What do you mean I can't log my practice dives????

[Hawkwood]

I guess I'd do it in liters. That's a lot of cubic feet

Hahaha...damn...I messed up that typing big time!

I went back and fixed my post. Thanks.

 

[Frosty]

No I'm neither. Maybe they audit them more. I had 1 dive shop that didn't know what TDI was so I showed him my computer log and that was enough to let me dive

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk

Honest injun-Im doing my DM training in 6 days. I have to provide proof of logged dives as a course requirement

 

[tuk]

NOTE: I am not a DM

The requirement to log, in a paper book, all of your dives seems archaic. My current computer and my backups are all logged to Subsurface and synced to divelogs.de. I do this because I'm too lazy to write things down and my handwriting is crap. Requiring pen to meet paper seems as out dated as faxing. When will PADI finally move on or are they going to keep the requirement because they get a portion of the profits from all the log books people buy in shops and none from electronic records?

 

[knotical]

You're the first person to mention paper in this thread. PADI hasn't required logs to be on paper for quite a few years. Evidence of completed dives can and does take many forms.

 

[ajduplessis]

Ask this instructor if he logs student dives, they are all training!!! That should seriously reduce his dive log.

 

[Sevenrider860]

NOTE: I am not a DM

The requirement to log, in a paper book, all of your dives seems archaic. My current computer and my backups are all logged to Subsurface and synced to divelogs.de. I do this because I'm too lazy to write things down and my handwriting is crap. Requiring pen to meet paper seems as out dated as faxing. When will PADI finally move on or are they going to keep the requirement because they get a portion of the profits from all the log books people buy in shops and none from electronic records?

PADI does allow digital logs. They provide digital logging on ScubaEarth to log dives via computer, tablet or smartphone. They also allow digital logging and log "approval" for the OW training dives depending on what material was used for the OW course.

I use digital logs but a lot of divers still use logbooks because they like to get stamps from the dive shop or operator.

 

[Diver0001]

I was speaking to a PADI instructor and I told him that I was doing some practice dives to get my skills down pat before I attempt the divemaster or instructor program.

These training dives are about an hour in length and instead of looking at the nice fishies I am literally just doing things like mask removal, BCD removal and replace, swimming OOA drills ect. I honestly wish I had more time to devote to this, but so far it has been a once a week kind of thing. I was surprised how much I had forgotten in the last five months since open water class, so even if I didn't have the plans to do my divemaster I would think these are some pretty worthwhile dives.

Here is the kicker-

From what he said, I cannot, or should not log these dives as real dives. The reason being they are only in ten feet of water or less.

I have enough dives to start my dive master, so I don't need to pad my dive log book. I would like to keep track of my progress. It is pretty essential that I get these skills down before I go do my dive master because I am a complete Spaz and it takes me a long time to learn how to do things that require my brain to tell my body what to do.

Are the instructors when I do my dive master going to take one look at my dive log with all these shallow learning dives on them and think I just added stuff to my book for the heck of it? Should only log dives that are to a real depth? I could always use a separate log for shallow learning dives just to keep track of my progress if it isn't really accepted that I log these dives.

I'm sure this has been asked to death so my apologies for asking again. I just don't want the dive shop I'm doing my dive master with to take one look at my log and shake their heads at me.

Others have already posted PADI's definition of a dive.

I'll try to address why I *think* your instructor may have said this. First of all, let's be clear. It's his opinion. It's not a PADI rule. However, we do occasionally get divers into the DM training who have done the same dive over and over again. In one case I can remember, the student showed a log book with 10 "minimum" dives on one day. When asked what he did on those dives he said that he descended to a platform and stared at his watch until it was time to come back up. He was padding his log book to meet the minimum entry requirements. I guess you can say that at least he made the dives. Some just lie.

As an instructor, you want your DM's to have experience at different depths and in different conditions. In other words, to be a bit "rounded out". If someone is coming in the course and all they've done since Rescue is to sit on a platform and stare at their watch, then you're going to need to teach them how to dive at the level required of a DM, which is not the object of the course. At the DM level they should know how to dive coming in the door, aside from the usual disclaimers about how everyone can improve and the bar can always be set higher.....

In that sense, I strongly disagree with the guy who said he would look for a new instructor. It seems to me that an instructor who wants his DM candidates to have done the required number of dives "organically" is operating from a higher than baseline expectation with respect to your diving skills.

That said, there is nothing wrong AT ALL with practice dives and nothing wrong AT ALL with logging them. I think your instructor has a point to not consider those dives as "organic experience" and to disregard them for your entry requirements. PADI would disagree with him if you phone them and make a point about it, but in the end it's the instructor who decides if you're ready or not.

Does that help you get a grasp on what may be going on here? I'm not saying I'm right, I'm just saying that I can imagine the train of thought that would lead someone to say that.

R..

---------- Post added June 25th, 2015 at 02:05 PM ----------

You're the first person to mention paper in this thread. PADI hasn't required logs to be on paper for quite a few years. Evidence of completed dives can and does take many forms.

Some dive centres will still ask for it when you sign up for guided dives and instructors are still required to log dives made with students. I haven't run into anyone yet who wanted me digitally log a dive but I guess it could happen.

I haven't logged my own dives in years. Prior to my instructors training I logged a couple of hundred over the course of about a year or so to have a record on paper but the last time I took a course and the instructor asked me how many dives I had, I said to him, "I don't know for sure but I'm on drysuit number 6".

R..

 

[The Kraken]

As previously mentioned, your log book is a record of YOUR experiences, and as such, you may enter any dive you wish.

But do keep in mind that for dives to COUNT TOWARD CERTIFICATIONS certain parameters are frequently required by the issuing agency.

Safe dives . . . . .
. . . safer ascents
the K

 

[tuk]

You're the first person to mention paper in this thread. PADI hasn't required logs to be on paper for quite a few years. Evidence of completed dives can and does take many forms.

Very true, I guess I just assumed that's what we're talking about because it's all I've seen peoe ask for. There's something about a rubber stamp that makes people think your dives are more legit. I haven't written anything down since my first set of fun dives. If I can't pull it from a log and put it some place indestructible, it didn't happen.

 

[Diver0001]

Very true, I guess I just assumed that's what we're talking about because it's all I've seen peoe ask for. There's something about a rubber stamp that makes people think your dives are more legit.

Not sure about that. I tell all my students to log their first 200 dives for con-ed purposes and then a few a year after that for "resort" purposes. A stamp makes it harder to refute or doubt. that's all.

When I kept a log it consisted entirely of "maps". After about the first 650 dives I didn't log any information about the dive anymore.... all I did was make sketches of wrecks (my passion) and describe how to find them again.

R..