David Strike wrote:
> At a personal level, I question the whole ethos of
> 'Introductory/Resort' dives - particularly the student to instructor
> ratios; and the fact that this type of dive sometimes works against
> the concept of attracting people into diving.
>
> How are 'Intro/Resort' dives conducted in other parts of the world?
> What's the ratio of students to Instructor? And what do people feel
> about their worth? :-)
I agree the Discover Scuba Diving experience should
undergo a major overhaul. To begin with, the student-to-instructor rating is
way too lenient. AFAIAC, it should be changed to 1:1 without exceptions. At
least with OW students, you have had a chance to assess them in the pool,
and make decisions on the use of certified assistants based on what you have
observed. You even have the option (by the standards at least, if not always
in real life!) of telling the student to re-do pool skills, or even to leave
the course. You have no such "advance warning" with intro students, with the
way these experiences are being handled today.
Intro dives are are huge part of the revenues for many resort-based dive
shops, and a whole lot more profitable than almost any other course. In my
experience, they are treated as the cash cows they are, i.e. run as many
through as possible, in the shortest possible period of time, with the
smallest possible number of instructors and certified assistants.
Countless times, I have started OW courses with students who had already
done an intro dive, and discovered that they had practised no skills at all
before going on their dive(s). They are required, by the standards of my
agency at least, to go through - and master - partial mask flooding and
clearing, regulator recovery, and ascending while breathing from a buddy's
alternate air source.
Even if they are naturals and the visibility is good, it is a tough job for
an instructor to handle more than 2 intro divers, especially in less than
sterling visibility, and if one of them gets in trouble, then all bets are
off. If the ratio can't be changed to 1:1, then at the very least there
should be a DM or AI in addition to the instructor for anything above 1, up
to a mximum of 4 intro divers to 1 instructor/DM team. The skills should be
required to be taught and mastered in a pool or pool-like conditions, before
moving to open water.
On the medical side, I think it will be difficult to revise the current
system. At the end of the day, I don't know that you SHOULD stop people from
doing anything, so long as it is legal and they assume responsibility for
it. There are lots of other adventure activities we don't necessarily
require medicals for, but where the danger to somebody with a hidden
condition is just as high.
HOWEVER, there is one benefit of implementing forced medicals. I have little
or no sympathy for those who lie on their medical self -assessments, but
enforced medicals would take the load off the INSTRUCTORS, whose mental
health and sometimes livelihood are endangered by people who take diving
courses or experiences knowing that they shouldn't. By way of example, I
once took a friend and his wife on an intro dive in Thailand. At dinner that
evening, after the dive, he revealed that he had suffered a pneumothorax
less than 12 months previously (a blister on his lung had burst, no diving
involved), but that he had answered "no" on all the medical questionnaires
so that he could experience diving! A phone call to the Danish Navy
hyperbaric research center elicited the suggestion that he was the luckiest
motherf.... ever.
Actually, I reckon that I was the lucky one. He, on the other hand, deserved
everything that might have happened, and for his willingness to place me in
that potentially dreadful situation, the friendship ended right there. I
guess he paid the bill for the meal, I wasn't there.
Bjorn
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