Walter,
Having just completed a long trip back from NC, I wasn't really in any shape to say anything this morning.
Brian,
I hope you got in some good dives in NC!
Depending on the instructor and student, ANY class can quickly become a joke.
I believe I already acknowledged that concept in post #10.
However, I know of at least two AOW "courses" that I assist with that are most assuredly not a joke and there are more. Oh yes, and I haven't seen anyone out of those courses get a card handed to them. They earn them.
Did you cross over to another agency? The last time we talked, you were an SSI Dive Con and not a professional for any other agency. Unless things changed recent, SSI does not have an AOW course, merely a card you can get after taking certain specialty courses and having 24 or 25 logged dives. A diver who gets the SSI AOW card has earned nothing that is not already reflected in the specialty cards he earned. Of course, NAUI does allow its instructors to use professionals from other agencies to assist with classes.
One in particular involves roughly 20 dives and navigation exercises that are done with one set of students setting an object and leaving directions for a second set of students. If the second set of students can't find the object, then BOTH buddy teams repeat the exercise. You also know the instructor quite well. She seldom teaches the NAUI Master Diver program because she simply doesn't feel that she has the time to do it justice.
The class you are describing is not an AOW class. She may certify AOW at its completion, but you and I both know 20 dives is approximately 3˝ times what NAUI requires for AOW. Is this someone in Ohio?
There are well regarded boat captains up here that will not take someone to the more challenging wrecks without an AOW card. It is also a pre-requesite for some courses that people want to take.
I've never been turned down for any dive because I don't have an AOW card (I've never had one). Perhaps AOW isn't specifically required, perhaps
AOW or better is the actual requirement?
Personally, I feel that Stress and Rescue or some form of rescue course has more value than AOW, but some agencies require AOW as a pre-req for those courses. The agency that I work with does not.
Yeah, a silly requirement and I know neither SSI nor YMCA has that requirement, but even those that do will accept a more advanced card than AOW instead of AOW. No one has to take AOW, there are alternatives available that serve needs better.
Edited by Walter, 06 July 2006 - 12:08 PM.