Definition of "Open Water?"

[JamesBon92007]

I figured I'd find out sooner or later so I never asked but so far it has not happened. What, exactly, is the definition of "open water?" I was certified in 1969 by NAUI and about all they offered was "Basic Scuba" and "Instructor." My basic course included some beach dives but no boat dive. Personally I think it requires more skill to get in and out of the surf than to jump off a boat. I have seen divers at the beach who could not make it through the surf and I assumed they took an more advanced (i.e. expensive) class where they only dived from a boat. So, considering when I took the class, might it be considered "Open Water", "Advanced Open Water", or simply "Basic?" When we received our C-Card we were supposedly capable of diving in various ocean conditions to depths of 120' and able to deal with many situations that might arise.

 

[sabbath999]

Open water is just that... water that has no obstruction to the surface.

It doesn't have anything to do with shore/boat diving, etc.

Open water is certification to dive in areas and at depths that the diver can get into breathable air if he ascends. Non-deco diving (since mandatory deco stops means the diver cannot just ascend to the surface and breath).

 

[Mike Boswell]

Good question and Sabbath99 gives a good answer. To me, the "Open" certification means no overhead barrier to the surface, either physical (i.e. caves or wrecks) or virtual (i.e. decompression obligation).

 

[SailNaked]

open water is not controlled or filtered by any pumps.

 

[explorer08]

PADI defines „Open Water“ as following:
“Open water is a body of water significantly larger than a swimming pool offering conditions typical of a natural body of water encountered by divers.”

PADI Instructor Manual Version 2010 (Rev. 1/10), General Standards and Procedures Guide, Page 17.

 

[captndale]

In the early days of scuba training the entry level course was simply called "Scuba Diver." In those days scuba training was dominated by those who had the pools in which to train divers such as the YMCAs. Scuba training was accomplished through long training courses in classroom and pools. Many entry level courses were 12 weeks long or longer. At the end of the class, students were taken to a local outdoor site and given a "check-out" dive which usually consisted of a set of three or four skills over two short scuba dives and one skin dive, all in about a half-day. In this system, dive shops were at a disadvantage when competing with the YMCAs. Most shops did not have their own pools and pool time is expensive. Also, instructors at the YMCAs were usually volunteers; shops needed to pay their staffs.

To combat this problem, PADI introduced the "Open Water" certification (I think, in around 1980). The Open Water course added additional on-site scuba dives and reduced the pool training time. This fit much better with the dive shop business model. Shorter pool and classroom time made it less expensive for the shop. Increasing the open water portion to what was now nearly two full days allowed the shop to break that portion into a separate class and charge a separate fee for it. Reducing the content of the pool and classroom portion of the course made continuing education more important and allowed for additional sales after the entry level course.

The new "Open Water" course was marketed as an improvement to the education of scuba divers since they got an additional two dives in real-life conditions. What they lost was the rigorous training that they got under ideal conditions. In the older system, students over-learned their basic diving skills before going to open water to demonstrate what they had been taught in the pool.

 

[JamesBon92007]

The dive shop where I took my scuba class had it's own swimming pool and we did spend quite a bit of time in it. One exercise included covering the inside of our masks with aluminum foil so we could not see. We are supposed to be searching for a small ball of foil while we were in the pool. The instructor would go around doing such things as turning off our air or yanking the regulator from our mouths. We were supposed to be able to recover our regulators and/or make a free ascent. We learned buddy-breathing. We became comfortable with clearing flooded masks and purging our regulators. The classroom instruction seemed to be very thorough. Hopefully they still have such exercises. As far as no-decompression diving goes, we were taught the dive tables and my understanding is that we were supposedly capable of making decompression dives when certified. Are you guys telling me that they don't teach that as a basic skill any more? That's kinda disturbing. I don't remember my ocean dives very well but they probably included clearing our masks, removing and purging our regulators, buddy breathing, and a free ascent from 25-30 feet. Given all this, what classification might my certification level fit into these days?

 

[captain]

Right before the YMCA dropped scuba training I wanted to get a replacement card for my original 1970 card which only says Scuba Diver. As Captndale pointed out the 1970 course was an equal to what OW, AOW and some rescue is today and the only other certification at that time was instructor.
The Y no longer had any record of my certification so I had to send them a copy of my original card and instructor's name and date. My original card has the course requirement printed on the back and I asked for an AOW card as it best represented my original level of training. All they would issue me was an OW card.

 

[seaducer]

As far as no-decompression diving goes, we were taught the dive tables and my understanding is that we were supposedly capable of making decompression dives when certified. Are you guys telling me that they don't teach that as a basic skill any more?

Tables are still taught in many of the classes around here, but, uh, deco is not considered a basic skill. Further more many agencies try to limit OW divers to 60 feet or less, only allowing diving to 130 FSW for advanced, but of course there is no way to enforce this, nor should there be.

 

[Marek K]

decompression dives [...] Are you guys telling me that they don't teach that as a basic skill any more? That's kinda disturbing.

If by "decompression dives" you mean dives where you have to make decompression stops, then, as seaducer indicated, that's not taught in any recreational course (at least not now -- I don't think) other than for an emergency situation.

If you're not diving now -- and it doesn't sound like it -- are you thinking about starting up again? I hope so. *edit* I just checked your profile, and that's indeed the case!!

In my case, my wife and I were certified in 1986, and dived casually until 1991 just after the kids started coming. When our oldest turned 14 in 2004, he did his OWD; my wife and I decided to sit in with him and audit the entire course after our 13-year break. It was "just like riding a bike" once in the water; but a lot had changed in just the 13 years regarding equipment, techniques, procedures, etc.

Just sayin'.