09 August 2006
Streamlined PADI training dismissed as 'madness'
Dr Philip Bryson, head of the Diving Diseases Research Centre in Plymouth, said modern diving courses allowed novices to do too much too quickly.
Dr Bryson, who specialises in diving accidents, said he was amazed beginners could be certified at advanced level after just eight dives.
(In fact PADI says nine dives are needed to get an advanced open water certificate.)
Dr Bryson continued "I have been in this business for 23 years and I do not think someone with 47 dives is an experienced diver. The diving community needs to be totally re-educated."
Giving evidence at the inquests of three divers who died off the coasts of Cornwall and Devon, he singled out the American company PADI, the world's biggest diving training organisation, for particular criticism. He said its methods had forced others to streamline their training programmes.
Traditionally British training agencies, such as the British Sub-Aqua Club, have offered much more rigorous basic training than PADI to prepare their divers for what can be demanding British diving conditions. People who have learnt to dive on Mediterranean or Red Sea holidays are often not adequately prepared for British diving with its tides, currents and cooler conditions.
The coroner, Nigel Meadows, concluded "Diving is a wonderful hobby and it would be wrong for me to discourage it but divers need to be responsible to themselves and to others."
Sources: BBC News, Times Online
--
Subscribe to SCUBA News (ISSN 1476-8011) for more free news, articles, diving reports and marine life descriptions - http://www.scubatravel.co.uk/news.html
Subscribe to SCUBA News (ISSN 1476-8011) for more news, articles, diving reports, reviews and marine creature of the month.
(SCUBA News is published by SCUBA Travel once a month. Will will keep your e-mail address confidential and only use it to send you the monthly newsletter.)
No amount of training can legislate for stupidity. One of the divers in question had at least three medical conditions which he failed to declare and another "ran out of air". That's not lack of training, thats lack of brain.
# posted by 
: 10:06 AM
: 10:06 AM
Being a PADI instructor myself and being also certified with ACUC, NAUI, CMAS and SSI, I can say that this is not a PADI issue, but an instructor issue. Every instructor, whatever the organization, is legally responsible to ensure for every student diver to be ready and confident into their diving skills. PADI offers a fast pace training environment, of course, but I think in every organization, there are instructors who see diving more as a dollar sign than a hobby.
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
<< Home
