Unacceptable Instructor Behaviors...

[Bob DBF]

As a healthcare professional myself, I feel it worthy of pointing out that policeman's "annual qualilfication" is GROSSLY inadequate...

Imagine if they had none, which was the discussion regarding scuba "professionals".


Bob

 

[yle]

· Was unaware of problems during the dive because of the overcrowded chaotic situation. Problems such as OOA, uncontrolled ascent ( OOA diver + buddy) that causes both to hit heads on cross beams of oil rig. Uncontrolled descent of overweighted diver first time in dry suit who could not seem to remember how to use bc. This diver required someone else to swim quickly down to halt the decent and bring her to the surface. There was A LOT of heavy breathing on this boat within the 1st 10 min of the dive when these 4 divers returned. Multiple lost buddies.

An instructor was using an oil rig dive as part of a class?

Wow.

 

[Dizzi Lizzi]

The thing is, we inexperienced folk trust too much. I should have said "what could go wrong? ". If I had said that, and thought it out I would have realized that doing my 1st deep dive at a site without a bottom (OK 260 feet) was maybe not my best choice. I could have asked more questions as to the ratio of students to staff ect.
In the end, it is my responsibility to take the time to know and understand all the risks I take. That whole situation still spooks me a bit.

 

[The Chairman]

e thing is, we inexperienced folk trust too much.

Been there, done that, freaked the eff out over it. We don't want to do dangerous things, but if you don't know what constitutes dangerous, you're at the mercy of your guide.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Been there, done that, freaked the eff out over it. We don't want to do dangerous things, but if you don't know what constitutes dangerous, you're at the mercy of your guide.

Yup. Becoming a pro I learned how messed up a lot of my courses were, particularly open water. We just don’t know what we don’t know and we trust too easily. Most of us, definitely me, were guilty of that at some point.

 

[Saboteur]

Yup. Becoming a pro I learned how messed up a lot of my courses were, particularly open water. We just don’t know what we don’t know and we trust too easily. Most of us, definitely me, were guilty of that at some point.

Exactly. As someone once said.."as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don't know we don't know."

 

[yle]

The thing is, we inexperienced folk trust too much. I should have said "what could go wrong? ". If I had said that, and thought it out I would have realized that doing my 1st deep dive at a site without a bottom (OK 260 feet) was maybe not my best choice. I could have asked more questions as to the ratio of students to staff ect. In the end, it is my responsibility to take the time to know and understand all the risks I take. That whole situation still spooks me a bit.

It's great that you realize your choice to dive or not is yours. But there's a big difference between trusting a guide to take you on a dive for which you already have the necessary training and experience, and trusting an instructor to choose an appropriate dive for your class, which you are taking to further your training. The responsibility for choosing an appropriate site for your class rests completely on the instructor.

Since you reference your "1st deep dive", I assume this was an AOW class. Just my opinion, but the oil rigs in So Cal (for all the reasons you allude to and more) are totally inappropriate for an AOW class, let alone such a class with students in a drysuit for the first time.

Hopefully someone in the class was asked by the training agency for feedback and was able to share the details of the dive. At least this would give the training agency the option to speak to the instructor about making better choices.

 

[Dizzi Lizzi]

@yle your assumption is correct, and i agree with your opinion (now that I know better).

 

[The Chairman]

The responsibility for choosing an appropriate site for your class rests completely on the instructor.

I disagree. While the instructor may be held liable for any accident, it's the student that might be injured or killed. If you don't feel comfortable: CALL THE DIVE. If you have unanswered questions: CALL THE DIVE. If you don't understand how, what or why: CALL THE DIVE.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

I disagree. While the instructor may be held liable for any accident, it's the student that might be injured or killed. If you don't feel comfortable: CALL THE DIVE. If you have unanswered questions: CALL THE DIVE. If you don't understand how, what or why: CALL THE DIVE.

Pete,

This needs to be emphasized more, but by whom? The problem I see is that students succumb to the pressure, have a horrible experience, and never dive again. I feel that while not the biggest problem in the industry, this is certainly one of them.

Not sure how to address it.