Why do Advanced Open Water?

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Given that the classroom portion of the AOW is only 2-3 hours at best, what is really learned on this certification that you couldn't practice on any dive?

In addition, apparently there is some talk about only being able to go to, say, 60 ft on an open water cert, but deeper on an AOW.

Is that a PADI rule? I don't think that the other orgs (eg NAUI, YMCA) have this rule and it seems like a PADI sales tactic. I've dived on a YMCA open water and NAUI nitrox c-card all over the world, let's say 100 dives over the last 10 years, and i can't remember the last time i was above 80ft max depth, and regularly at 120ft. Never once was i told i couldn't join a dive because i didn't have AOW.

have other people been restricted on dives on a normal c-card? Has anyone felt that getting an AOW was worth it? Also i am curious about the "specialty" courses. Has anybody felt that those were worth it?

thanks
Sandtiger Steve
 
AOW is mostly needed for tight-*** boat ops who want to cover their *** a little more... Otherwise, its good for new divers who want a little more time with an instructor..

My two cents..
 
Sandtiger Steve:
have other people been restricted on dives on a normal c-card?

Yes, more and more operators are asking for AOW in order for divers to be allowed to join their trips.......
 
for me, it's a necessary step towards the one class i really want to take - rescue.

i'm also looking forward to doing the 10000000m deep dive portion of the aow.
 
Most of the agencies say that you are certified to the level and conditions of your training. These limits are set out in the training standards.

Having said that there are no diving police to prevent you going beyond the limits of your training. Some dive operators will not allow you on the boat some will.
 
NAUI open water divers are certified to dive to 60 feet in conditions similar to those in which they were trained. The AOW class extends that to 130 feet. There are no scuba police as you have discovered.

Is AOW worth it? Depends on what's included and what you're looking for. My AOW class has 12-14 hours of classroom, a 2 hour pool session and a required minimum of 400 minutes of dive time during the class dives. There are good AOW classes out there where the instructors will teach you a lot and push you to be a better diver. There are a lot of AOW classes out there that don't.
Ber :lilbunny:
 
wow. 12-14 hrs + 400 minutes? that's some good teaching.

i wish there were good instructors like that around here.

Ber Rabbit:
NAUI open water divers are certified to dive to 60 feet in conditions similar to those in which they were trained. The AOW class extends that to 130 feet. There are no scuba police as you have discovered.

Is AOW worth it? Depends on what's included and what you're looking for. My AOW class has 12-14 hours of classroom, a 2 hour pool session and a required minimum of 400 minutes of dive time during the class dives. There are good AOW classes out there where the instructors will teach you a lot and push you to be a better diver. There are a lot of AOW classes out there that don't.
Ber :lilbunny:
 
Regulation can be a good thing but over regulation is very much a bad thing. What will make a difference at 130 feet, as opposed to 60 feet, might not be so much my training, but how much time I've already spent diving, how regularly I practice skills for emergencies with my buddy and whom my buddy is, along with my equipment being in shape. A card won't save your life, the skills will. However, getting the card is one way to attain atleast some of the skills (theoretically. I have a friend who has a nitrox card but has not taken the nitrox class. His instructor lives far way so they did the dives but he has not taken the clasroom stuff yet, but his instructor went ahead and ordered him the card.). If there were less people in this world ready to sue other people for your mistakes, then we wouldn't have things like an AOW card. Any businesss that discriminates against me by telling me I'm a poor diver just because I haven't spend the $250 or whatnot on an AOW class will lose my business and I'll be quite vocal about it to all of my friends. :) If they tell me after one dive that they don't think I have the skills needed for the next dive, say, night, deep, wreck, etc, then I would understand and would ask to be permitted to dive with restrictions in place: I'll only go so deep, I'll dive with this buddy and we won't penetrate the wreck at all, etc. Discriminating based on what card you have is as bad as the racial discrimination in our country's past. Discriminating based on skills is not bad, it's using wise judgement to help save lives.
 
Well since I eventually want to do rescue diver I guess it was necessary. But I'd already done just about about everything in the course when I took it (I was at about 40 dives) so I had no problems.

But I agree with others if you want to go for more advanced certifications or want more time with an instructor or so you can brag to your uniformed friends :wink: sure then it's worth it.
 
Sandtiger Steve:
Given that the classroom portion of the AOW is only 2-3 hours at best, what is really learned on this certification that you couldn't practice on any dive?

Nothing. AOW is pretty much useless.

Sandtiger Steve:
In addition, apparently there is some talk about only being able to go to, say, 60 ft on an open water cert, but deeper on an AOW.

Some charters require an Advanced card (not necessarily AOW) to make their deeper dives. There is no basis for such a requirement.

Sandtiger Steve:
Is that a PADI rule? I don't think that the other orgs (eg NAUI, YMCA) have this rule and it seems like a PADI sales tactic. I've dived on a YMCA open water and NAUI nitrox c-card all over the world, let's say 100 dives over the last 10 years, and i can't remember the last time i was above 80ft max depth, and regularly at 120ft. Never once was i told i couldn't join a dive because i didn't have AOW.

No. PADI can only regulate its members and then only when they are involved in a PADI class. Its members are DMs, AIs and Instructors. Agencies do not regulate diving, they merely enforce their rules on their members while teaching their classes.

Sandtiger Steve:
have other people been restricted on dives on a normal c-card? Has anyone felt that getting an AOW was worth it? Also i am curious about the "specialty" courses. Has anybody felt that those were worth it?

thanks
Sandtiger Steve

It happens, but not all that often.

fishballer:
it's a necessary step towards the one class i really want to take - rescue.

Not really, you just have to look outside the PADI box. Other agencies do teach rescue to divers without requiring AOW.

drew52:
Most of the agencies say that you are certified to the level and conditions of your training

TKO:
NAUI open water divers are certified to dive to 60 feet in conditions similar to those in which they were trained. The AOW class extends that to 130 feet.

I believe you are both mistaken. Divers are certified, they are not certified to dive to a particular depth. The certification means they took the class and passed. All agencies have recommendations for divers that have completed their classes. Such suggested limitations are part of those recommendations.
 

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