Duchess of Cambridge.
AOW? Joke? Meaningless?
- Thread starter gr8jab
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I know one or two Russians who dive. They also did/do stuff like paragliding, downhill skiing and bicycling. Their perception of the level of risk involved in an OW rec dive is skewed by those other sports. (I'm told when a paraglider wing folds on you, it tends to change your perspective on things: apparently they don't unfold easily.)
It's not an excuse, it's an explanation.
Maybe THAT'S why I catch so much grief here! I'm Russian! Kidding. Really, I spent 17 years roadracing motorcycles. The kind where you go 160+ MPH into Turn 1 at Daytona, (or Virginia International Raceway or numerous others), lean the bike over and drag your knees through the turns.
Some would say I'm crazy and have a warped sense of danger. However, I might point out a long career that includes winning several regional amateur championships, all while having better stats for actually completing races than any other racer I know who also competed at, say, the top 5 level consistently.
I call it finely honed risk assessment and mitigation skills, plus significant experience of maintaining calm and focus under threat of imminent death or significant injury.
Or maybe my perception of risk in an OW rec dive is just skewed...
Maybe THAT'S why I catch so much grief here! I'm Russian! Kidding. Really, I spent 17 years roadracing motorcycles. The kind where you go 160+ MPH into Turn 1 at Daytona, (or Virginia International Raceway or numerous others), lean the bike over and drag your knees through the turns.
Some would say I'm crazy and have a warped sense of danger. However, I might point out a long career that includes winning several regional amateur championships, all while having better stats for actually completing races than any other racer I know who also competed at, say, the top 5 level consistently.
I call it finely honed risk assessment and mitigation skills, plus significant experience of maintaining calm and focus under threat of imminent death or significant injury.
Or maybe my perception of risk in an OW rec dive is just skewed...
I'll be interested to hear your perspective after 17 years of diving.
There are some big differences between the AOW "courses" from different agencies. Here's where I think SSI shines. First, with SSI, you must take 4 full specialty classes with all the academics and water work. For example the Deep Diver Specialty requires 3 dives, as do many of the specialties. So, by the time you get done with your 4th specialty, you have made at least 12 dives. At this point you are still not an Advanced Diver, you also have to have at least 24 open water dives logged.
AOW is not really a course, it's a rating. But we used to make it a course by bundling 4 specialties in one fee. For AOW, we usually bundled Deep Diving, Current Diving, Night Diving and Underwater Navigation. We felt that these were the skills that made you an Advanced DIver, from among the specialties offered.
You don't have to be an SSI diver to take the SSI AOW. The SSI Master Diver program is very similar. It is really a rating not a course. To apply for the SSI Master Diver rating you must have completed the Advanced Open Water Diver and completed the SSI Diver Stress and Rescue course. And, have at least 50 open water dives.
AOW is not really a course, it's a rating. But we used to make it a course by bundling 4 specialties in one fee. For AOW, we usually bundled Deep Diving, Current Diving, Night Diving and Underwater Navigation. We felt that these were the skills that made you an Advanced DIver, from among the specialties offered.
You don't have to be an SSI diver to take the SSI AOW. The SSI Master Diver program is very similar. It is really a rating not a course. To apply for the SSI Master Diver rating you must have completed the Advanced Open Water Diver and completed the SSI Diver Stress and Rescue course. And, have at least 50 open water dives.
scottwilson1
Contributor
yup I just completed that myself, well stress and rescue next month but I'm happy with the results so far !
I just had a conversation with a local shop owner last night who is transitioning from being a PADI shop to SSI. He said just what you said. Except he said that SSI does have a direct equivalent to PADI's AOW. He said it's called Advanced Adventurer or something like that. But, he said that SSI AA does not have any requirements on which 5 dives you do. IOW, for SSI, you can have an "Advanced" card without doing any Deep or U/W Nav dives.
SDI is just like SSI. SDI Advanced Scuba Diver is 25 dives plus 4 full specialties. And SDI has Advanced Adventure Diver, which is pretty much identical to PADI AOW.
I gather that all 3 have a Master Scuba Diver rating, which is (more or less) 5 full specialties, one of which must be Rescue, and 50 logged dives.
Thank goodness for the (somewhat) consistency on Master Scuba Diver. The array of different cards, from all these different agencies, that say "Advanced" somewhere on them is just ridiculous. I have an SDI C card that says "Advanced Buoyancy Control". Sometime, I'll have to see what happens if I get asked to show my "Advanced" card and I show them that one. LOL
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