OW=license to dive or learners permit?

[24940]

When I was 16, I got my drivers license. Once I attained the license, I knew I could drive any car, on any road, at any time. I also knew that I shouldn't drive over the speed limit, I couldn't drive big rigs or motorcycles and that I should be extra cautious due to my inexperience. I was a driver.

The same year I got my license, I was OW certified. I was NOT a diver. While there was nothing to limit me in terms of the dives I could do, OW didn't qualify me to do a lot of dives which were beyond my training and experience level. Deep, penetration, solo, night, deco, heavy current and even leading a dive at a new site were really beyond my experience level.

In reality, my diving should have been pretty limited after OW. Diving with a solid, experienced diver or diving with a DM or instructor within 60' while gaining experience would have been best.

I've seen a few divers out of OW doing solo or buddying with another new diver at a new site and I always feel apprehensive when I do. It seems that some fresh OW grads see obtaining the cert as having arrived, rather than having just begun.

What limitations did you place on your diving after OW? Did you see it as a license to dive or more a permit to learn how to dive?

 

[timle]

I couldn't drive big rigs or motorcycles and that I should be extra cautious due to my inexperience. I was a driver.

OW didn't qualify me to do a lot of dives which were beyond my training and experience level. Deep, penetration, solo, night, deco, heavy current and even leading a dive at a new site were really beyond my experience level.

Do you really see a difference here? When you got your license you trained in a certain environment. Would you have felt qualified to drive on the freeway in California or in downtown New York (if you didn't train there)? I certainly didn't. I drove for years gaining experience before I would drive anywhere in the US. Even now I wouldn't assume I could drive just fine in a foreign country, after seeing videos of India at rush hour.

Same thing with diving. I dove in environments similar to what I was trained in. Gained experience and began do more complex dives. Currently I'm working on my motorcycle license for diving, cave diving.

 

[ClayJar]

When I was 16, I got my drivers license. Once I attained the license, I knew I could drive any car, on any road, at any time. [...] I was a driver.

As one who has driven many vehicles on many roads, I dare say that as an OR (Open-Roads) driver, you were absolutely *not* capable of driving in every situation. Icy mountain roads, the Dalton highway, and any number of other environments are the realm of tech drivers. (An OR driver attempting an 11,333-mile solo trip in a 12-day span with no support is almost certainly over their head. For me, it was no big deal, but I had a significant body of practical experience, not to mention specialized equipment -- could *you* prepare and eat a hot meal using only one hand and without looking away from the road? )

Some tech drivers also drive with "advanced" equipment, like TTRs (Tractor-Trailer Rigs) or even double-wheel vehicles (motorcycles), although those in the latter category usually call themselves "riders", although "free-drivers" is gaining popularity in some circuits. Other tech drivers use "normal" vehicles, but they have much more refined skills than your basic OR driver.

It's hubris to think that you have arrived when you become an OR driver, and it's hubris to think that you have arrived when you become an OW diver. If you've had good basic instruction, it is perfectly reasonable to believe that you can work up to some advanced driving/diving skills with fairly minimal assistance, but for other skills, there is no substitute for further education.

Well, whatever, then. :biggrin:

 

[RussR]

Ahh Grasshoper - before you can learn to drive, you must first learn to crawl, then you can learn to walk, and then to run. But before you can learn to walk, you must first learn to crawl.

I think this is pretty obvious.

 

[mark G]

Advancing at your own pace and comfort level is probable the best way to go.
one person can read and be shown one time and have a good grasp of a situation, some people need to repeat things a couple of times and some may never catch on.
I consider diving a sport with inherent dangers involved and only consider myself qualified when I feel I am qualified. someone with the authority to issue a certification card doing so -whether it be OW,AOW or cave- doesn't make it so and won't help when your underwater! A diver is ultimately responable for his or her own fate.
MarkG

 

[Teamcasa]

Just as in driving, where a common drivers license is not a license to drive commercial big rigs, oversized vehicles, motorcycles (in some states), cranes, or any other specialized motorized vehicle without specialized training and licensing. Diving is the same, to do specialized diving, specialized training is necessary to do it safely and correctly.

 

[diver 85]

When I was 16, I got my drivers license. Once I attained the license, I knew I could drive any car, on any road, at any time. I also knew that I shouldn't drive over the speed limit, I couldn't drive big rigs or motorcycles and that I should be extra cautious due to my inexperience. I was a driver.

The same year I got my license, I was OW certified. I was NOT a diver. While there was nothing to limit me in terms of the dives I could do, OW didn't qualify me to do a lot of dives which were beyond my training and experience level. Deep, penetration, solo, night, deco, heavy current and even leading a dive at a new site were really beyond my experience level.

In reality, my diving should have been pretty limited after OW. Diving with a solid, experienced diver or diving with a DM or instructor within 60' while gaining experience would have been best.

I've seen a few divers out of OW doing solo or buddying with another new diver at a new site and I always feel apprehensive when I do. It seems that some fresh OW grads see obtaining the cert as having arrived, rather than having just begun.

What limitations did you place on your diving after OW? Did you see it as a license to dive or more a permit to learn how to dive?

My how times have changed....when I got my driver's license, it was 15(in La.)....Could drive anything legally.......Guess kind of the same with diving....when we got our OW certification, we were divers..quote from our instructor, "you are certified now, go diving anywhere there's water(I'm thinking it's not the same these days).....


Concerning your last statement, who is going to teach you how to dive after you've taken lessons???, another book???.....

 

[Guba]

You know, before I could drive one of those big, yellow, screamin' kid transports called a "school bus", I had to get a NEW permit (drivers license) and complete an ADDITIONAL training course and skills test. That original license just wasn't good enough anymore, considering that I would be driving in a new environment and with new equipment. And when I wanted to drive commercially...well, the process went even further.
An OW cert is not a complete license to dive...it's a license to LEARN.

 

[24940]

My how times have changed....when I got my driver's license, it was 15(in La.)....Could drive anything legally.......Guess kind of the same with diving....when we got our OW certification, we were divers..quote from our instructor, "you are certified now, go diving anywhere there's water(I'm thinking it's not the same these days).....

I have the impression that many new driver/divers feel this way.

Concerning your last statement, who is going to teach you how to dive after you've taken lessons???, another book???.....

In reality, my diving should have been pretty limited after OW. Diving with a solid, experienced diver or diving with a DM or instructor within 60' while gaining experience would have been best.

As do many, I believe you learn to dive from diving with solid, experienced divers and taking courses from solid, informed, accomplished instructors.

 

[covediver]

Learner's Permit if you are smart, license if you think you are smart.

When I got my open water certification, I thought I knew everything. Five months later after an emergency swimming ascent of La Jolla, I knew I didn't. Decided that I either had to get better trained and more cautious or find another activity. Thank goodness I did the former.