Sounds like it......never spent even a minute in a pool. Instructor was a hard-ass that figured we'd be diving in open water, so that's where we'd learn. His swim test was about 3X the PADI norm - and he didn't care, because he said he was there to teach divers, not swimmers that wanted to look at pretty fish.<G>
Give the devil his due.....that sumbitch taught us stuff that many advanced classes never did - but he didn't coddle us. When we had to do our ditch @ 50' and free swim to surface, he and an aide were alongside of us every foot of the way - and believe me, if he even THOUGHT you weren't exhalin', you'd get the "Jim Bailey Exhale Reminder"!
Does sound like quite the hardass lol