PADI Skill Evaluation Slate Updated and Available Now

20-Skill Slate Now Includes 4 Additional Skills

Skill Evaluation Slate revised 08/10

The revised Skill Evaluation Slate is now shipping! The new version number is1.02 and the revision date is 08/10.

Member price is $13.95 and the item can be ordered from your PADI Americas Sales Consultant or from the online shopping cart. Use product number 60228.

The new 24-skill slate has been updated with the four new skin diving skills added as part of the revised divemaster program. It also includes updates from the 2009 IDC revision.

Only on PADI Instructor News: check the revision dates for all your PADI slates and revision dates for all PADI exams.

Help Divemaster and IDC candidates master their skill circuit with the new Divemaster DVD. The DVD includes a demonstration-quality video of each of the 24 skills and is required viewing for all DM candidates.

By providing candidates with a personal copy of the DVD, they can review the key points of each skill at home. The part number is 70844; suggested retail is $35.

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Fate of the Goliath Grouper in Florida

Next week, the State of Florida will decide the goliath grouper’s fate.

Since 1990, possessing or harvesting this fish has been prohibited by law. After reviewing the available studies and reports, the PADI organization believes it is prudent to maintain the current “no-take” status quo until compelling evidence that the population has satisfactorily recovered to levels that would sustain harvesting is presented. For more information on PADI's position, please visit PADI.com.

What action do you feel the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission should take? Please take this short survey and let your voice be heard. Responses are needed urgently. Thank you.

Poll: Your Favorite Items in the 2011 PADI Marketing Kit

PADI Americas 2011 marketing kit has just been mailed to PADI Dive Centers and Resorts in the US. For PADI Americas retailers outside the U.S., please contact your sales consultant about how to receive the new promotional materials.

We'd like to know your thoughts about what's in this year's kit. Please vote in our poll (email subscribers may need to click through to PADI Instructor News to vote).

Please choose up to three favorites

What are the 3 Best Items in the Marketing Kit?

How Many Instructors Teach with Tables Vs. Computers (Nitrox)

PADI Enriched Air Materials Use 2009 - 2010

The dive computer option for PADI's Enriched Air specialty launched in December 2009. The charts below show how many PADI Members are now using our dive computer materials to teach nitrox. Email subscribers may need to click through to view the pie charts below.

Yellow represents units sold for the dive table option.
Green represents units sold for the dive computer option
Beige represents Nitrox eLearning - which is also the dive computer option.

Please keep in mind that last year (2010) the dive computer option was available in English only. In other words, some of the PADI Americas Members using tables did not have the dive computer option available to them. This year (2011) the computer-only materials are newly available in Dutch, Japanese, Español, French and German.

If you're interested in switching to the dive computer option, here are some useful part numbers:

70122 - Nitrox exam*
70244 - Instructor guide*

70480 - Student kit with manual, DVD and computer simulator*
70907 - Prescriptive lesson guides

* required for the instructor

Transitioning from tables to the computer option:
From the first quarter PADI 2011 Training Bulletin (page 2) :

Although you can still acquire EANx RDP Tables and teach their use during your Enriched Air Diver courses, at some point in the future, PADI Offices will discontinue carrying these products. If you haven't made the switch from tables to computers yet, please consider making the transition to the computer-based program.

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Sell Nitrox Classes Using the Dive Computer Simulator

The Enriched Air materials (dive computer option) include a computer simulator and air analyzer the student uses to learn about the proper procedures for diving enriched air.

As an instructor, you can use the Enriched Air Dive Computer simulator to help new divers understand the value of Nitrox visually.

In the screengrab below, the diver using regular air has only three minutes of no-decompression time remaining at the current depth. The Enriched Air Diver has 45 minutes remaining.

email subscribers may need to click through to view the image above

By showing an image like this and asking, "which of these divers would you rather be?" it really drives the point home. 

The enriched air dive computer simulator isn't available on its own, but can be purchased in either of the Enriched Air crewpaks (dive computer option) 70480 or 70470. Contact your PADI Sales Consultant for pricing.

2011 PADI Instructor Manual Now Available on PADI Pro's Site

Renewed PADI Members can download the 2011 instructor manual from the PADI Pro's Site as a .pdf.  To download the 2011 Instructor Manual, click on the Training Essentials menu from the homepage, then choose Digital Instructor Manual. English is the only language available right now, additional translations will be posted as they become available.

Non-renewed members will be prompted to renew online before they can access the manual. For questions or to renew over the phone, call: 800 729 7234 ext. 2495 (membership department) or +1 949 858 7234 ext. 2495.

What size are the instructor manual pages?

If you download and print our .pdf, you'll get a 5.5" x 8.5" page in the middle of 8.5" x 11" real estate. With the right printer, the pages can be printed "2-up." You'll get two of the smaller pages printed side-by-side (see picture below).

If you might be interested in purchasing new paper "guts" for your instructor manual binder, please tell your sales rep or leave a comment below with your PADI number. This is a product we may produce if there's enough interest.

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Sanctum - Movie Opens Friday and Features Cave Diving

Terry Cummins
Director of Marketing PADI Technical Division

Sanctum, the new 3-D movie featuring cave diving comes out in the US this Friday. View the trailer at the bottom of this post (email subscribers may need to click through to see it)

You can also read a sneak preview by Terry Cummins, Director of Marketing - PADI Technical Division. Terry  knows some of the folks involved with the film and was invited to the cast and crew screening. He comments:

From a diving marketing point of view, I do not think this film would turn the average person off cave diving or caving in general. After all diving, rebreathers and caving will never be for everyone anyway.

The film was produced by James Cameron (The Abyss, Avatar)  and is supposedly based on a true story. Want more behind the scenes info? We have an article in the 1^st Quarter Undersea Journal where Karl Shreeves interviews producer Andrew Wight about Sanctum.

View Sanctum trailer below