Posted by Wayne on July 24, 2002 at 11:05:24:
In Reply to: Re: I have given this a bit of thought in the past... posted by Kendall Raine on July 24, 2002 at 10:03:16:
Oops, I hope that does not violate the BBS standards!
Anyway, I agree that it is very important to see that the student has the swimming stamina and skills to cover some ground at the surface without a regulator in their mouth. I would have to go look it up, but I thought if you elected to do the swim in fins, you had to double the distance. But even so, this is still almost too easy.
At least with most local diving the boat will send someone to rescue you (drag you back in) or you can swim to some point on shore (even if it is a bit down current from your car). If a diver goes out of his/her own boat, it is a bit trickier (like when I could not find my boat last December off Portugese Bend in the middle of the night). Resort divers are kept pretty close together, too.
Maybe it is realistic to have divers running around with limited skills and hope they will limit themselves to dives that match their poor watermanship.
Speed/Time is not always the answer. My 19 year old daughter used to work as a lifeguard. She is a slow swimmer -- always has been a slow swimmer. But she can swim forever and can drag an unconsience swimmer at nearly the same speed as she swims -- and you ought to see handle a backboard in the water. But she had difficulty getting her certification because of her slow swim speed.
I am not sure of the right answer. I just think that it is essential that divers need to be able to swim well enough to handle a problem such as a current, gear problems, assisting themselves or others in distress, etc. I have no idea how to test for this.
Wayne