While  some  curricula  might  sound impressing, it will not be a
guarantee for the products the company sells.

My  experience  with  a  PADI  school  in  Sweden (1985) could be
summarized as follows:

-  Got tank with neither air nor manometer to do my certification
dive; had I follow his instructions no to abandon the group under
any circunstances, I would be dead;

- One archeologist in the group drowned two years afterwards (the
instructor told her during the training she was a "torpedo");

-     The    Swedish    SCUBA    Diver    Association    (Svenska
Sportdykarefoerbundet) closed down the school due a report I sent
on what happened combined to other earlier reports.

Now,  you will come with the usual arguments about "it depends on
the  instructor,  etc.".  Not  quite true. I personally know PADI
instructors  who  smoke 40-50 cigarretes a day, weight 160 kilos,
drink alcohol and use a bunch of medicines.

All in all, I wouldnt recommend PADI to anyone.

aldo.solari@ho*.se*
www.ccbb.ulpgc.es/fish-ecology/solaris
___

arizonajeep@ho*.co*

JW> Okay,

JW> In the past three years, I post to this group an average of... hmmmm...
JW> about once per year.  Usually, it is to defend PADI's place in the world of
JW> diving... not because I believe in everything they do; but rather, because I
JW> (as an instructor) can use their methods and materials to produce
JW> recreational divers who will stay alive.  I mostly do not post to this group
JW> because I read the posts (after filtering out the garbage) to learn... I
JW> have nothing of value to add to the technical diving community, so I keep my
JW> mouth shut and I learn.  After three years; I'm still learning.  When I
JW> think I've got enough dives and experience under my belt; I'll go to Florida
JW> and take GUE courses... I'm an engineer, and from my standpoint a great deal
JW> of DIR is logical.  Ah... but I digress; on to the real point of this post.

JW> First, before I start, let me identify myself so that I'm not hiding behind
JW> mama's apron:  My name is Joe West, and I am a PADI IDC Staff Instructor
JW> (IDCS164452).

JW> So I stroll out to my mailbox yesterday to find the PADI sponsored magazine
JW> "The Undersea Journal" sitting in it.  I pull it out and right on the front
JW> cover is a diver with three tanks scattered about and the words TecRec all
JW> over the front cover.
JW> (I'm one of the PADI people who think that PADI has no business in the
JW> technical world, so I've been dreading this moment).

JW> After reading a few articles inside... a few things are clear to me, and
JW> others are still somewhat vague.  I'll see if I can present what I believe
JW> to be what is going on at PADI and TecRec.  It seems that PADI has created
JW> (perhaps for liability reasons) a separate corporation named Diving Science
JW> and Technology (DSaT) to handle and govern the "Technical" side of the
JW> business.  If PADI didn't create this corporation (Division, Institute or
JW> whatever it is), they are certainly imbedded in it's operation (and from
JW> this you can gather that DSaT is doing what PADI tells it to do).  DSat
JW> administers the PADI technical program.

JW> Now, finally, for the true intent of my post; listed below are the Technical
JW> diving professionals who make up the "Technical Diving Experts" who form
JW> DSat and therefore will be setting the agenda for training technical divers:

JW> Drew Richardson, Senior Vice President PADI Training, Education, Environment
JW> and Memberships.  Listed qualifications; 4000 logged dives, experience in
JW> tec deep and cave diving, recompression chamber operation, mixed gas and
JW> enriched air diving and commercial diver training.  Member of UHMS, SPUMS,
JW> DAN, EUBS and AAUs.  Oh yes, and last but not least he received the 1992 DAN
JW> Rolex Diver of the Year award.

JW> Jon Coon, Regional Manager, PADI Americas.  Diving since 1962, Qualified on
JW> mixed gas closed circuit recirculators in the early 70s, chamber operator,
JW> explosives technician, Enriched Air Diver Instructor, full cave diver, Medic
JW> first aid instructor trainer and PADI Course Director.... oh yes, and he's
JW> authored several articles for The Undersea Journal and written two novels,
JW> Thief of the Deep and Black Wolf.

JW> Stush Doviat, Regional Manager.  Open water instructor, certified full cave
JW> diver and emeritus cavern instructor (what???)  He also holds the Abe Davis
JW> Safe Cave Diving Award for 100 (yes!  One Hundred) safe cave dives... oh and
JW> he is one of tec diving's first deep divers.

JW> John Kinsella, Director, Training and Quality Management.  Started diving in
JW> the mid 70s and has deep EXTENSIVE deep air experience (oh...my...god...
JW> this IS as bad as I thought it was going to be).  Last but not least, he
JW> runs a successful 5 star Instructor Development Center.

JW> Steve Mortell, educational Consultant.  Diving for more than 25 years, a
JW> PADI Course Director, rebreather diver and full cave instructor with more
JW> than 10 years cave diving experience in North Florida.

JW> Jean-Claude Monachon, CEO.  Began his diving career in Switzerland's dark,
JW> low visibility, Lac de Joux in 1974.  Ice dives at 6100 feet and half of his
JW> dive experience involves lakes, rivers and cave diving.  He likes wreck
JW> dives.

JW> Yasushi Inoue, manager training and membership.  In the dive industry more
JW> than 15 years, PADI Course Director since 1991, former electrical engineer
JW> with Honda, has a special interest in rebreather technology.

JW> Jan Moller Busch, Regional manager.  10 years dive experience in Scandinavia
JW> and around the world.  PADI Enriched Air Instructor Trainer, Course Director
JW> and Instructor Examiner.

JW> Hans Olsson, Manager, Training.  Course Director.  Diving since 1980.

JW> Irmeli Wallin, General Manager.  One of Europe's most experienced divers.
JW> Background ranges from instruction and technical diving to fishery economy,
JW> biology and hydrology.  PADI Course Director and IE.  Diving since early
JW> 70's.  Oh yes, and she's fluent in 5 languages.

JW> Mark Caney, Director, Training, Education, Environment and Memberships.
JW> PADI Course Director, enriched air instructor and he is a pioneering trimix
JW> instructor who helped introduce mixed gas diving techniques in several
JW> countries.  Designs gas blending systems and rebreathers.

JW> Mark Lazenby.  PADI Master Instructor.  Certified in deep technical diving
JW> and trimix.  Technical diving instructor.

JW> Karl Shreeves, Vice President, Technical Development.  Diving for 30  years,
JW> technical diving almost 10 years.  Participated in the Farb Monitor
JW> Expeditions, Project Nohoch, an tthers.  He holds the Wakulla Award for 100
JW> safe cave dives (GEORGE???).

JW> Dr. Des Gorman, Navy Master Diver and submariner.  Written lots of books and
JW> papers but technical diving experience not listed.

JW> Grant Graves, PADI Course Director.  20 years diving experience, 15 years
JW> technical diving.  Regional safety officer for a cave diving organization
JW> (they don't say which one).  He's a videographer and director for the
JW> television series Aquanauts.

JW> Jill Heinerth, PADI Master Instructor and technical diving instructor.
JW> Teaches closed circuit rebreathers, trimix and cave diving.  She was one of
JW> the exploratory divers for the Wakulla2 (GEORGE???) exploration.  2000
JW> Canadian technical diver of the year and a member of the women divers hall
JW> of fame.

JW> Paul Heinerth, (same exact certs as his wife above including 2000 Canadian
JW> technical diver of the year, but not the women divers hall of fame).

JW> Terrence Tysall, Diving since he was 8 (hmmmm... wonder if PADI certified
JW> him? <grin>)  Director of the Florida US Deep Diving Team.  Most notable
JW> dive was to the Edmund Fitzgerald at 500ft depth.

JW> And last but not least;
JW> Bill Turbeville JD, one of the dive industries key defense attorneys.
JW> Instructor, trimix certified.  Avid technical diver.
JW> (I suspect that Bill will be getting more than his fair share of work from
JW> the disasters that are about to arise from PADI's entrance to the world of
JW> technical diving).


JW> Okay folks, there it is; pretty much straight from the mouth of PADI.  These
JW> are the diving experts who are leading PADI's entrance into technical
JW> diving.  For goodness sake; can ANYONE on this list add a bit of credibility
JW> to the people listed here?  I don't recognize any of the names and the
JW> technical experience that PADI has listed seems to be... ummm...err.... in
JW> most cases pretty insignificant.  I'm hoping that someone on this list can
JW> enlighten me. Good, bad, indifferent; has anyone heard of ANY of these PADI
JW> "Experts".  If I come off sounding a bit angry... I am.  I am tied to PADI,
JW> and while I don't expect to ever think their entrance into technical diving
JW> is a good thing; I hope I can convince myself that they won't be killing
JW> divers in huge numbers...

JW> By the way; I typed this email while reading the article in PADI's magazine.
JW> There may be some typos and I've truncated some of the verbiage, but didn't
JW> change the qualifications.  I tried to faithfully list the qualifications
JW> contained in the article without listing every last paper written or dive
JW> completed.



JW> Kindest Regards,

JW> Joe West

JW> --
JW> Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'.
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