20 dive requirement for Rescue

[RJP]

Personally, I had 80 dives prior to AOW and 120 prior to rescue, made much more sense to me this way

Right... Because you wouldn't want to be able to effectively assist another diver (or yourself) until you have more than 100 dives.

Makes sense... no?

 

[Octopusprime]

I think certification and continuing education is always good. If a diver wants to learn rescue right away they will be better repaired if their buddy needs help. That being said is anyone a proficient rescuer after taking a rescue course! NO... After any certification you need to continue to practice skills.

I took my rescue after 50 dives from a professional search and recovery diver that has recovered 14 bodies... And has over 2000 dives... He was huge wealth of knowledge. Due to weather conditions we did last day of rescue class in drysuit...it was a new perspective. I am new to drysuit but it was interesting to have to think about the drysuit with the rescue. Even if you dive wet you may help look for a missing diver with a drysuit and you need to know how to inflate and purge the suit. If your going to remove gear inflate suit first etc.

 

[drbill]

Back in the good old days (when I used to walk to and from school in a blizzard uphill in both directions), my Los Angeles County OW certification took you through most of what is in today's OW, AOW and Rescue. It was a three week course though and the cost today would probably be a barrier for many new divers (hmmm). Since a number of younger instructors (mostly from PADI) weren't aware of the LAC certification requirements, they often made me do check out dives. I found a PADI instructor in Australia who recognized my card and gave me a PADI AOW for the cost of the book. I also did a PADI Rescue cert with another great PADI instructor. Personally, I consider all three certs necessary to develop a decently trained diver.