Did this CD state HOW this would violate standards for the Deep Diver course or, more specifically, WHAT standard(s) would be violated by having a Deep student deploy a DSMB? Not taking issue with the statement, per se, just trying to better understand the thinking behind it.
It is pretty clear in the Deep instructor manual that deploying a DSMB on a deep dive is a good thing to do...what is NOT good is having a student do it for the first time during the four class dives. But someone taking a Deep Specialty is NOT a newbie -- they need to be AOW for example -- so the deployment of a DSMB is simply doing what the IM says. It is not a performance standard....just something to do. Here is what the IM says:
Confined water and/or surface practice sessions are not required for the PADI Deep Diver course; however, you may choose to have practical sessions that allow student divers to practice skills such as navigating with a compass, buoyancy control, safety stops, Delayed Surface Marker Buoy (DSMB) deployment, breathing from an emergency air source, reading (comparing with other divers) information from their depth gauges or dive computers.
And then:
Explain to student divers that a Delayed Surface Marker Buoy (DSMB) is a long sausage-like marker buoy, with an opening at one
end. Divers carry it deflated and rolled up in a pocket, or rolled and attached to their reels. At the end of the dive, prior to ascending, a
diver can use their alternate air source or exhaled bubbles to inflate the DSMB and send it to the surface, paying out line from their reel
as it goes. Divers can then slowly reel the line in as they ascend. Make clear that DSMBs provide divers with a visual reference as they ascend and during their safety stops. They are helpful when divers are in a current, or unable to return to the boat for any reason. They also allow boat traffic to identify divers as they begin their ascent.
And then, under Open Water conduct:
There are no required confined water and/or surface practice sessions for the PADI Deep Diver Specialty Diver course, however, developing student diver abilities in conditions that doesn’t add complexity to learning new skills such as reading (comparing with other divers)
information from depth gauges or dive computers, deploying Delayed Surface Marker Buoys (DSMBs), and controlling buoyancy at safety stops before progressing to more challenging conditions, is sound instruction. Some of the underwater skills, such as basic buoyancy control, breathing from an emergency air source, and navigating with a compass, are much easier to learn if you have student divers practice them in a confined water session or on the surface first. You may add confined water and/or surface practice sessions at your discretion. The confined water session may also include a scuba skills review.
So, assuming the students have some experience with DSMBs from a safety stop depth -- and they should! -- no additional practice is needed and using the DSMB on dives 1-2-3 is certainly permissable....it is not a new skill. If the student has never shot a DSMB from depth, then that IS a new skill and would need to be taught and practices in a practical session beforehand. If the students wish to deploy a DSMB from depth on dive 4, it is their dive they are planning, so long as it is not the first time they've done it. None of the DSMB skills are in the performance standards, so no penalties if it goes awry.
