Mentoring and Rebreathers

[deep thought]

Mentoring & the value of training with a local instructor verse “outsourcing”. 

Recently the topic of outsourcing rebreather training has come up on posts about rebreather events at local dive shows, and this made me think about the experience I had some ten years back when I thought about rebreathers.  Well a lot has changed in the process of training on rebreathers in the Midwest since I received my training, specifically with the amount of talented instructors that are local in our backyard. 

When I wanted to learn to dive a rebreather I had to look outside my area and travel, and when I returned home I was a lone fish without anybody to bounce questions or ideas – was I doing things as I were taught, was this thing working like it should, can I do this or that??? It was a tough couple of years, and a bit of uncertainty since rebreather chat forums were not established and there simply wasn’t anyone nearby to ask or follow along with.  As a result I set about on a quest to travel the world working with instructors, resorts and establish industry contacts to better provide information to my community.  From Europe to South Pacific to Caribbean, East and West Coast of U.S. I found rebreather specific events, manufactures and other professionals to work with.  The first thing I set about to do was to encourage more divers, and this was done by traveling to nearby communities and offer rebreather demos, attend scuba shows, and to host rebreather forums at my dive center.  The second step after certifying local divers was to train local instructors so they could provide services to their divers.  Well of course this is the scuba industry so nothing would be complete without some petty ego struggles, people denying the existence of rebreathers and then overnight adopting them….what would the dive business be without outright paranoid competition???  Currently there exists several very fine and experienced CCR instructors in the Midwest and some new ones who have a lot of potential.  What I would encourage all of the divers who are considering rebreathers in the future to think about is the basic premise of diving – the social interaction of doing something exciting like exploring shipwrecks with people you enjoy.  Without a doubt, you will be a much better rebreather diver if you have the opportunity to dive socially with a Mentor Instructor in your area.  Get connected.  In my case I spent several years hosting local, regional and exotic rebreather dive events for my students so they could learn post classroom, or in the real world.  Today many of these divers are seen at shows doing amazing dives in the Great Lakes, some have become CCR instructors.  So find a local instructor who will go the extra distance to provide events and activities for you locally – this is a mentoring relationship that will make the difference between getting trained and being confident on a rebreather.

And to be clear, nothing wrong with dive travel and celebrity endorsements of rebreathers…I just think you will be better suited supporting our local instructors who work so hard to support you.   
Good Diving

Deep Thought

[matt t.]

Great post Ron. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experiences  .

[Vtach]

Agreed, nice post Ron.  It is good to see more local support for rebreathers from instructors, dive shops and charter services.  It is also well appreciated to be able to access local knowledgeable and experienced CCR instructors and divers such as yourself.  THANKS!!