How many dives did you have when you did AOW

[The Horn]

I had over 100 and I took it to get the card. I agree with Howarde on some levels and my training years are done until my boys are old enough to certify. I can't see pouring any more $$ out except to upgrade equipment or dive.

If you want to take AOW to a new (better) level then put a minimum 50 dives on it and teach it as a pre-Divemaster and nuke the "Rescue" All the things in "Rescue" should be part of the OW and AOW. You should not have to take a course to learn how to save your Buddy outside of learning the basics of diving. That does go against the $$ phylosophy. AOW should also have nitrox and basic decompression theroy included.

It is odd that we as a diving community keep a log book of our dives and for the most part this log is disregarded or given little attention when subsequent education is sought. I guess it is more for personal use.

It is also very difficult to compare courses on this WWW as there are many different locations and problems/training that occurs that put different levels of requirements on divers.

 

[boulderjohn]

I have to disagree with this, in this situation you may very well be better trainied, but only diving leads to experience IMO, all things being equal (and there are alot of em') someone with 3x's more dives than you is certainly more experienced.

There's an old saying that may apply here:

"Experience is mandatory; growth is optional."

I learned to ski pretty much by myself, partially by getting some tips from some friends and partially by watching others who looked what they were doing. Living in Colorado as I did, I got plenty of experience with those techniques.

When I finally decided to take some lessons and learn what I was doing, I discovered that about 80% of what I had been taught by friends or observed in others was nonsense, and all those years of experience had so deeply ingrained bad habits into my skiing that it was nearly impossible to get me to do it right.

In my earliest years of diving, I got a lot of help by "experienced" divers who gave me all sorts of "valuable" tips. I was told not to bother logging dives. I was told not to pay attention to tables or plan dives--that was what DM's are for. Yes, I got all sorts of valuable tidbits that I thankfully had the sense to ignore.

 

[beejw]

GA U/W...i understand what youre saying, but the more diving you do by yourself or with a buddy gives you a chance to fine tune your skills and master the basic skills before moving onto more advanced things where those skills must be second nature.

And i understand your sarcasm, but no, i would question a rescue divers qualifications because i have faith that they would have had to have performed all the skills to gain that qualification.

having an AOW card doesnt mean your any better at controlling your bouyancy or following a compass then a guy whose done 100 dives and learnt it by himself.

I personally am the type of diver who treats every dive as a training dive, whether im doing photography, or just diving, I'm always practising skills. I practice mask floods and regulator exchanges at safety stops, and even while swimming. when waiting for people i practice hovering. im *always* volunteering to navigate.

meh. so...MOF, or NMOF?

 

[matt_unique]

100 dives for me.

--Matt

 

[BKP]

Somewhere between 35 and 50... (just never thought of it as a red-letter date)

 

[mrjimboalaska]

54 Logged dives....I say logged, because I had dove for years before certifying and had been to 90ft. before ever certifying...but, rescue diver is a course that was a BIG eye opener.
I agree with many posts here that mention combining OW, AOW and RESCUE into
Basic Open Water.......

 

[Guba]

The point by boulderjohn (and others) is worthy of considering.
For years, I had been a lifeguard, then I got away from it for a while. When I re-entered the program, I had to take training in the "proper" method of swimming (and instructing swimmers). Piece of cake, right? What I hadn't considered was that all my life I had been swimming "wrong". Certainly I could plow along and I could perform rescues, but the elements of swimming I learned in the class tremendously refined my strokes and kicks, making them much more efficient and thus making swimming easier and less tiring. Since that time, I've seen it over and over again as a lifeguard trainer/instructor. Healthy young male athletes with muscles to their earlobes and they almost drowned on a 300 meter swim. Why? Because they didn't know the proper techniques. After an afternoon of teaching it to them, they had no more problems.
Going back to the military model. If you were to enter a firefight, who do you want at your side...a person who had spent twenty years at various jobs in, say, the Army or an intensely trained specialist (SEAL, Ranger, or such...)?
The point is...experience (number of dives, hours in the water) is NOT an entirely accurate gauge of how well trained someone might be. Of course, neither is the number of patches/badges a person has on their jacket. In short, I'm not sure there actually is a method for another person to know how well "educated" a diver one is.

 

[Walter]

... which means that now It's important to take such classes as AOW and Rescue soon as possible

I disagree. AOW is a joke. It's important to get a better OW course and to follow it with a real Advanced class and skip AOW entirely.

 

[Packhorse]

I find it rather stupid (again this is i just MHO) that PADI and most other organisations don't have a required experience level before commencing the AOW course. On paper, a person who does there AOW course right after the OW course is a "more advanced diver" then myself, who is only OW certified. But, I have 32 dives.......
SSI's policy is that you must have 25 dives before commencing the AOW course

SSI advanced is not a course, just a level achieved after doing 4 specialty courses.
I started doing wreck, night, and deep at about 100 dives and did Nitrox at about 200.

To be honest I found most of the courses a waist of time and money and they didnt teach me much at all. Its all common sence.
The wreck specialty was like "This wreck is like any natural reef but with sharp edges and holes, dont go in the holes"
Night "Its dark take a light and a spare"
Deep " OK lets rehash half of OW"
The nitrox is a good cousre unless you have read and understand this artical
http://www.gasdiving.co.uk/pages/misc/Nitrox.htm
and a few threads on SB.

If I had taken the specialtys earlyer, like right after OW I am sure I would have got more out of them. So thats what I would recommend, If you take specialtys take them ASAP. Otherwise dive , dive and dive some more and self learn.

and I don't feel that taking classes is the only way to learn.

For some people though, it's invaluable.

I hear you Howarde and agree 100%

 

[shark.byte.usa]

I think the key is to just take it when your comfortable in the water and with the skills taught in OW and you feel your ready to expand your training to Deep, Night, etc. This will vary from diver to diver. I personally don't like the idea of taking it immediately after OW, whereas you basically have <10 logged dives and an AOW card, and have never been diving without supervision, I don't think that's was the intended spirit of the class or the cert when it was instituted.

-Garrett