Blue Tarp Scuba

Happy Certiversary to First Worst Student. 7 yrs. A DM cert, and some shop ownership later.

TL:DR Regardless of what the standards are, don’t be stupid and raise the price if you gotta.

There has been a lot of discussion around training standards for certifying agencies in the last week. This is one of those things where I should probably say nothing but I’m going to. Standards are a baseline. They are the minimum. That minimum is supposed to mean that a diver can safely execute the things they’re training to do. It DOES NOT mean that they will engage in safe habits post training nor make them immune from mishap. It doesn’t even really mean they’ll be great at diving. It means they were able to do what you were training them to do safely. It’s a C. Some people will get Bs and As but Cs pass too.

I was taught that adhering to standards gave a defensible legal position but not an invincible one. Standards didn’t mean ignore common sense. If the conditions are poor, abort. If it’s a class you don’t teach regularly, remove other factors that can cause problems including reducing the class size. If the student doesn’t appear up to it or struggling, call it a day and regroup. Pressing your luck to get the X and using standards as a shield has never been the MO of myself or the dive pros that I have worked with nor should it ever be.

As to making standards more stringent, the industry needs to decide if it wants a consistent product or an exceptional product. When I was in the Navy the Navy’s aviation grading was subjective. Unsat, below avg, average, above average. Then if you were in the bottom 10% of passing grades you were considered marginal and evaluated for continuation. There was variability between instructors on grading but we produced an exceptional product that took far longer than our Air Force counterparts. The Air Force system was more structured and people came out the other in at a regular cadence. Were they as good of pilots rolling into type model training? Up for debate. But that’s what’s at play here. Is good enough good enough?

The reality is most people are going to dive once or twice a year and there is a fiscal component as well. Harder standards mean longer classes. Open water, the only class most people take is already a loss leader. Longer classes means upping the price which means increasing the barrier to entry in an already low margins environment. While this isn’t about money it is a factor. Is someone who’s going once or twice a year, most people, going to pay say 30% more for a 10 day class? These are made up numbers but There goes your vacation based classes and probably a number of domestic ones. I know most of this discussion lately centers around OW training but standards encompass more than that. To me, as an independent instructor that works with shops on demand there is a simple solution regardless of what the agencies do.

Standards are the starting place. I will teach what is required with the limitations required, in the gear required. But MY name is on that card. If I don’t like what I’m seeing out of a student’s performance I’m not certifying them. That’s not giving up on them, unless they give up. It making sure they are safe and I’m not developing a reputation of incompetent instruction. If I think the class is too big, I’ll either not teach it or get a DM. If there were problems in confined water I’ll adjust things during checkout to avoid problems. I’m also not putting a student into a scenario I wouldn’t want to have to explain to my momma. Not theirs, MINE. If I think she’d ask me hard questions about why I did that and I don’t have good answers then we’re doing something else. I always do a conditions recon before we get started and if it’s bad or bad for what we’re supposed to do it’s a no go.

Negligence by the few is what got us here. But you can’t legislate negligence away, you can only hold people accountable for it. To wit, as instructors just don’t be negligent. It’s better to say not today than it is to be filling out the worst kind of paperwork.

https://www.tdisdi.com/refer/?id=1005994&type=TDI
If you're interested in TDI Nitrox, Intro to Tech, Advanced Nitrox, or Deco Procedures this link will allow you to purchase e-learning directly and associate it with Blue Tarp Scuba. There will be additional academics but if you know you're ready you can get started. Nothing precludes this code from being certified by another instructor, The dollars go to TDI or SDI, we're just able to see your score reports and stuff.

If you're intersted in a course and want to get in the books to see what it's about, the link below will allow you to directly purchase e-learning and associate it with Blue Tarp Scuba. There will be review and plus up to what's presented in elearning but if you know you're ready this gets things rolling.

eLearning Courses - International Training Below, divers have options for the type of course they are looking to take. Each Agency offers courses designed specifically for a particular type of diving that piques their interests.

My first worst student is running trips and she’s good at it! She’s tall and speaks too many languages and might be Ambassador to Norway but nobody’s perfect. Want to go somewhere? Valdivesadventures.com

I perhaps should not talk about this but I’m going to. Regardless of the physiological causes of death they were dead when they made the decision to go below recreational depths, into an overhead, on air, in single cylinders. Stupidity killed them just as much as O2 tox could have.

Let me say this in no uncertain terms. If your ass is not deco train AND you’re not equipped AND you don’t have proper surface support stay away from technical dives. It doesn’t matter how many OW dives you have or even deco dives when it comes to overheads. If you haven’t been trained for overheads AND aren’t equipped for it, STAY OUT. Technical diving is not the evolution of recreational diving. You never have to do it. Stay in your lane before you crap out.

Underwater tragedy in Maldives leaves families searching for answers after cave deaths The husband of Monica Montefalcone, Carlo Sommacal, is demanding answers after a fatal diving trip in Maldives took the lives of his wife and daughter.

Rank, Ronda, and Thomas stuck it out through some gear issues day 1 to complete in some chilly water and so so vis. Good work all around .