You do not need AOW to take rescue. A few agencies allow rescue after OW with just ten more dives. Again do not delay a rescue class just because you don't have an AOW card. Find an independent instructor or shop that doesn't have to abide by any such silly rules.
And an FYI these are the new SEI Levels I posted in the SEI forum. This is also as good a place as any to post them again just for information. If anyone wants details, has comments -good or bad (they will not be censored in that forum by the Moderator for it - me), suggestions, or would like to know the reason for the changes in the designations feel free to ask.
Beginning September 1, 2012 the changed names of the advanced courses will go into effect. This will better align with the CMAS "star" levels.
Wall certificates and certification cards will show these new designations.
The new levels are:
Advanced Diver Level 1
(formerly OW+)
Advanced Diver Level 2
(formerly AD OW)
Advanced Diver Level 3
(formerly AD OW+)
Master Diver Level 4
(formerly Master Diver)
The levels have specific skill and knowledge requirements that reflect the items they contain. The prerequisites are the same and instructors are free to set their own requirements for admission to the classes on top of those set by the agency. They are also free to add information and test on those additions for certification. I was involved with this whole process, and just to be clear even though rescue can be taken with us any time after OW and ten dives, there is a requirement that was put in at my urging that all of these levels include the basic rescue skills that every SEI OW diver gets in their basic class. It was put in due to the number of divers that myself and other instructors were seeing come to us without those skills. They can be added to the class itself or done as a workshop prior to the formal class. But when a diver is certed at any of these levels they will at a minimum have the panicked diver at the surface, unconscious diver from depth, supporting a diver at the surface and helping them ditch their weights, and rescue tow while stripping gear.
Master Diver level 4 has a full rescue class requirement as a prerequisite. It is also a complete class unto itself that imparts instructor level knowledge and skill performance without the teaching component.
I also insisted on formal classroom instruction for levels 2 and 3 for all the dives that would be done. AOW or as I now call it ADL 2 and ADL 3 are not tastes or tours. They are meant to impart NEW skills and knowledge above what the diver already has. And since we are free to add to the courses I know that myself and other instructors could set a course to challenge the diver with 10 or 15 dives taking or the one with 50. And I have. And frankly so should every instructor be allowed to do this to add value to their courses and maybe get those 50 or 100 dive vacation divers in who see no value to anything above the OW card they have because they won't be challenged.
If your potential student has already done some 100 foot dives and think the combination lock at depth of writing their name backwards is silly (which in reality it is at any level) then have them do something different. Have them run a reel out and back while managing a light and staying 1 foot off the bottom and not silting it up. Can be done. But make sure you can do it yourself first. Some instructors have never even run a reel outside of a S&R class. And that it's the only time they do is scary.
Advanced training should never be done just to get 5 more dives or whatever with an instructor. If one wants to do that just invite the instructor to dive and buy him/her lunch! I'd do that in a heartbeat over taking someone on dives they really were not ready for. And I have seen plenty of AOW classes that had no business taking place at all with the skill level of the students in them. I'd rather spend a day with a student or students doing fun dives shallow and giving them a few tips and pointers to work on before tossing them in an advanced class. Makes it easier on everybody. And I see nothing wrong with charging for those little workshops if there is travel and real expenses involved.
And I think many divers would rather do that if they have no plans to do deep dives, night dives, or some of the others ones that seem to cause anxiety in AOW students. You don't need to make it a certification card thing. Screw that. Just give them the knowledge and skills and get them ready for a good advanced course that they will truly benefit from and you, as an instructor, will have fun running.
I love doing advanced training with students that are ready for it. You can push them a little and see improvements in leaps and bounds when they feel challenged. Not scared but challenged because they have the necessary foundation skills to do the things you require of them. And when you ask a question on the surface and they have the answer. Not like the class I saw getting ready to do their deep dive.
We were right next to them on the dock and the instructor had 4 or 5 students. They were doing the predive briefing and he asked them what the procedure was if they ran over their NDL for the dive. Three people answered and all three were wrong. And he still took them on the dive. That should have been the time to stop, take the gear off, and have a little classroom time right there and then. Not joke about it and jump in the water after he told them the answer. Which I doubt, given the setting, they would remember anyway.
