Nervous? Scared? Uncertain? Tell your Instructor BEFORE things go wrong.

[Robert Gillcash]

I had the pleasure to instruct this nice young lady for her Open Water certification this week.
When we got in the pool on Tuesday, she did okay with her mask clearing skills during dive one.
When we got into the deep end for dive two and I asked her to clear her mask, and then again, and again, she did fine, until she bolted to the surface. I kept her down and she cleared her mask.
She then cleared it four or five more times, then went for the surface. WTF? I didn't understand what was happening. She signed, calmly, to go up, so we calmly went to the surface, where she told me that she had a near-drowning incident a few years before. Wow, I wish I had known that before, I would have been able to coach her much more to get over any fears. We ended the class for her, I had 5 others so continued on.
She finished all the class sessions, ending with a 98% on the final. Not too bad I guess.
On Friday, we went to the pool, just her and I and one of the ladies that was in the class but had finished all the pool sessions, she came along for support, for practice and to be a buddy.
We did a bunch of snorkel breathing, then went under water and did a bunch of mask clearing, much much better.
Today? We finishe doff dives 3 & 4 and she is now certified.
Oh yeah, her fear about water in her mask? See for yourself.


[video=youtube;CXHVfwdiKGE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXHVfwdiKGE&feature=youtu.be[/video]

Yeah, that's at about 55 feet, while she is hovering.

Please, tell your Instructor if you're scared of the ocean. Or almost drowned and are getting over that fear. Or whatever. We can't help if you don't tell us.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Got handed off a student about two months after completing my YMCA Instructor exam. She had started the class with her by that time ex husband and stopped the lessons about a year prior. I was told that she passed the swim/snorkeling tests and did ok. Not great but ok. It was explained that she wanted to pick up where she left off starting with an Intro to Scuba type session followed by the subsequent finishing of the class. Ok so I show up with gear and she assembled everything like she'd done it dozens of times. Cool! I'm thinking. This is going to be an easy one. We do pre dive checks, go to the edge of the pool, and I ask her to do a giant stride entry. No problem. Textbook entry after a brief verbal review of the procedure. We swim to the shallow end on the surface. Her kick is a little bent kneed but not bad. Easy to fix. Breathing just fine. We get to the shallow end and descend horizontal to the bottom and just lay there breathing.
I have her work the inflator. Good. M
ove to the slope in the pool and have her get horizontal over it and neutral. Nice.
Reg recovery, Ok.
Weight belt unbuckle and rebuckle, Ok.

Mask partial flood and clear. Her eyes get wider and body tenses. Uh oh I say to myself but maybe not that big of a deal. Still I move closer and signal her to do it again. Slight tip of the mask, water trickles down, as soon as it touches the bottom of her nose eyes become saucer size and off she goes! I slow her descent and make sure she is breathing. Ready with my hand on her stomach to giver a gentle nudge should I see no bubbles being exhaled but we surface ok.

I ask what happened. She tells me she never got through that part. Huh? Then how did you get on scuba at all since a full flood and clear of the mask was required before we can even put people on scuba? Not sure she says. We just started on scuba. Well how did you do on the swim tests? I didn't. What? Can't swim very well. Almost drowned as a child and am actually afraid of the water. Crap. Nice to know now.

So all the scuba gear comes off. I want to see her swim. Ok. She starts out with a barely passable stroke and after about ten of them nearly panics and heads to side. Shaking her head and apologizing. Not necessary I tell her. I ask if she really wants to continue. No. She wants to learn to dive so that she can dive with her son who is a junior diver. I tell her I am not a swim teacher. She needs to get swim lessons from a professional swim coach. One that undertsands and has worked with people with similar experiences to hers. She needs to take her mask, fins, and snorkel to a public pool or her club pool. Work on getting comfortable with them. I show her some shallow water exercises to do with them and she looks relieved that we are not continuing the scuba training until she gets the necessary swim skills down. She then tells me that she wishes the other instructor had done that and that her ex had allowed it as well.

We leave the pool and I never saw her again. Regrets? None save one. I regret not doing a basic skills assessment of my own on her swimming skills before even gearing her up.

Never again will I take someone's word for that. And yeah, if you ever came close to drowning, have a condition that may not be on the medical form, or a phobia tell us. Please. I may add that to the list of additional medical info I require on top of the std medical.

 

[TMHeimer]

These are two great examples of my astonishment when some people decide to take scuba having such problems. Especially the swimming. The near drowning example would be understandable if she had told the instructor ahead of time and/or worked through it before signing up. Yet, people just "jump in". "I think I'll try scuba now".

 

[Aguablanco1]

These are two great examples of my astonishment when some people decide to take scuba having such problems. Especially the swimming. The near drowning example would be understandable if she had told the instructor ahead of time and/or worked through it before signing up. Yet, people just "jump in". "I think I'll try scuba now".

As a diver who did have a near drowning at age 4, and was never a great swimmer, I feel the need to reply. First off, no offense meant, but I seem to see a lot of what some might call elitism on this list. We don't all need to be Michael Phelps in order to dive. In fact, unkitted surface swimming is not really a big part of scuba. Many people, just like me, will try to overcome their fears by getting involved in the exact activity they are in fear of. Good for them. I do agree that one should tell the instructor of any issues prior to beginning. But the most important issue is support for these people while they are attempting a very difficult set of skills and tasks. There is so much knowledge and positive energy on this forum in particular, and the dive community in general, that almost any new diver should be able to find the right help in overcoming almost any obstacle.
RichH
Soon to be Divemaster

 

[TMHeimer]

As a diver who did have a near drowning at age 4, and was never a great swimmer, I feel the need to reply. First off, no offense meant, but I seem to see a lot of what some might call elitism on this list. We don't all need to be Michael Phelps in order to dive. In fact, unkitted surface swimming is not really a big part of scuba. Many people, just like me, will try to overcome their fears by getting involved in the exact activity they are in fear of. Good for them. I do agree that one should tell the instructor of any issues prior to beginning. But the most important issue is support for these people while they are attempting a very difficult set of skills and tasks. There is so much knowledge and positive energy on this forum in particular, and the dive community in general, that almost any new diver should be able to find the right help in overcoming almost any obstacle.
RichH
Soon to be Divemaster

Agree with the last part. But I don't think knowing how to properly swim is elitist. Swimming vs. scuba has been discussed in many threads in detail. I agree with Jim L. in that knowing how to swim is a life skill. I feel anyone doing any activity around water should be able to swim quite well. Scuba is one such activity. Just my opinion.

 

[Aguablanco1]

Perhaps I over simplified in my initial response. While swimming may be considered a life skill, we are all not going to be equally good at it. The elitist comment, which did have some relevance to your first post, was really a generalization of some posts I have read on this forum showing a great deal of disdain for new or less experienced divers. No one starts out being an expert diver, we all should be working toward that goal every day. My main point was supposed to be that one can not get over their fears without confronting them, and scuba can certainly help with retiring any fears of water. It should be incumbent on all of us to try and understand and help any who wish to join our sport.

FYI, I have been a whitewater rafter, with 7 Grand Canyon trips and countless others on Class IV-V water, for over 15 years and I am still not a great swimmer. That's why I wear a PFD while rafting. It is also one of the great features of the BCD, surface buoyancy. And believe me when I say that swimming skills, of any level, are virtually useless when one has an out of boat experience in a Class IV-V rapid. Much like scuba, it is a matter of self control and awareness of the surroundings, along with enough presence of mind to avoid a deadly panic.
RichH

 

[TMHeimer]

Perhaps I over simplified in my initial response. While swimming may be considered a life skill, we are all not going to be equally good at it. The elitist comment, which did have some relevance to your first post, was really a generalization of some posts I have read on this forum showing a great deal of disdain for new or less experienced divers. No one starts out being an expert diver, we all should be working toward that goal every day. My main point was supposed to be that one can not get over their fears without confronting them, and scuba can certainly help with retiring any fears of water. It should be incumbent on all of us to try and understand and help any who wish to join our sport.

FYI, I have been a whitewater rafter, with 7 Grand Canyon trips and countless others on Class IV-V water, for over 15 years and I am still not a great swimmer. That's why I wear a PFD while rafting. It is also one of the great features of the BCD, surface buoyancy. And believe me when I say that swimming skills, of any level, are virtually useless when one has an out of boat experience in a Class IV-V rapid. Much like scuba, it is a matter of self control and awareness of the surroundings, along with enough presence of mind to avoid a deadly panic.
RichH

I agree with a lot of what you say. There are certainly some on SB who are overly critical of new divers. Having said that, scuba can produce life threatening situations (as can whitewater rafting, of course, but in this case you ideally have all the air you need-- at least at the start-- barring the unforseen). I'm not sure scuba is a great way to try to overcome a past near-drowning incident without getting some (psychological?) help beforehand. And I think doing scuba without being a decent swimmer is putting the cart before the horse. I know that it can be and has been done, in fact by a SB member who couldn't swim at all and is now an experienced DM. Don't know if he took swimming lessons before OW class or not. I have seen quite a few students who were really poor swimmers "gut out" the 200 meter OW requirement, as all you have to do is finish it without touching the bottom or sides of the pool. This is when I start to think.

 

[RJP]

And believe me when I say that swimming skills, of any level, are virtually useless when one has an out of boat experience in a Class IV-V rapid. Much like scuba, it is a matter of self control and awareness of the surroundings, along with enough presence of mind to avoid a deadly panic.
RichH

Agree. Being "a good swimmer" and being "comfortable in the water" are two different things. Sure there is a lot of overlap... and being a poor swimmer can go a long way towards lowering someone's comfort in the water. But being a good swimmer does not guarantee comfort in be water. My wife is a strong swimmer - pool, ocean, lake, river, what have you. She'll swim across it. Put her UNDER water? Forget it... she freaks out. Throw some current in the ocean while we're swimming at the beach? She's heading back to the sand. Crystal clear water 100ft deep? No problem. Stand in 3ft of water where she can't see the bottom? She'll climb right up onto your head.

I don't really care THAT much if you're a strong swimmer... I want to know you're comfortable in the water.

 

[yardpro]

not trying to be an elitist.. BUT swimming IS a big part of scuba... you are in the water..

Being comfortable in the water is a big part of scuba. when everything is working fine, i agree that you can overcome and be OK... BUT when things go wrong, and they do, you need water skills.

I had a bc dump valve fail open at 70 feet, it would not hold air. If i was a weak swimmer i would have had issues. no lift from BC, still had to swim to surface, bc filed with water, so i had to remove bc at surface, hold onto boat with one hand, hold now negatively buoyant bc/tank/weights with the other, tie off gear to rope from boat, climb in boat then drag in gear...

i would have had BIG problems if i could not swim.

i think that it is like someone saying, i can't swim, but i want to water ski without a life jacket....

 

[Nick A]

Ive had some near drowning experiences, but they were all 'self induced' (so to speak) all while surfing big waves and getting held down. Never any situation I didn't put myself in. Always been comfortable in the water. So I can't say for sure, but I would think telling your dive instructor that you almost drowned as a child may not cross their mind, maybe someone thinks they don't need to know, that there is some kind of stigma that comes along with it, that they won't be able to dive but cause of it or they could be intimidated or feel vulnerable by revealing it. All completely untrue. In a perfect world, everyone would feel comfortable in the water, but that's not the case. But if a student would tell their instructor about their reservations, life as an instructor would be a lot easier. If we know, there are things we can do to make them more comfortable. I had a guy tell me a couple weeks ago that he's had panic attacks in the past. I'm a new instructor and haven't had that 'oh $h!+' moment I've heard so much about. I thought this was it. This is gonna be the one. But we worked through it. His eyes got big as dinner plates on the mask flood and clear. But he had trust and stayed calm. I'm glad he had a mind to tell me what was goin on and I felt better knowing that and did what I could to make him feel better.