Hello Jepuskar,
With all due respect, I believe you are confusing personal capabilities ( yours & the people in your examples ) with the populace as a whole.
Just within my teaching experience I can site you examples from both ends of this spectrum; consider:
Ø The middle-aged lady, average physical condition, poor swimming skills. I gave her my standard spiel about continuing with the course on the condition that she improved her swimming & met the standard prior to o/w, & she agreed. The first night on scuba, she breezes through the skills & is completely relaxed & competent in all we asked her to do. She passed the swim test months later & is an excellent novice diver.
Ø The 19 yr. old who literally left a wake in his path as he ploughed through the water one of the best swimmers Id ever seen. Scuba? Anxious, hesitant & unsure of himself . He did certify eventually, after considerable effort by our teaching team, & is now an enthusiastic, competent diver.
Aha you say! My point is proven!
Well, no.
These people represent the exceptions in the populace who, by their nature, defy the norm. Statistically ,they are a minority. The majority of applicants to scuba do benefit from possessing adequate swimming skills, for some of these reasons:
> Conditioned response to swallowing water anyone who has done laps in the pool using front crawl knows the chop created by training swimmers causes the occasional, unpleasant, inadvertent mouthful of water. The first time it happens you have to stop, cough through it, & plow on. In time however, you get so that you can minimize the intake & control your response to the point where you just keep on swimming.
> Mouth Breathing a great way to get used to the way we breathe u/w.
> Surface diving skills aquired
> Rescue training introduced
There are other benefits to add to the list, but I think you can see my point.
Policies / Standards must reflect the needs of the majority.
Have fun in your next session of compression!
Regards,
D.S.D.
With all due respect, I believe you are confusing personal capabilities ( yours & the people in your examples ) with the populace as a whole.
Just within my teaching experience I can site you examples from both ends of this spectrum; consider:
Ø The middle-aged lady, average physical condition, poor swimming skills. I gave her my standard spiel about continuing with the course on the condition that she improved her swimming & met the standard prior to o/w, & she agreed. The first night on scuba, she breezes through the skills & is completely relaxed & competent in all we asked her to do. She passed the swim test months later & is an excellent novice diver.
Ø The 19 yr. old who literally left a wake in his path as he ploughed through the water one of the best swimmers Id ever seen. Scuba? Anxious, hesitant & unsure of himself . He did certify eventually, after considerable effort by our teaching team, & is now an enthusiastic, competent diver.
Aha you say! My point is proven!
Well, no.
These people represent the exceptions in the populace who, by their nature, defy the norm. Statistically ,they are a minority. The majority of applicants to scuba do benefit from possessing adequate swimming skills, for some of these reasons:
> Conditioned response to swallowing water anyone who has done laps in the pool using front crawl knows the chop created by training swimmers causes the occasional, unpleasant, inadvertent mouthful of water. The first time it happens you have to stop, cough through it, & plow on. In time however, you get so that you can minimize the intake & control your response to the point where you just keep on swimming.
> Mouth Breathing a great way to get used to the way we breathe u/w.
> Surface diving skills aquired
> Rescue training introduced
There are other benefits to add to the list, but I think you can see my point.
Policies / Standards must reflect the needs of the majority.
Have fun in your next session of compression!
Regards,
D.S.D.