...is the right type of training?
I'm sure we've all had lots of different styles of training, both formal and informal. We may well have actually learned more from the informal training, but I hope we've all learned something from the formal training too. (OK, I'm talking tech training here....)
On another board there was a discussion about training costs that led to some comments that could be read as "If you don't take your training from these guys, your training will be lacking." As a result of those comments, a friend asked me to identify any diving accidents that occurred when the diver followed even the minimum rules of whatever agency sponsored his training. With two exceptions, I couldn't identify any such accidents -- P. T.'s death and several accidents which apparently were result of medical issues.
My friend's point appeared to be that as long as a diver followed normal protocol, serious incidents just wouldn't happen. And that "Little House On The Prairie" scenarios that are sometimes used in classes just don't approach the real world. (Has a three person team in a cave really lost all 9 lights, one mask and three posts? Has a three person team on deco really lost one mask, all deco bottles and 5 posts?)
My friend's comment has thus lead me to question the efficacy of some of the more extreme instructional techniques -- very long days which lead to fatigue before you start a dive (me, I'll opt out of a dive if I'm fatigued at the start or just take it super easy -- wouldn't you?); extreme failure scenarios; etc.
It also led me to the question he asked me to ask you all: Have you ever had a "Little House On the Prairie" incident in real life? What, in fact, has ever gone wrong during a dive -- technical or not?
And finally, are there severe diving incidents out there where someone followed the rules but got into trouble anyway?
Which ends up going back to the title -- What type of training for diving is the right kind of training?
Just musing and looking for your thoughts on the questions.
For the record, I'm not sure there is any "right kind of training" -- but I do think there is a wrong kind and THAT is when the student doesn't learn from the course and/or comes out in worse shape than when he started.
I'm sure we've all had lots of different styles of training, both formal and informal. We may well have actually learned more from the informal training, but I hope we've all learned something from the formal training too. (OK, I'm talking tech training here....)
On another board there was a discussion about training costs that led to some comments that could be read as "If you don't take your training from these guys, your training will be lacking." As a result of those comments, a friend asked me to identify any diving accidents that occurred when the diver followed even the minimum rules of whatever agency sponsored his training. With two exceptions, I couldn't identify any such accidents -- P. T.'s death and several accidents which apparently were result of medical issues.
My friend's point appeared to be that as long as a diver followed normal protocol, serious incidents just wouldn't happen. And that "Little House On The Prairie" scenarios that are sometimes used in classes just don't approach the real world. (Has a three person team in a cave really lost all 9 lights, one mask and three posts? Has a three person team on deco really lost one mask, all deco bottles and 5 posts?)
My friend's comment has thus lead me to question the efficacy of some of the more extreme instructional techniques -- very long days which lead to fatigue before you start a dive (me, I'll opt out of a dive if I'm fatigued at the start or just take it super easy -- wouldn't you?); extreme failure scenarios; etc.
It also led me to the question he asked me to ask you all: Have you ever had a "Little House On the Prairie" incident in real life? What, in fact, has ever gone wrong during a dive -- technical or not?
And finally, are there severe diving incidents out there where someone followed the rules but got into trouble anyway?
Which ends up going back to the title -- What type of training for diving is the right kind of training?
Just musing and looking for your thoughts on the questions.
For the record, I'm not sure there is any "right kind of training" -- but I do think there is a wrong kind and THAT is when the student doesn't learn from the course and/or comes out in worse shape than when he started.