Why would you get a Solo Cert?

[markmud]

"I just don't understand that contrary thing."

Hey Jax,

I don't mean anything nefarious. I like being a little provocative in order to find out to what level someone has thought through an issue. Was their decision based on stage-one thinking, stage-two thinking, or stage three thinking. Sometimes decisions are based on a personal plane of thought, a rational/logical plane of thought, or a philosophical plane of thought.

I also like to delineate between an event moratorium, a personal moratorium, a psychological moratorium, and a personality moratorium.

No wrong answers here, no judgements, just for fun.

I am quirky! And yes, it takes a strange person to befriend me.

markm

 

[Jax]

:blush:

Sorry, Mark. Those on this board with whom I've argued would normally have posted all these:

:bs: :bs: :bs: :bs: :bs: :bs: :bs: :bs:

I enjoy a good cuss and discuss as long as it is on an intellectual level.

"I just don't understand that contrary thing."

Hey Jax,

I don't mean anything nefarious. I like being a little provocative in order to find out to what level someone has thought through an issue. Was their decision based on stage-one thinking, stage-two thinking, or stage three thinking. Sometimes decisions are based on a personal plane of thought, a rational/logical plane of thought, or a philosophical plane of thought.

I also like to delineate between an event moratorium, a personal moratorium, a psychological moratorium, and a personality moratorium.

No wrong answers here, no judgements, just for fun.

I am quirky! And yes, it takes a strange person to befriend me.

markm

 

[Barracuda2]

[/COLOR]

[/COLOR]What was the syllabus you studied? You were either over-experienced when attending the course (the training was redundant), or you had a very closed mind towards the value of the course... or your instructor was a waste of oxygen.

Devon, you made some really good points, and I appreciate your knowledgable input, but I think I made a negative impression on you. I took my SDI Solo course through one of the most respected instructors in my area; full cave, trimix, etc. I am a 30 yr. retired high school teacher and former football and wrestling coach so my mind is surely not closed minded when it comes to learning or how to approach gaining new knowledge. All of the young men I currently dive with could be my sons and several of them are tech and instructor certified. A couple of them are full cave or heading in that direction. Because of my location, we dive the Great Lakes quite often, and that has many challenges. I've learned a great deal from them, and even though I've been diving twice as long as they, I am not afraid to ask them for their thoughts and opinions and advice on a variety of subjects from equipment configurations to techniques. Just three weeks ago, one of them showed me a little trick to better control dry suit buoyancy on ascent and I've been using it ever since. I'm not tech certified, but I do tech diving and I surly know my limitations. Can one ever be "over-experienced"? I'm not sure what you meant by that. I have been diving a long time, long before PADI, NAUI, SSI, etc. In fact, technically I'm really not bow certified; in '75 when cert. cards were required to purchase gas, my instructor friend who I helped out on occasion sent in papers for me to get the card. In those early days, much of my diving knowledge either came from books or from empirical learning, not formal instruction. Maybe we have a generation gap here; I'm pretty much self taught where today's young divers feel they can't try anything new (let's say dry suit diving) without getting a card before they do it. "I've got a new dry suit, and I can't wait to get certified so I can use it". I've heard that more than once.



With that mindset, you shouldn't have a solo card. You obviously had your mind made up before you went to the course. You wanted a card, you got a card.

I've seen the same mindset from OW students to Tech students. Low expectations create a self-fulfilling prophesy.

I went into the course, (especially with the instructor I had) very open minded, but in reality, I really didn't pick up much new. Sorry.

 

[DevonDiver]

Was that because of your pre-existing knowledge/training at the time? Or because, in your opinion, the course didn't have anything to offer at any stage of divers development?

I see it as one of the new breed of 'tecreational' courses - the transference of higher-level diving disciplines into the mainstream arena. There's nothing in a solo course that you wouldn't (shouldn't) otherwise get from most entry-level technical diving course. It's just focused on diving recreationally, so the deco planning and nitrox options are removed. Mindset, equipment (sans stages) and many procedures are identical though.

There is a 'generation' issue - and I certainly understand how such procedures were bread-and-butter for 'regular divers' 30 years ago, but that's not the world we live in now... and it certainly isn't representative of the majority of people who undertake scuba training. Modern training schemes, modern attitudes to that training... generally lead to very reliant divers. Those divers shouldn't be doing solo with that mindset.

The greatest benefit of a solo course is, IMHO, that it can re-align the mindset. It doesn't mean that the diver concerned should waive their 'license' around and consider themselves a fully prepared solo diver. The training just puts them on the right track for proper development... and helps them re-capture the outlook that they should have had all along (and was generally lost from the mainstream training system) 1 or 2 decades ago...

 

[mathauck0814]

Is getting a Solo Cert in the cards?

Will it change your diving?

Will it be status symbol?

Which organization will you get your cert from (if you are getting one, that is)?

1. I have a PSAI Solo Card. I got this because we have many uneducated captains in my area that are unaware that one can be certified to do anything other than BOW - even with tech certifications, I needed something that spelled it out explicitly that I could get off the boat without a crew assigned "buddy".

2. It did change my diving in that now I'm running the profiles of my choosing rather than being limited by an assigned anchor on my fun boat.

3. The card itself is not a status symbol... but when I come back on the boat with the catch bag that I filled on my own away from the mob, I'll take that...

4. I didn't pick PSAI so much as that's the agency my preferred instructor happens to be affiliated with that issues a card that says, "Solo" rather than "Self Reliant" or something equally euphemistic. Again, my need was to spell it out for uneducated boat crew...

 

[DevonDiver]

1. I have a PSAI Solo Card. I got this because we have many uneducated captains in my area that are unaware that one can be certified to do anything other than BOW - even with tech certifications, I needed something that spelled it out explicitly that I could get off the boat without a crew assigned "buddy".

Was this generally an issue with education? Or was it a simple, personal/business decision for them not to want tech/solo/whatever dives conducted from their boats?

If I had an amateur stock-car racing license, I doubt that Avis Rent-a-Car would allow me to utilise that license in respect of a vehicle I hired from them. Just saying...

 

[M_Bipartitus]

Is getting a Solo Cert in the cards?

Yes, my DM instructor is covering all the Solo material as a part of the DM course so the card is just a small fee and may prove useful on someday.

Will it change your diving?

No, I already dove most dives as a self-reliant diver, and the only solo dives I did before were shallow dive where no one else wanted to dive that day.

Will it be status symbol?

No. With the possible exception of an active commercial saturation diver or a Navy combat diver, I don't view any dive qualification is a status symbol. Not advanced open water, not master scuba diver, not CCR trimix instructor, and certainly not solo.

Which organization will you get your cert from (if you are getting one, that is)?

SDI because that's what the LDS teaches.

 

[petrieps]

Is getting a Solo Cert in the cards?

Will it change your diving?

Will it be status symbol?

Which organization will you get your cert from (if you are getting one, that is)?markm

No, not in the cards for me. I think experience and a little self education can go a long way in the pursuit of solo diving. I've never been on a charter boat in the northeast where solo diving wasn't the norm. I haven't even shown a certification on the last 3 boats i've been on. We all sign the waiver we're responsible for ourselves.

Nope, wouldn't change my diving one bit.

Status symbol, haha, cards don't mean squat. A status symbol is coming out of the water last with a bag full of bugs while everyone else has already changed tanks eaten lunch and are getting ready to go back in for dive 2.

 

[mathauck0814]

Was this generally an issue with education? Or was it a simple, personal/business decision for them not to want tech/solo/whatever dives conducted from their boats?

If I had an amateur stock-car racing license, I doubt that Avis Rent-a-Car would allow me to utilise that license in respect of a vehicle I hired from them. Just saying...

In this particular case, the crew was completely unaware that you could be certified to dive solo. When showed the card, there was suddenly no issue.

 

[knotical]

1. I have a PSAI Solo Card...

I was unaware that PSAI offered that card. I do not find it on their website. Is it a new offering, or ... ?