Posted by Kendall Raine on July 25, 2002 at 09:31:20:
In Reply to: When I certified, we did laps every night of class posted by Wayne on July 24, 2002 at 23:32:36:
Bingo! Thank you, Wayne. "There would have been no problems doing a 200 yard swim at the end of class because we did it all the time." Sounds like you had a really good class. They worked on your skills, your body and your mind. Probably didn't cost a lot more than today's classes, either.
If I had to bet, I'd bet the class you were in, on average, did more during their OW dives than classes today. You did more during your dives because you could. It wasn't so much of a struggle. You consumption rate was less and you didn't tire so quickly. What do you think?
The body will ramp very quickly to increased physical stress if you just give it a chance and don't quit too soon. The greater the stress, within reason, the faster the ramp. With any luck, a few people will like the feeling of being able to do more and make fitness a routine.
I look at the whole "less, cheaper, easier" evolution of training and have to wonder if there isn't a sub-market of people who, if approached correctly, would see this as a poor value proposition. Maybe the marketing wizards at PADI will decide to create a parallel training curriculum. Something like "PADI Classic." You know, give people a choice. Take the regular three day course, "PADI Lite," designed to teach couch potatoes to kneel in 30 feet of water, suck on a regulator and survive, or take the Classic course and focus on really learning how to be a self-sufficient diver and a good buddy. More time, higher price point, higher standards, richer content and, best of all, the "Classic" C card says " Open Water Diver" on it instead of "Open Water Nudibranch."
Nah. Never happen, at least at PADI. I must sound like the guys in Slapshot reminiscing about Eddie Shore and old time hockey. It's sad when a mind goes. Daisey, Daisey....