Inadequate Training

[daniel f aleman]

It takes a lot of intestinal fortitude to face the knowledge that you're down there and out of gas without freaking out. I've been through it now twice, and I sort of understand.

Say what????

Lynne, I've dived over thirty years and I have never been out of gas. Not once.

 

[under water]

I feel that in the case of a real emergency the majority of my class would panic and drown. Ciao,
Collin

Hi Collin,
Hopefully, your classmates have learned as much as you and would not drown in a real emergency. Why.. because they would do thier diving incrementally and not go way out of their comfort zone (or too far from the surface) on the first few dives.
Also, hopefully they would not be diving solo on their first few dives .. or any time soon, so in an emergency your buddy is there for assistance. You should plan and dive like you don't need a buddy, but they are your insurance in some situations, especially the 'running out of air' scenario.
There is no need to have your instructor shut off air, pull masks off, inflate BCs, cover face with octopus, etc in a training situation and it would probably scare more people away from the sport than it would help.

 

[Mako Mark]

Air-depletion exercise
— Simulate air-supply depletion to allow student divers to experience the sensation of a gradual increase in inhalation effort. Brief students on what will occur and how
to signal you when inhalation requires increased effort. Begin by moving in front of the student and slowly turning off the valve until the student feels the depletion occur. Maintain contact with the student’s tank valve and restore air supply immediately upon the out-of-air signal.

Thanks Randy, the excercise is in two parts, first the instructor makes the student respond to out of air with the appropriate signal, then repeats the exercise and the diver must respond appropriately and secure an alternative air source from a buddy.

When I teach this skill I allow them to look at the gauge for the first part so they and I know that they are not giving the signal too early,.

On the second part, they do not get to see the gauge, only I do. This makes them wait for the air depletion.

Doing this exercise in open water is unessicary IMO, could cause unessicary stress, and could have legal implications.

 

[Mako Mark]

Our instructor did the shot off drill on us but he did it because he had a warped mind more than it being a requirement. We also took all our kit off in a 16 foot pool, letf everything on the bottom, came up and then went back down and kitted up again.

Neither exercise was a requirement he just liked pushing us a little.

The shut off drill is a requirement in confined water, not a warped mind.

The ditch and dump is a serious standards violation in a PADI course and should be reported to PADI, if it was a PADI course.

 

[ScubaRandy]

Thanks Randy, the excercise is in two parts, first the instructor makes the student respond to out of air with the appropriate signal, then repeats the exercise and the diver must respond appropriately and secure an alternative air source from a buddy.

No worries Mark...

When I teach this skill I allow them to look at the gauge for the first part so they and I know that they are not giving the signal too early,.

On the second part, they do not get to see the gauge, only I do. This makes them wait for the air depletion.

Yep, that would be correct...

Doing this exercise in open water is unessicary IMO, could cause unessicary stress, and could have legal implications.

Absolutely... Talk about trigerring a panic.....

Randy

 

[letsgodiving]

That's an English accent (in print), so were you BSAC in Europe?

Outstanding observation my friend, I am suitably impressed. A lot Americans have trouble distinguishing our accents face to face.

In answer to your question, no we were certified in the US. It was a NAUI course but our instructor is also certified in PADI and YMCA. We opted to do the extra drills because the pool sessions were a little easy for some of the group. He concentrated on instructing the people that were struggling and pushed the comfortable divers a little more than required.

It was actually a very good way of teaching because when we got to OW we paired up weak diver/strong diver.

 

[Peter Guy]

Danial -- re TSandM's twice out of gas statement -- no, she has NEVER run out of gas (I think the lowest she's ever breathed a tank down was to about 400 PSI). I think she's referring to a couple of times doing valve drills where she's screwed up and shut off the reg she's breathing by mistake AFTER shutting off the other reg -- thus she found herself "out of gas" while underwater.

 

[TSandM]

Peter's right. Both times were during drills.

 

[nereas]

Outstanding observation my friend, I am suitably impressed. A lot Americans have trouble distinguishing our accents face to face.

In answer to your question, no we were certified in the US. It was a NAUI course but our instructor is also certified in PADI and YMCA. We opted to do the extra drills because the pool sessions were a little easy for some of the group. He concentrated on instructing the people that were struggling and pushed the comfortable divers a little more than required.

It was actually a very good way of teaching because when we got to OW we paired up weak diver/strong diver.

Then you-all (American vernacular expression) must have been an outstanding class, and I envy your instructor.

 

[letsgodiving]

Then you-all (American vernacular expression) must have been an outstanding class, and I envy your instructor.

I liked his approach, we all got maximum benefit from the class and pool time we had.