Posted by brianc on June 18, 2001 at 14:40:59:
In Reply to: My thoughts posted by Wayne on June 18, 2001 at 13:33:18:
I've been DM'ing for a lot of OW classes lately. At the end of the course I tell the students. "You now have a permit to learn to dive. This class was designed for tropical conditions. You could do an easy warm water dive with the skills you've learned, but you need to continue your diving education through Rescue if you plan to dive this coast." Friends of mine (Instructors and DM's) put together an informal group that provides monthly opportunities for new divers to dive with more experienced divers on the North Coast. I also offer to buddy with new divers outside that group.
Yes the system needs improvement - a "West Coast" or "Cold Water" certification process if nothing else. (My first cold water dives after living in S. Florida were shocks!) In the meantime, the present system does help weed-out (for lack of a better term) those not ready for the conditions here before they face too stressful of a situation. I've honestly lost count of how many people we've told that they were not ready to go from the pool to the ocean or did not complete the ocean cert once there. To add new stressors in the ocean before people have had an initial experience is too high risk. Major changes is a great long term goal, but we cannot forget all the people currently in classes. In the short term I'd like to see some up-front information given to potential students about physical and mental expectations. I'm shocked at how many people come into this sport completely clueless. I've had students complain that they weren't warned about the 200 yard swim test - and these people want to go into the ocean!