"Rescue Diver" - Your experiences?

[Thiad]

I thought this was the best class I've taken. It was tough - I came home exhausted after every class. But, I enjoyed it and learned many lessons I learned. No, it's not a lot of diving, but you'll walk away a better diver and with a better understanding of what to do when things go south. I recently assisted with a rescue class while working towards my DM. I was extremely grateful for the opportunity to essentially "audit" the course over again and practice what I'd gone through a year earlier. And with that, comes my only complaint... The skills you pick up need to be honed and practiced and not shelved. Don't just take the class and then forget what you've learned. It was a good exercise to re-watch the video, hear the lectures and then get back in the water and do the skills over again. I was surprised by what I'd actually forgot - some of the small nuances that can make a huge difference.

It's a course I think every diver should take.

And maybe retake a few years down the road.

 

[Country_Diver]

Just completed an SDI rescue diver course this weekend. My instructor was very serious, as he usually is, about making us realize that the skill set learned in the course are to help us save our own arse. After all, if you cant save your own, how can you be trusted to save someone else's? We did tows, approaches, mask off line drills and buddy breathing exercises, lost diver searches, beginning O2 administration skills, and a few other exercises. Great course!

 

[Soggy_Diver]

I have just signed up for my PADI Rescue Diver course. I am looking forward to it immensely and, working through the materials, am excited about learning another vital set of skills.

However....

When I told my instructor that I wanted to do Rescue Diver, he grinned and said "This is one of my favorite courses to teach. We have so much fun with our students as we tend to come up with scenarios that are outside of the box. Masks will come off!"

So, now I'm wondering what on Earth he is planning and whether those of you who did "Rescue Diver" were presented with unusual situations?

To help me prepare, tell me your stories!

During a couple of sessions, our instructor paired us off, and secretly primed one buddy in each pair to simulate an emergency. The other buddy knew that something was coming, but did not know what, and had to respond. The emergencies included:
-buddy goes unconscious at depth
-buddy goes into passive panic at depth
-buddy goes "OOA" and tries to grab reg
-buddy shows active panic at depth
-buddy becomes narcred and disoriented

Another really informative scenario was assisting an actively panicking diver on the surface. The rescuer had to approach the panicked buddy without getting grabbed. We could drop under the victim, ascend and grab their tank and valve from behind to get control. Initially, several rescuers barely ducked below the surface, so they got grabbed repeatedly.

The most interesting, I thought, was when one diver swam along just below the surface, and a buddy on the pool deck tangled a rope around their scuba unit. The challenge was to untangle it.

In one challenging air sharing drill, 5 of us descended with 4 scuba units, and we had to continually pass the units around the circle, then ascend.

Just a few of the more memorable activities from a great course. Much of the course was doing various rescues.

 

[TSandM]

I was sitting in on the classroom session for the Rescue class tonight, and I got to thinking about what I've faced underwater.

I've dealt with passive panic. I've tried to control a runaway ascent, both in myself and in my dive buddy. I've shared gas with people who got reprehensibly low (but not out of gas). I've had a freeflow we couldn't stop, that ended up with a gas-sharing ascent. I've kicked out of my boots, kicked off a fin in a cave -- twice -- and this week, helped another diver who kicked out of her TurboSole on her suit. (We got her back in her sole, and her fin back on, all at 50 feet, and continued the dive!) I've run search patterns for lost gear (luckily never a lost diver). I've towed a tired diver. And I've been involved in an attempted resuscitation of a diver who later proved to have suffered a gas embolism.

That's all in 7 years. I'd say, if you are going to dive actively, Rescue is an awfully good class to take . . .

 

[RichWilx]

Thanks to everyone who replied!

The pool sessions and knowledge reviews are all done and I'm now getting myself ready to head up to the quarry for the open water part of the course. So far, it has been hard work but - as everyone says - thouroughly enjoyable.

To be honest though, I am quite nervous about this weekend's scenarios. I have no idea what will be thrown at me, but I do know that there will be something "unexpected".

 

[dbulmer]

Rich,
Don't be nervous - the whole point of the course is to learn and if you make a mistake or 2 it adds to the fun

What site will you be visiting?

 

[jencks23]

I recently completed the NAUI version of the class and I have to echo pretty much what everyone else said, this class is a must take for All divers

 

[rhwestfall]

After 23 years of diving, I took Rescue (NAUI) - it was a BLAST!!!!! Its all about learing to see it before it happens, anticipating, and prevention. If it gets to action, something went wrong..... and it will help you through that.

sorry, I won't give you the "answers" you seek. Learn and earn.

 

[live_2_dive]

Rescue diver is the best course I've ever taken. I have used the skills learned throughout that course several times and it has (literally) been a life saver. As far as what you will run into during the class, it will vary with instructor and I won't try and spoil any of it for you

but in all seriousness, have fun and LEARN


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PADI Rescue/DM 09100Z7445
Dr Dive/Wet Dream/Sea Cobra/Y-Knot

Diving is my passion...I live to dive!

 

[meagicano]

My LDS makes rescue almost a year long course. Some of them are pretty snobby about how the course is so much better than what is offered elsewhere simply because it takes so long. They run a few pool/classroom sessions, have the rescue divers in training help out in the pool with OW students, have them help out with OW students on their OW weekends... etc. Then at the end of the summer, after participating in club dives and running a few scenarios they finally get signed off as rescue divers.
Has anyone else experienced this? It seems like overkill to me (more free labour for the LDS) but due to the dive shop politics I haven't gone into it too much.