Proper Training Makes It Safe to Take a Dive

He walked into the Laguna Beach dive shop toting his fancy new diving gear and asked where he could sign up for a scuba certificate.

Instructor Chris Carter told the man that a certificate would not be guaranteed until he could demonstrate his equipment was an aid, not a crutch, a process that could take a few lessons--or many.

The man stormed out and went to another sports store, where the staff led him through the minimum four dives required to receive a certificate. Two weeks later he returned to Laguna Sea Sports and waved his certificate in Carter’s face.

“ ‘Look at this, you stupid jerk!’ ” Carter recalled the swimmer saying before heading toward the ocean for a dive. “Forty-five minutes later, he had drowned.”

Divers die, including one found floating off Moss Point in Laguna Beach last month after apparently venturing out alone, becoming the area’s third scuba diver to perish in recent months. Identified as Miguel Decipulo Cabus, 42, of Laguna Hills, a coroner’s investigation is pending on the cause of death.

But, as the sport becomes increasingly popular, fatalities are becoming increasingly rare. So long as divers temper enthusiasm with common sense, including an honest assessment of their abilities, industry professionals say the risk of death or serious injury is small.

More than 100 divers died each year from 1970-81, according to the Divers Alert Network. Those fatalities dropped to 82 deaths in 1987 and 84 in 1998. Meanwhile, the number of Americans diving jumped from 2.4 million in 1987 to 3.5 million in 1998, according to the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Assn.

Laguna Beach, one of the most popular diving spots off Orange County, attracts an estimated 10,000 divers each year. Lifeguards rescue 150 to 200 divers per year, with an average of two to three deaths, chief of marine safety Mark Klosterman said.

Klosterman termed most of the fatalities “avoidable incidents.” Divers went out with a buddy and proper equipment, including a full tank of air.

“It appears they did everything right,” he said.

So what went wrong? Minimum levels of training are not always enough, professionals say, and training dives in one location cannot imitate the variety of conditions in different dive spots.

Most certification courses require four dives in the open water, in addition to course work and pool training. Divers must master certain skills to pass, said Jeff Nadler, vice president of industry relations for PADI, the Rancho Santa Margarita-based organization that certifies the largest number of U.S. divers.

But Carter--and some of his students--cautioned that some instructors may skirt rules, passing students after four dives no matter what their skill level.

“It’s not just teaching by standards. It’s giving them what they need,” said Carter, who tells the incident about the novice diver who drowned a few years ago as a safety warning. “I had one woman that needed 23 dives.”

Dave Robinson of San Clemente, a certified diver since 1972, signed his teenage daughter up for one of Carter’s classes after consulting with instructors throughout Orange and San Diego counties.

“They were just wanting to take my money and give her a card,” Robinson said. “Someone gets a card and they think they can dive. It’s a false sense of security.”

Equipment also can provide a false sense of security. While modern equipment can make diving easier and more comfortable, divers trained to rely on equipment tend to panic when it fails. Laguna Beach lifeguards rescue scores of divers that Klosterman calls “equipment-dependent, not skill-dependent.”

Inexperienced divers also place others at risk.

Said Robinson: “You have to be able to think underwater. If their mask gets knocked off, are they going to grab me so I can’t breathe?”

Klosterman said Laguna lifeguards often rescue divers who were certified in the warm, tranquil waters of Hawaii or the Caribbean, sometimes at resorts that cram the course into several days. The Laguna waters are colder and murkier, requiring divers to wear heavier wetsuits. To reach the picturesque coves, divers trained to jump off a boat might need to enter the water from shore and fight through rugged waves.

“What a course is designed to do is to teach you how to dive in the environment in which you were trained,” Nadler said. “You can’t assume, just because you’ve learned to dive, that you can dive in every condition.”

While dive shops and sporting goods stores offer a variety of advanced courses and refresher classes, a certificate never expires. So far, the industry has resisted calls for mandatory recertification.

“There may be too much emphasis on certification as a lifetime credential,” Nadler said. “People get hurt snow skiing all the time, and when was the last time they took a lesson or a refresher?”

But Carter said divers often want to buy new equipment and jump into the water, no matter how many years have passed since their last dive, without learning how the new gear differs from the old and how their skills might have deteriorated.

“Somebody will die, and inevitably the media will look at a certification card from 1979 and say, ‘He was an experienced diver,” Carter said.

“We don’t see experienced divers die.”

While the risk of death or serious injury can never be eliminated in the ocean environment, Klosterman said proper training can sharply reduce those risks.

“We have thousands of divers annually that go out and have a very safe and enjoyable dive,” he said.

Robinson suggested a novice diver talk with many instructors, then select one as if his or her life depended on it, since it does.

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Where to Go for Training

Scuba diving certification courses are offered throughout Orange County. Prices and times vary, but most offer classes year-round. Many cities offer affordable classes through their recreation departments. A look at a few of the outlets offering certification classes:

Beach Cities Scuba--34283 Pacific Coast Highway, Dana Point, offers classes year-round. (949) 496-5891.

Coral Reef Dive and Surf Center--14161 Beach Blvd., Westminster, the center offers one weekend class a month. (714) 894-3483.

Laguna Sea Sports--A favorite of many lifeguards, long-time divers. Located at 925 N. Coast Highway, Laguna Beach, the store offers weeknight and weekend certification classes, and holds classes year-round. A new class starts Saturday. (949) 494-6965.

Newport Beach Aquatic Center--4537 W. Coast Highway. Offers classes year-round. (949) 650-5440.

Sport Chalet--The sporting goods store with branches throughout the Southland offers classes year-round. (949) 582-3363 for locations.

For additional information:

* Divers Alert Network: 1-800-446-2671 or www.dan.ycg.org

* Laguna Sea Dwellers: (714) 319-7577

* National Assn. of Underwater Instructors: (800) 553-6284

* Professional Assn. of Diving Instructors: (714) 540-7234 or www.padi.com

* Recreational Scuba Training Council, Inc.: (813) 996-6582