Redesigning AOW

[tedj01]

.....
What you take away from it is ultimately up to how much you're willing to put into it ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Bravo thats the crux of it all.
:dropmouth

 

[The Logic Theorist]

The main problem for me is that the courses are in principle mandatory.

What, exactly, is mandatory?

Once you have your basic OW you can get air fills, and then once you've got gear and full tanks I don't really see any police at 60ft depth checking for AOW or Deep Diver cards. I don't think I've ever gone onto a wreck and seen a bouncer outside the entrance checking for Wreck or Cavern certs in order to do penetration. I don't recall anyone checking for a Drysuit cert to let you purchase a drysuit.

The only c cards you have to have beyond OW are the gas specific ones in order to get fills with those gasses. And I see another thread where you have issue with that, but if nothing else it's a liability factor for the shop doing your mixed gas fills, and it's not going to change anytime soon.

 

[raymond phule]

but in every case what I took from the class had as much to do with what I put into it as it did the choice of agency or instructor.

In same sense have I puted in a lot about the diving I dont necessary see the connection with the class though. You can learn from your dives also in a bad class but why should the class get any credit for that unles it has something to do with the class? I worked on my boyance and in class but the instructor was mostly not there and I got no comments. I asked when I had questions. What more should I do?

I simple dont want to pay money to learn mostly on my own.

What you take away from it is ultimately up to how much you're willing to put into it ...

Yes thats true but why are the classes that important when atleast a lot of classes are not very good. I have no problem in taken good classes but I am for example sceptic to bying for a class when the teacher is supposed to mainly tech some basic math.

 

[raymond phule]

Once you have your basic OW you can get air fills, and then once you've got gear and full tanks I don't really see any police at 60ft depth checking for AOW or Deep Diver cards.

AOW are mandatory for some club trips here. Nitrox is mandatory to fill nitrox. AOW is mandatory for some dives at resorts. AOW is mandatory for rescue.

 

[BabyDuck]

What, exactly, is mandatory?

Once you have your basic OW you can get air fills, and then once you've got gear and full tanks I don't really see any police at 60ft depth checking for AOW or Deep Diver cards. I don't think I've ever gone onto a wreck and seen a bouncer outside the entrance checking for Wreck or Cavern certs in order to do penetration. I don't recall anyone checking for a Drysuit cert to let you purchase a drysuit.

The only c cards you have to have beyond OW are the gas specific ones in order to get fills with those gasses. And I see another thread where you have issue with that, but if nothing else it's a liability factor for the shop doing your mixed gas fills, and it's not going to change anytime soon.

that's mainly true, but not here in nc. to go offshore on charters, most ops require aow.

now, if you want to buy a boat & find some numbers, ow is fine. it's the charter's requirement, and there are sure people not on charters diving with ow who are fine.

 

[Buoyant1]

What, exactly, is mandatory?

Once you have your basic OW you can get air fills, and then once you've got gear and full tanks I don't really see any police at 60ft depth checking for AOW or Deep Diver cards. I don't think I've ever gone onto a wreck and seen a bouncer outside the entrance checking for Wreck or Cavern certs in order to do penetration. I don't recall anyone checking for a Drysuit cert to let you purchase a drysuit.

The only c cards you have to have beyond OW are the gas specific ones in order to get fills with those gasses. And I see another thread where you have issue with that, but if nothing else it's a liability factor for the shop doing your mixed gas fills, and it's not going to change anytime soon.

True...but some ops won't take you on certain dives unless you have a card that says ou are qualified. no if's and's or butts...maybe there are legal liability issues, but would you rather take out a guy that has 9 lifetime dives (all under instructor tutelage) and his AOW card, or someone with 30+ dives, some over the magic 60 ft depth, but doesn't have th AOW card on an advanced dive? Don't get me wrong, by the same token there are some ops that will look at your log and determine if you should be out there or not...

As far as me doing deeper dives on just an OW card, it wasn't a big deal at my local quarry because there weren't any scuba police monitoring my depth, however, these dives took place after I had several dives in that quarry, and while diving with no less than three certified rescue divers who have seen me dive many times before and felt that I wouldn't have any difficulty performing those dives (plus they always gave me the shot to bail on the deeper part if I decided I wasn't ready at that point.)

Some of the regulations are good, but some are questionable...a lot of this sport depends upon the individual...Advanced courses are good, because you learn something AND dive more!

 

[The Logic Theorist]

AOW are mandatory for some club trips here. Nitrox is mandatory to fill nitrox. AOW is mandatory for some dives at resorts. AOW is mandatory for rescue.

So don't go on those trips or dive with those resorts if that's really that big of a problem for you.

I don't personally endorse diving in situations/environments without the proper certs, but you're an adult man. No one's going to make you do anything ASIDE FROM COVERING THEIR OWN BUTTS (which is why no one will give you Nitrox fills without a Nitrox cert). Get some air and go knock yourself out.

And if you're not interested in taking AOW, I'm really lost as to why you'd want to take Rescue.

 

[The Logic Theorist]

True...but some ops won't take you on certain dives unless you have a card that says ou are qualified. no if's and's or butts...maybe there are legal liability issues, but would you rather take out a guy that has 9 lifetime dives (all under instructor tutelage) and his AOW card, or someone with 30+ dives, some over the magic 60 ft depth, but doesn't have th AOW card on an advanced dive? Don't get me wrong, by the same token there are some ops that will look at your log and determine if you should be out there or not...

I'm sure it's largely a liability issue. I'm one of those people that got OW and then AOW immediately, and went out on a dive charter to 126' btw. I do, however, feel that my AOW class was very well done and I feel like I learned a lot from it. I don't think that it made me an "advanced" diver, but I don't feel like it was a waste of my time and money either.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

AOW is mandatory for rescue.

NAUI does not require AOW in order to take Rescue. If you want Rescue, but do not see any value in AOW, then the choice is obvious ... find a NAUI instructor.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[amascuba]

NAUI does not require AOW in order to take Rescue. If you want Rescue, but do not see any value in AOW, then the choice is obvious ... find a NAUI instructor.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

SSI also doesn't require AOW to take Rescue.