Split From http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ac...0-catalina-diver-died-today-w-instructor.html
.... Advanced Certification as provided by PADI is a joke and allowing students to take this certification with less than 10 dives is worse.
Dwayne, this isn't meant as a troll. I'm just curious to undertand your rationale.
Without addressing the first half of the sentence I quoted (no sense muddying this thread further), the second half of your statement has piqued my curiosity.
If you think allowing people to take the PADI AOW (NAUI has the same prerequisite, BTW) with less than 10 dives is not right, what do you suggest they do to get enough underwater time to be ready for the class? I'm assuming that you think they ought to have more than10 dives under their belt before they take the AOW.
And if I'm right, that begs this question: With whom do they do these other dives to get them to have enough logged dives so that, from your perspective, they're "ready" for AOW?
The reason this intrigues me is that you essentially seem to be saying that getting experience diving on their own with a buddy is going to be safer/preferable to getting that experience under the eye of an instructor.
And I don't think it would be fair to say that because, in this case, the diver died under the supervision of an instructor, that proves your point. The more salient question to ponder would be what would have happened had this same situation developed and the diver was with another new-ish diver.
From what I know of the particulars, the instructor here did everything she could to react to and alleviate the situation. I can't imagine a non professional-level person reacting as quickly. And even though the final outcome might have been the same, I'm still wrestling with what your logic might be.
Anyhow, just curious if you'd care to expand on your thoughts.
(But if what you meant to say was that calling someone - NAUI, PADI, or any other cert flavor - an "Advanced" diver with 10 dives under their belt is lunancy, then I'm in total agreement with you.)
- Ken