+1 to what Austin said. DPV class is higher on my list of priorities after taking it than it was before I took it. I had between 8 and 10 hours of bottom time on my cuda before I took the class, and I found the class helpful in a number of ways I didn't expect. Everyone who's had any time on the trigger at all knows that one of the first things you notice is that everything happens faster- buddy separation, buoyancy changes, etc- but being in a class situation where simple "failures" were prone to happen, I realized how much awareness you have to develop because when any little thing goes wrong it can blow the whole plan in an instant. So one of the fringe benefits for me was that I developed much more general situational awareness- even when not scooting.kitsapdiver wrote: I learned proper towing, and find the method taught in the class easier that even the pull cord a lot of people pull out of their pocket. Now that's one less piece of gear you need, and it's always available in an emergency.
Also I had never practiced gas sharing on a scooter, and found it's actually very simple, and the protocols used by my instructor weren't what I would have worked out logically for myself, but after a lil' explanation his method made more sense in practice than what I had reasoned out in my head.
That being said I would stronly suggest you find an instructor who is going to cater to the scooter you have. There are a couple shops that sell the SEA-Doo types, and I'm not sure if their instructors are running DPV classes, but I would bet that the recreational agencies standards do not include the same content you would get from the right instructor around here, of which there are seveal good ones. I know I have heard of Scott Christopher (NAUI, I believe), and Brian Wiederspan (UTD) both running great courses.
Make sure you talk to some people who have taken classes, figure out what the content included and make sure that same content will be included in your course. Don't get short changed.
So that leads me to my other point, and that is that the class I took was well tailored to suit my particular needs. I think that's one of the best things of taking a class from the type of instructors that Austin mentioned in his post- they can skip over stuff you've already got, and make the most of your time working on what you need.
Plus- while cuda crabbing on Saturday I had a very stubborn stuck trigger just as I got out past the Tdock- and it was no big deal; I'd done this before. A minute or two futzing with it and it was good to go. No loss of control, no worries, no raised pulse rate; more time choosing the tastiest specimens.
