[ChrisA]

I don't blame instructors or training agencies. THeir job is to get OW student only the minimum needed so they don't kill themselves. The proof that this works is that very few do kill them selves.

The real reason you see un-skilled divers at resorts is that some divers don't dive except once a year or every two years at a resort. It is very hard to be good at anything that you do so infrequently. You can't blame a person for living in Kanas and having no means to get the ocean every weekend.

This is why all the resort locations put a DM in the water with divers. They know their customers likely only dive when they are there and need supervision.

The FAA makes pilots performa certain minimum number of take offs and landing within a given period. If they don't they are required to fly with an instructor until the instructor signs them off as competent. The scuba industry could require something like 3 dives within the last 6 weeks but a rule like that would be very unpopular. But without a rule like this we will just have to put up with divers showing up at a resort, not having dove in years and not knowing how to work a compass or turn on their air.

No change to the OW class will solve the problem of loosing skils or never gaining them due to infrequent diving