Is it time to change standards for changing conditions?
IWE HAVE ALL recently heard that our industry has suffered multiple litigation cases and some might even challenge the safety of the scuba course as well as the standards of teaching.
Make no mistake that our scuba industry has taught millions of people to dive successfully and safely. However, is it time to review our standards and procedures and how we apply them to the current customers and diving students signing up today?
I remember the days when NAUI, PADI, LA County, NASDS, YMCA, and other certifying groups used to run difficult and extensive washout courses. The student had to prove that they could pass that gauntlet and make it before they were certified, or we would fail them. The types of students we would get were outdoor types, and they seemed to do well in these longer and more difficult courses. However, times have changed.
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Today, our customers grew up indoors, playing video games, and are skilled with computers. Many are glued to their cell phones using hundreds of apps. Some even have less physical activity than previous generations.
In the late 1970’s PADI had several dive stores in the country that tried out a new outline of teaching scuba that was a shorter version of the old course. Lighthouse Diving Center was one of those dive stores, and my partner, the late Joe Liburdi, taught one of these shorter courses. He thought it was an acceptable way to teach scuba by simplifying the course, eliminating some of the pool training games and lecture material. The thinking was the real training would happen in open water anyway.
This raises the question of whether we should review and revise our standards and procedures for open water courses. Should we use the same standards and teaching methods for cold water and warm water, poor visibility and good visibility, fresh and salt water, or still water versus open water with currents and waves?
Lighthouse Diving Center is a 54-year-old dive store (founded in 1972) that teaches primarily in cold, dark, salt water that has currents. The equipment needed includes thick wetsuits and drysuits, hoods, booties, thick gloves, heavy-weight belts, and larger, heavier BCDs. The environment poses a big challenge. The heavy equipment also poses a big challenge. Lighthouse used to teach a three-week course (about 32 to 40 hours) which consisted of 6 two-hour pool sessions, 6 two-hour lectures, a snorkeling open water dive, and 4 scuba dives (2 tanks per day). This was a common format all scuba schools used in the 1960s and 1970s. However, over the years, the scuba industry has given each student an e-learning code (eliminating lectures), eliminated the full snorkel dive, and reduced the number of pool hours. Pools are expensive, and dive schools utilize the pool only for necessary skills. The courses are now about 24 hours, give or take.
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In warm water areas, I see even shorter courses. Even though a shorter course in warm-water areas can be successful, it does not prepare the diver to dive in their local area, where we have colder, darker waters, currents, surf, and other conditions like poor visibility. In addition, these warm-water courses do not prepare divers to use different equipment and techniques. Since more people are taking the easier warm-water courses, they no longer want to dive locally in more challenging conditions. Maybe that is why we are seeing a huge dropout rate. Our divers have just completed an item on their bucket list rather than chosen an exciting new lifestyle like everyone here reading this article has done. Yes, things have changed.
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Many of us think we should revisit the standards and procedures and, this time, develop standards for various regions and conditions. We need to address warm water versus cold water, visibility standards, clear water versus poor visibility, and the equipment used for each condition. While we address standards, we should also consider how to motivate divers to choose scuba as a lifestyle rather than a bucket-list item.
Although instruction agencies have been the source of all our standards and procedures, I think the professionals we find in retail dive stores/schools and manufacturing sectors should play an equal role in these exploratory discussions. It’s time for a change. What do you think? Email me your thoughts.
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