AOW skills

[ShakaZulu]

I just completed my AOW course. I had a private class where I was the only student, so your mileage may vary.

............

Through all of the dives I concentrated on better buddy skills, neutral bouyancy, breathing, and overall better diving.

My course challenged me and increased my diving skills, and I think you would be doing a disservice to yourself if you course did not do the same for you.

Thanks Grateful Diver!
Brian

Sounds like you had a good course, mine wasn't that complete.

 

[voop]

I have a different view. AOW is where you stop depending on rote instruction and start developing skills through comprehension. It's where you start defining the goals you want to accomplish and take a more interactive role in your instruction. It's where you can, and should, hold your instructor to a higher level of competence.

AOW dives should be conducted in a cogent order ... one that introduces skills on each dive that you can build upon with each successive dive as the course progresses. Buoyancy control should be practiced and refined on every dive ... not just on specified dives. You should be challenged and task loaded to help you understand that diving isn't just a collection of individual skills so much as a system of interdependent skills. Gas management should be thoroughly covered in the classroom prior to the deep dive ... as should the effects of decompression and narcosis. You should be able to know how to determine if you've got enough gas in your cylinder for the dive you're planning to do, when to turn around, and when to begin your ascent. You should be taught how to recognize when things aren't going right, so you can break a chain of events that might otherwise lead to a very bad situation. Buddy skills should be covered thoroughly before you get in a limited visibility situation ... as should proper use of dive lights. You should learn how to plan a dive ... and how to interact effectively with your buddy during the dive.

AOW is a step toward self-sufficiency ... but it's not a license to go to 130 feet without understanding what you're doing. It's an opportunity to engage your intellect and start asking cogent questions about the skills you need to develop in order to become a competent scuba diver.

And even done correctly, it's only a small step in the right direction ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Bob, I agree -- and I believe that a good instructor should try to instill that attitude in his students. And in this spirit, the AOW course can be really good if taught correctly.

The primary problem is, though, that the AOW course and certification isn't seen as much as a stepping-stone for learning as it is seen as an access-ticket to more challenging dives. As such, it's not seen as "I am now a diver who can try to learn more advanced things" as it is seen as "I am now an advanced diver who can do more advanced things". There's a BIG difference here.

Another problem is, that many instructors see an AOW course as "5 dives where you spend 2 min doing simple things, no classroom and ensuring certification". Which, imo, is plain wrong.

 

[paolov]

I have to agree with GeraldP...it doesn't make much sense to me that you can take AOW immediately after OW and without any diving experience.

For me i encourage and recommend taking the AOW right after the OW.

Like what the other guys posted here. the OW is to teach you the basic skills to 'survive' under water.

the AOW is how to enjoy them and to them properly.

OW is self centered, that is you concentrate on your own self to learn how to breath, move around underwater safely.

THe AOW teaches you to maximize your time under water (PEAK PERFORMANCE BUOYANCY) helps a lot in this.

when i started diving in 1997, i said i will take more experience before taking up AOW, as i progressed thru the sport. I realized that i wasted time before taking AOW. as the AOW would make my diving even more enjoying (beacuse you have better training) , relaxing and less stressfull.

The course you take in the AOW should match YOUR own preference not of your instructor. the Instructor should provide you WITH WHAT YOU WANT and not the other way around. just a tip.

 

[texdiveguy]

I know we have several certifing agencies rep. on the board......but in terms of PADI AOW, on the deep dive portion,,,,what is the min. depth that must be reached to complete this section....is it 61F,,,,being that in the OW class they point out the limit of 60F for beginners?????? Thanks

 

[DBailey]

Thank you for all your answers. I should have been more specific with my question though. For example, in OW we had to remove our masks, buddy breathe, do a controlled ascent, etc. Do we do any "skills" like these, or is everything more focused on gaining new skills specific to the individual dives? TIA

For my AOW, I did Peak Performance Buoyancy, Night, Deep, Navigation and Wreck.

PPB involved working on hovering, fin pivots, and a couple buoyancy courses that emphasized depth changes through breathing. Just go out and dive will help you if you want to take this part of the AOW, which I highly recommend.

Night, Wreck and Deep didn't really offer any new skills. They are more knowledge based portions than skill based. Kind of "watch out for" and "be aware of" these things.

Navigation is actually one that you can practice on land. I read the sections on Navigation in the AOW book, then I took my compass and worked on the skills on land. Just getting familiar with the compass was a great help. I also picked up little "tricks" on how to turn corners and such. It was much better knowing something about the compass and its uses prior to getting in the water. Also, if you can dive with the compass prior to the class, you can see how you have to hold it for it to be useful and accurate (i.e. level).