how long br aow

[Grumblefish]

I did my OW at Horsea Island in UK, I was certified, having never been deeper than 6 meters (about 20 feet), admittedly in vis of around 4 feet though! - no way did I feel ready for going deep for the AOW. Since then I've clocked up around 30 dives, including a number of dives deeper than I am 'qualified' for - these have got progressively deeper (28 meters/92 feet deepest) as I've felt more comfortable underwater.
I've always been fairly comfortable underwater, swimming with no mask etc. has never been a problem, however it has taken me 30 dives before I've felt I could deal with even a fairly minor 'real' problem underwater - also, after 30 dives I feel my bouyancy control is getting reasonable. I now feel ready to move on to AOW (I'm doing it next week!) - I certainly do not consider myself to be an 'advanced diver', simply an 'advanced beginner' (I have a colleague who dives rebreathers to 350 feet, with 8 hour deco schedules - I class him as 'advanced').
For me it has taken 30 dives befor I've considered myself to be an 'open water diver' the OW cert (PADI) in my opinion gives you little more than basic skills to swim around looking at fishies in 10m of water, and I'm doing AOW simply so that I can progress with the types of diving that interest me - it would have been very wrong and very dangerous for me to have gone straight on to AOW after OW - I could have been 'qualified' to dive on wrecks in 100' of low vis cold water in a drysuit with less than 10 dives experience - an accident waiting to happen I think.

Just my $0.02 worth.

 

[padrediver]

SAC is your SURFACE AIR CONSUMPTION rate.
If your sac is 1cu.ft.min.swimming it will be 2cu.ft.min.at 33ft(1atm/bar)etc.(barring the unforseen)(and the unforseen bar)
Your air will only last half as long at 33ft as on surface.
Please check your rnt(residual nitrogen time) and tnt(total nitrogen time) too! (don't forget your sit(surface interval time).(and tccotosotb...that cute chick on the other side of the boat).

 

[JAFI]

For what it's worth, Being a new diver as well, I tend to agree with the wait for more experience camp.

I certified the first of April of this year and was going to do the AOW class in June, had logged in 13-14 dives, but wasn't able to because of work schedule. Now that I have another 15 dives under my belt, I feel 500% more comfortable with my skills, experience, comfort, and knowlage of dive location training will be done. My buddy and I are taking our AOW class the first of Sept. I feel that with more experience I will have decreased the task loading and be able to more fully concentrate on the new skills at hand rather than perfecting previous skills already taught.

 

[Seuss]

I only had two dives between OW and AOW. I was very comfortable in the water after my OW class, but still felt safer with an instructor around. Basically, I signed up for the AOW class so that I could practice diving with an instructor present. If I had it to do over again, I would have waited for at least ten dives, and probably closer to twenty, before taking AOW. I feel that I really missed out on a lot of what was being taught because I was still learning the basics of diving; information overload.

 

[NightWish]

Certified OW 6.09.04 and AOW 7.10.04 no regrets... Guess it depends on the person.

 

[medic_diver45]

My LDS won't do a AOW unless you have at least 20 dives and they prefere 25. They might wave this if you dive with them and they know that you are a able diver and ready for AOW.

CRPNTR133
Who's your LDS?

 

[jbd]

I only had two dives between OW and AOW. I was very comfortable in the water after my OW class, but still felt safer with an instructor around.Basically, I signed up for the AOW class so that I could practice diving with an instructor present.

IMHO this is not the correct reason to take an AOW course. I know many people do it and just as many instructors encourage it. The instructor or LDS wants the money, the students wants a "safety net" because they don't have confidence in their diving skills and the results is a watered down worthless course that sends the newly minted AOW diver into areas of diving that they have no business being in.

The remainder of Seuss's post says it all and should be considered thoroughly by all newly minted OW divers thinking about taking the AOW class.

If I had it to do over again, I would have waited for at least ten dives, and probably closer to twenty, before taking AOW. I feel that I really missed out on a lot of what was being taught because I was still learning the basics of diving; information overload.

Seuss, your honesty and openess about your motivation to take the class and how you felt about the issue afterwards is commendable. I hope many new divers will hear what you have said so well.

 

[jbd]

ok thanks for all advise..all will be taken in depth,but,,,what are all of these accronyms?
sac rate? imho?....... holy @#$%^ am i confused now??oi :06:

IMHO= In my humble opinion

SAC rate is as others have noted surface air consumption rate. In a nutshell this is how much air you would breath from your tank in a given amount of time. You get this from tracking your air usage at some depth with some observed level of activity for a given period of time. Once you know what you SAC rate is you can "predetermine" the amount of gas you will need for a particular dive in regards to depth and time. This lets you know how much gas you need to make the dive.

Very few, if any, newly minted divers have a good idea what their SAC rate is because they don't have any dives to go by.

By the time you have 20 to 25 dives under your belt during which you have paid attention to your air consumption, you will some idea of your SAC rate and can then make the appropriate plan for a dive to 120 or 130 feet.

 

[Gills]

I am AOW with 30 dives. In three weeks I'm going for my Rescue cert. By no means am I qualified to inform you what to do but, I think it depends on the persons ability to grasp the skill. If you had a hard time with your basic than you should think of getting a few dives. If your instructor said you were a natural then keep learning new skills. After all, every time you dive you should practice at least one of the skills you learned in earlier courses eventually covering them all to stay proficient.

 

[Land Locked]

OW 5/99 AOW 4/00, I did my first AOW deep dive on dive 21, I felt pretty good since I had a private instructor and his OW training was on par with AOW. He is a full blown tech/cave diver and I appreciate all the extra training I recieved. As far as when you should go for AOW? It depends on the individual, how good do you feel in the water, how is your buoancy control? Discuss it with your instructor, if you both feel good about it, go for it! I've never regretted the additional training and experience even though I don't care for deep diving. But when your on a dive trip exploring a wreck at 90' you will appreciate the additional training! I've been tracking my SACR for 5 years and I usually fall in the 18-22 psi/min range, breathing is important in this hobby, at the surface we shallow breath, diving I've found long deep breaths and slow exhales work the best for me. Don't toy with skip breathing and always keep your throut open!