Help me choose my instructor!

[Shownuff!]

I have deceided to take my Advanced Open Water at Royal Scuba mainly because of the special they are running. I can only have one of their instructors though. I would like your opinions on the depth of knowledge and skill you think they gave you if they were your instructors. I have no opinion, help me form one!


Royal Scuba list their instructors as:

Adam Riffle, and Jamie Knobles



Thanks for your help

 

[Mack Diver]

Adam and Jamie are products of the UT scuba program. I don't know much about Adam. I have met Jamie a few times and he seems like a good guy. Both are fairly new instructors and I'm not sure how many certifications they have done. I would imagine most of them have been through UT.

Jamie seems to be geared more towards tech, with a DIR influence. If you plan on going tech, I think he would be the better choice.

BTW, I noticed their special on Open Water, but did not see anything advertised about Advanced.

 

[riff.diving]

Either or......We are both currently teaching that class at UT, come but the shop during the Grand Opening and meet us both and then you can decide. Yes, Jamie does dive a tech set up, and i dont. But in less you are interested in getting into that facet of diving, the gear we dive doesnt make any bit of difference for that class.

 

[k-valve]

I don't think I've had the pleasure of meeting Adam yet, but I know Jamie is a good, experienced instructor.

I wouldn't worry much about the tech or no tech thing. It's about the AOW class not technical diving. I never understood why PADI makes such a fuss over gear for any class besides OW. No one is going to freak out because the instructor is diving a different configuration than them. If anything it'll be a platform to talk about different gear configurations and why one diver might do something different than another. It's all good.

 

[Debraw]

K-Valve...where do you get that PADI makes a fuss over gear after open water? I think it is more of a shop policy than anything else. I never liked my Instructors or DM's who worked a class to wear tech setups. I wanted them in what the students wore, or close to it. It was not about a freakout factor it was more for continuity than anything else. I also wanted them in gear that we sold on a regular basis which was recreational gear.

 

[RoyalScubaAustin]

All winter long, I've made my instructors wear only a Speedo and BCD for classes at lake Travis the past 4 months. I do this because of our policy at Royal Scuba: (1) we do not push gear onto the customer because we do not have a low-price, retail, brick-n-mortar, hot deal of a shop, (2) my instructors resemble Flozell "the Hotel" Adams in the off-season so as you can imagine, the Speedo approach works well, and finally (3) we are extremists about the streamline Hogarthian approach to diving.

So if any other instructors / divemasters would like to work for Royal Scuba, we have a lot of people signing up for classes so I can use the help, but as we embark upon the warmer waters of Spring & Summer, my instructors have taken the minimalist philosophy to a new level by moving away from Speedos and matching their BCDs with thongs and t-backs. Yes, I agree, our instructors are the best!

http://www.strangevehicles.com/images/content/110985.jpg

 

[k-valve]

K-Valve...where do you get that PADI makes a fuss over gear after open water? I think it is more of a shop policy than anything else. I never liked my Instructors or DM's who worked a class to wear tech setups. I wanted them in what the students wore, or close to it. It was not about a freakout factor it was more for continuity than anything else. I also wanted them in gear that we sold on a regular basis which was recreational gear.

Maybe it is a shop policy...either way I don't agree with the approach or the continuity argument. It might be best for the shop for all the DMs and instructors to look like they all came from the same cookie cutter mold, but I don't think it's best for the students...at least not after OW.

 

[texdiveguy]

Maybe it is a shop policy...either way I don't agree with the approach or the continuity argument. It might be best for the shop for all the DMs and instructors to look like they all came from the same cookie cutter mold, but I don't think it's best for the students...at least not after OW.

John....you know it's all about the 'mighty dollar' regardless of what's best for students and staff.

 

[k-valve]

All winter long, I've made my instructors wear only a Speedo and BCD for classes at lake Travis the past 4 months. I do this because of our policy at Royal Scuba: (1) we do not push gear onto the customer because we do not have a low-price, retail, brick-n-mortar, hot deal of a shop, (2) my instructors resemble Flozell "the Hotel" Adams in the off-season so as you can imagine, the Speedo approach works well, and finally (3) we are extremists about the streamline Hogarthian approach to diving.

So if any other instructors / divemasters would like to work for Royal Scuba, we have a lot of people signing up for classes so I can use the help, but as we embark upon the warmer waters of Spring & Summer, my instructors have taken the minimalist philosophy to a new level by moving away from Speedos and matching their BCDs with thongs and t-backs. Yes, I agree, our instructors are the best!

http://www.strangevehicles.com/images/content/110985.jpg

Ha! I'm definitely stopping by soon to check out the new shop. Ya'll might set a new dive trend here in Austin with those Speedos and thongs! Is Leslie working for ya'll too!?

 

[wjknobles]

We have not had the pleasure of being able hire Leslie on a full-time basis ... he does make the occasional appearance by appointment though. For an extra $5 bucks he will give you a nice dance as you drive by.