Doc Deep dies during dive.
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Thanks everyone for your feedback and support. It certainly wasn’t my most eloquently written piece, but it was absolutely the hardest collection of words I’ve ever put on “paper”, so the support is very much appreciated.
I won’t get into responding to each of the comments in this thread, but I’m happy to see a discussion being had about it.
And @Wookie, no time for a honeymoon yet, hopefully a bit later in the year
However, the timing of the piece being released on my wedding day certainly brought a sense of closure in one chapter as a new began… or something sappy like that
Thanks again everyone, safe diving.
I won’t get into responding to each of the comments in this thread, but I’m happy to see a discussion being had about it.
And @Wookie, no time for a honeymoon yet, hopefully a bit later in the year
However, the timing of the piece being released on my wedding day certainly brought a sense of closure in one chapter as a new began… or something sappy like that
Thanks again everyone, safe diving.
PirateFoxy
Contributor
I kind of wonder if this general concept is an issue in other incidents, also. Like with Linnea Mills, some people definitely feel like she should have been aware enough to call the dive herself and not be so dependent on the instructor, since she was an OW diver. But if that sort of decision making and risk evaluation and self-confidence is not a part of what is being assessed before someone is qualified as an OW diver, then you can't really assume that just giving someone an OW card means they magically have those skills - were they taught? Were they evaluated on them? Is the person actually able to perform to the level expected? Or are instructors not really paying any attention to those aspects and so there are probably plenty of people with credentials who don't have the skills/attitude/personality/etc. needed to be properly safe divers?
(Note: I am *not* saying she was at fault, I am questioning if the *system* is at fault for having unclear expectations and standards or for instructors not fully adhering to standards when evaluating if a student is qualified or not, and thus creating an environment in which people can get into situations that they really are NOT prepared for, but they or others think they are because they have a certain piece of paper or took a particular class.)
I dunno. It just seems like there's a mental aspect to diving that is just doomed to get overlooked if you have an industry that leans heavily on being able to certify people on vacation and in large numbers and that sort of quantity focus.
drrich2
Contributor
@PirateFoxy - very good answer, thanks. Yours and @Germie answer got me thinking...if people like Guy who wanted to do these dives were denied instruction, would that stop them, or would they just buy the manuals/course materials and 'self-train?' Or, as Germie basically pointed out, would prospective course participants just learn what politically correct dogma to pretend to adhere to?
I don't know how the pro.s and con.s of that would weigh out. I tend to be cynical and quick to think about the law of unintended consequences.
I don't know how the pro.s and con.s of that would weigh out. I tend to be cynical and quick to think about the law of unintended consequences.
CT-Rich
Contributor
I thought the article was interesting. I understand where the author's guilt stem's from. He had been looking as diving deep as a important part of his tech diving experience. He transmitted it to his student. Unlearning is much harder than learning and Doc Deep had a personality that lent itself to goals. Once he latched onto the idea of going deep and setting a record, he was not diswayed easily. Other came on board and bought into the challenge.
Disowning the project was probably the best thing that could have been done. I am sure if Doc Deep had landed in cave country, he might have done something similar with exploration or penetration. That others were willing to help with the logistics was unfortunate. I am sure they are feeling terrible for the parts they played.
Perhaps If there had been a wider broader and established tech community, maybe he would have been better mentored and not put himself in that type of task.
Disowning the project was probably the best thing that could have been done. I am sure if Doc Deep had landed in cave country, he might have done something similar with exploration or penetration. That others were willing to help with the logistics was unfortunate. I am sure they are feeling terrible for the parts they played.
Perhaps If there had been a wider broader and established tech community, maybe he would have been better mentored and not put himself in that type of task.
PirateFoxy
Contributor
I think one question that has to be asked is - are we talking about this in the context of what individuals can/should do, or what the industry/community as a whole should do? Because there are limitations on individual instructors in terms of what they can do about the overall culture, and what they can know about an individual student. (Obviously they can try to be alert for things that make them uncomfortable, but they aren't mind readers. If a student has a good 'game face' for taking classes then the clues may not be there to pick up on.) So for individuals it ultimately comes down to "am I going to play a part in this or not?"
At an industry/community level, there's many more avenues to explore in terms of trying to manage a culture that allows/encourages people doing very high risk things, from marketing choices to qualification requirements to insurance limitations, and so on and so forth. Some potential interventions may not be well tolerated by the community (I can't see limiting sales of all equipment to people who've passed specific classes only going over well, for example) but even those can be assessed to determine if it's worth the community upset to do it anyway.
I'm personally inclined to think that a shift in education/marketing/qualifications may be somewhat helpful in weeding out people who maybe really shouldn't be diving due to attitude/personality/mentality. My thought in terms of the first change I'd consider trying (as an armchair quarterback) is basically along the lines of the message in the article - instructors need to evaluate attitude/mentality/personality as part of any qualification process, and decline to pass students they don't think are being attentive enough to risks/safety procedures. Any places that depend on high volume qualifications would hate that though, most likely.
I think students are sometimes playing part in what are the 'wished' answers. Every instructor has had student where he or she thinks afterwards, maybe it was a better not. I also had one.
And I also have refused a student that had such a lot of money that he found another instructor somewhere around the world that did what he wanted. He has been refused here by several instructors around me. But now he has his certs and future will show if he will do stupid things or not. Most divers will not get into problems happely.
Then we come also to another point. Can you, or are you allowed as instructor to ask another instructor from a course before yours about a student? Is this fair or unfair? When changes gathering information into talking behind backs?
A human being will always remember his opinion as the most important. So if a diver who was bad, will be remembered as bad. But the diver can change. So if a student failed with you and not with another instructor later, things that could have been happened: the next instructor is an instructor who always pass students. Or the student got really better.
People change, so also students, divers or instructors.
Then the question here about selftraining. In diving, the thing is that self training is not accepted. In every sport autodidacts are accepted, but not in diving. But also in diving you will find people who are more talented than others. But in diving every step must be taken by hand. If not, then others start to judge. I see the same in students, sometimes they really need to work to achieve the next level. Sometimes you show them how things work and they do it. Or they just had read a book and know all the theory already. And even as instructor I have seen divers who are able to do (partly) selfteaching. And others where you have to be lucky they never tried.
Almost every sportsperson in every sports has a trainer or coach, even if he is an autodidact. But then the role of the trainer is motivating and maybe just steer a little bit. So sometimes I ask myself the question in diving: must we as instructors sometimes also be the coach, motivator and trainer of a diver who can easily meet standards of a course? And what about the divers after a course? Do you coach them or do you never get any contact anymore? Is it wrong if you never have any contact anymore?
Must you as instructor be able to adjust a course to fit better for the particular diver (and then still teach within standards of course)? I think yes, we must do. Some instructors or agencies have quite strickt rules, theory day 1, dive 1 do X, dive 2 do Y. But this kind of courses will not fit every diver. A diver who can learn theory by just reading, must that diver be there on a whole day theory while it is boring him and also not nice for the instructor maybe? Just think about these things as instructor, what is the best way to teach a particular diver? Maybe the answer is that such a student can better go to another instructor, or maybe you can adjust your teaching withing the standardlimits?
I was one of the divers that was a little bit more talented than average, I mastered all the theory about trimix diving already before doing the first course. I also learned myself the backkick, diving with 2 decogases, etc. I don't think I did something wrong in that. I never dived outside any certification limit anymore since I was normoxic certified. I never dove in caves without training. But before cave training I also readed about line protocols, so it was not difficult to do it in a course.
I will never say I was experienced after a course, because learning how to read caves needs time. During the trimix courses I felt always ready for every dive. The 100m came already during the course and I did not expect that. I had the choice of finishing at 85m, or go to a divesite and do 100m. I decided to go for the 100m, knowing that this was a silent wish and maybe my only time in my life.
Would I have done things different? Oh yes, I am not the diver anymore when I started, I also grew as a person. If people were more open to divers who are interested in technical diving, I would have done things different for sure. I have had a lot of negative advice and a lot of complaints about that going deep is dangerous, but never an answer on the question 'why?'.
I have done now quite a lot of dives over 100m. I found out that the problems start if you go over 128m depth. I have had a CO2 hit, and hpns on dives over 130m.
I have refused to help with a record dive. But maybe if someone asked me that when I was less experienced, I would have said yes.
I think that if people refuse students or divers, the divers will always find other divers to help them. That is human. Also getting self trained is an option. The information on doing deep dives is easy available. You can train skills yourself if you are an autodidact (maybe with help of a gopro). the only thing you will not get if you do self training is the experience of an instructor. If I teach a trimix course (or a cave course) I not only tell what is in the books. I also tell about my own experience. I talk about my hpns experience at 132m depth, I talk about my minor CO2 problem at 130m depth, I talk about a T I marked in a mine and on the way back my brain said I need to straight and the cookie told I had to go right. I went right and that was the exit. But my brain told me the wrong way.
These things are missed if doing self training.
Then we go to a point also mentioned in the story of the instructor of Guy: he stated he teached full trimix quite fast after his own user level course. I never had wishes of becoming an instructor in cave or trimix. So when I did I had quite a lot of experience outside of the limits I have to teach within. That means I know more than the minimum you teach. I think this is important. You can become full trimix instructor when never been deeper than 75m. But you are allowed to teach to 100m. I know cave instructors that teach cave and the students go in 1 of the first dives after the course further in a cave than the instructor has ever been.
And I also see a lot of instructors only knowing how to follow a computer because that is nowadays enough to dive safely with trimix. But I think this is wrong. Another point is for example the amount of cave dives to become a cave instructor. How do you check such things as IT? I have seen people becoming cave instructor in a period of time that it is impossible to do such an amount of cave dives. You need to have 150. This is easy to be done if you live in Florida or Mexico. This can be done in 1 year or less. But if you live like me in a none cave country, you have to travel. A lot of divers only go 1 week per year cavediving. And then they have 2 years of experience, so let's say 50 dives and talk about becoming a cave instructor. That is impossible. So I think you as IT you have to ask about the dives made and also about diveplans made. It is not only swimming in a cave, turn at 1/3 of gas and go out. You need more as instructor in my eyes. Also a lot of instructors never do the 20 private dives without teaching on highest level theirselves every year.
So I think, if you think about becoming a tech instructor, look in your eyes and ask yourself the question: Do I think that if I was a student that my instructor with my experience now has enough experience? And not only answer yes because you want to. Are you capable of helping in a real problem?
And remember: the best instructor in the world is a bad instructor for you if personalities don't fit. Then you never get out the max of a course.
And I also have refused a student that had such a lot of money that he found another instructor somewhere around the world that did what he wanted. He has been refused here by several instructors around me. But now he has his certs and future will show if he will do stupid things or not. Most divers will not get into problems happely.
Then we come also to another point. Can you, or are you allowed as instructor to ask another instructor from a course before yours about a student? Is this fair or unfair? When changes gathering information into talking behind backs?
A human being will always remember his opinion as the most important. So if a diver who was bad, will be remembered as bad. But the diver can change. So if a student failed with you and not with another instructor later, things that could have been happened: the next instructor is an instructor who always pass students. Or the student got really better.
People change, so also students, divers or instructors.
Then the question here about selftraining. In diving, the thing is that self training is not accepted. In every sport autodidacts are accepted, but not in diving. But also in diving you will find people who are more talented than others. But in diving every step must be taken by hand. If not, then others start to judge. I see the same in students, sometimes they really need to work to achieve the next level. Sometimes you show them how things work and they do it. Or they just had read a book and know all the theory already. And even as instructor I have seen divers who are able to do (partly) selfteaching. And others where you have to be lucky they never tried.
Almost every sportsperson in every sports has a trainer or coach, even if he is an autodidact. But then the role of the trainer is motivating and maybe just steer a little bit. So sometimes I ask myself the question in diving: must we as instructors sometimes also be the coach, motivator and trainer of a diver who can easily meet standards of a course? And what about the divers after a course? Do you coach them or do you never get any contact anymore? Is it wrong if you never have any contact anymore?
Must you as instructor be able to adjust a course to fit better for the particular diver (and then still teach within standards of course)? I think yes, we must do. Some instructors or agencies have quite strickt rules, theory day 1, dive 1 do X, dive 2 do Y. But this kind of courses will not fit every diver. A diver who can learn theory by just reading, must that diver be there on a whole day theory while it is boring him and also not nice for the instructor maybe? Just think about these things as instructor, what is the best way to teach a particular diver? Maybe the answer is that such a student can better go to another instructor, or maybe you can adjust your teaching withing the standardlimits?
I was one of the divers that was a little bit more talented than average, I mastered all the theory about trimix diving already before doing the first course. I also learned myself the backkick, diving with 2 decogases, etc. I don't think I did something wrong in that. I never dived outside any certification limit anymore since I was normoxic certified. I never dove in caves without training. But before cave training I also readed about line protocols, so it was not difficult to do it in a course.
I will never say I was experienced after a course, because learning how to read caves needs time. During the trimix courses I felt always ready for every dive. The 100m came already during the course and I did not expect that. I had the choice of finishing at 85m, or go to a divesite and do 100m. I decided to go for the 100m, knowing that this was a silent wish and maybe my only time in my life.
Would I have done things different? Oh yes, I am not the diver anymore when I started, I also grew as a person. If people were more open to divers who are interested in technical diving, I would have done things different for sure. I have had a lot of negative advice and a lot of complaints about that going deep is dangerous, but never an answer on the question 'why?'.
I have done now quite a lot of dives over 100m. I found out that the problems start if you go over 128m depth. I have had a CO2 hit, and hpns on dives over 130m.
I have refused to help with a record dive. But maybe if someone asked me that when I was less experienced, I would have said yes.
I think that if people refuse students or divers, the divers will always find other divers to help them. That is human. Also getting self trained is an option. The information on doing deep dives is easy available. You can train skills yourself if you are an autodidact (maybe with help of a gopro). the only thing you will not get if you do self training is the experience of an instructor. If I teach a trimix course (or a cave course) I not only tell what is in the books. I also tell about my own experience. I talk about my hpns experience at 132m depth, I talk about my minor CO2 problem at 130m depth, I talk about a T I marked in a mine and on the way back my brain said I need to straight and the cookie told I had to go right. I went right and that was the exit. But my brain told me the wrong way.
These things are missed if doing self training.
Then we go to a point also mentioned in the story of the instructor of Guy: he stated he teached full trimix quite fast after his own user level course. I never had wishes of becoming an instructor in cave or trimix. So when I did I had quite a lot of experience outside of the limits I have to teach within. That means I know more than the minimum you teach. I think this is important. You can become full trimix instructor when never been deeper than 75m. But you are allowed to teach to 100m. I know cave instructors that teach cave and the students go in 1 of the first dives after the course further in a cave than the instructor has ever been.
And I also see a lot of instructors only knowing how to follow a computer because that is nowadays enough to dive safely with trimix. But I think this is wrong. Another point is for example the amount of cave dives to become a cave instructor. How do you check such things as IT? I have seen people becoming cave instructor in a period of time that it is impossible to do such an amount of cave dives. You need to have 150. This is easy to be done if you live in Florida or Mexico. This can be done in 1 year or less. But if you live like me in a none cave country, you have to travel. A lot of divers only go 1 week per year cavediving. And then they have 2 years of experience, so let's say 50 dives and talk about becoming a cave instructor. That is impossible. So I think you as IT you have to ask about the dives made and also about diveplans made. It is not only swimming in a cave, turn at 1/3 of gas and go out. You need more as instructor in my eyes. Also a lot of instructors never do the 20 private dives without teaching on highest level theirselves every year.
So I think, if you think about becoming a tech instructor, look in your eyes and ask yourself the question: Do I think that if I was a student that my instructor with my experience now has enough experience? And not only answer yes because you want to. Are you capable of helping in a real problem?
And remember: the best instructor in the world is a bad instructor for you if personalities don't fit. Then you never get out the max of a course.
I don't want to put words into @kierentec 's mouth, but I interpreted that to mean that standards for technical instructor certification with some training agencies remain too lax. Some instructors have been certified by certain agencies with only a few years of diving experience themselves, and without completing a proper apprenticeship under the tutelage of more experienced instructors. Much of what instructors need to know is tacit knowledge that can't be taught in a formal training course and only comes with a lot of time underwater.
KevinNM
Contributor
I understand that with GUE it’s common to discuss students you are taking on with their previous instructors. And I’ve heard these discussions can get kind of heated when the diver doesn’t seem ready for the course and the cave 1 course turns into a really expensive fundamentals course.
Being instructor means status. You see that everywhere. I am instructor, so I know everything. I am instructor, you have to listen. The idea of needing to become an instructor is made by a lot of commercial agencies. Get the highest level in diving, go teaching. Already from the beginning you must do more courses, gain more certs, and if you become owsi, then you are something, you are a real diver. Young people can do internships to become dm or instructor, even if they never had a regulator in their mouth. The world opens if you become instructor. This is how diving is teached a lot of times.
In my eyes it already starts with DM. I have had discussions (and some more also) on facebook with a DM with only 62 dives who was really proud about his guiding for a dive center. He knew everything he stated. He also was absolutely against solodiving. I said to him, with 62 dives, you are not able to help divers that really get into problems. He also stated that every diver needed a guide. Why do you need a guide? Would you say that you know more with only 62 than me with over 2000 dives? That is impossible. Only my experience is already more than 62 divesites. I also do unguided dives and solodives. You have never done a dive outside of this divecenter and never planned or executed one of you own. If you think you need a guide on every dive after your certification, you need to ask for better instruction. You are teached to dive without a guide, even after open water. But you almost never see that happen in some countries. So I said to that dm: You need to do some solodives, just to know that you are solodiving for more than only yourself if you do a dsd or guide divers that only have done just 4 dives to get a cert and do not trust themselves already. No, solodiving was dangerous he stated.
I think it would not be bad to require a DM candidate to make some real solodives. Just to know if you are able to dive on your own. And if you are selfreliant, self sufficient. Not with the goal to promote solodiving, but just to learn to know yourself. When guiding, you are responsible for a group and maybe all divers are certified, not all divers are used to dive without a guide. If divers rely on a guide, they think the guide will help them with every problem. It is not that a DM needs to do solodiving a lot, but most DM's are also not self reliant/self sufficient. They also don't know anything about that. If you don't trust yourself, don't take others into a dive.
Why would you need 100 dives for a solodive certificate and only 60 to become DM? Who has more responsability? Can you be a good dm with only 60 dives?
Then with 100 dives you are or can be an instructor.
And then you maybe go into the tech part and want also become a techinstructor. Some agencies only require the user level cert and then you only can pay sometimes, or just do an exam and become trimix instructor. So there are trimix instructors with only the experience of the 2-4 trimixdives that need to be done in a course. Which instructor would be able to teach a trimixcourse with only that few dives experience? I think none.
IANTD states in the normoxic trimixcourse: if you don't feel safe enough to make the dive solo, don't do the dive. This does not mean that you need to do that dive solo, but you must be able to be self sufficient, you must trust yourself on such dives.
So as instructor you must ask yourself: am I able to help a student with a problem, and can I also help myself if an problem occurs?
Why do you want to teach 100m dives if you have never been deeper than 75m yourself? Is that safe? You take 2 students to 100m which will be your first 100m dive also. A good deal?
For cavediving, you must have 150 cavedives is stated in standards. But there is not an amount of hours under water in a cave stated. So I know from divers that needed that 150 cavedives that they divided a 60 minute cave diving into 3 20minute cave dives. I also know from a diver who said he had the 150 cave dives, but went only 1 week a year to a country with caves. Then you can do a maximum of 2 cavedives per day, so the amount of cavedives after his own course would in 4 years only be 48. But he was saying, I went 3 weeks every year. Then I think an IT must ask questions about the swimming speed, diveplans, diveprofiles, etc. With such questions you know better if a diver has really such experience or not. What are 150 cave dives if you have been only 50 hours in a cave? And that is then including your own full cave course. Are 150 cave dives enough to teach if you never went off beaten paths? I do not state you need to be an exploration diver, that is not possible for a lot of cave divers. But is just the 1/3 rule way in on recreational cave dives enough to become a good instructor? Or do you also need dives with stages for longer penetration? Deco? use of dpv? Are only 5 different caves enough? Just some questions to ask yourself if you ever think about becoming a cave instructor.
When I did my full trimix instructor course, my IT stated: you will get a student with dcs or another bigger problem. The question is not if, but only when. Teaching full trimix means you can do everything according to standards, you can do everything safe, but there will be a moment something goes wrong. You must accept that this is not an open water course anymore.
My own normoxic instructor stated about trimixdiving before the qualifying dive: making a mistake in a normoxic dive means you get into a wheelchair, making a mistake in a full trimix dive means you are dead. Do you understand? Are you now ready for the dive?
Till now, I happely had no students with accidents, but I have had dives where I had to react to panic or other mistakes. I can give an example. I took 2 students to their first 100m dive. I said we do the bottle rotation at the 9m plateau, if you drop one, it only falls to 9m and it will not be lost. 1 student decided to do it already at 14m in the blue. And did not clip the travelgas on the back. So the travelgas with trimix floated slowly to the surface. We had 1 hour deco left. The student wanted to go to the surface to pick up the cylinder. I hang on the fins of the diver and hold him. Then I had to decide, will we follow the cylinder for 1hour to pick it up if we are finished our dive? Or is that impossible. I made a calculation of current and decided that it was not possible. The dive we did was a shoredive, so following the cylinder would not mean we had to walk a kilometer back or so, but we also would have been in a part of the sea far from shore. So the cylinder was lost. Then you have to deal with a student who is really frustrated because of his expensive loss of a cylinder and regulator, but you cannot get out. And the other student who was really enjoying his dive.
I have seen some panic attacks in really experienced divers. I have had a student who flooded his ccr completely in a ccr cave course. I have had some students with freeflows due to the 'great' idea of let regulators serviced right before a more serious dive. And I have had a problem with my own ccr during teaching and had to solve that problem and also take care of the student who was doing his first ccr course. Can you deal with it if you want to become instructor?
And I still learn. I do things different from when I was a technical diver without being instructor, I also do things different since I became instructor. I think some things in the path of becoming an instructor can be done better. But I also think that it is important that every diver, instructor or not will practise, and never think I know all. If you think you know all your level will go down.
Evaluate sometimes what you did in the past. So if you are already instructor, can you do things to improve? Also questions that need to be asked I think.
Can you blame yourself if you teached a student in the past that you would have refused now? No. You only can evaluate and decide to change things in the future. Teaching is a process, even if you are already an instructor. But I think, some requirements should be evaluated before becoming instructor.
But also important: can you change mind about divers who were not ready in the past and maybe now made a great progress? Or do you still stay negative? I like the idea of meeting a student before starting a course. I am most times able to do 'lets know each other dive'.
In my eyes it already starts with DM. I have had discussions (and some more also) on facebook with a DM with only 62 dives who was really proud about his guiding for a dive center. He knew everything he stated. He also was absolutely against solodiving. I said to him, with 62 dives, you are not able to help divers that really get into problems. He also stated that every diver needed a guide. Why do you need a guide? Would you say that you know more with only 62 than me with over 2000 dives? That is impossible. Only my experience is already more than 62 divesites. I also do unguided dives and solodives. You have never done a dive outside of this divecenter and never planned or executed one of you own. If you think you need a guide on every dive after your certification, you need to ask for better instruction. You are teached to dive without a guide, even after open water. But you almost never see that happen in some countries. So I said to that dm: You need to do some solodives, just to know that you are solodiving for more than only yourself if you do a dsd or guide divers that only have done just 4 dives to get a cert and do not trust themselves already. No, solodiving was dangerous he stated.
I think it would not be bad to require a DM candidate to make some real solodives. Just to know if you are able to dive on your own. And if you are selfreliant, self sufficient. Not with the goal to promote solodiving, but just to learn to know yourself. When guiding, you are responsible for a group and maybe all divers are certified, not all divers are used to dive without a guide. If divers rely on a guide, they think the guide will help them with every problem. It is not that a DM needs to do solodiving a lot, but most DM's are also not self reliant/self sufficient. They also don't know anything about that. If you don't trust yourself, don't take others into a dive.
Why would you need 100 dives for a solodive certificate and only 60 to become DM? Who has more responsability? Can you be a good dm with only 60 dives?
Then with 100 dives you are or can be an instructor.
And then you maybe go into the tech part and want also become a techinstructor. Some agencies only require the user level cert and then you only can pay sometimes, or just do an exam and become trimix instructor. So there are trimix instructors with only the experience of the 2-4 trimixdives that need to be done in a course. Which instructor would be able to teach a trimixcourse with only that few dives experience? I think none.
IANTD states in the normoxic trimixcourse: if you don't feel safe enough to make the dive solo, don't do the dive. This does not mean that you need to do that dive solo, but you must be able to be self sufficient, you must trust yourself on such dives.
So as instructor you must ask yourself: am I able to help a student with a problem, and can I also help myself if an problem occurs?
Why do you want to teach 100m dives if you have never been deeper than 75m yourself? Is that safe? You take 2 students to 100m which will be your first 100m dive also. A good deal?
For cavediving, you must have 150 cavedives is stated in standards. But there is not an amount of hours under water in a cave stated. So I know from divers that needed that 150 cavedives that they divided a 60 minute cave diving into 3 20minute cave dives. I also know from a diver who said he had the 150 cave dives, but went only 1 week a year to a country with caves. Then you can do a maximum of 2 cavedives per day, so the amount of cavedives after his own course would in 4 years only be 48. But he was saying, I went 3 weeks every year. Then I think an IT must ask questions about the swimming speed, diveplans, diveprofiles, etc. With such questions you know better if a diver has really such experience or not. What are 150 cave dives if you have been only 50 hours in a cave? And that is then including your own full cave course. Are 150 cave dives enough to teach if you never went off beaten paths? I do not state you need to be an exploration diver, that is not possible for a lot of cave divers. But is just the 1/3 rule way in on recreational cave dives enough to become a good instructor? Or do you also need dives with stages for longer penetration? Deco? use of dpv? Are only 5 different caves enough? Just some questions to ask yourself if you ever think about becoming a cave instructor.
When I did my full trimix instructor course, my IT stated: you will get a student with dcs or another bigger problem. The question is not if, but only when. Teaching full trimix means you can do everything according to standards, you can do everything safe, but there will be a moment something goes wrong. You must accept that this is not an open water course anymore.
My own normoxic instructor stated about trimixdiving before the qualifying dive: making a mistake in a normoxic dive means you get into a wheelchair, making a mistake in a full trimix dive means you are dead. Do you understand? Are you now ready for the dive?
Till now, I happely had no students with accidents, but I have had dives where I had to react to panic or other mistakes. I can give an example. I took 2 students to their first 100m dive. I said we do the bottle rotation at the 9m plateau, if you drop one, it only falls to 9m and it will not be lost. 1 student decided to do it already at 14m in the blue. And did not clip the travelgas on the back. So the travelgas with trimix floated slowly to the surface. We had 1 hour deco left. The student wanted to go to the surface to pick up the cylinder. I hang on the fins of the diver and hold him. Then I had to decide, will we follow the cylinder for 1hour to pick it up if we are finished our dive? Or is that impossible. I made a calculation of current and decided that it was not possible. The dive we did was a shoredive, so following the cylinder would not mean we had to walk a kilometer back or so, but we also would have been in a part of the sea far from shore. So the cylinder was lost. Then you have to deal with a student who is really frustrated because of his expensive loss of a cylinder and regulator, but you cannot get out. And the other student who was really enjoying his dive.
I have seen some panic attacks in really experienced divers. I have had a student who flooded his ccr completely in a ccr cave course. I have had some students with freeflows due to the 'great' idea of let regulators serviced right before a more serious dive. And I have had a problem with my own ccr during teaching and had to solve that problem and also take care of the student who was doing his first ccr course. Can you deal with it if you want to become instructor?
And I still learn. I do things different from when I was a technical diver without being instructor, I also do things different since I became instructor. I think some things in the path of becoming an instructor can be done better. But I also think that it is important that every diver, instructor or not will practise, and never think I know all. If you think you know all your level will go down.
Evaluate sometimes what you did in the past. So if you are already instructor, can you do things to improve? Also questions that need to be asked I think.
Can you blame yourself if you teached a student in the past that you would have refused now? No. You only can evaluate and decide to change things in the future. Teaching is a process, even if you are already an instructor. But I think, some requirements should be evaluated before becoming instructor.
But also important: can you change mind about divers who were not ready in the past and maybe now made a great progress? Or do you still stay negative? I like the idea of meeting a student before starting a course. I am most times able to do 'lets know each other dive'.
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