Forget the CDS for a moment. Is there a problem with the level of cave training?

[Dsix36]

This is my own personal evaluation of my training and my abilities, so feel free to ignore me.

I did the zero to hero thing on my rebreather with no previous cave experience. Even to this date, it is my belief that I was given all the tools to be able to cave dive safely and build my experience and abilities. I also know damn good and well that when I first got my card that my abilities were pretty sorry and my comfort level was pretty low. I have indeed touched the silt on more than one occasion and I have touched the cave too. I was taught about cave conservation and felt bad every time that I made one of these mistakes. I made the effort to improve with every dive and made sure to stay in "training" caves and bigger areas until both my skill and comfort were at a higher level. I do not blame my mistakes on any agency or my instructor.

I have been diving with several newer diver and witnessed some errors on their part. I have done my best to offer constructive advice just as other did for myself. I did not jump on them or accuse their instructor of doing a crap job.

I am reasonably new to this cave diving thing and have not witnessed the decline of divers abilities as has been brought up by Bobby, but then again I might be one of the people he is referring to.

[MichaelAngelo]

"No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!"

I think in this case it's " no expects the Speleo Inquisition".
Tee-shirts?

[cerich]

lol, in for a xl

I think in this case it's " no expects the Speleo Inquisition".
Tee-shirts?

[SuPrBuGmAn]

I LOL'd

[Maureen]

While the instructional process may be part of the problem I think the biggest issue is with the demographics of the sport. Years ago cave diving was a very elite group of people. Most people who considered cave diving were very experienced technical divers first, who had a lot of real world experience outside of a class before they decided to cave dive. Now as the popularity of the sport has grown every "tom, dick, harry, and susan" has decided that cave diving is the next step in a string of classes. There are so many certifications now I completely lose track of them all. These divers have generally spent so much time in classes collecting cards that they have rarely been diving independently and have not gained experience without supervision. Add to that a whole bunch of poorly qualified cave instructors, who may have followed the same path, and it is no wonder there are knee prints in the cave.

[cerich]

Jim's the training director, i think a drawing of him dressed up as a conquistador demanding a card from a diver in full cave gear with that under it would be just perfect....

[cerich]

Add to that a whole bunch of poorly qualified cave instructors, who may have followed the same path, and it is no wonder there are knee prints in the cave.

I wish it was knee prints, it's places that look like there were mud wrestling contests happening.... Good point.

[speleocrone]

"No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!"

[LCF]

I think it's a very key point that everybody thinks his or her instructor is the cat's meow. I know I went through my training very impressed with the people who trained me (and I still am, but that's a different story). Since I had read that cave training was very difficult and not everybody passed it, I wasn't surprised when it turned out that way. I expected to work for my certs, and I did.

Although I haven't seen the same degree of woeful diving that has been posted here in videos and descriptions, I certainly have seen some things that raised my eyebrows. We followed a group one day in Chan Hol, a group being led by someone with a name that would have made me expect that they would have been very good divers. Our entire group was astonished at what we saw, and what we had to deal with as a result of poor trim and poor technique, that reduced the viz in what is actually quite a large passage. I have dived with someone who could only do a valve drill on his knees, and I did a guided tour on Coz with a fellow diver who paddled with his hands.

Is it possible that a lot of the problems would be reduced, if agencies all required a stringent open water class before accepting students for overhead training? I'm talking about something similar to the class I took, GUE Fundamentals. To get a "tech pass" from that class, which is required before you can do a cave class, you have to be able to meet a fairly strict standard for buoyancy, trim, propulsion, and situational awareness, and maintain that standard through all your drills.

That might not solve the problems with people not being taught proper cave procedures, but it would go a long way toward stopping the knee prints and silting.

[Sludge]

"No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!"

Actually, it's, "Nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnobody expects the Spanish Inquisition."