Posted by RaiderKarl on June 11, 2001 at 17:49:33:
In Reply to: Re: your "questions" about PADI posted by MHK on June 11, 2001 at 17:29:09:
Well, Mike, if you had a hard time with just "pimping" yourself regarding the PADI IDC, then I would HATE to see you trying to pimp yourself by selling most of the equipment for sale in most dive stores, whether it be PADI, NAUI, SSI, or any other!
THAT is where the REAL pimping comes in, big time! Most of this "stuff" that is out on the shelves is a diving disaster waiting to happen, designed to fit into anybody's budget.
I respect your decision to withdraw from the IDC. I myself have chosen not yet to enter the IDC in the first place, although I have been invited. I am not even sure I am comfortable with the whole "civilian diver" thing, at least not the recreational diver aspect of it.
I do respect that there are trained tek divers like yourself in the diving community who have spent tons of money and time becoming really good at it. There are also Navy divers and NOAA divers in that same ultra-proficient category, in my view.
For the most part, I am still getting comfortable with the reality that any Jack or Jane Civilian with little or no swimming skill can put their money down and become a scuba diver.
Having said that, I have involved myself into recreational diving and into PADI in particular, to try to be a part of the solution rather than a part of the problem which you allude to of diver exploitation.
I dont know if I ever want to become a scuba instructor. If I did, it would only be because a particular store that I was working with needed an additional instuctor, not simply the revenue from and additional instructor candidate. And yes, I would use PADI materials and PADI protocols, although I personally might spend twice as much time or three times as much time with students in the Open Water teaching it than PADI requires for the OW1 level. But alas, that is a worry for another day.
I am glad you "dont have a problem" with me, Mike. Because I have learned an extreme lot from your individual posts, even though I am not married to DIR or to GUE. I remember the first post I read by you, concerning all the things a certain boat load of divers could have done but did not do in order to prevent the death of a certain esteemed lady diver. I felt your points were valid, and I have tried to follow your posts ever since.
/s/ Karl S.
NorCal diver where the water is REALLY cold!
[4 monster abalone taken so far this year too]