Ultimate skills list

[ChuckT]

Well I finally did it, I am now OW certified! What a great feeling! We did our dives off Oshima island in the Seito inland sea, about 2hrs south of Hiroshima. Temp was 57F and vis was 10-15 ft. As far as I'm concerned PERFECT! I can't wait to be back underwater!
Now as for the title of the thread. I have been reading this board sometime now, (which made the class a lot easier!) and have read differing opinions on what entry level skills a new diver should be taught. I thought it would be ineresting to see what you all thought would be the ultimate list of skills and confidence building excercises a beginner diver should be taught, regardless of what associaton you are affiliated with. There is a lot of experience on this board, I just thought it might be an interesting topic.

Thanks for all your help ScubaBoard! Chuck

 

[TexasMike]

To clarify your question, are you asking

• what skills should be taught during certification,
  
  what skills should be added to the ones that all of the agencies are required to teach, or
  
  what skills should the newly certified diver agressively practice on his next several dives?

Let us know which so we can best answer your question(s).

 

[ChuckT]

I'm more going for what skills should be added to the ones that all of the agencies are required to teach? I would also be interested to what skills a newly certified diver should practice agressively. Thank you for helping me clarify.

Chuck

 

[Zept]

Things I've had to learn, since I was certified:
-- how to inflate a safety sausage
-- how to fix a slipped tank (own or buddy's)
-- loads of hand signals
Plus I learnt with a weight belt, but now I have a weight-integrated BC, which changes some of the skills.

Things I've chosen to learn, that have been useful:
-- navigation
-- multilevel diving

Things I've gone out of my way to practise:
-- reg retrieval and replacement while swimming, rather than kneeling on the bottom


Zept

 

[Welshman]

Buoyancy control. I think that all the agencies have this as an elective for AOW - PADI certainly do - but I've found this skill the most useful. You don't waste energy and therefore air, your diving is more enjoyable and so is your buddy's since you're no longer bumping into them.

 

[art.chick]

Some instructors treat ditch & recovery (removing of equipment on the pool/ocean bottom; emergency swim ascent, tread water, then surface dive & don equipment underwater) like a flashy but unnecessary display of underwater comfort, but I disagree. Many have been the times that I have had to remove various articles underwater & replace them. I know how my own equipment works because I have practiced D & R in the pool so many times. I know how to keep my equipment from being swept away by the surge while I am adjusting it. I can switch with my buddy if needed. If I want to float an extra tank out in the water & switch them out rather than mess with an extra surf exit between dives, I can avoid high tide escapades. D & R is not hard, but it takes practice & can make you feel like a stronger diver.

 

[ChuckT]

Thanks for all the input! One of the confidence building excercises we did that I liked was a circut swim. 4 tanks were placed with regs were placed equidistant from each other in an approximate square. The course would be run twice, once with a mask once without. You started at one tank took a couple of breaths than swam to the other ect... until you came back to the original tank. Its one of those things were a little stess is placed on you in a controled environment so you start to gain confidence in your abilities and your equipments.

Chuck

 

[ChuckT]

Thanks for all the input! One of the confidence building excercises we did that I liked was a circut swim. 4 tanks were placed with regs were placed equidistant from each other in an approximate square. The course would be run twice, once with a mask once without. You started at one tank took a couple of breaths than swam to the other ect... until you came back to the original tank. Its one of those things were a little stess is placed on you in a controled environment so you start to gain confidence in your abilities and your equipments.

Chuck

 

[jbd]

IMHO all new divers should really get agressive with developing bouyancy control to the level of a fine art. Re-read Welshman's post and you will know all the reasons why.

I also agree with Zept--learn to do all the mask skills and reg recovery while swimming instead of kneeling stationary on the bottom.

 

[TexasMike]

ChuckT...out of curiosity, which agency goverened your training?