Divers React to ways to fail the Open Water Test

Here are some ways that you can fail your open water test...or are they?

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[piecemaker]

Failed the first 2 open water courses I took. Just couldn't keep up with the pace of the course and panicked when I messed up the mask flood skill. The second instructor let me stay on for his next course and learn with his next round of students, which was a much smaller group. I felt much more at ease, learned to stay calm, and passed easily. Been happily progressing as a diver for 11 years now :) very thankful to all the patient OW instructors out there

[andrewrobinson]

I can say whole heartedly I would have never passed certification with this instructor. I learned to Scuba at age 13 in Malta and I probably made every mistake under the sun during basic open water. I was always told as you both have said, that it's about showing competence in the skills required, they accept and even expect people to make mistakes during training, that's why people are there, to learn & improve in a skill they didn't have before. My instructors where incredible with me and my family throughout all of our certification all the way to rescue divers, nothing but supportive & encouraging.

[t-ime]

Woody, I love your humble attitude towards teaching students. I just took my advanced course and felt the instructor had a bit of an ego thing from the way he was talking to me, and joking about me choosing between the 2 weak light choices he gave me for my night dive, while he revealed his bright one during the dive. i felt ridiculed and like he didn't have to make it a joke. And I remember Dive Talk had another video about a terrible stress and rescue course instructor having ego issues, that really came to mind during my advanced course. So I let those things go and tried to just focus on the course itself. I appreciate Woody and Gus's tremendous humility - you guys are tec and cave divers, and you still wouldn't ridicule people with less diving experience who are new and looking to grow.

[keeponwishin]

14:43 I’ve been diving for 2 years but I’ve been skydiving for 16. My first parachute system I bought was pretty old and very cheap. I didn’t have much experience at the time looking at parachute systems, so I took it to my friend, who was a certificated FAA parachute rigger, and he gave his stamp of approval. That rig lasted me just shy of a decade before finally failing the required semi-annual inspection/repack simply due to wear and tear due to age. The rig was almost 25 years old and had roughly 3, 000-4, 000 jumps on it by the time it was deemed unairworthy, greatly surpassing its life expectancy.

Just because something’s cheap or old doesn’t mean it’s no good. If there’s ever a question on the safety of the apparatus, there’s no harm in getting the opinion of a trusted peer, instructor, or technician. In fact, better to get a second set of trained eyes looking at it regardless it’s age or condition.

[duncanwalker]

I can remember spending the whole day in a pool with a young lady one on one getting her to take off and replace her mask underwater because she feared inhaling water up her nose. We got there in the end after I had her stand up in waist deep water without a mask but with a regulator in her mouth to bend over and place her head in the water and breath. After about 20 breaths like this we dropped down deeper into the water kneeling and she aced it 5 times in a row. Every student is different in their needs and a good instructor is one that can work with that

[brucemullis]

Woody is totally on Amazon researching the the grandma knitted wetsuit. 😆

[kenzelee]

He is just coming across as more stern I think, he's definitely from across the pond. They don't sugar coat things there. Gus and Woody trying to "kick someone out" was pretty funny though 🤣 I'm glad dive instructors like you guys exist 💙

[mariosall]

Well for 14:00, I remember reading in a PADI manual (or online... I'm not 100% sure) that at least for regulators, and life critical equipment in general, the standards are very strict, and so even the cheaper regs or BCDs are safe to dive with. Maybe not as comfortable or configurable or light or or or, but they're not a hazard

[blakepetersdiving]

As a commercial diver we always called them flippers out of good humor. I get a kick out of SCUBA professionals getting so hung up on this term. Just have fun!

[tooslow]

I really appreciate this channel. I just got my open water in large part for to watching these videos. So much information and entertainment. I didn't really like my instructor he rushed everything but seeing dive talk videos and other's i felt like i had enough extra information to make it work. It wasn't bad but i always felt like i was between him and lunch/cocktails.

[SnackPack]

I just passed my SDI open water course a 2 weeks ago and now I have 20 dives under my belt (only about 40’ quarry dives to look at man made wrecks) but I’m totally addicted now. The last few dives I rented a BP/W and now I’ll never go back, so much better. Next year I’ll probably get a used wetsuit and a new BP/W, a regulator set is out of my budget for now in these times but that’ll be for later. So glad your channel got me out and actually diving, thank you guys for getting me interested in this hobby!

[peterjulianphotos]

Hey Guys - I think it's called a piss take - Mark is pointing out how low the bar is to becoming a "Qualified Scuba Diver" in a very amusing way. The fact that you can rock up to a (insert name here) 5 Star facility, do 4 open water dives and be considered an open water diver is just bonkers. Mark is just extrapolating this to the point of absurdity. Today I went on a dive and we had a Flappy Snag Hazzard who was more interested in her gopro than the actual dive, a guy from Utah who's last dive was back in 2017 and a couple on Nitrox who needed the DM to show them how to set their computers to We did a warship penetration dive at 24 metres and as I swam at the back I watched silt being kicked up to snow cone levels. No one had good attitude, and way too many hands were used to orientate themselves.

[raskbell]

I'm thinking of all of my dive instructors I've had, they were all ok and I eventually learned the coursework. However, I think Woody's competence, attitude, and philosophy to teaching presented in these videos would absolutely blow any of them away. Is it that no one fails or more that y'all are such good teachers no one fails your classes in particular?

[mycontrolledchaos]

I’m watching this video the day before my open water check out dives. I have already logged two but my very first time I had a panic attack and was pulled from the water for the day. The next time I went it was just me and my instructor and he helped figure out why I panicked and I was able to log two doves that day. He told me that he wasn’t giving up on me bc he knows how bad I want my certification and said he wasn’t giving up until I either made it or gave up myself and we all know I won’t give up

[markmcintosh]

Love you guys! It’s 5:22 am in Colorado! Getting ready for work and watching you guys. You guys have great energy! Keep it up!

[lydialeigh]

I am also a fan of Mark and Simply Scuba. The best takeaway from this video is the part discussing instructors. I had one recent scuba instructor who talked at me during the whole class. It was like he had a script in his head that he regurgitated back at me. The class was about him, not me. People who lack the ability to analyze their audience, smile and give eye contact, actively listen, ask probing questions & follow-up with positive/constructive feedback should not teach. I’ve had some amazing instructors throughout my life that left a strong imprint on me, but unfortunately I have also had many others who just sucked.

[jeffbrebner]

On our open water final I arrived at the bottom with the rest of the class and promptly discovered (when it fell off) that I hadn't secured my weight belt properly. I caught it - and managed to pull my reg out of my mouth. So now I have two problems. I managed to solve both without intervention (Ok I ended up with my octopus mouthpiece instead of my main reg, but it worked!) but I had to do some serious gyrations (in full view of my classmates) to get the belt back on. I no doubt did serious harm to my pride and the already limited vis off West Seattle, but I passed!

[nickhavard]

I think the issue here is cultural understanding. The video is intended as a bit tongue in cheek with underlying points being valid. Having worked with Americans for many years, there is definitely a cultural difference when it somes to humour, sarcasm, tongue in cheek comments, inuendo's, quips and so on.

[shawngross]

I was a certified scuba diver at 13 years old. In 1985, my family rented a house with a pool, and the owner had previously used the pool for scuba lessons. They offered to certify our entire family and provide all gear rental for free if we allowed them to continue using the pool. We agreed. We dove off Laguna Beach, CA and Catalina island. We only lived in the house for a year or so, and I didn’t continue to dive after that, but I learned a lot and it was a great experience!

[scooterdogg]

Gus is right, saw too many customers customers with the best of everything cheap out on gear or try to use crapped out 2nd hand gear in my time at a dive shop