wysmar:
I agree! If Laura and I had put more time between our OW and AOW classes, the time would only have been surface interval. Without dive buddies, who would we have dived with?
Perhaps instead of OW and AOW, they should be OW 1 and OW 2?
PADI AOW Book -- what so bad?
- Thread starter nineeightysix
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I agree! If Laura and I had put more time between our OW and AOW classes, the time would only have been surface interval. Without dive buddies, who would we have dived with?
Perhaps instead of OW and AOW, they should be OW 1 and OW 2?
OP
nineeightysix
Guest
I like the pilot analogy. I too am a pilot and when I got my private license the text had to be designed to take me from nothing to understanding basic aerodynamics, weather, navigation, etc. But I do recall (this was 20 years ago) that I also learned enough depth to understand what I was getting myself into. My Instrument rating went into far more depth and taught me I didn't know the half of it...the material, experience and testing were all pretty tough. Then there is multi-engine, commercial, etc -- each getting tougher and generally increasing the significance of something bad happening (but probably drastically lowering the odds).
With PADI thus far I feel like the subject is at least as serious (and more risky) but much of the information is hidden, for what reason I don't fully understand. I expected that the AOW text would reveal those secrets but it was more of the same and since I am already at a base level of knowledge and experience, doesn't really add much. It seems more of a marketing program.
I understand that like flying, what really matters is experience -- and learning from others. But also, believe in obtaining as much knowledge as possible to help me be better at whatever I do.
I still feel that PADI is missing the boat by keeping some important topics away from the OW/AOW programs.
Cheers
With PADI thus far I feel like the subject is at least as serious (and more risky) but much of the information is hidden, for what reason I don't fully understand. I expected that the AOW text would reveal those secrets but it was more of the same and since I am already at a base level of knowledge and experience, doesn't really add much. It seems more of a marketing program.
I understand that like flying, what really matters is experience -- and learning from others. But also, believe in obtaining as much knowledge as possible to help me be better at whatever I do.
I still feel that PADI is missing the boat by keeping some important topics away from the OW/AOW programs.
Cheers
utdivermatt
Contributor
I did my AOW after I had a good deal of experiance. Each of the specialties I completed I had several dives of experiance with. I thought the manuel was very simple, but it still had some good points I hadnt thought of. Even though it wasnt the greatest, and was quite a bore to me, I find it hard to believe that anyone who reads through it couldnt pick up at least a pointer or two. So I cant say I thought it was that bad.
One more point. For non-english speakers, if the manual isn't available in your native language, a simple straight forward text is the easiest and safest way.
This is a perspective thing. Firstly the Advanced OPEN WATER is pecisely that, an advance on your open water qualification.
Learning to dive is not that big a deal. A few psychomotor skills, a bit of classroom physics and phsiology and learning how to use the equipment, PADI have to teach this to people of a wide range of abilities and in many different languages around the world. They issue over a million certs a year,
For this purpose the OW and AOW manuals are excellent, by far the best of their kind. They use advanced educational techniques to ensure that critical points are taken on board. To think of them as advanced or technical manuals misses the point entirely.
As has been pointed out, if you want a broader based diving education then The Encyclopedia of Recreational Diving is first class. After that you are into the technical manuals by Kevin Gurr, GUE, DSAT and the like.
Learning to dive is not that big a deal. A few psychomotor skills, a bit of classroom physics and phsiology and learning how to use the equipment, PADI have to teach this to people of a wide range of abilities and in many different languages around the world. They issue over a million certs a year,
For this purpose the OW and AOW manuals are excellent, by far the best of their kind. They use advanced educational techniques to ensure that critical points are taken on board. To think of them as advanced or technical manuals misses the point entirely.
As has been pointed out, if you want a broader based diving education then The Encyclopedia of Recreational Diving is first class. After that you are into the technical manuals by Kevin Gurr, GUE, DSAT and the like.
I don't disagree with the idea behind the AOW course, which is really to broaden the students experience to different activities and environments. What bothers me about is that they do it without seeing to the requisit diving skills first.
First off we know that lots of divers come out of OW pretty shaky when it comes to buoyancy and position control. However, AOW deep is conoducted without going back and finishing what OW missed. I see plenty of AOW groups descending hand over hand, kneeling on the bottom to do a stupid puzzle and climbing back up the line. And that teaches...what?
There's no sense in diving deep before you get good at diving shallow. They never do go back to explain trim or any real gas management and they don't require students to demonstrate mastery of these important topics before taking them deep.
The same goes for quit a few of the other activities the course introduces. There's just no sense in doing them before you can dive. I've seen students sitting on a training platform to tie their underwater knots for the search and recovery dive. This meets the requirements of the standards but just what is it they learn by doing that? doing a search is only that much harder if you can't swim around the area and do your work without silting the place out.
Educationally valid? I don't think so. A new diver does need to get out diving and get some experience but until they have the basic skills down they ought to keep it shallow and simple. Then when they do go deep or add more complex dive objectives they will do it well with comfort and control.
The PADI texts do a great job of making it easy for the student to get the information that IS in the book. Each section tells them what they are going to learn, then gives it to them and then quizes them to make certain that they got it. The problem is in the content itself.
First off we know that lots of divers come out of OW pretty shaky when it comes to buoyancy and position control. However, AOW deep is conoducted without going back and finishing what OW missed. I see plenty of AOW groups descending hand over hand, kneeling on the bottom to do a stupid puzzle and climbing back up the line. And that teaches...what?
There's no sense in diving deep before you get good at diving shallow. They never do go back to explain trim or any real gas management and they don't require students to demonstrate mastery of these important topics before taking them deep.
The same goes for quit a few of the other activities the course introduces. There's just no sense in doing them before you can dive. I've seen students sitting on a training platform to tie their underwater knots for the search and recovery dive. This meets the requirements of the standards but just what is it they learn by doing that? doing a search is only that much harder if you can't swim around the area and do your work without silting the place out.
Educationally valid? I don't think so. A new diver does need to get out diving and get some experience but until they have the basic skills down they ought to keep it shallow and simple. Then when they do go deep or add more complex dive objectives they will do it well with comfort and control.
The PADI texts do a great job of making it easy for the student to get the information that IS in the book. Each section tells them what they are going to learn, then gives it to them and then quizes them to make certain that they got it. The problem is in the content itself.
First off, let me say I empathize with the OP. I bought the Encyclopedia of Recreational Diving before I finished my OW class, read it in a day, and said, "There's GOT to be something better than this!" I now have a shelf of diving reference books and a binder an inch and a half thick of stuff I've printed off the internet, and my curiosity has slowed down a little (I'm focusing on skills these days 
).
I took PADI OW/AOW/Deep/Nav/Boat/PPB/Marine ID/Rescue and NAUI Nitrox. I thought the NAUI Nitrox book was much better written and far less patronizing than the PADI written materials.
But my favorite scuba educational agency has the worst written materials of all!
).I took PADI OW/AOW/Deep/Nav/Boat/PPB/Marine ID/Rescue and NAUI Nitrox. I thought the NAUI Nitrox book was much better written and far less patronizing than the PADI written materials.
But my favorite scuba educational agency has the worst written materials of all!
The purpose of the AOW class is to broaden the horizons of a new diver it does not make you super diver. It is designed to expose you to different aspecs of the diving world. It is not designed for someone with 50million dives already.
The purpose of the AOW course is to generate revenue.
From a vendors point of view, the purpose of all products and services is to generate revenue.
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