Is this normal?

[bent]

So I bought a JJ this summer and been trying to schedule training since than. Because JJ is kinda local to me, I figured it should be easy enough to find an instructor... well, I was wrong. I think I've emailed/talked to 7 instructors now without any result. Either they don't classes in English, only do course with two or more students (which I dont have a buddy for a class) or they dont have any time within the next 4-6 month. Is it normal that getting into ccr has a lead time of 6 month plus? That's my first question. What I also found really surprising is that some of them gave me very different class structures and class duration. Between 4 and 7 days for MOD1 and none of the instructor wanted to know anything about my certification level or number of dives. For all they know, I could have done my AOWD in Thailand 2 weeks ago and bought a unit on ebay. Wouldn't you wanna know that as an instructor? Would the length of the class depend on the student?
Is this whole story weird or what?
Ironically, I picked the JJ over 2 other units I would have liked better (at least on paper) because I thought getting training wouldn't be as much of a PITA on a JJ. I guess I should have looked for an instructor first.
I have considered getting training on another unit and just dive the JJ after that... I know units aren't the same, but procedures got to be more or less the same for all back mounted eCCRs, right? Another option is to just unload that JJ and look for another unit with better training infrastructure. Since I got a GUE Rig I probably could find somebody from the church to pay me top dollar for that thing.
Next option would be to just get 'mentored' into ccr diving by ccr buddies and maybe take a class at some point in the future. I know a couple of local divers who have done it that way.
Please rate my options from smartest to dumbest and feel free to leave snarky comments.

[rddvet]

Learning on one unit and then transitioning over or learning from mentors are bad ideas. Not to be a jerk, but you didnt research well before purchasing. I would have been in contact with the instructor before buying. Both units im trained on I spoke to the instructor and got all of the details in-depth first. I would have thought getting training in europe would have been easy. US travel restrictions ended today. Spend the money and come get trained here. There are quite a few jj instructors.
Sounds like its the wild west of instructing over there. I would have thought there would be standards all jj instructors followed. If an instructor doesnt want to know or ask my previous experience its a huge red flag not to use them


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[bent]

I spend lots of time researching units but basically no time researching instructors. So, yeah, you got a point. Not really sure how to do that though. You can ask 100 people and pretty much everybody is gonna tell you that their instructor is amazing. When you talk to instructors before you buy a unit they'll tell you to get a triton/T-Reb/Inspo/Liberty/SW or whatever they are teaching on. I did that, but I didn't find it all that helpful. The BWM dealer is always going to tell you to get a beamer even if you're really looking for a van.
I figured I'll get started with any instructor and MOD1 and go from there (since I have no faith in any agencies qualitiy control)... but yeah, apparently I was way off.
I saw that the borders are open now. Hopefully they wont be shut down again. Should have gotten on that Fathom class in Canada this month instead of getting that JJ.

Maybe ccrs are getting more popular too. Being booked solid for the next 4-5 month sounds like business is booming.

[rddvet]

I spend lots of time researching units but basically no time researching instructors. So, yeah, you got a point. Not really sure how to do that though. You can ask 100 people and pretty much everybody is gonna tell you that their instructor is amazing. When you talk to instructors before you buy a unit they'll tell you to get a triton/T-Reb/Inspo/Liberty/SW or whatever they are teaching on. I did that, but I didn't find it all that helpful. The BWM dealer is always going to tell you to get a beamer even if you're really looking for a van.
I figured I'll get started with any instructor and MOD1 and go from there (since I have no faith in any agencies qualitiy control)... but yeah, apparently I was way off.
I saw that the borders are open now. Hopefully they wont be shut down again. Should have gotten on that Fathom class in Canada this month instead of getting that JJ.

Maybe ccrs are getting more popular too. Being booked solid for the next 4-5 month sounds like business is booming.

The small pool of instructors for rhe fathom was actually a selling point for me.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[bent]

And all the instructors are basically your neighbors.

[kieren]

And all the instructors are basically your neighbors.

A couple of us travel quite a bit. I'm on the road almost every month, and I'll actually most likely be in Berlin in July/August if you're interested in Fathom training. I'd be happy to discuss arranging something.

[bent]

Thanks Kieren, I'm looking to get training sooner though. I'll keep it in mind for sure. Thanks for letting me know.

[bent]

BTW you guys. Can't believe the level of feistiness of this board has declined so much that there isn't even any action after I suggested to just go ccr diving without any training. What has this Trump guy done to you guys while you were locked up?

[Draker]

?while you were locked up?

Locked up? I?m too busy diving to feel locked up or worry about any feistiness.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[rob191]

Locked up? I?m too busy diving to feel locked up or worry about any feistiness.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Exactly. Guess people are learning not to feed the trolls

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk