Posted by Kendall Raine on October 20, 2000 at 14:25:33:
In Reply to: Poor training or lack of experience posted by JRM on October 18, 2000 at 16:15:37:
JRM;
I quite agree with you that there is no substitute for experience. Consider, however, what you mean by experience. Do you mean simply diving a lot? If your training was weak, or worse, to start with, isn't your diving experience simply going to reflect and compound the flaws in your training-unless you're fortunate enough to have those flaws corrected over time by observing others who's technique, configuration and knowledge is better than your own-the mentor idea you so correctly proposed? I'm not suggesting in any way that these flaws apply to you. I am suggesting that to build a great house on a weak foundation results in a weak house.
You ask the question "what is lacking" in the current training from some of the recreational agancies. Plenty. Just look at the BSAC or GUE curriculum for a contrast. While someone trained by PADI can become a great diver, doing so requires undoing a lot of the crap PADI put out to start with. Furthermore, by truncating their curriculum to its present condition, many basic skills are given short shrift. For example, take the OOA training PADI provides. For most who went through a PADI OW course in the last five years, that training consists of an instructor initiating an OOA situation by signalling one diver to be OOA and the other to be donor. The students typically start a few feet apart and commence the excercise. They share air while swimming a leisurly short distance in the pool and during a shallow OW dive. That's it! Skill mastered. Wouldn't the skill development mean more if the students started 50-75 feet apart. By the time the OOA diver got to the donor, he'd be near hypoxic and near panic. That's what happens in real life. How about if on the OW dive the instructor or the DM snuck up and shut off a divers gas or pull off the student's mask. I had an instructor do both to me simultaneously once. Surpirse! How about that same instructor or DM finding a way to entangle a student in kelp? I've seen certified OW divers brought to the verge of panic by getting hung up by a strand of kelp. As far as I know, there is no requirement in the PADI curriculum requiring self-rescue from entanglement.
Finally, how many instructors on this list pound into their OW students the need to keep these skills current? Be honest? How many of you experienced divers take time on one of your dives to practice an OOA or other drill? The point of many of these skills is not only to demonstrate the skill, but to build confidence. The problem is the challenges PADI sets are so low and are devoid of reptition that all that's gained is a false sense of confidence.
I could go on and on. Many others have already done so, however. The 80 minute three day cert. thread is full of examples of minimalist training. I'd like to think PADI made a conscious decision to limit the scope of their OW course because of concern that people's attention/retention capabilities were limited. I suspect thet Put Another Dollar In had something else in mind.