My journey into tech

[boulderjohn]

I disagree on the rescue course. I think anyone that has at least a dozen dives under their belt will benefit from a rescue course -- the value in the course is increasing your situational awareness about the things that can go wrong.

I agree. You don't need a whole lot of dives to be able to take and benefit from a rescue class. Heck, a lot of it is above water.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

I guess I ook my rescue from the wrong instructor. My class involved a lot of struggling victims who ripped off masks and pulled out regs. I think a rescue student would be better prepared for that if they were more comfortable with their own skills first.

 

[boulderjohn]

I guess I ook my rescue from the wrong instructor. My class involved a lot of struggling victims who ripped off masks and pulled out regs. I think a rescue student would be better prepared for that if they were more comfortable with their own skills first.

How do diving skills under water translate to those skills, which are done on the surface?

I happened to be near a rescue class last weekend, and I saw an instructor quite rightly pointing out to someone who had just played the role of the victim that he was not doing it realistically--panicked victims don't do the things he was doing. The same thing happened to me when I was a rescue student. Approaching a panicked diver on the surface, I descended so that I could get behind the diver, and my victim descended so he could tackle me underwater. That's silly--panicked divers on the surface do not consciously descend to attack someone.

I have never had a rescue student have a mask torn off, because the rescue methods that are taught prevent that from happening. If regs are being pulled out and masks are being ripped off, then something is wrong.

 

[Doby45]

I have never had a rescue student have a mask torn off, because the rescue methods that are taught prevent that from happening. If regs are being pulled out and masks are being ripped off, then something is wrong.

Could not agree more. I think a lot of instructors use Rescue as a "hazing" more so than an actual teaching class. Same thing happened when I went through the academy. We had "volunteers" that were playing the role of suspects in various scenarios. These volunteers who pull out grenades during a traffic stop. I mean seriously is it possible someone could have a grenade, sure, but it would be the 1 in 89264298765298475628937562987 type situation. Train for the common, but make the student aware of some of the uncommon possibilities.

 

[mdb]

Could not agree more. I think a lot of instructors use Rescue as a "hazing" more so than an actual teaching class. Same thing happened when I went through the academy. We had "volunteers" that were playing the role of suspects in various scenarios. These volunteers who pull out grenades during a traffic stop. I mean seriously is it possible someone could have a grenade, sure, but it would be the 1 in 89264298765298475628937562987 type situation. Train for the common, but make the student aware of some of the uncommon possibilities.

I took a NAUI rescue course way back when and I always thought it was one of the best courses I ever took.

The instructor started the course with bailout sessions in the pool-jump in gear in hand and re-rig UW.

Open water was two sessions.

First was a "hazing" sort of class: air turned off, mask removed, reg taken away.

The second class in open water and surf was the actual "rescue" scenario: two dives one as the diver being
rescued and the next as the rescue diver.

A great course with a fine instructor.

 

[Lorenzoid]

I guess I ook my rescue from the wrong instructor. My class involved a lot of struggling victims who ripped off masks and pulled out regs. I think a rescue student would be better prepared for that if they were more comfortable with their own skills first.

I think it's just the opposite for some. I felt much more confident and comfortable in the water after the Rescue course than I did going into it. Rescue was the first course for me in which a dive involved doing a significant task. Through AOW, all I had to do was dive--there was no real physical skill involved. In Rescue, having to focus on the task at hand somehow helped improve how I handled myself in the water. Of course, Rescue isn't the only way or even necessarily the best way to do that. One could just as easily do that by taking up photography, or by practicing SMB deployment, or whatever. In any case, I think Rescue can not only teach rescue skills but also help one come out of the class with more confidence and comfort in the water.

 

[tomfcrist]

Getting back to the OPs question...

You have already heard the basics: buoyancy, trim, finning etc....

The skill you will need to rely on the most is the adequate use of the thing between your ears. Be commuted to not doing dumb ****...not biting off more than you can chew, and never splashing when you already have a failure.

It's amazing how many people will disregard known failures at the surface, thinking " I'll be fine", or "I don't really NEED that operating"....well then why have it in the first place?

 

[KevinNM]

There is a story a rebreather diver has about the time some of the others divers she was with encouraged her to dive with "minor issues" with her rebreather. She's attended several of their funerals since. I think it was Jill Heinerth.

 

[Marie13]

I don't do stupid sh*t, during either diving or shooting. I'm actually an NRA certified Range Safety Officer. That carries over into diving. If I was an idiot, I would have already been penetrating wrecks. But I'm not, so I haven't.

 

[Compressor]

This sounds corny but this is what I to tell my students: "Its no accident that some divers don't have accidents." Of course accidents can and do happen but in order to minimize them, one has to take an active role in preventing them. We all love our sport. Its more fun when we can do it safely.