luckydays
Contributor
Jim is spot on. You should listen to what he has to say. He really does know what he is talking about here.
I started diving dry with 65 dives and I was glad I took the class. I recently had a feet up situation at the beginning of the fall when I changed to thicker undergarments (and forgot to increase my weights) and was glad that I remembered what I was taught in my class to prevent a possibly very bad outcome. It probably took me 50 additional dives from certification to get really tuned in to the suit with buoyancy and trim.
Your tank scrubbing friend is an idiot if he told you that there was nothing useful to learn after OW. He may not need to know more than open water stuff if he is only diving in the sea world fish tanks but out in the ocean on wrecks and such, you are going to need to know more at some point. I am not saying that all the classes are the best but I know that I have learned something from every class I have taken so far. Even my night dive class was a learning experience. At first I thought it was a big waste of time since i had already been on a few night dives. But after the second dive I learned that my compass could be charged with my light to glow in the dark. I have used the compass before by flashing my light on it to see where I was going. I may have eventually have figured out (or someone may have told me) but I learned it in the class. So even that class was a learning experience and worth while (as well as a lot of fun becuase of my instructors).
AOW is not a drysuit class. Its a 5 dive class to give you a feel for the specialties that you want to try. You can take part of the drysuit class as an elective specialty in AOW but you wont have the specialty card. If you are not going to take the class, make sure you dive with others who can mentor you on the suit. Otherwise, we are going to be reading about you in the accidents and incidents part of this forum, and I dont want to read about that.
Besides taking a class or having a mentor teach you this suit, you also need to get the seals and zippers looked at. According to the auction, the neck seal needs to replaced. You are going to need an undergarment or some sort of insulation layer between you and the suit.
Good luck though. Just be careful.
I started diving dry with 65 dives and I was glad I took the class. I recently had a feet up situation at the beginning of the fall when I changed to thicker undergarments (and forgot to increase my weights) and was glad that I remembered what I was taught in my class to prevent a possibly very bad outcome. It probably took me 50 additional dives from certification to get really tuned in to the suit with buoyancy and trim.
Your tank scrubbing friend is an idiot if he told you that there was nothing useful to learn after OW. He may not need to know more than open water stuff if he is only diving in the sea world fish tanks but out in the ocean on wrecks and such, you are going to need to know more at some point. I am not saying that all the classes are the best but I know that I have learned something from every class I have taken so far. Even my night dive class was a learning experience. At first I thought it was a big waste of time since i had already been on a few night dives. But after the second dive I learned that my compass could be charged with my light to glow in the dark. I have used the compass before by flashing my light on it to see where I was going. I may have eventually have figured out (or someone may have told me) but I learned it in the class. So even that class was a learning experience and worth while (as well as a lot of fun becuase of my instructors).
AOW is not a drysuit class. Its a 5 dive class to give you a feel for the specialties that you want to try. You can take part of the drysuit class as an elective specialty in AOW but you wont have the specialty card. If you are not going to take the class, make sure you dive with others who can mentor you on the suit. Otherwise, we are going to be reading about you in the accidents and incidents part of this forum, and I dont want to read about that.
Besides taking a class or having a mentor teach you this suit, you also need to get the seals and zippers looked at. According to the auction, the neck seal needs to replaced. You are going to need an undergarment or some sort of insulation layer between you and the suit.
Good luck though. Just be careful.
