Cool, Greg. I’ll check out the changes!
I would have thought #1 to be one of the simpler ones. Apparently it’s custom-linked to other tables in the database...
Re: #2, a freedive session is a series of many short dives (probably 20 to 30). Entering a number for the longest dive would make sense. Maybe the label could be changed to "Dive Length (minutes)". Of course, that would change the significance of all entries to date.
"Freediver" is the modern term (no space). "Skin Diver" might be getting a bit outdated and I understand that PADI’s "Sin Diver" course is very rudimentary and more like an advanced snorkeling course. It might make sense to keep the "Skin Diver" category for people who don’t go below 50ft. any freediver is going to look for the word "freediver" before choosing "Skin Diver". I know I did. Proper freedive training is very intensive on physiology, safety, and under/above water rescue skills. These aren’t likely to be included in any course called "skin diving".
Typical certifications are...
(from the PFI course list):
- Junior Freediver
- Freediver
- Intermediate Freediver
- Advanced Freediver
- Freedive Spearfisherman
- Safety Supervisor
- instructor (several levels, but probably not worth distinguishing right now)
(from the FII course list):
- Junior Freediver (same as PFI)
- Level 1 Freediver
- Level 2 Freediver
- Level 3 Freediver
If I had to choose, I’d go with PFI’s certification names since they’re more descriptive. It’s also easy enough to cross over from FII’s "Level 2 Freediver" to PFI’s "Intermediate Freediver". I think FII is just trying to be different as they are a scion of FII. (PFI’s Kirk Krack trained FII’s founder, Martin Stepanik, to his 12 world records and Martin used to be an FII instructor.) No sense in complicating DiveBuddy.com with whatever is going on between Stepanik and PFI.
There are also several certifications for being a competition official, but that’s almost certainly outside the scope of DiveBuddy. I don’t remember where I saw the list, but here’s my best recollection:
- Safety Supervisor
- Diver Supervisor (?)
- Assistant Judge 9?)
- Judge
Glad to hear DiveBuddy is treating you well. You clearly put a lot of creative force into itand it shows.