Debay777:
My 4 week OW class cost $499 including OW dives in a cold lake.
To those considering an OW class...
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My 4 week OW class cost $499 including OW dives in a cold lake.
Jibeho
Contributor
I got my first taste of diving on a resort course while I was in the Navy in 1984. When I got out in 1985 I grabbed my buddy and we went off to the YMCA for the PADI OW course. The photo below was taken in November 1985 during our check out I'm on the right. It was COLD and not as nice as I remembered in the islands. I sort of gave up on diving for a few years. Did about 15 dives in 2 weeks in St Croix, and a few here and there Bermuda Bahamas. All WARM spots. Then back out of it till I moved to FL a few years ago.
I do remember the PADI OW course has being long and sort of hard with allot of pool work. I did not buy much gear at the beginning and all I had when i moved to FL was my basic stuff.
I do remember the PADI OW course has being long and sort of hard with allot of pool work. I did not buy much gear at the beginning and all I had when i moved to FL was my basic stuff.
Debay,
The basic problem is that following the OW class, you are certified to do dives for which you do not have the skills to complete safely in the event something goes wrong. You can take your shiny new card, get the gear and air fills and dive with an equally inexperienced buddy in some truly hostile open water environments. Sure the training agency suggests you dive with mentors or take additional classes. But that's just a suggestion, not a requirement.
The accident statistics aren't that bad for two reasons: 1) most people have enough sense not get in too far over their heads and 2) the equipment is good enough that the types of failures that can send things spiralling out of control are quite rare.
The truth is that following OW and even AOW courses taught to minimum standards, you don't even know what you don't know. I went through both classes and about 30 dives and thought I knew it all about warm water recreational-depth diving before I discovered Scubaboard. My reading here has been a real eye-opener.
The basic problem is that following the OW class, you are certified to do dives for which you do not have the skills to complete safely in the event something goes wrong. You can take your shiny new card, get the gear and air fills and dive with an equally inexperienced buddy in some truly hostile open water environments. Sure the training agency suggests you dive with mentors or take additional classes. But that's just a suggestion, not a requirement.
The accident statistics aren't that bad for two reasons: 1) most people have enough sense not get in too far over their heads and 2) the equipment is good enough that the types of failures that can send things spiralling out of control are quite rare.
The truth is that following OW and even AOW courses taught to minimum standards, you don't even know what you don't know. I went through both classes and about 30 dives and thought I knew it all about warm water recreational-depth diving before I discovered Scubaboard. My reading here has been a real eye-opener.
When I finished my OW cert, the instructor was very specific in recommending that I NOT go out on my own with my own dive buddy, but he recommended I get some more experience by going on "guided tour" dives... this I did ... and I gain much more confidence in knowing I could do it (the diving) AND at the same time of knowing there was a dive master close by if I had any problems. It was really good advice, and it was realistic as well. Open Water certified sounds a lot more dramatic than, you have just enough skills to possibly not kill your self if you are really careful.
mred:
Funny, mine told us to go out and dive and get experience.
bperrybap
Contributor
One thing I might suggest to new divers that are still struggling
with their bouyancy skill is to practice in the pool.
My wife and I did a few dives by ourselves in a local Texas lake
directly after our OW cert. While swimming we seemed to have
what we thought was reasonable control but when we stopped
we really couldn't maintain a horizontal position or hover all that
well. We ended up stiring up the water pretty bad while
practicing as we were rotating vertical or sinking to close to the
bottom or to the platforms.
After that, we decided to go back to our LDS where we took the
cert from and use their pool to practice bouyancy so we wouldn't
look like such noobs on our upcoming dive trip.
We read up on how to properly set our weighting and it was
actually pretty easy since we could use real empty
tanks at the LDS. (Fill room is right by the pool)
Then we played in the pool with weighting. I played with
seeing what it was like to be over and underweighted. With
weight in the front vs rear integrated pockets. With too much
on one side vs the other. All trying to figure out what good
vs bad weighting felt like.
My wife and I played that day for about 4 hours.
By the end of that time we were both able to easily hover
motionless inches from the bottom and even control our depth
with our just our breathing.
I'd say this was the most useful thing we've done that made
the biggest improvement in our diving skills.
I think as boring is might sound to some, it was actually
kind of fun and I found it much
better than trying to practice in the lake. Not only was it
great from an equipment availability (tanks, weights, etc...)
but having clear water that can't be stirred up and a nice
flat bottom for visual reference made all the difference.
Also, I think that getting bouyancy skills in 12 ft of
water is actually harder than in deeper water. So once we
mastered it in the pool, real dives were a piece of cake.
I'd hightly recommend pool practice to anyone wanting to
improve their bouyancy skills.
--- bill
with their bouyancy skill is to practice in the pool.
My wife and I did a few dives by ourselves in a local Texas lake
directly after our OW cert. While swimming we seemed to have
what we thought was reasonable control but when we stopped
we really couldn't maintain a horizontal position or hover all that
well. We ended up stiring up the water pretty bad while
practicing as we were rotating vertical or sinking to close to the
bottom or to the platforms.
After that, we decided to go back to our LDS where we took the
cert from and use their pool to practice bouyancy so we wouldn't
look like such noobs on our upcoming dive trip.
We read up on how to properly set our weighting and it was
actually pretty easy since we could use real empty
tanks at the LDS. (Fill room is right by the pool)
Then we played in the pool with weighting. I played with
seeing what it was like to be over and underweighted. With
weight in the front vs rear integrated pockets. With too much
on one side vs the other. All trying to figure out what good
vs bad weighting felt like.
My wife and I played that day for about 4 hours.
By the end of that time we were both able to easily hover
motionless inches from the bottom and even control our depth
with our just our breathing.
I'd say this was the most useful thing we've done that made
the biggest improvement in our diving skills.
I think as boring is might sound to some, it was actually
kind of fun and I found it much
better than trying to practice in the lake. Not only was it
great from an equipment availability (tanks, weights, etc...)
but having clear water that can't be stirred up and a nice
flat bottom for visual reference made all the difference.
Also, I think that getting bouyancy skills in 12 ft of
water is actually harder than in deeper water. So once we
mastered it in the pool, real dives were a piece of cake.
I'd hightly recommend pool practice to anyone wanting to
improve their bouyancy skills.
--- bill
Debay777
Guest
I had originaly planned on mentioning this in my first post. a lot of the tips and ideas that Ive heard have come form places like SB and NCdivers. There are a lot of good divers on both boards who are more than willing to tell you and show you the things you didnt learn in class. the short classes create a paradox or vicious circle. you dont have all of the skills you need to dive safely(that includes me, certified about a month), but the only real way to get those skills is to dive. I would say that if you take the shorter "get em certified" class, dont go buy your gear and jump in the water expecting to dive well. spend time reading these boards. ask questions. make friends and dive with as many experienced divers as you can. I went to Fantasy Lake with NCdivers for one day. I made 4 20-30 minutes dives and learned more practicle skills than i did in the class i took. with the lack of tide constraints and currents, I was able to begin grasping the idea of breath/bouancy control. I also learned that I may be severely overweighted on my belt. I really need to get back into salt water to see how true this might be. Either way, I learned what i need for fresh water verses salt water. Just being around others to see how they arrange their gear, carry it, and use it can make a diff in how you dive. Bottom line is this I guess. IF you can afford to take the cool lengthy class take it. your better off. If not, then make sure you dive with experienced divers for a while. hang out with divers to learn al that you can. and hang out here asking any and all questions that you can. Are PADI, NAUI, and all the other agences wrong for making the classes shorter and economicaly "competetive" ? I really dont know. all that I do know is that how well you dive can mean the diff between life or death, and not just yours. learn to dive right and dive smart.
So this is where you were at the end of OW certification. Which is not at all unusual.bperrybap:
This was where you ended up after only 4 hours of your own self guided discovery. Which is fantastic IMO, and I truly, sincerely applaud your efforts. But I also wonder why its so difficult for an instructor to teach this in the OW coursebperrybap:
Had it been taught in the OW course your early dives would have been more enjoyable.
mred:
Students should be trained to a level where they can go out on their own. Your instructor either doesn't do a very good job or doesn't think very much of his abilities or he is held to such limitations by his shop that he feels the need to say this to his students. Regardless of which is the case, it's not good.
We did five sessions, 2 hr class + 2 pool, for my class. Working with my Instructor towards DM, I saw that he uses that format consistently. Fairly small class size, and with DMs, able to spend time working with students on problem skills prior to OW dives. He's also consistent in asking the students if they feel comfortable, prior to signing off after the OW dives. He's then good about setting people up for initial post-cert dives, with experienced divers; we're all glad to do that (not Discover Local Diving for $, just builds good karma helping new people at local sites we dive a lot).
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