How old is too old to get certified?

[Yoyodyne-88]

"Because they will face real (and from my perspective justified) resistance if they try and get on a boat in a tourist location as a certified diver. ."



Being slightly past 'middle age' myself, I totally agree with the support being shown for diving as long as one wants.

But one issue no one here seems to be addressing yet is, can the diver be an adequate buddy? Can they capably assist another diver? Who will the boat operator pair them with if necessary? If not, suitable accomodation need to be considered.

In the Blue Hole (Belize) I was once assigned to buddy-up with a frail older man on the boat. He immediately went past 100' feet, butt first, headed for the 400' bottom. I grabbed him in time, but who was looking after me? My own dive was largely wasted, as I was in effect acting as an unpaid divemaster.

 

[widget]

This is the crux of the thing. If the diver is just going for the certification as a bucket list thing, they should skip it and just do an intro dive.

Because they will face real (and from my perspective justified) resistance if they try and get on a boat in a tourist location as a certified diver. Everytime someone dies, or suffers serious injury on a boat, the boat takes months or years to recover if they ever do. At 90 years old, there is every reason to see problems and no huge upside from the operator'd side.

From the diver's side:

If someone wants to hire me and a boat for the day for themselves, then that is different. There would be no hard weight on the boat and the gear would be put on and off in the water.

But there is no reason to risk a disabling injury from a weight belt hit, of tank valve hit. I have broken bones in my feet many times from working on boats. Foot injuries take years to recover from in young and active people. At 90, the long term prospects of a smashing foot injury are not good.

Yes, I agree with this. Getting qualified is one thing, no problem, mostly you will be well looked after by the certifying instructor, but been part of a group on a dive where you in a large part have to look after yourself in the current or the surge is quite another. Perhaps if they hired a personal divemaster or instructor to just look after them it could work, but I would certainly be very weary, too many risks too little reward.

That said, I have many years ago trained a young lady of 71 and she was a very competent diver in mild conditions, however there is a considerable leap from 70 odd to 90 odd.

 

[Steve_C]

In the Blue Hole (Belize) I was once assigned to buddy-up with a frail older man on the boat. He immediately went past 100' feet, butt first, headed for the 400' bottom. I grabbed him in time, but who was looking after me? My own dive was largely wasted, as I was in effect acting as an unpaid divemaster.

But was this an age issue or an incompetent diver issue? It does not take much strength to operate your inflator as you descend and stay almost neutral. I drop to 100 ft stopping a few feet off the bottom all the time with essentially no kicking or arm movement.

The buddy issue is a more legitimate question. But an incompetent diver is a bad buddy no matter what.

An air share takes little strength. The one place where strength might be an issue is if you started heading to the bottom or skyward or for some reason they had to try to swim you up. In those secenarios physical fitness is an issue but it is an issue with any buddy.

I have been an unpaid dive master several times and it was uncorrelated with age or physical conditioning. It was all about diver experience and competence.

PS (I am 69.5)

 

[shoredivr]

The tyranny of youth indeed.

Leni Riefenstahl started diving at 72 and continued into her 90s

I had the privilege of diving in the St Lawrence River off a charter boat with a 78 and 72 year old couple who wore doubles and drysuits. They work out and were in better shape than some
of the 40 year olds on the charter.

That is my goal, to be giant striding off the back of a boat with two tanks and a drysuit when I'm that age.

 

[Nemrod]

So, a casual acquaintance of mine mentioned last year that he was interested in getting certified. I told him that I'd be glad to go to the LDS and make some introductions (hey, I'm a good ambassador to the sport!) and even go to a discover scuba with him.

So, fast forward to this morning. I get an e-mail that he is interested in going to the LDS and that him and his 90 year old uncle are both interested in getting certified. He said that his uncle is in "great shape" and "works out twice a week." I told my girlfriend about it (she dives and is a Physician Assistant) and our reaction was the same, "Hell no!"

It got me to thinking though. If someone is checked out by a Dr., has no known ailments, and can handle the weight requirements (or not, he could always put the BC and tank on in the water) is there anything preventing a 90 year old healthy man from learning to scuba? That is, of course, if any instructors would take on the liability of actually doing an OW course and if any dive operators would actually take a 90 year old on a charter dive.

Interested to hear what everyone thinks?

I think it is his buisness and not yours. What is the worst that could happen? You think he is afraid of dying? I would imagine at 90 something he might have a different perspective than you on life.

I have had people start this with me before they actually met me telling me at 60 I might not be able to do something and I might get hurt or I am too frail! My axx.

If the older fella wants to dive and a doc will clear him then I think he should be allowed.

N

 

[Bob DBF]

As long as they are healthy, it does not matter.
It may also be a good idea to be aware of ageing and adapt dive plans accordingly. On dive boats in the South of France, I often meet some oldies (80 years +). Now, some of these guys have been diving for half a century, sometimes more. Some still join on charters heading to deep dive sites in the 50 to 60m range with air and no oxy (old school French rec style). Sometimes I do wonder whether it's reasonable, but no one says anything... They are after all certified to dive these depths and have been cleared by a doctor after all!

That was old school USA as well. Some of us still do, we're not 80+, yet.


Bob
-----------------------------
Trained when J-valves solved the OOA problem.

 

[Carl_F]

[h=2]How old is too old to get certified?[/h]
When you're dead.

As others have said, if they can meet the standards and medical, they get the card. Then have fun!

Also, if there are some standards they can't meet then they can also take advantage of the Classified Diver certifications (SSI version ... other names for other agencies.) Depending on what skills they need assistance with will determine what level of Classified Diver they would be and what support they would need after certification.

 

[dmaziuk]

The tyranny of youth indeed.

Leni Riefenstahl started diving at 72 and continued into her 90s

As I recall the rumour was she lied about her age to get certified.

 

[dallaskincaid]

I absolutely agree, it isn't my place to make that decision or not for him. He needs to talk to the LDS, understand the risks, and decide for himself if this is something he really wants. I'd have a difficult time being a buddy though with him. The inherent risks are much higher at that age, and I'd be watching him the entire time so I was ready to do a rescue.

 

[spectrum]

With a doctor's OK and reputable training and testing I see no issue. Let's face it we "accommodate" plenty of divers that may not be up to the full range of "work of diving". Children, divers that stick to boats so they don't deal with shore hikes, side mounters that never hike with everything on their person and so forth. Like any other diligent dive plan the site and conditions need to be carefully considered and not every imagnable dive is meant to be.

Pete