Aow Class In 4 Days

[gr8jab]

Hi Huth,

I hope you have fun and learn in your AOW. I did not find my AOW class very educational for various reasons, many of them my own fault. Also, I took it 100 dives after my OW class.

Maybe you can benefit from my hindsight.

1. I was in a group class, and therefore only had some input into which specialties were selected. I had expected I could choose the exact specialties I was interested in, but I could not.

2. Because of weather, currents, boat schedules, and such, not all the specialties were possible each day. Try to be strategic and plan things opportunistically.

3. Read the whole book and complete all of the quizzes in advance. Don't skip any specialties, even if you don't plan on doing them. (see #1 and #2 as explanation).

4. Make a list of the topics and skills you wish to learn about, even if they are not perfect fits for the specialty dive you are doing. I know this may be hard, since sometimes you don't know what you don't know. For example, during one of our specialties (drift, I think), I asked if I could learn how to shoot a DSMB. We talked at length about how to do it, and the troubles that could happen. During the dive, we watched a demo, and then got to try it ourselves. Maybe this would have been covered anyway, but by asking about it, extra attention was received.

5. Don't forget your book in a different state! (ha ha, I did).

6. Ask lots of questions like 'why do we xyz?', or 'what's the best way to abc?'.

7. Before each dive, ask the instructor what type of hand signals he likes to use. Have him demonstrate.

8. Try to complete the book/quiz/lesson part each day/dive, rather than all at once. It can get quite tedious if done in one continuous chunk.

 

[Rilelen]

I did my AOW recently and was rather disappointed....let's just say your instructor matters a lot. People always say that, but it really really really makes a huge difference. I did fine, but don't think I learned much - I'm hoping to redo some of the dives (maybe as specialities) this summer when I'm in Florida, particularly the navigation part. I loved peak performance bouyancy and wish we'd spent more time on that as well (we were only in the water for about 25 minutes). What was super helpful though was that I now have a set of exercises that I can practice on my own when diving (practicing navigating a box pattern, etc) - I am excited about that. The advice in the post above is great!

 

[FinnMom]

I've noticed that a lot of AOWD-stage students seem to have little or no experience with a compass and this creates one problem completely unrelated to actual compass work: they get excited, very interested, very focussed on the compass and their task. The student will often race off with his eyes glued to the compass. He has no idea how unreasonably fast he is swimmming, whether is his buddy still with him, or if there any hazzards (gill nets, etc.) he is swimming past - he sees/thinks about/noticed nothing but the compass face.
I've learned to be ready to swim hard and grab a fin when I give a new diver a compass for the first time.

 

[TMHeimer]

gr8jab, I did that as well- complete all the knowledge reviews in the book--just for the heck of it. But yeah, the biggest thing about AOW seems to be just to get it done. I almost didn't, as it was dicey whether their boat would go out or not to do the deep dive. It did, 2 days before we left FL after 3 months there--but only because another group happened to book it and the weather was OK that day. The specialty dives I did were fine, but what is offered and when varies very much from place to place.

 

[Bob DBF]

gr8jab, I did that as well- complete all the knowledge reviews in the book--just for the heck of it.

I didn't look at it as "just for the heck of it", although you may not do the dives for class, should you, in the future, wind up on a dive covered in the book, you would not go into ithe water completely blind.

When I took AOW the instructor required PPB, Navigation, and Deep. The other two were chosen out of three or four he could do at the site. I did Search and Recovery, and Altitude, trying to work with basic water skills.

Ask questions and they need only indirectly related to the specific specialty. Why is one of the best questions, as from what I've seen, instructors love to instruct. Whether or not what they advise is right for your diving is up to you to sort out, so the why is important.



Bob

 

[boulderjohn]

The last time I had an AOW student, he wanted to do photography and videography. I did laugh about those choices. First of all, I am not expert on those issues myself, but more importantly, we were going to be doing the dives in Colorado in terrible visibility and nothing to photograph. That's the sort of thing that can limit your choices, like trying to do a night dive in mid summer in Norway. (A key requirement for a night dive is night.)

On the other hand, I love to teach the altitude AOW dive. Why? Because there's nothing to do on it. You learn about the issues of diving at altitude academically, but there is absolutely nothing to do on the dive itself. Consequently, I can customize the dive to whatever the student really needs. We can work on buoyancy, trim, propulsion--anything at all. It's the chance to give the student whatever he or she needs to take the next step in diving.

 

[Hawkwood]

.... Consequently, I can customize the dive to whatever the student really needs. We can work on buoyancy, trim, propulsion--anything at all. It's the chance to give the student whatever he or she needs to take the next step in diving.

That's how we were taught to teach those sorts of courses...always add value.

 

[TheHuth]

I always forget this site doesnt email you with updates. I just read all of the comments, and appreciate everyones input. I spoke with the instructor earlier this week. He seems really cool, and reasonable. I thought the class was going to run under a rigid schedule with all the dives picked. Not at all. He is letting the students decide what they want. I gather he is planning to do a bunch of dives, and you just go on the ones that suit you. I plan to do S&R, PPB, and Night along with Deep and Nav.

We start tomorrow early evening. I cant wait to get wet again.

 

[TheHuth]

5 dives done. I should receive my card in a week or so. I obviously dont at all consider myself an advanced diver. But I did pick up several new skills. Most importantly the use of a compass. I wouldnt ever dive without one now. It made getting around much easier.

 

[VaeVix]

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 second Boulderjohn on that, for the rescue not having your buoyancy perfectly dialed in is not much of an issue, but you have to be comfortable in the water. You're instructor will most certainly pull a "panicked diver at depth" scenario and even if you're careful in you approach, be sure he will snap at the worse possible moment, and you loose your mask, air sources, or both at some point. And it doesn't get better at the surface (well if you can stay at the surface ).