#3326
geogator - 3/23/2015 11:25 AM
Although I’m not a cave diver, I’ve been diving a BP/W since I finished OW cert in 2011. However, when I took my rescue class last spring, the instructor told me that I couldn’t use my BP/W and had to do the class in a jacket BCD that the shop supplied. Until then, the only other time I’d actually dove with a jacket after OW cert was at EPCOT where you have to use their equipment. (except for your mask) I wasn’t happy about the situation and the instructor (who stated that he’s not a fan of BP/Ws) gave me some grief over why I use one in the first place if not caving. His argument was that most folks I would likely encounter in my type of non-cave diving would probably not be in BP/W setups so I should be more familiar with diving in those other BCDs if I ever had to do a rescue. While I can appreciate the first part of his statement, I disagree about not letting me use my own setup since that’s what I’ll most likely be wearing in a potential rescue scenario. My argument was since I’m already extremely comfortable and familiar with my own gear, I could focus more of my attention on the person in trouble vs. having to also manage being in an unfamiliar rig while performing a rescue. He was nice enough, however, to loan me a jacket for a week and a half in between my pool work and the open water skills date so I could get some practice dives in at a local spring just to get used to wearing one again. While I did fine in the class, it was still a bit awkward not having things exactly where I’m used to having them and the whole episode’s still left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth since then.