The Open Water Class I took this weekend.

[willo]

Some background....
I took an Advanced Open water class around 5 years ago in college. It's a semester long course with 3 hours of lecture per week and 3-4 hours of pool work each week.
The pool skills required equal and surpass all the instructor level requirements I've ever read about. I never did my open water check out dives, but I've remained involved with the class over the years. Right now I'm going for the lecture sessions to refresh myself and redoing all the pool work.

This weekend I took a Basic Open Water class from a local scuba shop. It was an educational experience. The reason I took it is that they do check out dives in a local quarry, and my travel budget this year is limited. This is my take on the class.

Basic Open Water Scuba Class
The lecture consisted of a videotape, which you follow along with a workbook.
The tape went over the usual scuba theory.
It was somewhat older, judging by the equipment it was early 80s.
On the whole, the tape was a reasonable basic scuba theory overview. Not great to watch, but it didn’t have any largely noticeable gaps in information.

The actual class:
Day 1
Meet at the scuba shop for “Lecture” where everyone filled out waivers and c-card paperwork.
Mouthpieces were issued to the students for use with the regulators. Next everyone was given a weight belt with 12lbs of weight reglardless of build.(Extra weight was brought to the pool) Next BCs were issued. Then it was off to the pool.
At the pool students were told to carry tanks horizontally. One hand on the valve and one hand on the bottom. I asked about this practice, and was told it was to keep students from trying to carry too much weight at one time. BCs were soaked and equipment was assembled. Everyone swam 4 laps. The following skills were practiced.
Remove, replace and clear the regulator.
Remove, replace and clear the regulator using the purge button. (Students were asked to place their tongue over the mouthpiece, but not told that the pressure from a purge into the lungs is sufficient to cause barotrauma.)
Regulator recovery by pulling up on the base of the tank and sweeping the arm to recover the reg.
It was mentioned that if one can’t find the regulator the diver can reach up and recover the hose from the regulator.
Orally inflate power inflator (Instructors informed class that this will save air on a dive.)
Practice OOA Octopus sharing.
Flood Mask, clear by pressing on the top of the mask frame and exhaling through the nose.
Practice using buddy to assist with putting fins on.
Flutter Kick
Side Kick
There was also a 10 minute float. No methods of survival floats were covered. They also cut it short to 5 minutes because they were short on pool time.

Day 2
Meet at the scuba shop and load the truck. Head over to the pool and get geared out.
Repeat the same skills at the day before.
Remove mask, place in instructors hand, recover mask from instructors hand, replace on head and clear mask.
Achive neutral bouyancy while balancing on tips of your fins by orally inflating the BC.
Descend and Ascend in the deep end of the pool a few times.
Repeat the same skills on the bottom of the deep end.
Swim two laps around the pool keeping you buddy at your side.
Giant Stride Entry.
Forward Roll Entry.
Head back to the scuba shop to unload gear and grab lunch.

Lecture at the shop:
Covered how to use dive tables by working four sets of dives.
Took the written exam. The exam was 17 questions.
16 Multiple Choice.
1 Dive table question.
End of the Class.

My take on the class:
The first thing I royally disagreed with was the method of carrying tanks. To me it seemed like a great way to get a tank dropped on its valve.
The next eye opener was when the instructors told the class to put their weight belts on first, before anything else!
The instructors stated that orally inflating saves air on a dive. If I recall correctly, this has been studied and disproved. When I questioned the instructor about this he said he hadn’t heard that.


Regarding the actual classtime spent with the instructors:
(Some of this was in the tape)
Certain essential(to me) skills that weren’t covered really surprised me. Snorkel clearing was never covered in the. Neither were the Frog kick or the Dolphin kick. The dolphin kick wasn’t covered either, but I’m not sure many would consider it essential, but it can be useful when you need lots of power.
Buddy breathing was never covered. Most surprising was no mention of the backward roll.
Oxygen was never present at the pool during the classes. (I wonder what the DAN instructors insurance says about this…)
Finally, Nothing was mentioned about the ~60ft depth limit for Open Water divers.

[DiveTub]

If you have a major problem with your training then write a letter or Email to the Agency Q&A Dept.
Most agencies have these details on their website.

However I would wait until your course is finished.

What agency was it through ?

Just on your last paragraph if it was a PADI course

Buddy breathing is now an optional Skill
Frog and Dolphin kicks are not required skills
Backward rolls are very rarley done in pools due to the potential damage factor to\ the pool wall, you may well do this skill later in your course.

I am suprised snorkel/reg exchange was not covered as this is a required skill

[Lead_carrier]

The instructor is bound by a set of standards set up by the RSTC and his certifying agency. If is not following them, by all means, write the certifying agency about the lack of standards being followed. Just make sure you have all the answers to go with all of your questions.

.

I took an Advanced Open water class around 5 years ago in college. It's a semester long course with 3 hours of lecture per week and 3-4 hours of pool work each week.I never did my open water check out dives, but I've remained involved with the class over the years. Right now I'm going for the lecture sessions to refresh myself and redoing all the pool work.

Since in your quote you said that you had never completed your open water dives, a couple of questions come to my mind. First, which agency allowed you to take AOW without being OW certified. Second, if you've remained involved with the class, was this as an assistant, student or bubble watcher.

As for the "extra" skills that you consider essential. Hold off on them until after the class before you start trying to teach them to other students.