As for training, I again agree with the OP
.. OW in its wholeness is good to 130 ft. however training has broke the OW training into phases basic advanced and deep
with their own sub limits with in the ow max of 130. I have always used 60/100/130. Ow's should not dive beyond their training of 60. But no one enforces it.
Then the agencies that train train to a limit of 60' should rename their class, specify the limits, and not try to pass of inadequate training as being OW.
Both times I was trained as an OW diver, the skills were secondary to developing ones judgement on when to dive, when to expand ones limits and when not to take a
chance. In the shortened classes using the computer, one instructor for pool and another for OW dives, when is there time know a student and to develop their good judgement?
any dive op that does will not get customers to pay the bills. It always takes external forces to make change. gas availability needs a
C card to get it to be covered by the insurer of the shop. Perhaps dive ops should have the same enforceable requirement's. Want to get gas show me your card.
want to dive to 90 ft ,,, show me the card that you have been formally trained to that depth, or get off my boat. Of course different agency's would have to
standardize their cert language. most call deep >100 padi calls it >60. Some I have heard is >130. Is it any wonder why you cant get agreement from the professionals
on what is a deep dive.
The problem is that OW is for recreational limits which is now agreed to be 130' not the NDL to which I was originally non-formally trained, which goes to 190'.
What limits a dive op requires is up to the dive op and their insurance company.
As for formal training, it just depends on the instructor, so crappy AOW and crappy deep training gets the same card as good training, an OW diver with experience can be better than both.
And the biggy ::::: we are self regulated. We are not..... we are self exploited with no regulation other than what an outside agency, called insurance companies, place on various scuba operations.
Have to agree, regulation not only means making rules but also insuring that they are carried out properly. I see no active quality control by any agency to insure it's instructors and DM's are adhering to their regulations unless a problem brought to their attention by an outside source.
Given the behavior of senior/controlling aspects in our diving support systems why should anyone get a cert beyond what is minimally needed to get air.
There is no reason, actually that is why I took OW after 17 years of diving, should I go outside my area the chances of getting a fill dropped considerably. The reason I took other classes was because my grown daughter took up SCUBA and we made a bet, I wanted her to get more training as I believe the quality of OW and AOW have dropped over the years and I wanted her to get a more thorough training.
Agency regulation's that prohibit any training unless done through a shop. Kudo's for PADI and some others on that one, for getting it right. Give them the GIR award in that regard.
I don't see that as a complete negative. A truely independant instructor has no oversite whatsoever, and I believe that oversite and quality control is at the root of poor instruction. A good shop could improve the quality of their instructors, or remove those who should not be teaching.
KWS:
They use the computer to see what you did, just like your car insurer uses you cars black box to reconstruct an accident.
If you die with a 500k policy at 90 ft and only have ow card on file with the boat you can be sure they are going to do everything to see that they don't pay if you have no proof of further formal training.
The problem is knowing where you died. Say I'm an OW on a wall at 30' and croak, I'm found at 100' at the base of the wall, so my insurance is invalid because my computer can't tell when I died. I hope my wife gets a good lawyer.
As for reading instructions, I have no problem with reading them, however sometimes there is no way to make sense out of them.
Bob
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I may be old, but I'm not dead yet.