This physically hurts to watch.

[Patoux01]

the only person I've actually seen make people genuinely want to take a step backward from a legitimate question in this thread is you,

Okay, where was the legitimate question in the OP? Was it the title maybe?

 

[Centrals]

Watch the first 15mins and gave up. I am not a side mount diver but surely this video is incredible.
I could not believe tec instructor would still use his hands for propulsion(swimming)!

 

[DevonDiver]

From an instructional perspective, I'm scratching my head over this video. It seems to be from a PADI training course, but I'm mystified which one. It doesn't meet the standards of any course I know of... not Deep Diver, nor Tec Sidemount or any of the Tech Deep progammes.

They do a 'narc test' (?) which is from Deep Diver. But Deep Diver certainly doesn't permit gas switches, deco, or depths below 40. Also, Tec Sidemount (as a conversion) should only be simulated deco dives, no narc test etc etc. If it were a Tech Deep level course, then there's a whole catalogue of skill performances omitted from the dive (i.e. descent/bubble checks).

The video is mystifying.... it's a mess. And that's before we even consider the low standard of fundamental, team and technical skills demonstrated by students and instructor alike.

 

[Diver0001]

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[rongoodman]

So what was the point behind the dangling bottles? I've never seen anything like it.

 

[dberry]

Here's a tip for the folks viewing videos: change the speed. Watching this at 2x speed made very little difference except to save me 10min. And I could back it up and slow it down to look at some of the crazy stuff.

 

[Hoag]

We also did not see what happened next. Clearly somebody was along to make a movie of the class. Did the class then watch the video and critique it. Did the instructor then use this as a learning event. In a first class most students do some things right and some things not. Then critique afterwards and hopefully do more right the second time.

This is the key and can not be stated strongly enough. Since this dive was taped, the instructor should have gone through it back in the classroom and been brutally honest with the students. The debrief should have taken the position of critiquing the techniques and procedures not the person.

If this was done, then there is tremendous potential to learn from this dive and from this recording. If the student used it simply to show "what a cool dive it was" then a valuable "teachable moment" was squandered.

As someone who has been on both sides of more "brutally honest" debriefs than I can count, it should be noted that it is just as hard to give one as it is to receive one, and that is why most instructors (in any field of instruction) don't do them. They are, however, critical to improvement.

 

[Colliam7]

From an instructional perspective, I'm scratching my head over this video.

And, that was my reaction, as well.

This is, according to the title, apparently a PADI course activity. So, I presume this was taken during a training dive. And, that seems to be the sentiment in the majority of posts. But, I am unsure what training curriculum this might be part of. It appears that a timed task is one of the performance requirements, as is a bag deployment. But, beyond that, I am really not sure what is being done. So, I am hesitant to critique or assess what I am watching. The diving style - gear configuration, task performance, etc. - is not altogether consistent with the approach I personally prefer, but to each their own. (For example, I am not at all sure what is going on with the right side 'hanging' cylinders.) However, I can't offer feedback to the divers / ? instructor in the video, because I don't know where video this came from.

But, we can all learn something from every dive, ours or some else's. Things I learned from this video, as a SM diver and as an Instructor:

1. Doing a Mr. Potato Head assembly as a timed task is an interesting idea. But, with that many small parts, I am not sure it is a good idea. That segment reminded me a bit of a sequence in Men of Honor, where Carl Brashear's (Cuba Gooding) tool bag is sliced at the surface before being dumped in the water, and tools and parts flutter down to the bottom.

2. I love Mechanix Work gloves, and use them, on shore, for most activities where I wear work gloves. But, I haven't tried them on dives, so I want to give that a shot this weekend.

3. As an Instructor, I am not sure I want anyone - except me, or a designated 3rd party using ONLY my camera - filming my course dives, lest they show up as public videos on YouTube. I use video, A LOT, in my courses. I post videos as private links on YouTube accessible only to students and CAs involved in the course. And, I review them with the students, to critique form and function - video is a very useful training tool.

Beyond that, it was an interesting video to watch.

 

[DevonDiver]

Here's another 'sidemount course' video worthy of an educational case study. It's a VERY interesting watch...

Instagram post by Mr. Luigi • Jun 14, 2017 at 12:43am UTC

 

[dberry]

Why was that one guy laying on the sand? I felt like yelling "Man down!"