Advanced Open Water

[KDAD]

True but we don't label the new drivers Advanced drivers either,do we?Lol. This sport is ego driven for a lot.I have a saying. You don't know what you don't know. When you find out you don't know could be too late

Yeah lb7047. I came into this thread to disagree with you, somehow it came across as we were all of a sudden agreeing, even Tursiops suggested that we get a room! No thanks, but if you are going to steal my Status at least you can be the one buying the beer.:blinking: 15 dives = advanced diver + ego its no wonder that there is not more activity in the A&I forum. Safe dives...safer ascents! (Yes, I 'borrowed' that from someone).

 

[lb7047]

Yeah lb7047. I came into this thread to disagree with you, somehow it came across as we were all of a sudden agreeing, even Tursiops suggested that we get a room! No thanks, but if you are going to steal my Status at least you can be the one buying the beer.:blinking: 15 dives = advanced diver + ego its no wonder that there is not more activity in the A&I forum. Safe dives...safer ascents! (Yes, I 'borrowed' that from someone).

I will buy the beers. Just get all the time you can in the water and practice emergency skills often. I don't want still anyone's thunder,it's the training agencies that are creating this and because the diver has the Advanced rating takes the liability off of the dive operation ( they think )

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[Becca65]

you know, I think this is just like everything else in life - yes, some divers will be over confident because they are "advanced" divers while others will take things a bit slower even though they have had the AOW class - just like there will be some instructors who will seriously try to teach the course (whatever course) the best they can while others will do just enough to get the students to do the basic required skills - and there will be dive masters who will take into account their guest's dive history and plan dives according to their skill level and others who will try to push them to do things they aren't ready for -- we're all human and we all look at things differently - I guess all we can do is take responsibility for ourselves and ask questions in class when we feel we don't understand, tell dive masters "I don't think I'm ready/qualified for a dive like that" etc.

 

[RJP]

. You can be an instructor with 100 dives and a dive master with 75. Just saying

And you can be an idiot with 2,000.

Just saying



---------- Post added July 13th, 2015 at 06:04 PM ----------

When I hit the 50 dive mark I was Invincible. I had my master diver card. Highest non professional level you could have. When I hit my 100th dive I realized I didn't know s##t.

I wish I knew as much now, with 1,000 dives, as I thought I knew when I had 100 dives.

 

[k ellis]

I admit I skipped about half if not most all of this thread. But I did read where one person posted that it was no different at 100 feet then at 60 feet. I do know that this is not a positive way to look at it because while everything may seem as if it is the same to many divers the truth is that the way it affects the body is totally different.

Now I dont like doing deep dives though I admit I have done a few but I dive to enjoy the sport and relax. For me the 30 foot range is plenty as it allows me to spend PLENTY of time under the waves and just relax and enjoy the stress free life from work and such and especially when the temp outside is in the 100s a good 80 degree water is rewarding.

Going deeper then the PADI recommendations does pose more risk like many have said and I think people should take their time and master their skills before attempting to do deeper dives. I have seen some divers tell others right out of certfication that going down 100 feet on dive number 5 is ok and I always cringe at the thought. I have even spoken out and have been denounced for such but I believe that the best dive is a safe dive.

Advanced Open Water is misleading title because its not really advanced though it did give minimal exposure to dives that you will encounter as you advance in your dive career and as such I think a name like open water 2 would be more appropriate.

 

[DDI]

By the time a Scuba Diver is a Dive Master for instance they will have completed (most likely) OW, AOW, RESCUE & DM. This progression is dictated by the Diving Institutions and it works. I have yet to see a diver that has finished an OW course that on their next 5 dives looked like they didn't need the AOW. Do it back to back become a better diver and you will be safer and have more fun. The names on the certifications, however are not great. Rescue divers aren't about to drop out of a chopper and rescue you. Most Divemasters I have come across surely are not under water Yodas but they are still called master There is a definitely a marketing approach to it and it works, I wouldn't want to do Open Water 1 to whatever, how uninspiring.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

The problem is that it works well enough in some instances to get people into trouble. It's why I like that SEI did away with ow plus, advanced ow, advanced ow plus, etc and went to advanced levels 1-4. It also more closely aligns with the cmas certs we can issue. Each level has specific requirements that are clearly spelled out. I was part of the team that wrote the new standards for these. Not that most operations would understand them, but the students do. That's what counts. It was necessary to have the word advanced in there for two main reasons. Marketing was one. The other was to satisfy those operations that wanted their butts covered with their insurance providers. Even though our ow divers are given rescue skills, emergency deco table use, and additional skills and knowledge not found in other ow courses and they are technically certed to 100 ft out of the ow class. It was recognized that even though an advanced open water card is exactly zero indication of knowledge and skills, ops still want to see one. It has nothing to do with the divers being able to handle sites. It has everything to do with operations getting out of any liability for injuries and deaths. Even when they take divers to sites completely unsuitable for them. They can say "well, he had an advanced card! Sue the instructor, shop, and agency that gave it to him. We did our due diligence! "

 

[Diver0001]

Martial arts has a pretty good system too.

Their grades are not called 1, 2, 3 but are colour coded and it works wonderfully as a visual reference of someone's relative skill level as well as being fine grained enough to be a motivator to keep working to the next level.

R..

 

[NAM001]

Its only opiion, but, I think AOW is a vorthy course, no matter who teaches it. NOt o nly does it give you the required cert to do other courses but provides a chance for you to learn soething besides clearing your mask. By now you have pretty well mastered the minimum required basic skills. I know i always flal back to this but with OW your last resort is CESA. NOw at deeper depths this is not a real option, You get to learn what your options are at deeper depths. You get to find out that clearing a mask at 100 is the same as 10 ft. Its a lot of confidence building things along with actually understanding some real dangers that are now and have been present in your diving so far. Its a great chance to do the buoyancy skills when you have the full diving depth range to experience things like suit compression, perhaps some narcosis to boot. Get some introduction to frog kicks and some more realistic navagation environments. As well as use of rear dumps on hte bc/wing instead of the top vents. The amount you get out of it however is pure instructor and local dependant. I never had the benefit of having multiple courses to take as i got my cert in the 60's when things were all in one course. AS far as what dives should you go for. I would say deep buoyancy, navigation, wreck if you can to see what can get you hurt.