Dive Training Magazine article on.... Dive training

[*dave*]

I ran into this article by Alex Brylske as I was clearing out the magazine rack in my reading room.
Dive Training Editorials: THE LONG AND SHORT OF IT

While I don't agree with his conclusion, I appreciated the article and in particular, this bit:

So what’s the problem?

The problem is that it appears that we haven’t achieved our goal of getting more people into the sport, at least nowhere near the number we had hoped (especially young people). Yet, given that this campaign to make learning to dive easier has been going on for 30 years without success, you’d think we’d start looking elsewhere for a solution.

Now, as a disclaimer, I have to admit that as someone once responsible for the educational programming of the world’s largest diver training program, I played no small part in the move to simplify diver training. (The pejorative term used at the time was the so-called “short course.&#8221 But what I also have to admit is that it appears that I was wrong in assuming easier training would equal more divers. The logic was there but the experience seems to have proven otherwise. And I think that I know why.

Unfortunately, I don't believe doubling the amount of poor training will result in anything more than a longer course, which would either drive up the cost for the students or lower the pay for the instructor.

Still, it's good to see it recognized that things need to change and this is one of the few pieces in a dive rag which give me some hope.

 

[on_two_wheels]

Right....so their next attempt is eTraining?

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Training is only part of the issue ... another is that scuba diving is an expensive pastime, regardless of how well or not you are trained.

Most people only have a limited amount of discretionary funds they can spend on entertainment ... which is exactly what scuba diving is for most folks. They're going to spend it in a way that they believe gives them the most bang for the buck. Scuba shops, agencies, manufacturers, etc. aren't competing against each other ... as many seem to believe ... they're competing against all the other recreational activities out there where folks can spend their money ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Hawkwood]

Training is only part of the issue ... another is that scuba diving is an expensive pastime, regardless of how well or not you are trained.

Most people only have a limited amount of discretionary funds they can spend on entertainment ... which is exactly what scuba diving is for most folks. They're going to spend it in a way that they believe gives them the most bang for the buck. Scuba shops, agencies, manufacturers, etc. aren't competing against each other ... as many seem to believe ... they're competing against all the other recreational activities out there where folks can spend their money ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

That is dead on. My son is a Gen-Y - 21 years old and a Journeyman Heavy-Duty Mechanic. He as been diving over five years now. He is also a DM and is a couple of weeks from completing commercial dive school. In that time he has been able to "entice" only two of his friends into taking lessons and learn to dive. His girlfriend has still not used her DSD pass he got her last year.

He and his friends are also into skiing, sea kayaking, white water kayaking, climbing, mountain biking, off-road motorcycling, camping etc. There is an incredible amount of choice out there, for all the "target" markets. For them it is often a case of "done that" now what is next to try.

 

[Peter Guy]

Bob, I believe it is not only that discretionary "funds" are on issue for the entertainment of Scuba, but discretionary "time" is also a big factor. Whether it is competing for time AND money against everything else you do at home or for your limited time (even if $ is not a factor) while on vacation -- Scuba takes a lot of both.

The training issue is NOT necessarily to make it shorter (or longer) but just "better" and much more efficient. (Note -- by "more efficient" I mean that students will learn what they need to know [whatever that is] without having to relearn/unlearn things.) But THAT is something that has been argued ad nauseum and needn't, shouldn't, be discussed here I believe.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

The problem is that it appears that we haven’t achieved our goal of getting more people into the sport

I have long thought that the marketing whizzes are whizzing into the wind by marketing diving as sport!

I have to admit though that full disclosure might not be the best marketing either ;

scuba diving is an expensive pastime

....

they're competing against all the other recreational activities out there

I can not think of one student of mine that thought they were getting involved in a sport when they decided to become a diver. A good question to start better dive marketing should be, "what factors cause long term divers to begin diving?"

I'm willing to bet that sports is low on that list.

 

[drrich2]

I suspect perceived opportunities to 'play' are also a factor. If you think diving is something you do every year or two on an expensive tropical vacation, and biking is something you do every other weekend with local friends with much less time, money and hassle to get into it, which will people pick?

 

[KozMcCharlie]

First of all... I get it, there is a great deal of danger inherent to the sport of Scuba diving. There's a lot of ways to kill yourself. You need to be taught the intricacies of diving. But, I'm currently wondering why there needs to be a million different courses each with a high price tag that seems to magically remove previous "recommendations". Let me try to explain a little better... (I'll take full responsibility for this sounding a little rantish)

As an OW diver (or in my case NAUI Scuba Diver) why could I not be taught all the skills and such needed for diving to the rec. depth limit and diving nitrox and diving a night dive and diving in overhead environments. Why should I plunk down more money to be able to do these dives when, let's face it, most of the diving I'm going to do out there on vacation/dive trips are going to be in these latter conditions, when I've just paid to become a qualified recreational diver. I didn't get into diving because I wanted to take a whole lot of classes. I took up diving because I wanted to dive. I'm not saying that I won't ever feel like I want to go get some more training on advanced topics, but I was told that for Advanced OW I would do 1 day in classroom and 5 more dives and that I could add nitrox to that for an additional fee and no extra time...

Now why couldn't that be all one class? If you combine it all into the OW course, you wouldn't have to extend the course much and I wouldn't have to take any more classes to remove recommended limits... Not to mention that I would be able to spend money on gear and get on with diving.

I'll say this... when I learned to ride a motorcycle, they taught me all I needed to know in the class. It was similar in price to OW Scuba and similar in time (4 weeks - 1 day classroom, 1 day riding in a parking lot each week) Then I could ride. Not up to a certain speed or distance...

That's what I see as one problem... Take a class and then take more classes and then take another class or two and eventually you'll be ready to just go dive...

Here's another thing... The money that you spend on equipment. I know... it's life support equipment. Tell me which manufacturers don't care about that because they are making affordable Scuba gear? Why on Earth would anyone tell me that if I don't spend thousands of dollars on gear I am not nearly safe enough. I need all the gear so that I can just go dive... Maybe I don't want to wait 3 years to be able to go dive every weekend because renting is a hassle and expensive in it's own right. Maybe a few years on "beginner gear" will let me enjoy diving for the foreseeable future on as many occasions as I wish.

Now here's where all this comes from... For a long time I've wanted to take up Scuba diving. It always seemed really expensive, so I waited until it only seemed "sort of expensive, but I can pretty much afford it." So Earlier this year I went to a LDS that someone had used and said good things about. I went in and asked about a class. "Great we'll get you signed up for that and then there's an advanced class that we can start right after you get your OW done. Here's a list of other classes you might want to think about" So I'm going through the class and the books and such are also trying to sell me on other classes and telling me that there is additional "training" needed to do these other types of diving, but never a word about what sort of information I would need if I were to, let's say, dive to 62' at 8pm in the vicinity of a 3' tunnel through some large rocks while using air that had a little more O2 than normal. So on we go... And in the last classroom session, a list and description of classes available to me through the particular certifying agency. Then the question about when I want to do AOW. Well, I brushed off that question for the time being and wanted to look at gear so that I could have all the stuff I needed for the last pool session and OW dives. "Well, here's what I'd sell you. Top of the line this and that with the latest hoseless AI computer and you might as well spend a few hundred more and get these regs that you can do some ice diving with. Oh and this is pretty cool... it's a secondary air source that you hook up to your power inflate/deflate and it's just about a hundred more than an octo, but you'll be a lot more streamlined..." So then I asked about gear that was a lot less expensive and maybe had to be upgraded when I decided to go into more advanced diving... "Well, do you really want to put a price tag on your safety?"

Now, let me just explain that if I didn't really want to go hang upside down on a reef somewhere, I would have left when I heard that I would need to enroll in Scuba U to be able to go out and do it... If I didn't get really excited about diving (even in the cool green waters of a quarry) during my OW course, I would have abandoned the idea of owning gear when I got hit with the thousands of dollars price tag.

The bottom line is that there are a lot of opportunities to run people off when you start talking about endless training and the endless money drain

 

[sabbath999]

As an OW diver (or in my case NAUI Scuba Diver) why could I not be taught all the skills and such needed for diving to the rec. depth limit and diving nitrox and diving a night dive and diving in overhead environments. Why should I plunk down more money to be able to do these dives when, let's face it, most of the diving I'm going to do out there on vacation/dive trips are going to be in these latter conditions, when I've just paid to become a qualified recreational diver.

The reason is that you can't learn all that stuff in a course that 95 percent of the people would be willing to take, because it would take a LONG time and a LOT of diving just to become certified.

Let's look at a couple of the dives you were talking about, night and deep.

Night diving should not be attempted by somebody who has limited diving skills, period. There's too much too it, it requires task loading that somebody who has only a few training dives frankly are not ready for.

Deep diving is the same... most new divers suck air like a Hoover, don't look at their SPG's nearly enough, have limited buoyancy control, limited knowledge of their equipment and have other issues that can only be solved by time in the water. You don't want to be diving deep while you are learning all the skills you need to learn.

A lot of the classes offered by the training agencies are stupid, and are designed just to suck money out of your wallet. A few have merit, especially when well taught.

Honestly, you don't NEED anything but your basic c-card for most dives. Nitrox training is an additional four hours of study, so it's no big deal if you need that.

If you don't want to pay for those classes, don't take them. Find a mentor who can help you learn and refine.

I am not an instructor or divemaster, nor do I work for a dive shop, so I am not trying to sell you on this stuff.

If you really want to take an all-inclusive zero-to-hero course, well, they are out there, so knock yourself out.

Most people just don't need to take most of the courses that are offered, so why tie them into the basic class (since a large percentage of them are junk classes anyway).

 

[KozMcCharlie]

The reason is that you can't learn all that stuff in a course that 95 percent of the people would be willing to take, because it would take a LONG time and a LOT of diving just to become certified.

Let's look at a couple of the dives you were talking about, night and deep.

Night diving should not be attempted by somebody who has limited diving skills, period. There's too much too it, it requires task loading that somebody who has only a few training dives frankly are not ready for.

Deep diving is the same... most new divers suck air like a Hoover, don't look at their SPG's nearly enough, have limited buoyancy control, limited knowledge of their equipment and have other issues that can only be solved by time in the water. You don't want to be diving deep while you are learning all the skills you need to learn.

The thing is that most of what I hear in talking to shops is that they want to sell you the AOW the week after you finish your OW Cert. The biggest selling point they all seem to mention is night diving and deeper diving. So they're doing it while your spanking new anyway. It's like they are just splitting it up and taking profits. Beyond that, by not giving you any information about how to safely do these kinds of dives, there is the serious risk that a guy who just hit 90' - 100' accidentally on a wall dive is going to freak out when he all of a sudden doesn't know what or if there's something different he should be doing.

Within the scope of this discussion, the "going back to college" feel of getting into Scuba seems like a serious hindrance to attracting more people to recreational diving.