Jim:
Could you clarify for me what you mean by "required by standards"? Are you required by standards to have 16 hours of pool time? Are you required by standards to not admit someone into an Advanced Open Water class until they have 10 ocean dives? I find this very interesting and would love to discuss it. If this is true, it really does cut to the heart of what we are talking about concerning when to let students into what class.
Stephen, yes I am required by agency standards to teach a 32 hour course divided equally between pool and class room. I can under some circumstances shorten the hours to 24 but must make up that time during the open water portion of the course. Either by providing more "classroom" on site or adding a dive or other in water instruction. Standards also dictate that students must be comfortable in the water, have command of neutral buoyancy and know how to maintain good trim. I am also required to teach rescue skills including in water rescue breaths, unconscious diver from depth, and panicked diver at the surface. The swim tests are not permitted to be done with mask, fins, and snorkel. We still do bailout and doff and don.
As for the AOW course right now it is not a standard that the student have 10 OW dives but if I have a say in it they will. I am currently charged with rewriting the Advanced Guidelines and am doing it based on the course I have been teaching successfully since becoming an instructor. I have had students drive from North Carolina ( 8 hours with three dogs) and Philadelphia ( 5 hours) to take this course as well as locally. A student with less than 10 dives will not be able to successfully complete my AOW course that I have seen so far.
In addition to the ten dives I require them to be able to perform all basic skills hovering in a horizontal position and not change depth by more than 2 feet. Exit requires them to perform the skills with less than 1 foot variation. I also have them shoot bags, deploy slung pony bottles, use lines and reels, deep stops, no mask air share swims and ascents, buddy skills are not optional. getting separated twice is an automatic fail. No matter what the conditions are. Any obvious violation of safety protocols is also a fail. One time is warning, twice and the class is over for that student. No refund, no coming back. This is all clearly spelled out in the pre class interview. This attitude has resulted in the class being called educational, fun, informative, eye opening, and humbling. One couple said it even made their marriage better by showing them just how much they are able to rely on each other and how it required a lot of communication under water and on the surface.
There is also 8 hours of classroom covering gas management, SAC rates, emergency deco procedures ( SEI covers that in OW anyway), hazards, equipment selection and use for advanced dives. Will all of these get adopted? I don't know. I do know that the class I am teaching is the one I will continue to teach and am allowed to make the class as stringent as I wish as long as safety is not compromised. The fact that I have been asked to work on these guidelines after explaining the class in detail to our CEO, and forwarding the student comments to him that have taken the class, tells me that I am on the right track and that we are looking at yes getting more students but not at the expense of training be less than of the highest caliber. Our OW class sets the standard I feel we should be aspiring to. Any less to me is unacceptable.
It is this attitude that has brought me the students it has and in fact I have a refresher next Tuesday for a guy who is going to Cozumel and when he returns is retaking AOW with his stepson and maybe his wife because the AOW he got was not satisfactory to him and was little more than a tour. My strict requirements for buddy skills and practice is why the stepson is going to train with me. Along with the fact that I will use whatever means are necessary to point out the importance of it. Including photos of dead divers, autopsy reports, and witness statements that I have collected.
I do not do this for a living. I don;t care about turning out large numbers of students. I want to have the people I train be able to go anywhere in the world and have them looked at with the respect they deserve. SEI Diving doesn't sell certifications. We sell training. Certifications are earned. I will train a student until they meet agency and my standards. I train in local lakes and quarries where vis is sometimes less than stellar. For me to certify a student I have to be sure that they can dive in these conditions unsupervised and I use the NAUI loved one concept. If I would hesitate to allow a student to dive with someone I cared about I have no business giving them a card until I would be.
I would welcome a dialogue with you on this. Either in anew thread or via private email. You can get a hold of me via my website anytime. And if you have Verizon Cell service feel free to call. The number is also on the website.
Jim Lapenta
SEI Diving Instructor #204