4-Skills Every Advanced Open Water (AOW) Diver Must Have

[FreqFlier]

many of our instructors are a bit old school and a little hesitant to change

Way too many "instructors" out there teach absolute minimum, and as fast as humanly possible. Usually overweighting students to begin with so nobody floats away. Witnessed that on way too many occasions.
Teaching properly takes time, time is money. I've heard this "they'll come back for more if they want to" few too many times.
My DM course instructor asked me to kneel on the bottom too.... Had to switch to another one.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Within a standard AOW course, numerous skills are taught, yet I prioritize these top four skills as essential for every certified AOW diver. These skills form the cornerstone of my AOW training courses. The execution doesn’t have to be pretty or demo quality. The goal is not perfection. What’s important is for the diver to understand the fundamentals and practice.

In this video, you’ll see the student doing well and also making mistakes. But that’s all part of the learning process.

Regardless of your diving preferences—be it shallow reef exploration, photography, wreck diving, or beyond—mastering these foundational skills enhances both the safety and enjoyment of your dives.

I hope this helps.

Nice! I used to teach all of these in the Open Water class. Backkick often was a crapshoot. Some students took to it faster than others. But in AOW, it was mandatory to pass. It didn't have to be perfect, just show reverse propulsion.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Nice video. Thanks for sharing.


I wonder this too.

It's actually easier in a horizontal position because everything is out in front of you. Less chance of something dangling and snagging on your other gear.
I have had 8 yr olds do this in a pool with a small DSMB on breath-hold dives.

 

[Rachelleny]

Within a standard AOW course, numerous skills are taught, yet I prioritize these top four skills as essential for every certified AOW diver. These skills form the cornerstone of my AOW training courses. The execution doesn’t have to be pretty or demo quality. The goal is not perfection. What’s important is for the diver to understand the fundamentals and practice.

In this video, you’ll see the student doing well and also making mistakes. But that’s all part of the learning process.

Regardless of your diving preferences—be it shallow reef exploration, photography, wreck diving, or beyond—mastering these foundational skills enhances both the safety and enjoyment of your dives.

I hope this helps.

Thanks for posting! Unfortunately, I have learned that both my OW & AOW were lacking & as a result have had to learn as I go which can be way more difficult! I think the skills you're teaching (especially maintaining that bouyancy) are so necessary!

 

[FishWatcher747]

All of the instructors that are getting the weight distribution correct for their students such that the center of buoyancy equals the center of mass should be applauded. Well done.

 

[SlugLife]

My DM course instructor asked me to kneel on the bottom too.... Had to switch to another one.

Perhaps there exists a kind of "diving" one can master on their knees, but it sure as hell isn't scuba.

 

[Angelo Farina]

Perhaps there exists a kind of "diving" one can master on their knees, but it sure as hell isn't scuba.

You need to kneel for learning how to use properly an ARO (chest mounted pure oxygen rebreather).
As in the forties and the fifties this was the standard scuba system here in Europe, the first generation of instructors did teach this way.
Unfortunately this is quite bad for back-mounted air tanks.
But after 15 years teaching the ARO on kneels, instructors here continued this way also when the ARO was superseded by OC systems.
However I always wondered how kneeling started in countries such as US, where the ARO was never widespread, and they started teaching directly with air tanks.
Laying flat on the bottom should have been easier (of course floating was almost impossible with no BCD and the tanks full of air)...

 

[FreqFlier]

However I always wondered how kneeling started in countries such as US

I believe it makes it easier for instructor to deal with multiple students, cuts course time down substantially. This happens when agencies (like PADI, SSI, few others) start prioritizing $$$ over proper learning.

 

[MidOH]

Meh. We all picked up buoyancy easy. Trim was 100x harder. We were all foot heavy.

They made us kneel just for mask clearing. But could have done that floating.

 

[John C. Ratliff]

I had an incident where my regulator hose came loose at the 2nd stage, effectively blinding me with bubbles, and in all that chaos I couldn't find my octo.

Since then, I always have my regulators retained, so I always know where both are at all times, and I'm able to access them "blind" by feel alone. There are a variety of ways you can retain a regulator, but starting out with your octo on a necklace is fairly common. Personally, my "octo" (or pony, or other sidemount bottle) is on a chest-d-ring and breakaway clip. My primary is on a necklace. A lot of "advanced" divers will use a long-hose, wrapped in a specific way, which essentially retains itself.

I’ve heard of this happening to several divers here on ScubaBoard, but in over 60 years of diving, I’ve never experienced this. I do my own maintenance, and always tighten the LP hose to second stage down with a wrench. Is this not done now?

SeaRat