SSI Stress and Rescue

[BottomDweller]

I'm a PADI certified Advanced Open Water Diver, but today at a dive event I won a SSI Stress and Rescue course - free! I'm excited about the course, but can't find very much info on it on SSI's website. Are there prerequisites besides Open Water cert? Anyone know how it compares to PADI's Rescue Diver certification? As I understand it, Stress and Rescue is a specialty with SSI, not a level, like it is with PADI (PADI: Open Water Diver, Advanced Open Water Diver, Rescue Diver, Dive Master, Asst. Instructor, Instructor). Also, how hard should I work at getting in better shape for this course?

Any info would be appreciated. Thanks!

[theskull]

SSI Stress and Rescue is roughly the equivalent of PADI Rescue Diver. The prerequisites are the same (Advanced Open Water), as is the main course content. Also, the SSI S&R will serve as a prerequisite for any PADI course you wish to take that has Rescue Diver as a prerequisite.

So enjoy your class. If you are in average shape now, you should be OK. You will be towing some divers and doing some wrestling of "panicked divers", but nothing truly strenuous.

theskull

[nauifins73]

It is one of the best classes I have taken. I learned a lot about my personal diving from it. It is a prerequisite for the Dive Con course. As with most SSI course 2 dives are required (or were when I took it).

[BottomDweller]

Thanks for the info! I'm really looking forward to taking this class. I was a waterfront director, so I've had lifeguard training, so I figure some of the in-water rescue skills won't be too far off my previous experience. At least I'm not going in TOTALLY unprepared, I assume. Thanks again!

[theskull]

This should be easier than lifeguard training, cause you're wearing a flotation device and can breathe underwater.

theskull

[M&P+4]

This should be easier than lifeguard training, cause you're wearing a flotation device and can breathe underwater.

theskull


breathing under water is a plus for sure!

[DeepDiverBob]

just remember, if they arent breathing, anything you do cant make it worse.

[jafo]

You do not need advanced open water to take the SSI Stress and Rescue. I took it before my advanced open water. You will get a c-card for it too.

[BottomDweller]

Yeah, I'd looked into it further and found out I don't need Advanced Open Water (I have PADI's AOW, but it's not the same as SSI's). All you need is Open Water and CPR/First Aid. It seems it's "only" a specialty with SSI, as opposed to a "level" as it is with PADI. Either way, it's going to be fun and, I'm sure, super valuable.

A buddy gave me a good tip. He said if my gear is due for servicing, don't do it until after Stress & Rescue. He said if I'm playing the victim, my gear will get dragged through the sand and the muck, so have it serviced AFTER that, not before. Sounds like good advice!

Thanks for all the info, folks!

[Scubagal]

SSI Stress and Rescue was the most valuable course I've taken to date. Learned a lot. Nice to see a fellow Nebraskan on the board. Good luck with the course!

[BottomDweller]

Just had to provide an update. The course was this past weekend, and it was incredible! I had so much fun! I took Search & Recovery too, because the shop I went with teaches both the same weekend and combines the search patterns with finding the bodies and stuff. The scenarios we were tested on the 2nd day were challenging and a lot of fun, and the "Grand Finale" scenario on the last day, watched by an audience of all the new Open Water students out there, was an absolute blast. We had to free a diver "trapped" in an underwater moving van (the van's always there, and our instructor/shop owner had one of his regular divers clip his BC to the steering wheel with a carabiner). There were plenty of instructors in the water as safety divers in case we had a problem, but everything went pretty smoothly. I was the diver who went down and freed the "trapped" diver and brought him to the surface, and our team did everything pretty well. We got him "untrapped," on the shore and "on oxygen" pretty quickly. I recommend these two classes for every person who ever straps on dive gear!

[theskull]

. . . I recommend these two classes for every person who ever straps on dive gear!

I do too!!

Thanks for reporting back on how the experience went.

Glad you enjoyed the classes and realized the value along with having a great time diving.

Have fun,
theskull