NSS-CDS vs the world

[SUB ZERO]

I was talking to a cave instructor who is teaching through NSS-CDS. He was telling me that it is very hard to become an instructor through this agency and he will require very high standards of performance from his students. I really liked his attitude and approach towards training because cave is no environment to be fooling around.

Outside of cave diving circles, not much is known about NSS-CDS. Other agencies with roots into cave diving (GUE/UTD) are well respected but not much is known about NSS-CDS. I wanted to know:

a) If these guys are as insistent upon gear standardization as the DIR community?
b) Is the quality control within NSS-CDS as stringent as GUE? Or is it instructor dependent like many mainstream agencies like TDI and IANTD etc.

Opinions, opinions, opinions??? Thanks.

[tbone1004]

NSS-CDS not CDC.

a) no
b) no

[jj1987]

a) no
b) no

[bamafan]

Ditto from above. There are some good instructors with the CDS and then there are some who just suck. Most of the CDS instructors teach for other agencies such as TDI, IANTD etc. Personally I am of the opinion that GUE has the best quality control and generally turns out better students. If you don't know the instructor and don't mind backmount I would recommend GUE. If you are wanting sidemount and don't know the very few descent sidemount instructors in Florida I would recommend just going to Mexico. There are lots of good sidemount instructors in Mexico but very few good ones in Florida.

[jamesjooste]

Cave training with a GUE instructor requires GUE Fundamentals (with Tec pass) as a prerequisite, doesn't it?

[Kelly Jessop]

I was talking to a cave instructor who is teaching through NSS-CDS. He was telling me that it is very hard to become an instructor through this agency and he will require very high standards of performance from his students. I really liked his attitude and approach towards training because cave is no environment to be fooling around.

Outside of cave diving circles, not much is known about NSS-CDS. Other agencies with roots into cave diving (GUE/UTD) are well respected but not much is known about NSS-CDS. I wanted to know:

a) If these guys are as insistent upon gear standardization as the DIR community?
b) Is the quality control within NSS-CDS as stringent as GUE? Or is it instructor dependent like many mainstream agencies like TDI and IANTD etc.

Opinions, opinions, opinions??? Thanks.

Your question is skewed in that you ask about "the world" but your comparison is with GUE. GUE is a great organization with high level of quality instruction. I wouldn't think twice about getting instruction from them, having a good foundation, and then moving into sidemount with that foundation. For CDS versus "the world", which I will take that to be other agencies. The CDS requires the instructors to go through internship with other instructors, and then attend an institute that is peer reviewed. By the time the instructor has their credentials, they have been exposed to a lot of different instructors and received critical review along the way. Many other agencies only require you to be with a single course director before you are signed off on to teach. What I can't answer is what about the people applying for a crossover to the CDS,what is the vetting process.

[CptTightPants21]

Cave training with a GUE instructor requires GUE Fundamentals (with Tec pass) as a prerequisite, doesn't it?

Yes. If a person can't pass a GUE fundamentals course, should they be in a cave?

There are some very good instructors that are not GUE, but the NSS-CDS has no where near the same QC or standardization

[bamafan]

Yes. If a person can't pass a GUE fundamentals course, should they be in a cave?

There are a lot of cave instructors who can't.

[bamafan]

Your question is skewed in that you ask about "the world" but your comparison is with GUE. GUE is a great organization with high level of quality instruction. I wouldn't think twice about getting instruction from them, having a good foundation, and then moving into sidemount with that foundation. For CDS versus "the world", which I will take that to be other agencies. The CDS requires the instructors to go through internship with other instructors, and then attend an institute that is peer reviewed. By the time the instructor has their credentials, they have been exposed to a lot of different instructors and received critical review along the way. Many other agencies only require you to be with a single course director before you are signed off on to teach. What I can't answer is what about the people applying for a crossover to the CDS,what is the vetting process.

From what I have seen the crossover is the weak link.

[Kelly Jessop]

From what I have seen the crossover is the weak link.

This may be true. Typically in the past when instructors went through the internship and institute, that was really only way to become a cave instructor. I realize there are other ways of becoming a cave instructor with many different agencies, and have seen the transition process as rather "simple" with some organizations. Not sure how the CDS handles those people crossing over for quality assurance.