Belzelbub
Contributor
Agreed. Ingrained is a good word, and only the diver can gauge how comfortable they are with the skills. When I was allowed to join in on my oldest daughter's checkout dives, I found myself wondering if she would remember the regulator retrieval if confronted with it on an actual dive. It's one thing to take a regulator out of your mouth and do the retrieval when prepared. It's quite another thing to have to do it during when not expecting. I made a note that it was going to be something I would work with her on in the future to make sure she was comfortable with it.Making sure the skills are ingrained (particularly with a relatively new diver) is worthwhile - can you adequately recover a reg if it is kicked out or clear your mask ok?
I got my answer the next day. During the first dive of the day, another student accidentally knocked her regulator out with their fin. The regulator went into freeflow, and was well behind her. I was right behind her, so she wasn't in any danger, but I held back as I wanted to see what she would do. She did the sweep and didn't come up with it right away, so she grabbed her backup, purged and continued breathing. At that point, I helped her with her primary, and she swapped when ready. As far as I was concerned, her response was perfect, no panic, and no fear after the dive. Now, I should add that she was practically raised in the water, so she was very comfortable with it. She started taking swim lessons at around 8 or 9 months old. A diver with less experience around the water may have had a different reaction.
The instructor can only determine that the skills were performed. I'm pretty sure that no agency, at least for open water, includes surprise regulator retrievals as part of the checkout dives, so it's up to the diver to make sure they are very comfortable with the skill.