regulator and my mask. Being winter and water choppy I took a huge wave in my face and started choking. Good thing instructor was there to fail the guy and rescue me for real. So... when I stopped coughing i was dragged all the way back to shore head often dipping into water and holding breath to save me from drowning. At the beach I was thankful to see solid ground for a change.

I had to repeat the same thing for 3 other divers that did not fail unlike this guy and rest of it was actually not that bad except that by that point I was 1 second away from catching hypothermia.

I have around 150 dives under my belt and having taken part in that course (even as a dummy) I cant justify spending 100 bucks on a book that I will only open once. This is just one of those things that I wont do. My career ended with SSI right after I took nitrox class. I dont dive deep enough to take their advanced open water class nor do I need navigation because I have been practicing that skill absolutely free of charge since my first dive.

Overall my instructor keeps asking me to take all these SSI classes but... I dont know... economy is tough and money is harder to come by these days. Not looking forward to replacing common sense with spending 100 dollars each time just to learn something that I already know.

 

[acelockco]

You are paying for more then a book. You are paying for information collected over years, not only in written format but as part of an interactive class. The idea is to learn from mistakes that others have made so that you don't make them yourself.

If you feel comfortable with your diving skills in the environment you dive in, great! Fortunately for most of us, we dive in different locations around the world with major differences in dive conditions. We have the desire to explore and the desire to learn more and see more. That all requires knowledge that you can get with information and practice.

Not to bust chops here, but if you are really upset about paying $100 for a class then maybe diving isn't really the sport for you. I just paid $190 for the Stress and Rescue Class, I would have loved to only have paid $100!

 

[weaponeer]

I got a nasty cold afterward because diving in 1 mil suit for 1 hour in 50 degree water while it was barely 60 above surface was not my idea of "helping"......

I have around 150 dives under my belt.......

I have completed the SSI S&R course in addition to AOW. Since you don't want to take the course because it's cost prohibitive, I'll give you some information from the class for free that may help you down the road -

Cold water diving is classified as diving in water 70 degrees F and colder. It is highly advised to wear a dry suit in water below 65 degrees F.

With around 150 dives under your belt I thought I'd pass this on to you because if you continue wearing a 1 mil suit in 50 degree water for an hour, you won't be tallying up many more dives. I'd hate to see that happen to someone who obviously loves the sport but doesn't think they need continuous training to do it safely.

 

[acelockco]

Well, after all of that, I agree DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME TAKING A CLASS BY SSI.

If you really want to learn something take a NAUI class or learn on your own. If you want pick up a coloring book on diving and you will learn more then you would from SSI.

I just started reading the SSI books and can't even begin to tell you what a joke it is! It was designed for people with a 5th grade education.