What % of OW Divers Take Further Training...?

[rsdancey]

I am curious to know how many go on to train as AOW, Rescue, DM, Instructor, etc. with the resulting percentage break-down.

I am aware of no public market research data available. I did a similar set of internet searches to what you've probably done, and found little of use. I emailed a number of people in the industry (certifying agencies, magazines, etc.). The general consensus that emerged seems to be that about 20% of people trained to dive get additional training.

The key question that arose is should AOW and Nitrox be considered "additional training". Many people see the OW-AOW-Nitrox series as "basic training". They take them in series (or at least take OW-AOW in series) and never take formal training again.

I think the real figure is that the number of divers taking training beyond the "basics" appears to be about 20%.

Of that 20%, about half take Rescue and nothing else. The remaining 10% become more committed divers and often take a lot of additional training.

Ryan

 

[shadragon]

I am aware of no public market research data available. I did a similar set of internet searches to what you've probably done, and found little of use. I emailed a number of people in the industry (certifying agencies, magazines, etc.). The general consensus that emerged seems to be that about 20% of people trained to dive get additional training.

So you have to wonder if there ARE numbers, but they keep them to themselves because they are so low... I would consider NITROX advanced training, but without AOW you cannot got below 60 feet, so why bother...

 

[dl348]

I spoke to a dive shop owner/instructor last week, he said that 80% of his students don't go past AOW.

 

[miketsp]

No doubt cost is a major issue.
While my son was living at home and I was paying, he went through to instructor.
Now with a full time job he's recently moved out, doing a Master's in his spare moments (), setting up home with a mortgage and a house to furnish his priorities have suffered a complete rehash. No doubt he will start diving again when things settle down.

 

[spectrum]

Well in my household 100% of the divers went beyond OW, all 2 of us.

I pulled up my address book of dive buddies and tallied the highest certifications of those I knew and came up with this:

OW = 7
AOW = 11
RESCUE = 7
DM = 1
TECHNICAL PATH - 3
INSTRUCTOR (ANY LEVEL) = 3

There are so a number of O2, EFR, Paramedic and nitrox certification sprinkled in there.

The tally is obviously biased since these are all people who really do dive. The fact that most who really dive have gone past OW may be telling but I don't know the chicken from the egg here.

If I had a crystal ball it would say that at least 50% of those at OW status are going nowhere with the sport. They are already out or will be.

Pete

 

[piikki]

I took OW with 9 other people. In the group one had actually taken OW 15 years prior but never dove and one had been a commercial diver but retook the course to accompany spouse and refresh after decades of break from diving. We had a pretty good group according to our instructor, we had nobody who had been ‘dragged in’, people were generally eager rather than apprehensive, and nobody had any major issues with the training. 4/10 decided they did not wish to do open water dives in cold water and got referrals.

I think the follow-up now 1.5yrs later might be pretty representative. One of the guys was swearing he will continue right away and basically aim to become DM/instructor on fast track. He has barely dived since. One guy struggled with the cold water part and joined the 4 others who already knew they will be warm water holiday divers. One guy dropped out because of a major non-diving related incident in family. He was maybe the most likely regular diver to be. One guy has no buddy to dive with and is considering further courses to just get dives in. And then there are buddy and I, who have continued and continue to be nuts about diving. So 20% from our sample.

 

[HilaryRN71]

Well, in my household... we have the range of divers..

I, myself, love diving and have done many advance classes. Dive about once a week.

My son, loves diving, but hasn't dont any advance and dives with me when he can.

My wife, OW cert but ONLY dives if the water is above 80 degrees. Tropical vacation.

My daughter... hates sharks and wont go near the water.

Same in our household...except reversed. I'm the dive nut. My one daughter is 12 and dives with me when she can, my other daughter has asthma so we're waiting. Son in the avatar is obviously a bit young...but he has potential. My husband just recently did his AOW and Nitrox. But he only goes if it meets the 80-80 rule. 80 degree water and 80 feet of viz. Some of my best dives have been in low viz but he's just not buying it. :shakehead

I wonder if the OP's question should be based on what percent of divers that stay active continue on to further training, then the numbers might go up. It took me about 30 dives or so to start to understand the benefits of nitrox. (I'm a chick..that whole math/science pp02 thing was just over my head. ) 30 MORE dives or so before my air time was actually good enough that nitrox would have helped ( at least from the bottom time standpoint )

I decided to further training because I had a near-miss accident and figured I better learn to do this better...or hang up my fins. Most of the divers I dive with are at the Rescue level, and that's because they were interested enough to keep diving...and saw the need for cert to that level. However, a few of my friends are just long time Florida lobster hunters who dive all winter long for bugs. I don't even know their cert level, but know they are just as good of divers as anyone with advanced certs due to experience.

 

[A Plante]

Since I have been diving off and on for almost 30 years I can add a little to the conversation, based on experience and some personal fact. Started in Okinawa in the late 70's, we dove alot during that time, plenty of ops and some very challenging dives all along the pacific thanks to Uncle Same. Most of us in my OW class dove together and we probably as a group logged 200+ dives each that year. Only 2 out of 18 of us went on to AOW and they said it really didn't teach them much more than we learned in our AOW, except giving them a few more dives with our instructors, who taught a very mean OW class, cost $50.00. Those who transfered to the west coast dove quite regular, those who went to the south and east coast seemed to dive a bunch and those of us (Me) who got stuck in Memphis, did'nt dive at all for 6 years. The two guys went to Hawaii dove thier butts off and today both guys are sitting on 3000++ dives and Master Dive Instructors. I'll try and make a point here, access to good diving probably keeps one motivated to seek new and more difficult dives, they'll most likely seek the higher level Certs, ( I would like to pass by AOW myself it is not worth the bucks to me.) Another aspect maybe how well they learned the basics and how confident and comfortable they are in the water, myself I have just a OW with almost 500 dives, (transferred to better bases) I didn't feel a need to get AOW. Now with that said, 9 of us still only have OW, 3 have AOW, Res, 2 our Master Dive Instructors, 2 we cannot find and 2 have passed away. Good news most of us still continue to dive and now that we are retired from the service we plan on diving more often, looking at 50+ dives a year. One other thing if getting your certification becomes way to easy, which I think it has, then there is nothing bonding you to the sport and no drive to dive, take it from someone who has had long periods of non-diving, when you have been bonded to SCUBA it eats at you until you get back in the water. Dive well and Dive often Semper Fi

 

[haha49]

An even better question is what % of OW trained divers ever dive again. I was absolutely amazed at how low that number is. I can't remember the percentage, but it amazed me how many people take and complete an OW course and yet NEVER DIVE AGAIN.

Apocryphal means of questionable authenticity. A synonym would be spurious, but I think apocryphal sounds cooler.

I'd guess that the % of OW trained divers who go onto further training is in the 10-20% range.

well its like this alot of people get certafied and never pick up there card from the lds...

i bought the gear to force my self to do it not like im going to spend 3000 and not use it no way... im going to use it since i spent alot of money..

 

[String]

Not a huge sample but from where i worked this summer:

Open Water:- 80
AOW:- 20
Rescue:- 3

and a fair % of those AOWs did it straight after OW in the same place.