How deep do you let junior OW divers go?

[Abbo]

I went diving with my 12-year-old daughter over the weekend. She qualified back when she turned 10. The first 5-10 metres were the hardest, as younger people have more trouble clearing their ears. After that, obviously, the percentage changes in pressure with depth were smaller, so the diving was easier, with less to think about. Her card says she's not allowed past 12m. She very much wanted to go deeper, and I could see no real reason not to. There weren't any places on the wreck shallower than 22m. We dived hand in hand, so there was never any danger of getting seperated. In the end, we hit a maximum depth of 29m. She said it was the best dive she's ever done. What are your experiences of diving with children?

 

[almitywife]

almitychild is now 14 and a jnr ow diver and on average we do 10mtr dives

this summer she will be preparing for her jnr advance and im not looking forward to it as although ive found kids are very capable of handling thiings i worry too much out of habit.

plus - there is not enough research available on diving and developing young bodies so i do not encourage deep dives with her at this stage of her life

cheers

 

[Bubble Junky]

......there is not enough research available on diving and developing young bodies so i do not encourage deep dives with her at this stage of her life.

Very good point. As a PADI Instructor, course standards do not let me take 10 & 11 year olds below 12m, and 12-14 year olds below 21m. That seems prudent to me, and I wouldn't break these depth limits for 'fun dives' either.

 

[Marek K]

Very good point. As a PADI Instructor, course standards do not let me take 10 & 11 year olds below 12m, and 12-14 year olds below 21m.

Has something changed recently? I thought the guidance (at least PADI and SSI) was 12m/40 ft for all JOWDs, which to me means until the 15th birthday. (That having been said, we've violated that a couple times with our 14-year-old daughter.)

Which brings up another point I've been wondering about... So how does PADI do AOW for Juniors?

--Marek

 

[Abbo]

Thanks Almitywife. I found the article from DocVikingo on http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=9152
which adds some colour to your concerns about physiological risks. I can certainly accept that PFOs may be more common in children, though they are also more common in middle-aged people than among 20-year-olds. Much too little is made of the increased risks of middle-aged people diving, particularly the corpulent: it appears that a sizeable portion of the rebreather deaths are related to obesity. Obviously the greatest risk is that I mess up and her attempts to help me starts her down the incident pit. The risk to bone development was something I hadn't considered, though it wasn't clear that the tests, which had been conducted on other animals going into deco, were directly applicable to humans remaining within NDLs. When she gets older, she may get less risk averse, as many teenagers do (I did) and think she can dive to the same depth with a less attentive buddy. That last geni is now well and truly out of the bottle, and irreversible. 21m makes sense for the next few years.

 

[Steve R]

Has something changed recently? I thought the guidance (at least PADI and SSI) was 12m/40 ft for all JOWDs, which to me means until the 15th birthday. (That having been said, we've violated that a couple times with our 14-year-old daughter.)

Which brings up another point I've been wondering about... So how does PADI do AOW for Juniors?

--Marek

10-11 = 40ft

12-14 = 70ft

 

[Bubble Junky]

Has something changed recently? I thought the guidance (at least PADI and SSI) was 12m/40 ft for all JOWDs, which to me means until the 15th birthday. (That having been said, we've violated that a couple times with our 14-year-old daughter.)

PADI have said 12m for 10 & 11 year olds, for the last five years at least, and 12-14 year olds can go to 18m on the JOW course.

Which brings up another point I've been wondering about... So how does PADI do AOW for Juniors?

10 & 11 year olds cannot gain the JAOW rating (they can get the Junior Adventure Diver rating tho'), as they are limited to 12m. 12-14 year olds can gain the JAOW, but are limited to 21m on the Deep Dive.

 

[Marek K]

10-11 = 40ft

12-14 = 70ft

OK, thanks, Steve and BJ... I thought it was 40 ft. for all JOWD's. But I just found on the PADI web site where you're correct.

(Steve, you mean 60 ft for 12-14 years old, don't you? Same "guidance" as for OWD?)

Strange... we were just in Egypt with a PADI operation... They always asked what the age of our daughter was; and upon finding out she was 14 and a JOWD, always limited her (and her buddy) to 12m.

Or maybe they just heard the "JOWD" part and assumed she was under 12? Naw... she's petite, but... um... clearly not 12.

--Marek

 

[dive_lover88]

interesting thread. i started at 16 now at 19 i have done a few dives which are over the deco limits example a dive to 40m. Will it come back to haunt me again? Medically speaking though. Please no flaming, thanks. Just trying to know if i've put myself in any kind of danger of my growth.

 

[Bubble Junky]

(Steve, you mean 60 ft for 12-14 years old, don't you? Same "guidance" as for OWD?)

I think his 70ft is taking into consideration the Deep Dive on the AOW (21m in my language).