Redesigning AOW

[Dive Right In Scuba]

I think deep should remain....How many people are going deep anyway...we could at least give them so extra knowledge or preparation. Most students when they come back from a vacation say" It was great, the DM took us down to 90 feet...I know I wasnt supposed to, but it was great...." These actions are likely to be repeated...if we can give them a little more experience in going deep, whats the harm? Hopefully it might get them to realize some of the dangers or take the full deep specialty..but if not, they did get a little more comfortable...

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Let keep some of the original stuff:

Navigation & search recovery.
Deep dives.

Then Lets subtract the garbages like photography, naturalist, boat, etc.

Then add:

"Peak performance buoyancy" and proper weight balance and management.
"Rock bottom" gas management.

What else should we add or subtract?

How to plan a dive
How to be a good dive buddy
Diving at night, or in limited visibility
Techniques for efficient trim and propulsion
Managing stress (i.e. how to deal with task loading)
Proper ascent/descent techniques
Deploying an SMB

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[ucfdiver]

Why get rid of the "deep dive"? The reason I ask is because I see it as a small opportunity to expand someones comfort zone incrementally. Meaning, letting them do something they may not have done before and thus make them more confortable...

How would you teach bouyancy to make it better?

What agency would you give money to for AOW? Maybe I can borrow some ideas from them.

EDIT: You edited in the GUE thingy. How do they teach bouyancy?

Not sure how they teach it yet (I plan to take it later this year, or TDI intro to tech), but their average student is light years ahead of the average NAUI/PADI/SSI, etc diver I see. For NACD cavern we went through proper weighting, and the instructor/dive master would each hold two strings, and we had to swim in between them, and hover in between them when asked, without contact. We were then taught modified futter, frog, modified frog, etc. I've seen students after cavern and after AOW, and NACD certainly does more with their students in the 2-3 day course.

I think deep should remain....How many people are going deep anyway...we could at least give them so extra knowledge or preparation. Most students when they come back from a vacation say" It was great, the DM took us down to 90 feet...I know I wasnt supposed to, but it was great...." These actions are likely to be repeated...if we can give them a little more experience in going deep, whats the harm? Hopefully it might get them to realize some of the dangers or take the full deep specialty..but if not, they did get a little more comfortable...

If you're going to teach deep diving, decompression planning MUST be taught. Students who go to 100ft on larger steel tanks (especially on air) run the risk of ascending with 500psi in their tank, and 10 minutes of deco obligations. Taking students deep who don't understand planning their dive is a serious accident waiting to happen, IMO.

 

[PCBCaptChris]

I like the string thing. That sounds like a good idea. We all know what happens with line underwater and divers. So they'd get immediate feedback if their bouyancy was off.

As far as GUE student being ahead or behind I don't know what they are doing for their bouyancy training so it is hard to say why. However, right now, my opinion is that they attract a certain kind of student that is more predisposed to success. That said, I do suspect they are more likely to remediate someone than the other agencies (not to send this into a GUE/not GUE thread... not the intent here...).

 

[ucfdiver]

I like the string thing. That sounds like a good idea. We all know what happens with line underwater and divers. So they'd get immediate feedback if their bouyancy was off.

As far as GUE student being ahead or behind I don't know what they are doing for their bouyancy training so it is hard to say why. However, right now, my opinion is that they attract a certain kind of student that is more predisposed to success. That said, I do suspect they are more likely to remediate someone than the others (not to send this into a GUE/not GUE thread... not the intent here...).

I agree the GUE student is going to be one who better prepares himself than someone who's just taking AOW so they can go 20ft deeper on the dive boat during vacation. Most GUE/IANTD/TDI/NACD/NSS-CDS students are training for a more serious form of diving with greater risk, and therefore are going to naturally take it more seriously.

I say increasing the OW limit to 80ft would take the biggest reason people take AOW out of the picture, and in the end be good for the community. There's not a whole lot an instructor can do with a student who's just card collecting for vacation. Several people in my cavern class had AOW, and they all agreed that cavern was a MUCH better use of your time and money. Heck, the instructor even tells you that when he makes the same amount of money off of them both!

The other requirements I'd place on AOW is that you
1- Be able to hover (not moving) at the same elevation for 1 minute.
2- Not have ANY lose gear or dangles (there really is no excuse for dragging the reef, silt, etc)
3- Know basic decompression planning ( If my SAC rate is ___, and my buddies is ___, I need to limit my deco time to x minutes if I surface with 500psi, assuming my buddy's air fails and we both have to do a safety stop on my tank)
4- Learn basic field gear troubleshooting, such as tracing an unknown air leak on a reg.

 

[BDub]

Since the deep dive is one of the madatory dives, in addition to gas planning and management, bubble management needs to taught as well...Buhlman vs minimum deco, etc.

 

[PCBCaptChris]

I hate to agree. However, I will. Cavern and AOW are two different kinds of training. If I had to chose one to make me a better diver overall I would pick Cavern. That said if I wanted to take three courses only after OW, in order of usefuness, it would be: 1)Nitrox 2) AOW 3)Cavern.

I think your right. The reason most people take AOW is to be about to go to 100ft on that vacation. I don;t see that as all bad though. They get some more experience before taking on a little more risk. I think the AOW is doing exactly what they need for that...

 

[ucfdiver]

I hate to agree. However, I will. Cavern and AOW are two different kinds of training. If I had to chose one to make me a better diver overall I would pick Cavern. That said if I wanted to take three courses only after OW, in order of usefuness, it would be: 1)Nitrox 2) AOW 3)Cavern.

I think your right. The reason most people take AOW is to be about to go to 100ft on that vacation. I don;t see that as all bad though. They get some more experience before taking on a little more risk. I think the AOW is doing exactly what they need for that...

What if they hit deco due to a HP steel 130 tank at 100ft, do you feel that the average student has the knowledge to watch out for that (and calculate enough air for his buddy as well) after graduating an AOW program? There's not really any skill involved in going 20ft deeper than the 60ft limit placed on you in OW, other than gas planning, and I don't see this taught from the divers I've talked to and instructors who I've asked about the class.

And I think nitrox should be taught in OW, but that's another thread

 

[PCBCaptChris]

I think teaching the different compartment models might be a bit much at this level of interest in diving. While you can never know too much; you can teach too much. Stuff most people don't think is useful to them.

PS-ucfdiver Your green mask doesn't match your blue drysuit. We're going to need to get you on that fashion emergency TV show.

 

[PCBCaptChris]

Part of the Deep course i simulated deco and teaching how to avoid deco... So they should be able to do the stops if they ignore the first part of their training...

(I offer Nitrox as an upgrade in every OW and AOW class that I teach...)