Tips for the 10 minute treading portion of OW certification?

[boulderjohn]

But a PADI instructor I assisted in 2012 said she didn't allow drown-proofing.

Over the years I have met many instructors who are mistaken about many standards. I have been wrong on a number of occasions myself, chiefly in my earliest years of instruction. What happens is you work for a few years (as I did ) as a DM and then an AI assisting classes. You learn to do what the instructors you are assisting do, and you assume they are right about everything.

I would say the best example of this is the reaction we got when we published the article on teaching OW classes with students neutrally buoyant and horizontal rather than kneeling on the bottom of the pool. We had very, very rencorous threads on ScubaBoard featuring instructors fairly screaming in print that standards demanded that students must kneel on the bottom of the pool to learn skills. When I published a direct quote from PADI headquarters saying there was no such standard and it was perfectly acceptable to teach students while neutrally buoyant from the very beginning of the class, one instructor replied that when you get a statement from PADI headquarters explaining PADI policy, it is just the opinion of the guy who answered you, and he could be wrong. If you actually did what that representative from PADI headquarters said you could do, PADI would expel you.

I would guess that now, 7 years later, a sizeable portion of the world's instructors, possibly the majority, still believe that teaching students while they kneel on the bottom is a standard.

 

[Addicted2H2O]

@boulderjohn It's always been my impression that as long as the basic minimum standards are adhered to, it's really at the instructor's discretion as to how to teach his class, regardless of agency. I haven't been certified through PADI for any of my certs so far, but I've never heard of doing the OW swim with mask, fins, and snorkel. It was always a basic there and back freestyle in the pool with no gear. And then a 10 minute "safety swim", which was basically keep your self on the surface for the duration of the swim. Anything over & above that would be the instructor's decision. And with my recent rescue diver course, my instructor added a couple of things that are required at the DM level to not only prepare us for that course should we decide to pursue it, but also to make us better rescue divers. And of course all underwater skills had to be done while neutral. I could be wrong but I seem to remember NASE standards requiring all skills, even during the OW course, to be done while neutral. And I think it's a great idea. Why not make better divers right out of the gate?

 

[boulderjohn]

@boulderjohn It's always been my impression that as long as the basic minimum standards are adhered to, it's really at the instructor's discretion as to how to teach his class, regardless of agency. I haven't been certified through PADI for any of my certs so far, but I've never heard of doing the OW swim with mask, fins, and snorkel. It was always a basic there and back freestyle in the pool with no gear. And then a 10 minute "safety swim", which was basically keep your self on the surface for the duration of the swim. Anything over & above that would be the instructor's decision. And with my recent rescue diver course, my instructor added a couple of things that are required at the DM level to not only prepare us for that course should we decide to pursue it, but also to make us better rescue divers. And of course all underwater skills had to be done while neutral. I could be wrong but I seem to remember NASE standards requiring all skills, even during the OW course, to be done while neutral. And I think it's a great idea. Why not make better divers right out of the gate?

The choice of doing a 300 meter swim with mask and fins rather than a 200 meter swim without them has been a RSTC standard for many years--at least as long as I have been instructing. (RSTC sets minimum standards for its member organizations, and those member organizations probably certify 95% of the world's divers.)

As to instructors adding to the standards, with PADI it is a little complicated. PADI instructors can add material and skills to the basic course, but they cannot impose requirements for passing the class in excess of the standard requirements. As an instructor, I can demonstrate extra skills and keep working with students on achieving them, but I cannot require those additional skills for certification. If I tell a student that they must tread water and cannot use drownproofing and then fail the student who cannot do it, I am violating standards.

 

[Bubbles McGee]

This is cheating but...if you wear a 7mm wetsuit, you’ll float. Your instructor might make you take it off though LOL!

Yes. My instructor gave me the option. Bathing suit or wear your wetsuit with a weight belt.

 

[tursiops]

As to instructors adding to the standards, with PADI it is a little complicated. PADI instructors can add material and skills to the basic course, but they cannot impose requirements for passing the class in excess of the standard requirements.

This.
It is a mantra on SB that PADI is awful because you cannot deviate from the standards.
But, as boulderjohn points out, you can certainly add material (*within limits) so long as it is not required for certification.

*The limits are not diluting attention on the material covered by the standards, or confusing the student with information overload. So, for example, in a Nitrox course, it would not be advisable to on and on about OTUs and the problems of diving 80%. That comes later, not as part of the initial course.

 

[TMHeimer]

The choice of doing a 300 meter swim with mask and fins rather than a 200 meter swim without them has been a RSTC standard for many years--at least as long as I have been instructing. (RSTC sets minimum standards for its member organizations, and those member organizations probably certify 95% of the world's divers.)

As to instructors adding to the standards, with PADI it is a little complicated. PADI instructors can add material and skills to the basic course, but they cannot impose requirements for passing the class in excess of the standard requirements. As an instructor, I can demonstrate extra skills and keep working with students on achieving them, but I cannot require those additional skills for certification. If I tell a student that they must tread water and cannot use drownproofing and then fail the student who cannot do it, I am violating standards.

Agree with all that. I've never been a fan of the choice of the 300 vs. the 200 standard, nor it being at the instructor's discretion. One is so much easier than the other if you are not in "swimming" shape, so it can be "unfair" for the class doing the 200 (of course I agree everyone should know how to swim). But that's an old rant, and it is the standard.

 

[dmaziuk]

I find it interesting that people "not in swimming shape" find snorkeling "so much easier": I would think a leisurely breaststroke is at least as easy if not easier. Unless one has serious neck problems. You can keep your face out o the water at all time, and see where you're going, vs. having to breathe through a tube and looking at the bottom of the pool. However much of it you can see in your mask. You can, in fact, do almost the same as you'd do for teh 10-minute "float", only keeping your body closer to horizontal trim, and complete the swim test.

 

[Addicted2H2O]

Agree with all that. I've never been a fan of the choice of the 300 vs. the 200 standard, nor it being at the instructor's discretion. One is so much easier than the other if you are not in "swimming" shape, so it can be "unfair" for the class doing the 200 (of course I agree everyone should know how to swim). But that's an old rant, and it is the standard.

I agree with you. If you're going to pursue a sport/hobby like scuba, you should definitely know how to swim. I mean it's not like you're in water or anything.....

And yes I know scuba doesn't necessarily require swimming, but in an emergency situation one should know how. You could lose your fins, your BC could get a tear in the bladder, preventing it from holding air, and then what? Yes it's probably a pretty unlikely scenario, but stranger things have happened.

 

[Rred]

Try to take a DEEP breath, use whatever lung capacity you have to gain buoyancy.
"Helicoptering" with your arms, sculling with your hands, should be perfectly acceptable.
And we're also taught that in order to conserve energy in a real emergency, it is perfectly acceptable to take that deep breath, and allow yourself to submerge slightly. Giving a kick and sculling to break the surface again, exhale and inhale, then allow yourself to submerge until the next breath. You're still floating, just not burning all the energy that treading water would consume. Unless your instructor says "No" then this is perfectly valid.

 

[Addicted2H2O]

OP....I hope you don't take this the wrong way but I really believe you're overthinking it. And this can be said for a lot of things with scuba. I was recently concerned about the free swim I had to complete for my Rescue Diver course a couple of months ago. No fins, no mask, no snorkel....just me and the water. 11 laps there and back in the pool at my LDS. But after I got into it, I stopped being worried and just did it. And I was fine. The next thing I was concerned about was having to recover and don my mask, snorkel, and fins form the bottom of the pool as a skin diver. But again....I did it. After that, and the big one, once at the lake, one additional "requirement" we had was to rescue an unconscious diver from depth as a skin diver. So with mask, snorkel, and fins, I had to drop down 24 ft and surface an unconscious diver. And I had psyched myself out so much that when it came time to do it, I felt like I as running out of air about 10 ft down. But I pushed myself and as soon as I got to my diver, I grabbed his octo and huffed and puffed like I'd just run a marathon. But I did it.

So my point is this: You can do whatever you put your mind to. Your body can do much more than you initially think it can. KNOW that. Don't thing about it. Don't concentrate on it so much and give it so much attention that it makes you doubt yourself. Believe in yourself and KNOW you can do it and you will. And when it's all said and done you'll be proud and think "Wow.....that wasn't so hard." So stop worrying about it and just Git 'Er Done!