Note that you can't pass with bare minimum requirements, so therefore you have to put some effort into this. In my experience, average scores would be 2 for the 400m, 3 for the 800m, 3 for the tow, 5 for the float (I won't let anybody off with less than a 5!), 4 for the exchange - that's averages based on a loose guess of several hundred DMTs in a big CDC.
C.
For the 400m, in open water I can kill that, but I'm terrible turning on walls in a 50m pool, so I'd end up with a 1, same with the snorkel thing, I tend to alternate between alternating fin kicks and dolphin kicking, probably a 3, but the tread, float, bob test gives me the giggles... I'm naturally positively buoyant in my current physical stature, I can literally FLOAT with my head above water, so treading is easy and I could probably do the whole 15 minutes with hands out of water just with legs. 5.
The question I have is about the equipment swap... I'm a big guy, swapping my equipment to someone else, no worry, but I'm not going to be donning someone else equipment underwater or on the surface? how do they work around that part? just let me do a double reverse and swap back for my own equipment? The way i see this drill is that you have one reg between the two of you... maybe I'm nuts, but I'm pretty sure I could get out of my rig, on one breathe of air, swap and clear my mask on another, and into a different rig on another, I'd hope my partner could do all their work while they breath off the reg... or are you supposed to be more conservative and swap the reg back and forth more?
---------- Post added May 6th, 2015 at 09:41 PM ----------
I obviously do not agree. A grade of D is passing some standard, a grade of A indicates a better grasp of the subject or in this case, exceeding that standard, whatever, it is is only a good thing to exceed a minimum standard unless squeaking by is the goal. I think my parents always expected an A. Too bad I did not always get them. If something is worth doing then it is worth do well. A minimum standard is a starting point of acceptance, not an end goal. Perhaps it is my fault and that I am adding the word minimum to a standard that seems fairly minimal. My mistake. Carry on as one sees fit.
And I thought in another thread it was decided by consensus that a gear swap was meaningless? I do not think I could fit into my wife's gear nor her into mine? If one is to have standards, perhaps they should be actually relevant. Meh.
N
I have never been one that just HAD to overachieve. If I knew i had the ability outright to exceed the standards, I generally always did. In this instance, i'm a solid swimmer, I earned my swimming and lifesaving merit badges as a Scout, go my mile swim badge, and was the guy that did the river crossing when we did our rope bridge river crossing in the Army. But the caveat to that is that NONE of those were done to a real time standard. Slow and steady in the water is much safer than burning yourself out, so I am not sure what the DM standard is trying to prove.
In the military, such a standard would be represented by a real world scenario to support the need to perform the task, and perhaps encourage the trainee to excel more. i.e. "the 400m swim simulates a real world emergency where the DM candidate might need to respond to a victim in the water up to 400m away, the time standard exists to allow for the DM candidate to successfully complete the task with enough energy to support themselves and assist another diver"
Now, there's a reason to swim faster.
The gear swap is the same issue. I'm 300+, and my kit will fit anyone I pair up with, but the reverse isn't true, and so what's the point? why not simply require that the gear be removed and re-donned by both divers using only one reg? Which is more likely.
The relevancy to this task I have witnessed. I've seen someone have to remove their gear to get it untangled from a line on a wreck, and at one point, they had to accept a secondary from their buddy to cut away the line by their own valve. Of course, there were actually three divers all hovering within 5 feet watching, but there are times that removing your gear might be necessary (a tank that slips out of the tank band is another I've witnessed)... so, I can see this if you are removing and redonning your own gear, but the swapping part of the task seems like it lacks any foundation.
