What percentage of your certified Open Water Divers complete their 20th logged dive?

[paulithepin]

The question of "what certifying agency is the best" gets asked often, and everyone has their opinions. I wonder what the actual numbers would say, if they were tracked? I know lots experienced divers who dive on a regular basis, but I know hundreds of people who got Open Water certified and no longer dive- the vast majority of whom never made it to 20 logged dives. Their reasons for not continuing are as varied as they are as individuals. I can't help but wonder if the quality of their initial trainings played a role in their decision to stop scuba diving.

This question came to mind when I was congratulating a friend for completing her 20th logged dive yesterday at the St. Andrews State Park Jetty in Panama City Beach, FL. I know the struggles she had during her OW class and will never forget hearing her say that the instructor told the class, after a student "quit" during confined water dives due to problems equalizing (in water with 5 foot visibility, strong current, and 1-2 ft seas at the local St. Andrews State Park Jetty), that "some people aren't meant to dive". Keep in mind that we are fortunate to have 2 springs within an hours drive (Vortex and Morrison) that are both set up for OW Diver training in addition to a local pool for confined water.

So, back to my question, what's percentage of Open Water Divers certified by your agency make it to their 20th logged dive?

 

[emoreira]

I guess that no one will have that info.
Certification agencies would not want those numbers to be public. Dive schools, no matter what certification agency they represent, would not want those numbers to be public.
I guess that in the long run, no more than 10 % of certified divers go on diving. I mean 5 years after checkout.
There is whole world of reasons for those that quit.
I've been working in my dive school (now as instructor) for the last 5 years and the people that keep coming and keep diving is very few, no matter what we do to keep them interested. Time, family, money, cold weather, not enough holidays, long distances to dive sites, "this is not for me", new sports that compete, dont't like the group, and a very long list of etc.

 

[Erich S]

A good question and along with your question is how many that are certified OW go on to AOW and beyond?

 

[emoreira]

A good question and along with your question is how many that are certified OW go on to AOW and beyond?

A good strategy is to invite those newly certified OWD divers to go on with courses and offer them the required dive excursions to get the amount of dives to get the AOWD cert. Once the student leaves the dive school. it´s quite hard to make them come back.

 

[DeputyDan]

Many people get ow certified for that one trip and really have no intention of diving long term.
I bet that at least 85% of all certified divers have less than 15 total dives outside of their certification dives.

 

[TMHeimer]

How would any agency ever get this information? Phone or e mail OW Course graduates? If you decide to put diving on the back burner would you inform the shop or agency about that?

 

[KevinNM]

How would any agency ever get this information? Phone or e mail OW Course graduates? If you decide to put diving on the back burner would you inform the shop or agency about that?

PADI could infer from their later certifications as to how many divers are doing something at 1 month, 6 months, a year. Beyond that it would be hard, as comparatively very few people sign up for tech courses or instructor courses, which are pretty conclusive signs of someone still diving.

 

[drrich2]

A good question and along with your question is how many that are certified OW go on to AOW and beyond?

I think this is a metric that could be obtained by agencies (wouldn't be made public) and would be interesting to compare between agencies. A person to take the AOW course probably intends to keep diving, and one who signs up to take it under the same agency was probably at least nominally satisfied with the agency materials used in the OW course.

I imagine a dive shop, or private instructor, could keep a running tally of how many of their OW students went on to take an AOW from them, also.

Richard.

 

[flyboy08]

This sport needs to be advertised as a family sport! Yes, solo too, but we as a family have spent many a happy day diving together! I can't think of a better sport or hobby that one can share with family members.

If diving was marketed better, I believe divers would be more apt in continuing the sport.

 

[yle]

I know the struggles she had during her OW class and will never forget hearing her say that the instructor told the class, after a student "quit" during confined water dives due to problems equalizing (in water with 5 foot visibility, strong current, and 1-2 ft seas at the local St. Andrews State Park Jetty), that "some people aren't meant to dive". ?

Wow... the instructor was doing confined water dives in those conditions?? Sounds like a serious standards violation.