Finneli Felwitch
Registered
I was certified as an Open water scuba diver with Scuba Schools International in 1998. Since then I have gained a Master Diver card with SSI and recently in the past month, have begun training as a NAUI Dive Master. Open Water Scuba training has really changed, I took my training in Tampa, Florida and the course consisted of several classroom lectures (there was no online learning) split over a couple weeks with a closed book test at the end, four or five pool dives, and four ocean boat dives. The class was trained to use the Navy dive tables, we did not use dive computers and in fact the rental training equipment did not include dive computers. I remember my instructor saying that even though dive computers make life easier, if one were to fail, you still have the tables to work off. I remember my Open Water training was challenging and by the time the boat dives arrived, all the divers knew how to setup their gear and dive (minus controlled buoyancy).
My NAUI Dive Master Training is being carried out in Pensacola, Florida. The open water course consists of a take home open book online course and test, two hour classroom lecture, two short pool dives, and four Florida spring dives (which were at the same spring) all taking place within one week. The students were not trained on how to use dive tables, all the students used dive computers which were a part of the rental package. (I later attended a Nitrox class and nobody new how to use a dive table, so that is when they learned, in a 2 hour classroom lecture). With NAUI, somehow a crystal clear Florida spring with no current/hazards is considered open water. The divers were still having weight issues, confusion of which way their 1st stage goes on the tank, mask clearing, etc.
After witnessing these new open water students being taught in that way, I want to ask a very important question.
What happens if these divers really end up in an out of air situation?
The divers are taught Basic Open Water Recreation out of air situations but only in the pool and through classroom lecture. They are not required to swim a certain distance while sharing air. When practicing buddy breathing, the student’s tanks are nowhere near empty and so the mental fear of running out of air does not exist. What if there is not enough air to make it to the surface, etc.?
I think it was the dive shop Scuba Toys that made a video in the Myth busters theme, by cutting the HP hose, the diver basically shrugged it off with a “big deal, don’t care” and continued to dive with the cut hose. The tank would take 30+ minutes to empty. Next the LP hose was cut and then the time for the tank to empty was around 2 minutes. Still the diver could breathe off the cut hose or turn off/on the tank to breathe off.
Although what may sound like a Hollywood movie, which in Scuba Toys experiment was James Bond in Thunderball, the skills have been done in technical diving but I do not see these skills as a technical diving skill. Some have referred to these skills as the “Regulator of Death Exercises”, I am sure there are other names for it but I have found very limited information on it in terms of an actual guide. Most of the information that I have gathered were from watching action movies and asking myself if those skills could be used in diving.
An actual guide for the worst case scenario in the situation where even when buddy breathing, there is not enough air for both divers to make it to the surface, would be a good thing to have.
Why don’t the agencies teach all the new divers these skills?
The NAUI students are being taught several steps to stop a regulator from free-flowing (banging the side of the regulator, hitting the purge button, temp shutting tank off) but if those steps fail, the students are taught to run through the share air procedure. Why worry about running out of air when you got a tank with additional gas? Students should be trained to know how to take advantage of that.
Does anyone here have better knowledge of these skills that I could read up on?
My NAUI Dive Master Training is being carried out in Pensacola, Florida. The open water course consists of a take home open book online course and test, two hour classroom lecture, two short pool dives, and four Florida spring dives (which were at the same spring) all taking place within one week. The students were not trained on how to use dive tables, all the students used dive computers which were a part of the rental package. (I later attended a Nitrox class and nobody new how to use a dive table, so that is when they learned, in a 2 hour classroom lecture). With NAUI, somehow a crystal clear Florida spring with no current/hazards is considered open water. The divers were still having weight issues, confusion of which way their 1st stage goes on the tank, mask clearing, etc.
After witnessing these new open water students being taught in that way, I want to ask a very important question.
What happens if these divers really end up in an out of air situation?
The divers are taught Basic Open Water Recreation out of air situations but only in the pool and through classroom lecture. They are not required to swim a certain distance while sharing air. When practicing buddy breathing, the student’s tanks are nowhere near empty and so the mental fear of running out of air does not exist. What if there is not enough air to make it to the surface, etc.?
I think it was the dive shop Scuba Toys that made a video in the Myth busters theme, by cutting the HP hose, the diver basically shrugged it off with a “big deal, don’t care” and continued to dive with the cut hose. The tank would take 30+ minutes to empty. Next the LP hose was cut and then the time for the tank to empty was around 2 minutes. Still the diver could breathe off the cut hose or turn off/on the tank to breathe off.
Although what may sound like a Hollywood movie, which in Scuba Toys experiment was James Bond in Thunderball, the skills have been done in technical diving but I do not see these skills as a technical diving skill. Some have referred to these skills as the “Regulator of Death Exercises”, I am sure there are other names for it but I have found very limited information on it in terms of an actual guide. Most of the information that I have gathered were from watching action movies and asking myself if those skills could be used in diving.
An actual guide for the worst case scenario in the situation where even when buddy breathing, there is not enough air for both divers to make it to the surface, would be a good thing to have.
Why don’t the agencies teach all the new divers these skills?
The NAUI students are being taught several steps to stop a regulator from free-flowing (banging the side of the regulator, hitting the purge button, temp shutting tank off) but if those steps fail, the students are taught to run through the share air procedure. Why worry about running out of air when you got a tank with additional gas? Students should be trained to know how to take advantage of that.
Does anyone here have better knowledge of these skills that I could read up on?
