OW Cert w/o learning Dive Tables?!?!?

[HowardE]

A friend in CO was asking about getting certified, and he was going to take a course from "Beaver Divers" in Avon, CO http://www.beaverdivers.com

I told him NO - DO NOT go with them...

Classes are available through Beaver Divers for any level of certification.
By utilizing the latest technological developments in diving equipment and
current information at every level of training, we are able to maximize
diver safety, bottom time and enjoyment of the sport. State-of-the-art dive
computers have replaced the need to learn the historic dive tables. Computers
are used to analyze each student's training progress. At the completion
of a course, students receive a computer generated logbook and certification
card. Through the use of downloadable, air-integrated, hoseless dive computers,
we receive biofeedback that enables a student to plunge into diving in the
21st century!

I can't believe they teach SCUBA this way!

Ok... discuss.

 

[fisherdvm]

Kinda like telling the grade school kids that you don't have to know math, cause everyone uses the calculator anyway.

But, I'll bet you 80% of certified divers don't know how to use a dive table 5 years after cert (perhaps even 1 month after certification). So, in reality, they are only learning the theory.

I honestly think that you can teach only the theories, without teaching the tables - and still have safe divers. As OW classes are cut down to barebones, better time is spent in the pool working on skills rather than on the darn tables.

Let them worry about the tables when they take nitrox or advanced nitrox.

 

[texdiveguy]

?? Is this an SDI program ??

 

[rakkis]

"biofeedback" Cute.

To be honest, the critical concept that matters is knowing how long and how deep one can stay. That can be done reliably with computers alone. Computer craps out? You're done for the day. That is a workable solution for most recreational divers.

The tables are much more than a table for bottom time though. If taught properly, they are an excellent way to teach basic decompression theory. That alone makes them worthwhile in my opinion.

 

[EastEndDiver]

Kinda like telling the grade school kids that you don't have to know math, cause everyone uses the calculator anyway.

But, I'll bet you 80% of certified divers don't know how to use a dive table 5 years after cert (perhaps even 1 month after certification). So, in reality, they are only learning the theory.

I honestly think that you can teach only the theories, without teaching the tables - and still have safe divers. As OW classes are cut down to barebones, better time is spent in the pool working on skills rather than on the darn tables.

Let them worry about the tables when they take nitrox or advanced nitrox.

Why would "worrying about the tables" be appropriate only when they move on to Nitrox or advanced Nitrox ,as you state in the last line of your post?

 

[Homunculus]

i agree with fisherdvm. only thing to say in addition, those who want to know the core, will easily learn how to use tables. those who hate tables won't remember any of it once they get computer.

 

[fisherdvm]

My 11 year old son mastered the table within 10 minutes. He breezes through every problems threw at him by the dive instructor.

But for a good 33% of divers, it is a struggle, and it is never mastered. These folks will still be fine divers. Why snaggle them with the stuff, when they should be spending time learning better safety skills.

 

[EastEndDiver]

My 11 year old son mastered the table within 10 minutes. He breezes through every problems threw at him by the dive instructor.

But for a good 33% of divers, it is a struggle, and it is never mastered. These folks will still be fine divers. Why snaggle them with the stuff, when they should be spending time learning better safety skills.

So you feel that the tables shouldn't be taught since the use of computers? Just trying to understand why someone wants less knowledge taught.Maybe the courses should be longer rather than shorter so people can learn the tables AND also have the time to work on water skills.

 

[Walter]

SDI has taught without tables since it started. I wouldn't teach that way, but there are much worse practices in lots of classes today, IMO.

 

[fisherdvm]

So you feel that the tables shouldn't be taught since the use of computers? Just trying to understand why someone wants less knowledge taught.

Why do you need to know how odometers work, when you can just obey the speed limit?

Why do you have to learn how to use tables, when less then 5% of dives are done with them? Myself, less than 2%, and getting smaller.

Redundancy, and something to fall back to? When was the last time you turned to your dive tables when your computer batteries ran out?

Dive tables are only torture devices for the mathematically challenged..... Focus on teaching the safety, not the unnecesary stuff.

TOO MUCH information dilutes the course, and the students lose focus on the important stuff - drills, dive planning, buddy skill, buoyancy control, etc.