Failing the OW check out dives

[Fat_Tony]

Im doing my OW course right now. I asked my instructor if there was a fail and he said it wasnt a failing type test. They will keep working with you in the pool till you have the skills. Basically he wont take anyone to the non pool dive he wasnt 100% sure off.

Paul

 

[Phish-phood]

I had a horrible time with some of the skills in the pool section of my OW but flew them on my OW dives.
The usual one was the mask skills, I had awful problems with these. I realised however that it was because I was thinking about it too much and it was making me nervous. Now I can clear my mask if it floods without even thinking about it but I still have to pshyce myself up to purposely flood it - total mental thing.

Now when I am in the pool or on an easy dive I always take five minutes just to play around with some skills so that I can become more and more comfortable and confident with them.

 

[DeputyDan]

mask clearing and the hood.

Out certification dives were in very cold water and we had to wear hoods. She really struggled with mask replacement and the hood.

 

[Phish-phood]

Me too - I dive with a hood all the time in the UK.

Did my OW dives in 4degrees C and ended up having to take off my gloves to replace my mask because with 5mm gloves that were too big for me they caused more problems than they solved. With the gloves off I replaced the mask quicker than I have ever done although the cold hands probably had something to do with that.

 

[Iruka]

students are supposed to achieve "mastery" of the skills during the pool/confined water sessions. Unfortunately, from what I've seen sometimes is that "mastery" is apparently defined as "kinda, sorta, maybe did it once ok without bolting to the surface." (especially in mask clearing or remove & replace situations.)




Chris
dive@letsdiveguam.com

 

[Phish-phood]

I made sure I could do it a bit more than just kinda before I went on the OW.

Yes I bolted in the pool the first time I tried to do it and my instructor didn't want to know, but thanks to my own common sense and determination and the patience and support of the DM's in the pool I managed to do the skill to a level that meant I knew I could do it and wasn't likely to bolt from 10metres on the OW dives. I freely admit that it took me several pool sessions outside of the official training sessions, with one on one help from a DM before I could do it to any level that resembled masterful.

I agree that too many people are let onto their OW with their skills less than what they should be and that can be very dangerous, bolting from a couple of metres pool water is a very very different to bolting from 10/15 metres in an OW site.

 

[kodiak]

My daughter was like a fish in the pool, preformed all tasks with no problem and was excited to do the open water. She did very well with her open water dive on all tasks, but one, mask removal at depth, and she did this very well in the pool.
We did our open water in a lake in the Cascades in central Oregon aprox 4800' elevation, in cold water.
She did the pool with another class and did extra work on that one task, and mentaly prepared herself for open water. The second time was good.
I think that she had a problem dealing with the cold, dealing with wearing a hood, gloves, and all the extra weight that you dont have in the pool. like I said she had no problem with any other tasks, and I dont think that until that time that the instructor would have been able to tell that there would have been a problem.

 

[aquagirl]

I'm actually surprised to know that you can 'fail' the OW cert or even that other students had problems learning some of the skills. All the instructors that we (hubby and I) had made us feel that we were the only one's requiring more time to 'master' the skills.
Our first attempt to dive was a resort dive. After 1hr in the pool with 5 of us , the insturctor said we had to leave for the 2 open water dives eventhough my hubby and I still were unable to clear our masks. To make a long story short, we tried diving in over 3ft swells but the instructor was very unattentive and was constantly rushing us that we quickly realized that this was not right and backed out of the dive. We're glad we did and to hear everyone say that someone shouldn't be certified/diving without mastering the skills perplexs me when resort dives don't require it. Those 2 open water dives following the 1hr pool were for 20'-25' dives. Not so easy to bolt out. But that experience made us realise we wanted to take an actual course.
We thought the course would be different but it wasn't THAT much better. It included take home manuals, videos, written test and a 1day for 3.5 hrs in the pool for all the skills. I personally think that's ridiculous. The instructor tried to rush through the skills, excepting half accomplished skills but still we did not have the time to complete the last two modules. A year later we went back to complete it. Again, the instructor was trying to beat the clock and accepted some so-so skills that hubby was having trouble with. They even asked us if we wanted to go that weekend for our OW cert. One thing I will give them was that they did say we could go to the pool as many times as we want until we felt comfortable with the skills. That's great but they make you feel like your the exception. Besides, as instructors they should be telling us that we need more work. On our anniversary trip we went ahead to get OW certified because of three reasons.
1) I thought if 'everyone' can do it in the resort dive with 1hr pool lesson, we certaintly could do it
2) The DM and instructor we spoke with sounded so nice and patient.
3) They were going to take us out privately so I felt they wouldn't rush us
The outcome was phenomenal . It was so pleasurable. They were so relax, understanding and patient. We breezed through our skills and loved every minute of our time diving. (Well maybe not every minute - I did get sick ascending on two of the dives)
Sorry for the long posting.

 

[debcov]

While I have never failed a student, I have spent more time with those who have a problem mastering a skill. Its something that PADI requires us to do in order to allow a person to progress to other skills/levels. I would definately not allow a student to make it to the open water dives before he/she was able to master the skills in the pool.

Perhaps it was the particular instructor's fault for trying to rush a class, or not have the student spend more time with the DM practicing the skill before progressing.

 

[MikeFerrara]

aquagirl once bubbled...
I'm actually surprised to know that you can 'fail' the OW cert or even that other students had problems learning some of the skills. All the instructors that we (hubby and I) had made us feel that we were the only one's requiring more time to 'master' the skills.
Our first attempt to dive was a resort dive. After 1hr in the pool with 5 of us , the insturctor said we had to leave for the 2 open water dives eventhough my hubby and I still were unable to clear our masks. To make a long story short, we tried diving in over 3ft swells but the instructor was very unattentive and was constantly rushing us that we quickly realized that this was not right and backed out of the dive. We're glad we did and to hear everyone say that someone shouldn't be certified/diving without mastering the skills perplexs me when resort dives don't require it. Those 2 open water dives following the 1hr pool were for 20'-25' dives. Not so easy to bolt out. But that experience made us realise we wanted to take an actual course.
We thought the course would be different but it wasn't THAT much better. It included take home manuals, videos, written test and a 1day for 3.5 hrs in the pool for all the skills. I personally think that's ridiculous. The instructor tried to rush through the skills, excepting half accomplished skills but still we did not have the time to complete the last two modules. A year later we went back to complete it. Again, the instructor was trying to beat the clock and accepted some so-so skills that hubby was having trouble with. They even asked us if we wanted to go that weekend for our OW cert. One thing I will give them was that they did say we could go to the pool as many times as we want until we felt comfortable with the skills. That's great but they make you feel like your the exception. Besides, as instructors they should be telling us that we need more work. On our anniversary trip we went ahead to get OW certified because of three reasons.
1) I thought if 'everyone' can do it in the resort dive with 1hr pool lesson, we certaintly could do it
2) The DM and instructor we spoke with sounded so nice and patient.
3) They were going to take us out privately so I felt they wouldn't rush us
The outcome was phenomenal . It was so pleasurable. They were so relax, understanding and patient. We breezed through our skills and loved every minute of our time diving. (Well maybe not every minute - I did get sick ascending on two of the dives)
Sorry for the long posting.

We really need for people like you to contact the agency. It is a violation of training standards to take a student to Open water before mastering skills in confined water Even in a resort course.