AAUS Research Diver Requirements

[scubasully]

Why do you think it's a bad idea?

My course requires an OW cert, but they are allowing people to be certified simultaneously, and I think that's a bad idea. The people that have never been diving take up the bulk of the teacher's time. I have learned no scientific diving skills yet after 5 weeks. Everything has been review with the except of the drysuit night (swim eval, diving skills, rescue skills), and as the new divers haven't even finished the OW course yet, again, they got the bulk of the teacher's attention. I have no clue what I'm doing in this drysuit and have had only 2 hours practice to figure out how to put it on, how to add/vent air, and how to right myself if I find myself inverted. I still haven't figured out how to keep air in my feet without having my arms look like the Staypuff Marshmallow Man, or how to move air from my arms to my feet (though I found the answer on this board, actually). I would prefer more practice with the dry suit, but my next time donning it will be in the ocean. I feel really bad for the OW students. It seems to me that with the normal buoyancy issues new students have anyway, adding a drysuit to the game makes it all the more difficult. I'm really glad I know how to dive already and just have to focus on one new skill set.

Or am I misunderstanding - do you mean there should be a higher-than-rec cert that students should possess? If so, what cert? I'm only familiar with rec certs.

 

[Thalassamania]

I have mixed feelings and I am considering it at the moment. "A bad idea" was my gut reaction, I need to let my head dwell on it for a while.

The problem is that given the current state of diver education I fear that I would have to spend more time breaking the students of bad habits like crawling on the bottom and rototilling and inappropriate attitudes toward things like dive computers (which are neither god-sends nor anathema, they're just tables in cartoon form).

I can see how a mix would be even harder.

Unfortunately there is no appropriate cert that I can think of.

In any case, when we use outside groups to fulfill prerequisites, they all need to be on the same page, and their not and also we abrogate some of our own power and responsibility ... I think that a bad idea for what flows into that vacuum is, in most cases, unacceptable.

 

[scubasully]

Great points. All PADI training is not equal. I'm quite sure that the training I received in the Caribbean for my OW is not the equivalent of a 12 week OW course at a college. Even among the certified divers in my class, there's a wide variation of level, and I'm seeing a bunch of bad habits. I might have my own, but no one has called me on anything yet.

I was thinking about this thread yesterday in class and wanting opinions on buddies in the course. Last night was our final pool class. I'm huge into safety. I feel that while no one wants to get hurt, some of the younger students (I'm in my 30s - the oldest in the class) are more interested in just getting down and seeing stuff - safety isn't on the top of their mind. Nor is refining their skills. I am not interested in buddying up with them. I mentioned this to the instructor last night after class. I asked if once at the bay we'd get to choose our own buddies or would they be assigned as they've been at the pool (switching every week). He said he wasn't sure yet. I then said that I'm curious because there are certain students I don't feel comfortable buddying with. Was that way out of place fore me to say as this is a course and not a pleasure trip? His reaction (walked towards someone else and blew me off) makes me think so. I feel yucky about it now, and I'm wondering if because it's a class that I'm supposed to just be with whomever the teacher tells me to buddy up with. I wouldn't think twice about my reaction on a dive trip, though. If I don't feel comfortable buddying with someone, I do not.

I teach English at the U. Sometimes I pair up students to work together. No one in recent memory has asked to be switched, but certainly when a student gets paired with another that is not interested in learning, doing the assignment, etc., it's more challenging for that student, but no one's life is endangered. Last night we did rescue drills. I watched everyone, and I do not want to buddy with certain people.

Do you think I have the wrong attitude? I'm pretty sure my teacher thinks so.

 

[Thalassamania]

I'm sure your teacher does. But you do have a point. It is the right of every scientific diver to be able to refuse to dive without fear of sanction or loss of status. I've never heard of that concept being applied during a class ... but ... first time for everything.

But the other point is that each institution must be sovereign, beyond being able to engage in a dialectic concerning my views on the situation, and what I thing is good or bad, with the the instructor(s), DSO and DCB members, etc., there's nothing more that I can do or that I should be able to do. If enough discussion takes place, at enough institutions, then it will percolate through AAUS and perhaps take the form, in time, for a consensus recomendation for change.

 

[scubasully]

For this trip, I'll do an about face and get with the program. And I'll be reading everything I can get my hands on about dry suit diving over the next 8 days.

Thanks for your input.

 

[Thalassamania]

Here's the dry suit story in a nutshell. Keep only enough air in the suit to relieve the squeeze. Close the suit valve. As you descend your suit air compresses and you'll need to add air to neutralize. When neutral, pen the valve till it just bubbles. Keep your BC or wing empty (it's for trimming the weight of your gas),diving a single you really don't need to use it. Keep a little bubble across your shoulders and a little bubble in each leg, that will make a buoyancy tripod that you can hang from. It really is quite easy if you just relax.

 

[scubasully]

Thanks. I didn't know that about the BC (this is what I'm talking about. I'd like to know this ahead of time and not learn it on the fly). How do I control where the bubbles of air go? I was trying to practice moving air around yesterday and all I could figure out was how to get air in the feet once I jump in, but once i've descended and am adding more air, it didn't seem to work as easily as kicking my legs up. I guess there must be a trick.

You're still up. For some reason, I thought you were east coast, but now I'm guessing CA or HI? Lucky you - nice and warm either way!

 

[Thalassamania]

Hawai'i.

You got to play with moving around, it really does come rather easy, the only move that takes some strength is the righting yourself from feet up/head down.

I'm going to bed. Night

 

[scubasully]

Thanks. We tried that one in the pool - the instructor put a weighted crate on the bottom with a rope attached to it. We grabbed the rope and aimed our heads down toward the crate, pumping in a bit of air to make our foot go up, then righted ourselves and vented. Everyone took a turn, and it didn't seem to difficult after I got upside down.

Getting my feet comfortable in that tight dry suit proved eminently more so!

 

[Dtaine]

well i "found out" the course was being offered and decided to enroll

Got it.

i have been talking with the dive safety officer and it is indeed scheduled for 6 days yet listed as a 100 hour course...

here is some the info i have received:

We will be offering an American Academy of Underwater Sciences (AAUS) 100 Hour Research Diving course on June 15-21st. The course will allow you to participate in UCLA sponsored research dives as well as have reciprocity with the many other AAUS member orgs around the globe. Here is a brief breakdown:


Conducted by the UCLA Diving Safety Program

This course is designed to meet the UCLA and American Academy of Underwater Sciences (AAUS) diving knowledge and skill requirements for authorization as a Scientific Diver. Successful completion will also result in NAUI MASTER DIVER, CPR AND FIRST AID, and DAN OXYGEN ADMINISTRATION certifications.



Lecture Sessions: Morning Sessions



Topics will include: CPR, First Aid; Oxygen Administration for Diving Accidents; Diving Rescue and Accident Management; Applied Physics and Physiology; Equipment Design, Function, Maintenance, and Field Troubleshooting; Dive Planning and Air Management; Decompression Theory, Dive Tables and Dive Computers; Physical and Biological Diving Environment; Introductions to Specialized Diving Modes.



Open Water/Practical Training: Afternoon Sessions



Training exercises will include: Diver Rescue; Dive Accident Management; Out of Air Emergency Protocols; UW Navigation; Search and Recovery; Night Diving; Deeper Diving; Marine Life Survey and Data Collection Methods.



Cost Recovery Fee: (approx.) $300.00

Payable at the start of class. Includes textbooks, registrations, Scuba BCDs, Scuba regulators, cylinders and air fills. Divers have to provide own wetsuit, appropriate weight belt, UW compass, timing device (UW watch) and diver knife. Divers using own Scuba equipment have to meet UCLA regulations, please make prior arrangements with UCLA Diving Safety Officer.



Prerequisites: Open to all Certified Scuba Divers.

1) UCLA Diver Application and AAUS Diving Medical Exam

Must be received prior to start of Class (June 15):



􀂃 Application and copies of certifications



􀂃 AAUS Diving Medical Examination and Physician's Approval to Dive



3) Diver-In-Training status

Completed prior to start of open water dives (June 18th)



􀂃 Personal Equipment Service/Inspection (regulator, alternate air source, BC inflator, gauges)



􀂃 Pool swim and dive skill evaluations



􀂃 Open water skill evaluations



IMPORTANT NOTES:

1. In case of full class, priority will be given based on order of enrollment.

2. Open to non-UCLA scientists from collaborating institutions on a space-available basis

That's a lot to cover in just 6 days, but I guess it's doable. Best of luck with it!

As far as being under 24 dives (which i am unfortunately), the other aaus organizations i have seen require OW cert + 12 dives

i will put up more info as i get it

I only put that in to remark that such a short course would be tough for anybody with only a few dives (I don't have that many myself). Hopefully everything goes smoothly and you get it all done well. I'd suggest practicing the swim requirements ahead of time so that you know you meet the time limits; with a six day course you wouldn't have much time to make any necessary improvements.

I then said that I'm curious because there are certain students I don't feel comfortable buddying with. Was that way out of place fore me to say as this is a course and not a pleasure trip?

You should have the right to not buddy with someone if you don't feel comfortable diving with them. I essentially got to pick my buddy for the course I'm in now and everything is going incredibly smoothly, we each know how the other will dive and it makes the skill sessions and dives much easier.