11 year old nitrox cert

[Skb]

My 11 year old son has been diving for a year now, 32 dives. I would like to get his nitrox certificate but SSI says he has to be 12. Any reason? Diving to 40 feet I would think it would be better, less nitrogen load then with air. Especially on a dive trip with multiple dives. Any thoughts?

 

[Marie13]

I'm doing my SDI computer nitrox class right now. Looked at their website for minimum age, out of curiousity, and it's 10.

 

[Skb]

Thanks that's good to know. I may look for an SDI instructor.

 

[Neilwood]

My 11 year old son has been diving for a year now, 32 dives. I would like to get his nitrox certificate but SSI says he has to be 12. Any reason? Diving to 40 feet I would think it would be better, less nitrogen load then with air. Especially on a dive trip with multiple dives. Any thoughts?

My guess would be liability insurance. Padi is 12 as well.

That and the ability of kids to take in information at that age varies greatly. Some are sponges that take in and understand it in seconds whereas others need a bit of work.

 

[2airishuman]

My 11 year old son has been diving for a year now, 32 dives. I would like to get his nitrox certificate but SSI says he has to be 12. Any reason?

I can't speak for SSI, and every 11 year old is different. My experience of 11 year olds is that most of them do not have the background to understand partial pressures, CNS toxicity, or nitrogen loading. There are exceptions, of course. There is also the consideration that young divers aren't supposed to be diving to depths where nitrox makes sense.

Diving to 40 feet I would think it would be better, less nitrogen load then with air. Especially on a dive trip with multiple dives. Any thoughts?

I don't believe that there's any evidence to suggest that nitrox has any benefit for shallow dives, including dives to 40 feet. There's another thread on this.

 

[Musicgirl]

NAUI also allows for 10 years old. Junior EANx certification.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

I can't speak for SSI, and every 11 year old is different. My experience of 11 year olds is that most of them do not have the background to understand partial pressures, CNS toxicity, or nitrogen loading. There are exceptions, of course. There is also the consideration that young divers aren't supposed to be diving to depths where nitrox makes sense.



I don't believe that there's any evidence to suggest that nitrox has any benefit for shallow dives, including dives to 40 feet. There's another thread on this.

Nitrox may have negligible benefit for shallow water but if an individual is unable to comprehend nitrogen loading ...then they should not be certified. Working with a young child and expanding their intellectual development within an activity that they think is fun and interesting is worth the effort, I think. If the tanks are filled with partial pressure blending ...I think I might require that as a parent that I double check the analysis the child performs independently. A mistake could kill them.

 

[Skb]

I would definitely double check the analysis on the tank. He actually has done very well comprehending gas pressure. He scored better then all the adults in his open water class. I will search for the posts on nitrox at shallow depth.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Interesting that the agencies will teach Nitrox at such a young age. But I suppose everything can be explained in an intuitive way with a minimum of physics and chemistry. You really don't need a high school-level background in physics or chemistry to intuitively understand pressure and the roles of oxygen and nitrogen. Presumably the young diver already has a grasp of the concept of nitrogen loading as required for OW certification.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

On the SEI tables the NDL on a 40 ft dive is 135 minutes.

Is the junior diver even going to be able to carry enough gas to do that? Maybe. With a good SAC rate they might get 2 hours out of an al80.

Is it a good idea to keep a junior diver in the water that long on a single dive? Maybe, if they have adequate exposure protection.

Rather than going for a recreational nitrox cert (now that with most of them the course is more set your computer based. Which is why I will not teach the SDI course, only the TDI) where with nitrox I don't even consider it beneficial below 50 ft for recreational dives, why not just let him dive and work on skills like buoyancy and trim.

The nitrox can wait until he is old enough to understand tracking O2 exposure, understanding the CNS clock, calculating MOD, EAD, and best mix. Then let him take the TDI class.