AOW questions

[Aloha Joe]

Pretty cool advice about how to target certain skills in AOW - thank you! Keep it coming!

Nav is a big one for me, too, and I like the idea of learning the basic skills up front and just practicing, along with buoyancy.

 

[tursiops]

Pretty cool advice about how to target certain skills in AOW - thank you! Keep it coming!

Nav is a big one for me, too, and I like the idea of learning the basic skills up front and just practicing, along with buoyancy.

Here's a way to think about it.
You want to be comfortable in all four dimensions...x, y, z, and time.
PPB is about buoyancy, that's the z (vertical) dimension.
Navigation is about x and y, the horizontal dimensions.
And practice on relaxation, trim, PPB and Navigation, are all about lower gas consumption...that's more time in the water.
So, if you know where you are (Nav), can stay there (PPB), and are mindful of your SPG and NDL (time), it's a good dive.

 

[MichaelMc]

For PPB, if you have a pool, you can do trim, hover and frog/helicopter/back kick skills in swim suit, weight belt, mask fins and snorkel. Just do not stay down too long that you get the life guards nervous. Wear a belt to make you neutral at say 8' but with some of the (soft) weight in a hand to adjust your trim. Practice frog kick and helicopter turns. Soft weights as they will not be happy if you drop a hard weight on the bottom.

 

[Kevrumbo]

There is another Advanced Diver option unique and original to SoCal Diving (however longer course schedule though, and inconveniently only held once a year):

Advanced Diver Program – ADP | Underwater Unit

 

[tursiops]

For PPB, if you have a pool, you can do trim, hover and frog/helicopter/back kick skills in swim suit, weight belt, mask fins and snorkel. Just do not stay down too long that you get the life guards nervous. Wear a belt to make you neutral at say 8' but with some of the (soft) weight in a hand to adjust your trim. Practice frog kick and helicopter turns. Soft weights as they will not be happy if you drop a hard weight on the bottom.

No soft weights allowed in our local pools....if the bag breaks and the pellets come out, it is a very expensive cleanup. Hard weights that are vinyl-coated are OK. Bare lead is not.