Taking an open water student below 60 ft?

[Swamp_monster]

Hey,
I was wondering if an open water student on a checkout dive can go below 60ft with a PADI instructor or is it "against the rules"? If an accident happened would insurance still cover this? I am not an instructor, I did not do this... Just a question out of curiosity on the dive boat. I have seen some deep wrecks were if you are an OW diver you can go with an instructor and they let you dive the wreck.

 

[Compressor]

I can only answer some of your questions: Every agency has their own standards. I am not a PADI I so don't know about their standards. In general if standards are not followed and an accident or incident occurs, it is difficult to defend. This is during the open water instruction phase of the course.

 

[JackD342]

Hey,
I was wondering if an open water student on a checkout dive can go below 60ft with a PADI instructor or is it "against the rules"? If an accident happened would insurance still cover this? I am not an instructor, I did not do this... Just a question out of curiosity on the dive boat. I have seen some deep wrecks were if you are an OW diver you can go with an instructor and they let you dive the wreck.

PADI standards for the tour portion of the OW training dive are 40 ft for 10 and 11 year olds, and 60 ft for all others. Can’t speak to every policy writer, but knowingly and intentionally violating standards is probably specifically forbidden.

 

[Scraps]

Don’t know the answer to the specific question, but the second time I took the open water class, the instructor offered to take us deeper to an interesting part of the dive site. However, he was careful to specify that he would signal when we had completed the the course requirements and we would do the deep portion as certified divers, not as students.

 

[oly5050user]

Don’t know the answer to the specific question, but the second time I took the open water class, the instructor offered to take us deeper to an interesting part of the dive site. However, he was careful to specify that he would signal when we had completed the the course requirements and we would do the deep portion as certified divers, not as students.

He violated standards. Not certified until out of water, debriefed on dive and signed off in log book. If an accident occurred insurance company has an “out “ and would not defend him.

 

[JackD342]

Don’t know the answer to the specific question, but the second time I took the open water class, the instructor offered to take us deeper to an interesting part of the dive site. However, he was careful to specify that he would signal when we had completed the the course requirements and we would do the deep portion as certified divers, not as students.

At least from a PADI perspective, I don’t believe that particular splitting of hairs would stand up to review.

 

[Kharon]

Don't know about PADI but on my final OW checkout dive we were told if anyone's computer read deeper than 60 feet we wouldn't pass.

 

[jonhall]

There seem to be 2 different parts to your inquiry:

if an open water student on a checkout dive can go below 60ft with a PADI instructor or is it "against the rules"?

I'm not close to being an instructor but I would think from all I've read on SB, no instructor on SB is going to take you below 60 ft as it is "against the rules." As to if insurance would cover an accident, the only sure way to get an answer for your scenario is to call a specific insurance carrier and ask. DAN insurance, as I read it, covers a recreational dive and then goes on to name other divers covered - an OW student not being one of them. Maybe the PADI instructor's insurance would cover it if they were in some way liable for your accident.

I have seen some deep wrecks were if you are an OW diver you can go with an instructor and they let you dive the wreck.

Since, in PADI, the depth limit is 60' in training if it didn't go "against the rules" and you will be certified to a max depth of 60'. If you are already an OW certified, I believe you are certified to go to 60' if diving on your own, BUT many ops in my experience will take you deeper. A guide could take you as deep as the recreational limit of 130' - probably isn't going to happen. I was lucky in that on my 9th dive ever (5th after checkout dives), I was taken to a 100' wreck and the dive op gave a great briefing and explained to my wife and I what was going on. Through my first 100 dives which were before AOW certification, just about 40% of the dives I did went below the 60' level.

 

[mmerriman]

Don’t know the answer to the specific question, but the second time I took the open water class, the instructor offered to take us deeper to an interesting part of the dive site. However, he was careful to specify that he would signal when we had completed the the course requirements and we would do the deep portion as certified divers, not as students.

and he violated the standards. You're not certified until you get out of water, debrief, sign log books, and do paperwork.

 

[mmerriman]

He violated standards. Not certified until out of water, debriefed on dive and signed off in log book. If an accident occurred insurance company has an “out “ and would not defend him.

funny - i posted almost the same thing. you beat me to it.