Dive Training Magazine article on.... Dive training

[RU4SKUBA]

eLearning is a great tool for many learners, its just a bit expensive to add to the OW course fees, IMO.

 

[ReeferBen]

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.

Sounds like my ex-brother in law. He is a 20 something do everything before I die type. Keeps telling me he wants to get certified, but spends his time with his speedboat, sport bike, jet ski, and is on his way to go sky diving. He may want to do the diving but he can do all these other "done that" things with little training.

 

[Thalassamania]

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).

The reality is that the "basic" course, which used to cover what is now contained in O/W, AO/W, PPD, Rescue, and one or more other programs like deep, boat, naturalist, etc., has been hacked up into tiny chunks to produce a plethora of extra priced products. Not to mention the NITROX rip-off, which should be about a five minute addition to a course that properly covered gas laws, oxygen toxicities and such rather than as a separate offering.

I sit at one extreme, my course runs 100 hours, includes 12 to 16 open water dives and includes everything that you'd find in O/W, AO/W, PPD, Rescue, deep, boat, naturalist, shore and surf, CPR, first aid, oxygen administration, NITROX, night, equipment specialist, and a few others. The last four people I taught spent about $3,500 each, which included a full set of gear with wetsuit.

In any case, I read Alex's article and found it a generally refreshing take from someone who for many years has been a strong PADI apologist.

 

[fnfalman]

Money is the biggest issue when it comes to scuba as a hobby/sport. Even when you go "cheap", it still isn't cheap.

I've enticed two acquaintances into taking OW courses and while they professed that they liked the activity very much, they simply can't afford to go. Sure, we all have to make sacrifices, but apparently scuba isn't fun enough for them to give up other things they like to do.

 

[Slamfire]

I would say, yes, it is expensive, but I would also add that a lot of the expenses tied to the traditional path of learning and diving don't really need to be there. The only unavoidable expense is the initial outlay tied to equipment acquisition. And even then, there's always the internet and craigslist. Yes, it is of the utmost importance to get guidance and knowledge when acquiring equipment (specially used equipment) and diving skills. If you do it wrong, it is your life on the line. But the traditional LDS is not the one and only way to obtain guidance and knowledge. It may be the most visible way, but be prepared to pay a premium.

I've had some non-divers ask me if they need a license in order to do scuba. I tell them that they do not need any type of permit, or license. They will not be breaking any laws if they go diving without ever getting any formal certification card. It is highly advisable to get training else their life expectancy could end up being really short. Besides, you could encounter trouble buying equipment or getting airfills. Though the last time I got a gas fill it was in a town that's 2 ferry rides away and 4hrs from my home where nobody nows me and nobody asked me for my credentials and I went in alone .

I am a firm believer in self reliance. Be a thinking diver. Don't loose sight of the big picture. Do you really need to sign up for the computer specialty course in order to dive with a computer? What would happen if you just carefully study the computer manual and make sure that the gizmo holds no secrets for you? How much will it cost you to just read the manual? Now envision expanding that concept to include other activities like servicing your own regs. Do you see the $$$ going down?

For whatever it's worth, I do not service my own regs, but I have managed to get the service manuals, and I do believe I could do it if I had to. I do take them apart and do minor adjustments on them. If you don't take the initial cost of equipment into consideration, scuba diving is less expensive than golf, skiing, parachuting, flying planes, skeet shooting, motor boating, and even less expensive than many types of fishing and hunting.

 

[DCBC]

Personally I find it refreshing to see the author start to "get it." Many years ago, all divers were trained much more extensively, so as to be confident and competent in the water, to be able to help their buddy in an emergency and dive unsupervised on day one. The trend has moved in the opposite direction for years. In my opinion, it's time that many training agencies wake-up to the fact that their initial product offering has been too watered down.

 

[spectrum]

I think that getting started and staying with the sport may have 2 different drivers.

Cost is surely a barrier to many in getting started. Next may be time of life. As a young person/childless couple there can be time to take up and enjoy diving. Latter in life as empty nesters many are now discovering the sport. In between there is something of a wasteland where time, money and family responsibility is a barrier to most.

In terms of being active or staying with the sport I think the variety of recreation options is a big part of the challenge. There are many more means of spending ones free time these days and many divers that I know divide their playtime across multiple pursuits. Many divers enter the sport not knowing how to do dives, only skill tricks.

Training combined with modern equipment seems to be adequate from a safety standpoint if by no other metric than limited novice fatalities. However most training seems to fall flat on it's face in teaching new divers how to enjoy diving and the work required to get in the water. Changes need to be made that reduce frustration and teach diver to handle the whole realm of the activity without stress.

Pete

 

[Jim Lapenta]

As one who came thru a "lets get you signed up for advanced" before my OW was done shop, I see the same thing. As an Instructor I do my best to discourage students from taking AOW immediately after. At least with my AOW course they are simply not ready for the increased task loading, equipment requirements, and new skills. While the OW students I turn out have decent buoyancy and are able to do the basics while neutral and swimming in trim, they are not ready to sling a stage bottle and do an air share after using a reel to get us back to the 90 ft platform over a silty bottom in darkness. All required on the deep dive I do. They need TIME to PRACTICE what they have just learned. IF they want more dives with an instructor (BS reason given to many to do AOW as quick as possible), all they have to do is just ask me to go diving with them! I'll do it. No charge just to get wet and have fun. Teaching an UW Nav class today and tomorrow. Next week 2 checkout dives for some students who are finishing up at the DAN BBQ at Portage Quarry in Ohio. Done by noon Saturday. The rest of the weekend will be fun for me time! They will be there and if they want to dive with me as my buddies- not as my students- great! If not they will be diving as their own buddy team gaining experience ON THEIR OWN.

It is why I do have minimum requirements for advanced and specialty classes. Even Nitrox. I want them to go out and at least do a weekend having fun. Still need to do a couple dives for Nitrox under our system. I also do not combine certs. If someone is having buoyancy issues and problems with mask clearing they have no business starting an advanced class till those are resolved.

 

[captain]

I think in the end diving is not an everyman's activity and never will be no matter what the industry tries.

What I find as a common denominator to those like myself, Nemrod and Thalsamania who have 40+ years of diving is an early start as teenagers, self taught to some degree, training under the early methodology and an ingrained love of the sea beyond just diving.

No kind or amount of training alone will make someone a life long diver, it has to be part of the persons personality.

We can entice people to try diving and train them but I don't feel we can make a diver, divers are born.

Growing the industry may be looking at it the wrong way, maintaining the industry in accordance with population growth is mostly what training agencies have been doing and is about all that can be expected.
People will come in and drop out, divers will stay.

 

[drrich2]

Jim:

As an Instructor I do my best to discourage students from taking AOW immediately after.

This is kind of going to be mixing things up, since I figure your basic OW students are more 'diver competent' than is typical for recreational OW students, but your comment is interesting to me because it seems there are 2 different views on when to take AOW, based on other threads I've seen on the forum.

One view says OW training is inadequate and AOW, which contains content that used to be in the OW course, needs to be quickly included to get a decent course. Some might even add more - underwater navigation, deep and rescue specialties, for example, to be 'worthy' of a basic OW certification card.

A second view says that newbies ought to do some diving after OW to get more comfortable diving and practice what they've already been taught, then come back and take AOW as more seasoned divers better prepared to take advantage of what it has to offer.

Again, I know your OW and AOW aren't exactly the same as everybody else's. But recommendations on this forum are often made to people over a wide geographical area, or are made with an eye toward the direction the industry should move toward.

I guess I'm just venting because I keep seeing these 2 somewhat contradictory views pushed in threads bemoaning the state of modern recreational scuba training.

Richard.

P.S.: Philosophical question. Since there's often so much attention on growing the sport, just how many divers do we think their should be? Half again what we have now? Double? Any ideas?