"Correct Weighting" Identified as #1 Needed Improvement in SCUBA Diving

[lermontov]

What I enjoyed most in the past 35 years was the inward exploration of self and turning the body into a diving machine as much as the outward exploration. I think divers are being told the orgasm is everything and foreplay is too much work.

Now its getting interesting! (although were changing topic )

I just got back from a trip where 6 divers where doing the advanced wreck ( i was diving at same site) after the course 2 of the divers did a trust me dive in part of wreck that they should have done a lot more prep for. no reconnoitre, no gas plan, no understanding of escape routes etc I spoke to the instructor after and he expressed disappointment that after 4 days of the course and trying to hammer home the need fro gas plan etc . they went and did a trust me dive with little/no application of the week course training
There seems an inevitable gap between knowledge and understanding - given the day that they end up in silt out or lost in wreck /cave and survive they have their eureka moment when they now understand what it was that their course instructor was trying to impart.

There are just too many easy ways to die, of the most part you get away with some of them but if you have a close call and dont take heed itll bite you eventually. This should be enough to be catalyst for the 'average ' diver to get their sh*t together and become first class divers

Im sure many here have had that experience and as you got older you realise the foreplay is crucial to long term satisfaction

 

[tilikum]

We really should let Darwin and laws of consequences take it's course.

 

[Chavodel8en]

My OW training was the 2 weekend variety, with a class of about a ten folks. Not completely bare bones, but pretty close. If I recall, 2 days of classes, 1 weekend in the pool, then 1 weekend in the ocean. Instructor took turns working with each diver.

As someone else put it, the certification was enough so I wouldn't drown -- and now it was up to me to become a competent diver.

If the class was more extensive, maybe I wouldn't have done it, mainly for $$ reasons, but also maybe time reasons. I don't have whole weeks and months free to learn to dive. Also, Im not the best swimmer, so I doubt I could have passed the old school scuba camp style.

However, I feel that I became a very competent diver soon after my OW. I continued to dive with mentoring folks, worked on my skills and progressed.

There's give and take. Old school approach would weed out the morons that we see out there. But it would probably also have weeded me out as well.

 

[The Chairman]

Lots of mentoring going on here! Lots of local dive trips being planned and there are plenty of seasoned divers willing to lend an eye and a hand.

 

[tilikum]

My local diving scene is non existent.

 

[boulderjohn]

How did we move from "physical training" to "stellar athlete?" And, why does John think only 12 people would pass? Even 20 - 30% of SEAL candidates make it. We wouldn't have to create a 70% attrition rate, but it would be nice if we could create a GUE style sense of accomplishment in scuba across the board..

You were the one who said...

Maybe if we had to pass a rigorous selection like BUDS to get a C-card, all of the agency bashing and personal attacks would be replaced by mutual respect and people would be drawn to the tribe rather than get fed up and take up another activity within 5 years.

I did not mean that only 12 people would pass that training--I was extending your theory another step, thus magnifying the point that getting people to respect each other by limiting the training to only super athletes who can pass an extreme physical entrance requirement would destroy the scuba industry with no good reason other than to create that unnecessary respect.

One of the historical documents I was required to read when becoming an instructor talked about leaders in the scuba community in the 1960s realizing something had to be done differently when they heard instructor after instructor brag about how good they were at teaching scuba on the basis of their very high failure rates. "Damn I'm a good teacher! Just about everyone who learns from me fails the course!" What other profession would even begin to think that a high failure rate was a sign of a highly skilled professional at work? Do you hear attorneys advertising on TV that they lose most of their cases? Do plumbers brag that the joints that they work on usually still leak when they are finished?

 

[Hou s4m]

I usually follow a group of civil engineers and marine scientists consisting of a director, an instructor, a few DMs and resques, and some experienced AOW. It always feel safe There would always be debriefings about the dive, interesting things to note, threats and how to avoid, etc. So even if its a leisure dive for me, i enjoy the input. Time and time again they always stress on weight management and that i should practice to control my buoyancy. Body control and breathing to acheive my zen with water. Hopefully one day i'll be able to dive without weights.

 

[REVAN]

At this time, there have been 7509 views on this thread. I figure that's 7509 tiny steps toward improving weight management skills among the diving population. The more frequently people think about weight management, the more likely they'll take steps to improve it when the time comes to pay attention, make weight calculations and perform weight checks.

 

[Trace Malinowski]

I didn't say anything about someone needing to be an elite diver or athlete to pass a scuba class. I suggested a more rigorous selection process would create a bond among divers. In case the middle-aged haven't been paying attention, young people are in love with Spartan Races, Tough Mudders, and other forms of physical challenge. I think it's time we said goodbye to the softer side of diving and bring back some of the fun they currently enjoy, but with snorkels or tanks.

 

[lermontov]

At this time, there have been 7509 views on this thread. I figure that's 7509 tiny steps toward improving weight management skills among the diving population. The more frequently people think about weight management, the more likely they'll take steps to improve it when the time comes to pay attention, make weight calculations and perform weight checks.

you've just confirmed it -you are a troll