PADI AOW

[tursiops]

I'm sure many recall as late as 2006 when I did it you needed 20 logged dives to do Rescue (also needed to do 2 Nitrox dives to get Nitrox cert.). That was dropped.

Correct, it was changed in 2009, when it was determined that although Navigation was good prep for doing the Rescue class, Deep was unnecessary.

 

[shurite7]

So just for grins & giggles, I called a 3rd dive shop and I was told by the PADI GOD-OWNER that I need to have AOW THROUGH HIS SHOP! No Exceptions!

I politely thanked him, genuflected and ended the call.

As stated in a previous post, a dive shop can have its own policies. Some instructors want their students to have some experience before taking rescue; therefore they require a person to have the advanced certification.

Nevertheless, why did the above shop's policy bother you? This question is not being asked to criticize or ridicule (far from it), rather it is to understand what you are thinking and wanting.

 

[tursiops]

Some instructors want their students to have some experience before taking rescue; therefore they require a person to have the advanced certification.

This is not really how it works. PADI requires a certification beyond OW...and Adventure Diver suffices....but one of the dives must be Navigation. AOW is even better....more dives and experience before Rescue, and an instructor or shop can certainly require that, but they should not say it is a PADI requirement.

 

[shurite7]

This is not really how it works.

Not sure how you meant that this is "how it works" with PADI or any other agency for that matter; NAUI for example does not require AOW as a prerequisite for the rescue course. All I stated above is a dive shop/operator can have additional prerequisites. With that being stated there are people (instructors, employees, managers, owners), that haven't fully read the Instructor Guide / Standards and believe AOW is required.

This is not really how it works. PADI requires a certification beyond OW...and Adventure Diver suffices....but one of the dives must be Navigation. AOW is even better....more dives and experience before Rescue, and an instructor or shop can certainly require that, but they should not say it is a PADI requirement.

This I agree with. Whether or not the dive shop, referred to in an earlier post, absolutely stated this is a PADI requirement or if the caller understood it that way is not clearly known. It seems to imply it, however, this doesn't mean that I referred to it as "that is it way works".

Hopefully this post clears up what I meant.

 

[tursiops]

Not sure how you meant that this is "how it works" with PADI or any other agency for that matter; NAUI for example does not require AOW as a prerequisite for the rescue course. All I stated above is a dive shop/operator can have additional prerequisites. With that being stated there are people (instructors, employees, managers, owners), that haven't fully read the Instructor Guide / Standards and believe AOW is required.




This I agree with. Whether or not the dive shop, referred to in an earlier post, absolutely stated this is a PADI requirement or if the caller understood it that way is not clearly known. It seems to imply it, however, this doesn't mean that I referred to it as "that is it way works".

Hopefully this post clears up what I meant.

OK, I understand what you meant, but I'm not sure you understand what I meant. You said, "Some instructors want their students to have some experience before taking rescue; therefore they require a person to have the advanced certification." My point was that the instructor is not the one requiring the advanced certification, rather it is PADI requiring it, and it is not optional for the shop or the instructor to ignore the requirement.

 

[shurite7]

My point...it is not optional for the shop or the instructor to ignore the requirement.

This is true. I believe we are on the same page, just saying it differently.

 

[Damselfish]

My first Navigation attempt was a pretty nice triangle.

I blamed a current...

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Pretty much what I got...

And were you satisfied with your training? I wish I had read the books by @Jim Lapenta: https://www.amazon.com/SCUBA-Practical-Guide-New-Diver-ebook/dp/B00I9K2KW4/ and https://www.amazon.com/SCUBA-Practical-Advanced-Training-Adavanced-ebook/dp/B01N3UDHLT/ if they were out when I had started diving. Would have saved me a lot of time and money.

My first Navigation attempt was a pretty nice triangle. Or so she said when she told me to try it again and shoot for a square this time.

I like having students do triangles in navigation courses. It is much harder than a square.

 

[HKGuns]

I like having students do triangles in navigation courses. It is much harder than a square.

That’s what I tried to tell her! You’re confirming I was just trying to make it harder!

 

[tursiops]

That’s what I tried to tell her! You’re confirming I was just trying to make it harder!

Unfortunately, the PADI Nav class, dive 1 or the dive for AOW (same thing) requires a square.
If there is a current that is constant during the square, and it is not compensated for, the sides of the square that are parallel to the current are longer (if with the current) or shorter (if against the current), and the other two sides are skewed in the direction of the current but are about the same length. A smart instructor can just stay at the start point, drift with the current, and will meet you at the end of your fourth leg if you swam a perfect square. But you will not have swum a triangle!

ADDED: My point is that the PADI standard does not say what the reference point is for the square. My technique uses the water as a reference, which is moving. It reduces to being the same as a ground reference if there is no current. Kind of like air speed versus ground speed.