I love you guys are talking about most of the real issues.. I see Sidemount divers coming to Palau and you can tell that they had a improperly untrained Sidemount instructor.. Tanks untrimmed, Hoses unkempt and so on... You got to love what you do and get your students looking right with proper instruction.. Please Steve keep these topics going.. It's very important for those instructors and their students to hear it from others.. I have in the past tried to just give SM divers tips and or suggestions when diving together.. But they look at me as if it doesn't matter..
The 4th option which we just dealt with. The money becomes more important than the student. An instructor takes on too many students and cycles them through like a McDonalds Drive Through trying to get paid per student. Most students with the least amount of time spent per student so you can get the next group to make more money. It was sad. It also left the rest of the dive community to pick up all those broken pieces bring those divers up to standards IF they actually stuck with scuba after their terrible training.
Sidemount is an intricate way to dive. We have more redundancy but, that does not mean that it is "safer". Is it more safe to teach someone with a single tank, an easy inflator system with a basic breathing apparatus or, is it easier to teach someone how to use two of every thing? Scuba diving can be extremely over whelming to some, down right scary! I can't imagine puting one of my students into sidemount right off the bat. Do I think Sidemount is better once you learn it? I do. But I am bias and I have a need for it. Your comment about being "kind of pissed" is interesting to me? Why would that even be a thought? You should be excited that someone wants to learn to scuba dive 😊 Then when they are ready to move forward with their skills,move into a different aspect of diving.
![Teaching The Sidemount Course {[Commentary]}](/img/n.gif)
I love you guys are talking about most of the real issues.. I see Sidemount divers coming to Palau and you can tell that they had a improperly untrained Sidemount instructor.. Tanks untrimmed, Hoses unkempt and so on... You got to love what you do and get your students looking right with proper instruction.. Please Steve keep these topics going.. It's very important for those instructors and their students to hear it from others.. I have in the past tried to just give SM divers tips and or suggestions when diving together.. But they look at me as if it doesn't matter..
The 4th option which we just dealt with. The money becomes more important than the student. An instructor takes on too many students and cycles them through like a McDonalds Drive Through trying to get paid per student. Most students with the least amount of time spent per student so you can get the next group to make more money.
It was sad. It also left the rest of the dive community to pick up all those broken pieces bring those divers up to standards IF they actually stuck with scuba after their terrible training.
I’m kind of pissed that sidemount isn’t the default way to teach open water. It’s safer than back mount.
Sidemount is an intricate way to dive. We have more redundancy but, that does not mean that it is "safer". Is it more safe to teach someone with a single tank, an easy inflator system with a basic breathing apparatus or, is it easier to teach someone how to use two of every thing? Scuba diving can be extremely over whelming to some, down right scary! I can't imagine puting one of my students into sidemount right off the bat. Do I think Sidemount is better once you learn it? I do. But I am bias and I have a need for it.
Your comment about being "kind of pissed" is interesting to me? Why would that even be a thought? You should be excited that someone wants to learn to scuba dive 😊 Then when they are ready to move forward with their skills,move into a different aspect of diving.