Aow Class In 4 Days

[TheHuth]

After a long 2 month wait, I'm finally getting back in to the water. All in my own gear, which makes it even better. Hopefully within a couple more months I'll be doing my Rescue class.

 

[Oldbear]

There you go...dive, dive, dive. Classes are good, but nothing replaces (and compliments classes) like actual diving.

 

[Neilwood]

Enjoy it. I am in the middle of doing mine atm (3 dives last weekend - Deep, Nav and PPB) with 2 next weekend (boat and photography).

Need to do Nitrox after that.

Think rescue will wait until I have at least 50 (but more likely 100) dives. I want to be in full control of my diving with regards to buoyancy, trim etc before I accept task loading like rescue.

 

[flyboy08]

Good luck! There's no substitute for Continuing education....

 

[boulderjohn]

Think rescue will wait until I have at least 50 (but more likely 100) dives. I want to be in full control of my diving with regards to buoyancy, trim etc before I accept task loading like rescue.

Good buoyancy and trim are really not that much of an issue in a rescue class. The hardest parts of the class are done while floating on the surface.

 

[TMHeimer]

Good buoyancy and trim are really not that much of an issue in a rescue class. The hardest parts of the class are done while floating on the surface.

Yeah. I've said many times that my skills weren't perfect when I took Rescue with 26 dives done. But I did OK and got the knowledge early. You can still improve your overall diving, buoyancy and practise rescue techniques long after the course. And if something does happen on dive #30, at least you have the knowledge. Perhaps that's why PADI no longer requires full AOW and 20 logged dives to take Rescue (perhaps not.....?).

 

[Neilwood]

Good buoyancy and trim are really not that much of an issue in a rescue class. The hardest parts of the class are done while floating on the surface.

I know what you are saying but the last thing I want to be doing is concentrating on a search etc while my buoyancy is going all over the shop. I would rather do it at the point where buoyancy is more of a subconscious thought than needing active concentration.

Prime example was a guy I dived with last year. During normal diving his buoyancy was ok but stick a compass on his wrist and he was up and down like a yoyo (we are talking swings of about 4-5m from a depth of 13-14m). Any task loading and his buoyancy went haywire. Not the best situation to be in while trying to aid someone else.

 

[boulderjohn]

Perhaps that's why PADI no longer requires full AOW and 20 logged dives to take Rescue (perhaps not.....?).

Also because junior divers cannot get AOW because they are not allowed to do the deep dive.With just the Adventure Diver cert, they can do the rescue certification.

Prime example was a guy I dived with last year. During normal diving his buoyancy was ok but stick a compass on his wrist and he was up and down like a yoyo (we are talking swings of about 4-5m from a depth of 13-14m). Any task loading and his buoyancy went haywire. Not the best situation to be in while trying to aid someone else.

I would think that would be very rare. Using a compass is part of the OW class and the AOW class. It should be mastered by then. During a search, you are close to the bottom, giving you a good visual reference that will keep you at depth. More importantly, using the compass on a search is a buddy skill. One person takes care of the compass, and the other takes care of both the search and the depth.

 

[Neilwood]

Also because junior divers cannot get AOW because they are not allowed to do the deep dive.With just the Adventure Diver cert, they can do the rescue certification.

I would think that would be very rare. Using a compass is part of the OW class and the AOW class. It should be mastered by then. During a search, you are close to the bottom, giving you a good visual reference that will keep you at depth. More importantly, using the compass on a search is a buddy skill. One person takes care of the compass, and the other takes care of both the search and the depth.

I have no doubt that it is not too common but that is the only reason it did happen with my group. We were diving in a group of three (me OW cert with the other two AOW cert) so took turns in doing the nav. Both myself and the other diver in the group were maintaining approx 2-3ft from bottom whereas he was doing a rollercoaster by comparison. The dives he wasn't doing the nav his buoyancy was a lot better.

 

[KevinNM]

Don't let him do that. Use touch contact to give him a reference. If you need to, grab his arm or have him grab yours to keep him roughly at the right depth.