First dive of AOW class... Yukon 10/1/05, NOT fun.

[Skytzo_Marc]

In terms of the weighting thing. BF and GF took their OW class with this guy. I remember on the dock GF asked BF how much weight to use and he said just use all of it. That was what caused her to drag me down from 80-100 feet after I swallowed water when she let the air out of her BCD. She stated that she was indeed trying to swim up but just couldn't.

I'm sorry, but if anybody thinks that knowing how to be correctly weighted is just shoving all the weight you can into your BCD then they're stupid. I know all of the proper procedures to weight myself and I would have happily done them but I was given the same advice BF gave his GF... just put all of it in and I made the wrong call to listen to the instructor and not the book. I'm just lucky I wasn't overweighted like GF was.

As a student, it was my responsibility to mention to the instructor that I needed time to weight myself because I never dived in such a thick wetsuit before. That's the job of a student, to ask questions. Otherwise you aren't a student.

 

[Wayward Son]

Thoughts for your future efforts:

Get some local diving in. Get used to colder water & poorer viz. I can see where locally certified new students could take AOW & do fine. Conversely, going from a difficult environment to an easier one, no prob. Say, you learned to dive there & then took AOW while in south FL on vacation, you'd prolly do fine.

You had the unfortunate situation of the opposite, without realizing it. Warm water, good viz, no harsher experience.

So get some local bottom time at reasonable depths, acclimate to the local conditions. Then go & take AOW, you'll do fine & get more out of it. If possible, have a dive buddy who wants to take it with you. Dive together, get used to each other, then take the class together & buddy. That way you remove the variable of an unkown new buddy. Your team at least will have their act together.

I'm glad no one got hurt in this. It sounds like the classic recipe for disaster. They usually don't happen bc one thing goes wrong, they're more often a series of little things that go wrong that ultimately end up with a serious problem.

 

[Lead_carrier]

In terms of the weighting thing. BF and GF took their OW class with this guy. I remember on the dock GF asked BF how much weight to use and he said just use all of it. The was what caused her to drag me down from 80-100 feet after I swallowed water. She stated that she was indeed trying to swim up.

I'm sorry, but if anybody thinks that knowing how to be correctly weighted is just shoving all the weight you can into your BCD then they're stupid. I know all of the proper procedures to weight myself and I would have happily done them but I was given the same advice BF gave his GF... just put all of it in and I made the wrong call to listen to the instructor and not the book.

As a student, it was my responsibility to mention to the instructor that I needed time to weight myself because I never dived in such a thick wetsuit before.

It sounds as there is plenty of mistakes to go around to everyone from PADI to student, and most of them have been covered thourghly from one end to the other. Sky, I will agree with the ones that tell you to get some experience first, then redo the aow. Unfamiliar equipment, unfamiliar conditions, unfamiliar everything else, definitely not the best scenerio to be doing aow. Take it slow and enjoy your diving for a while and learn in small steps, not with giant leaps.

 

[jduncan]

Although I agree the class was not taught well based on your story, you could have prevented a potential disaster many times but opted not to.

"When I walk into a diveshop with divers who have apparently been diving for years, and they tell me it's cool to take an AOW class, I take it."

That was your first mistake. You should take the AOW when you feel ready, not when people who have no knowledge of your dive experience tell you to. It's hard to imagine you could feel ready to tackle advanced diving with less than 15 dives in seven years, and take that advanced diving course in waters which you were not certified in.

It's my opinion that PADI shuld required at least 50 dives before an advanced course - if not only to promote the seriousness of the course and set an experience level expectation. I agree it does no good if the DM doesn't ask for it.

I have close to 40 logged dives in New England waters in 5 months, have been on a few deep dives to 87 feet in the caribbean with a DM and computer that I know how to use, and I am only now feeling up to the AOW.

 

[scubadobadoo]

Although It's hard to imagine you could feel ready to tackle advanced diving with less than 15 dives in seven years, and take that advanced diving course in waters which you were not certified in.

Go back and read Scuba Steve's post earlier in this thread about following blindly and you will be able to imagine it. Nothing personal. I agreed with most of your post. :05:

 

[DiveNav]

Yah, my problem (and this has happened in other areas not just diving) is that I didn't trust my instincts and first impressions.

I should have been like: "This is the last of your rental gear, it doesn't look that great, I don't want it."

I'm damn lucky to be alive so that I don't have to repeat these mistakes.

I think I will try Catalina island, or possibly La Jolla shores... but I'm going to see if I can find an experienced dive master or instructor who can help me get used to the environment on a 30 ft dive or something.

You're right, it IS a whole different ball game from Florida/Bermuda and I should have recognized this right away.

Right now, I'm feeling that I shouldn't go back to that dive shop. So I'm not going to.

Hi,
first of all congratulation to be alive and well.

You should find a dive group that takes you in and help you to gain experience.

If you are not far from Laguna Beach, consider to join the SouthCoastDivers (free).
We dive EVERY Saturday and Sunday off Laguna Beach and we have a lot of experienced divers (Rescue & DM) that enjoy helping out and looking after - as much as possible - new divers.
No charge.

As an example, few weeks ago we were diving @ Crescent bay and a new diver wanted to dive with me.
No problem I said .... but when I saw that his BCD was leaking I told him VERY clearly .... "you are NOT diving with me!!! ... either you get out of the water right now or you dive solo ... your choiche".
He went ashore.

Live to dive another day ... as someone keeps telling me.

AM

 

[DiveNav]

PADI should have a new certification class:

Reckless Instructor Diver

This is a specific class that helps divers to deal with reckless instructors that don't care too much about their students. Fortunately there aren't too many of those around .... but the few are a disgrace.

 

[2Tours N Iraq`]

I just received my scuba certification after skin diving for the past 20+ years and first of all let me say I am glad you are still around to share the mishaps of your AOW cert.

I received my certification through NAUI and I am very pleased with the quality of the instructor I had (Scubapolly on the boards). I know scuba diving is moving up into the major leagues as there are a million more possibilities (both good and bad) associated with strapping a tank of compressed air on your back and swimming down to depth than there is with simply holding your breath. That is the reason why I was reading everything I could on diving prior to actually getting in the pool. There are a great number of sources out there to aid in the knowledge needed to be a safe diver. The US Navy Dive Manual was the first thing I read and is a great source of information. PM me if anyone would like a copy of it. I agree with the slogan of NAUI: Dive Safety Through Education. We owe it to ourselves to have the knowledge required to be safe at depth. I'm not trying to discredit PADI or any other certifying agency in any way, I just strongly feel the NAUI coursework and instructors prepare students to be responsible divers very well. I am not qualified to make any comparisons as my only certs (Scuba Diver and Nitrox Diver) are through NAUI. Just my humble 6 pence worth. Once again, really glad you were able to share your experience with us.

 

[Scuba]

Skytzo_Marc,

Keep us informed if you decide to file a formal QA report with the agency. This report has the potential to help future students, the instructor, the shop, and the agency.

It would be interesting to see a partial view of the process in action.

 

[Skytzo_Marc]

I will definately do that. I actually have had somebody offer to help me with the process of contacting PADI and I'm very appreciative of that person. I've also had a ton of people tell me that if I'm their area, they'd be willing to dive with me and help me get more comfortable in the water and practice my drills.