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Gawd, I hate to do it, but I have to agree with AJM 100%. Current OW training and acceptable skill levels, for the most part, suck. In the past year, I bet I taught 30 people, *with c-cards* to read a friggin PADI table. They come in after a dive, and cant figure out their RNT, and then, don't know how to apply it. How did they pass the class without knowing how to use a set of tables? I see them every weekend. Cold, miserable, looking like a bunch of lemmings,off to meet their death, with the instroketor telling them "OK, all we have to do is get through this next series, and you guys can go get warm." The training I have seen with my own eyes is just scary, should be criminal. I have written up 3 Instroketors to PADI over the course of the last year, ZERO response or action. They are back the very next weekend, teaching the same shit. This can only lead a reasonable person to believe that PADI doesn't give a shit about anything but making money. Of all the shops in the Portland, OR area, north to Seattle, I can think of 6 Instructors I would recommend, or send a member of my family to for instruction. One of those is a PADI instructor. However, this is also the fault of the people wanting to *try* diving. They don't want a good, solid course, as this would cost a good deal of money, >$500 per head, + gear. People want to learn and get their C-card in one weekend, for $99.00. Its a market, and its going to be addressed. I think the standards that are in place, in most situations, are adequate for OW instruction. The problem is lazy instructors and greed, allowing people who have *not* got a good handle on things like mask clearing, reg recovery, buoyancy, etc to get a c-card. I have seen, more times than I can count on all my toes and fingers, class's with 1 instructor, 1 or 2 DM's and 10 to 15 students. Inexcusable, but very common. Do what I do: when you see it happening, jack em up. Then report the dirtbag. If nothing else, PADI's mailbox will get full of nasties. Think of it this way: If you had a 16 year old kid, who would you choose to give them instruction? If you wouldn't let the instroketor teach *your* kid, why should he be allowed to teach *anyone's* kid? Scott ----- Original Message ----- From: <ajmarve@ba*.ne*> To: Einar Hagen <einar.hagen@un*.co*> Cc: Bob Sherwood <sherwood@st*.lr*.co*>; Andrew <andrewg@fi*.co*>; Techdiver <techdiver@aquanaut.com> Sent: Wednesday, January 05, 2000 9:19 PM Subject: Re: Training standards (was: DUI rock....) > Einar, > > It would be nice if certified advanced divers could clear their masks, or > control their buoyancy or perhaps understand a simple set of < arguably > bullshit> tables. > > I see a lot of people on the charter boat I mate. A fair number of them dont > have a good idea on what their doing. This scares them. Some survive to get a > handle on things, a far greater number quit, because they dont want to > die.Their skills deficiencies lead them to perceive simple ow diving to be a > life or death struggle. It shouldnt be that way. Im not saying every ow diver > needs to be perfect, but a lot of people are getting shortsheeted in the > knowledge dept and it drives them right out of the game. > > WE used to have maybe 30 diveshops on long island, just five years ago, now we > have maybe 15. where are the divers going??? > > Regards, > > Al Marvelli < five, yes five PADI cards before he figured it out> > > Einar Hagen wrote: > > > Everybody in the diving community needs to be superman?? > > > > Nope, the ones doing the red sea in a shorty for 30min to a > > max deep of 15 meters have different needs for level of > > training than George and JJ. > > > > If these divers later on wants to do cave, Brittanic or the likes, > > they need more training. They do not need everything at once. > > > > Einar > > > > > Einar > > > And here in lies the problem. You are admitting that you will > > compromise > > > and certify people that are not good diving candidates and have taken the > > > diving is for everyone approach. It is not!!! That is why the diving > > gene > > > pool is so scary and leaves so few who continue to dive. Probably the > > > biggest reason for the 90% + diver dropout rate is the compromised > > training > > > and I'LL PASS YOU EVEN THOUGH YOUR SKILLS ARE SUBSTANDARD. We need to > > > raised the training bar not lower it. Bob > > > -----Original Message----- > > > From: Einar Hagen <einar.hagen@un*.co*> > > > To: Andrew <andrewg@fi*.co*> > > > Cc: Techdiver <techdiver@aquanaut.com> > > > Date: Monday, January 03, 2000 3:02 AM > > > Subject: Re: DUI rock boots and other PADI stuff > > > > > > > > > >Somebody has to market diving for the public, and the general > > > >public is not ready to commit to exellence, they have not the > > > >time, money or interest to do that and we as diving pros have two > > > >options as i see it, either say; sorry diving is not for anyone but the > > > >macho, dedicated, wannabe-a-stardiver with lots of time and money, > > > >or compromise. I feel the latter is ok, > > > > -- > > Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. > > Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'. > > > > -- > Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. > Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'. -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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