![Frau beim Tauchen (2)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/Frau_beim_Tauchen_%282%29.jpg)
Recreational diver training is the process of developing knowledge and understanding of the basic principles, and the skills and procedures for the use of
scuba equipment so that the diver is able to
dive for recreational purposes with acceptable risk using the type of equipment and in similar conditions to those experienced during training.
Not only is the underwater environment
hazardous
A hazard is a potential source of harm. Substances, events, or circumstances can constitute hazards when their nature would allow them, even just theoretically, to cause damage to health, life, property, or any other interest of value. The probabi ...
but the diving equipment itself can be dangerous. There are problems that divers must learn to avoid and manage when they do occur. Divers need repeated practice and a gradual increase in challenge to develop and internalise the skills needed to control the equipment, to respond effective if they encounter difficulties, and to build confidence in their equipment and themselves. Diver practical training starts with simple but essential procedures, and builds on them until complex procedures can be managed effectively. This may be broken up into several short training programmes, with certification issued for each stage,
or combined into a few more substantial programmes with certification issued when all the skills have been mastered.
Many diver training organizations exist, throughout the world, offering diver training leading to certification: the issuing of a "
diving certification card," also known as a "C-card," or qualification card. This diving certification model originated at
Scripps Institution of Oceanography in 1952 after two divers died while using university-owned equipment and the SIO instituted a system where a card was issued after training as evidence of competence.
Diving instructors affiliated to a diving certification agency may work independently or through a university, a dive club, a dive school or a dive shop. They will offer courses that should meet, or exceed, the standards of the
certification organization that will certify the divers attending the course. The
International Organization for Standardization
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO ) is an international standard development organization composed of representatives from the national standards organizations of member countries. Membership requirements are given in Art ...
has approved six recreational diving standards that may be implemented worldwide, and some of the standards developed by the
(United States) RSTC are consistent with the applicable ISO Standards:
The initial open water training for a person who is
medically fit to dive and a reasonably competent swimmer is relatively short. Many dive shops in popular holiday locations offer courses intended to teach a novice to dive in a few days, which can be combined with diving on the vacation.
Other instructors and dive schools will provide more thorough training, which generally takes longer.
Dive operators,
dive shops, and cylinder filling stations may refuse to allow uncertified people to dive with them, hire diving equipment or have their
diving cylinder
A diving cylinder or diving gas cylinder is a gas cylinder used to store and transport high pressure gas used in diving operations. This may be breathing gas used with a scuba set, in which case the cylinder may also be referred to as a sc ...
s filled. This may be an agency standard, company policy, or specified by legislation.
Types of training
Most recreational diver training is for
certification purposes, but a significant amount is for non-certification purposes such as
introductory scuba experience,
refresher training
A refresher, in English legal phraseology, is an additional fee paid to counsel in a prolonged case.
The fee applies when a case on trial
In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form ...
, and regional orientation. Mainstream recreational diver training starts with an entry-level course, focused on the skills of operating the equipment safely, which is intended to be followed by further training focused on the environment and other skills, but many recreational divers never progress further than their entry level certification, and may not dive often enough to maintain the basic skills learned on the course. Refresher courses are offered by many diving schools to remedy this possible loss of competence due to lack of practice.
Entry-level
The entry-level course is for certification of competence to dive in
open water to a limited depth and not incurring a
decompression obligation requiring decompression stops, so that the diver can make a direct ascent to the surface at any time at an acceptable level of risk. Entry level training does not generally require the diver to be competent to rescue another diver, though some training in sharing breathing gas is standard, and divers are expected to dive in the company of a
dive buddy of equivalent certification.
Refresher courses
In principle a refresher course could be a checkout at any certification level, and could cover either or both skills and knowledge, but in practice the most common refresher courses are offered for the divers most likely to need one, which are entry level divers with little experience and a long gap since their last dive. Both PADI and SSI offer and recommend standardised refresher courses for these divers as a safer way of getting back into the water after a long break. They almost always include a confined water skill practice session, and may include an open water dive. Some schools expect the diver to revise the theory as well. This would typically be on-line, but there may be a live discussion and feedback session.
Further training
Further training is focused on skills associated with the environment and equipment (specialty courses), safety and mutual assistance (
Rescue diver
Rescue Diver is a scuba diving certification level provided by several diver training agencies, such as PADI, SSI, SDI, and NAUI,Dive leader
Dive leader is the title of an internationally recognised recreational diving certification. The training standard describes the minimum requirements for dive leader training and certification for recreational scuba divers in international standar ...
) and training other divers (
Diving instructor). Some training providers require or encourage the diver to gain experience at their current level between training programmes, others are willing to enroll the diver on the next course as soon as they are available to start.
Dive leadership training
Dive leader describes the minimum requirements for dive leader training and certification for
recreational scuba divers in international standard ISO 24801-3
and the equivalent European Standard EN 14153-3.
Various organizations offer training that meets the requirements of the dive leader standard. Some agencies use the title "Dive Leader" for their equivalent certification, but several other titles are also used, "Divemaster" may be the most widespread, but "Dive Supervisor" is also used, and should not be confused with the very different status and responsibilities of a professional
diving supervisor
The diving supervisor is the professional diving team member who is directly responsible for the diving operation's safety and the management of any incidents or accidents that may occur during the operation; the supervisor is required to be ava ...
. CMAS affiliates certifications which meet the requirements of CMAS 3-star diver should meet the standard by default.
Scuba dive leaders are considered competent to plan, organise and conduct dives and to lead other recreational divers on open water dives, and for specialised recreational scuba diving activities for which they have been trained. They are also considered competent to conduct emergency procedures associated with these activities and the relevant diving environment. They may require orientation for unfamiliar local environmental conditions. Additional specialised training and experience is required to lead divers on more demanding dives.
The term is also used by BSAC for a specific certification.
Recreational diving instructor training
Minimum requirements to attend a recreational diving instructor training programme vary between certification agencies. The requirements for PADI Instructor Development Course (IDC) are 6 months as a certified diver, Registration as a PADI
Divemaster
A divemaster (DM) is a role that includes organising and leading recreational dives, particularly in a professional capacity, and is a qualification used in many parts of the world in recreational scuba diving for a diver who has supervisory respo ...
, with 60 logged dives, a medical statement that the applicant does not suffer from a
disqualifying medical condition and recent participation in PADI Emergency First Response training. The IDC takes five to seven days, and comprises two parts, Assistant Instructor training and Open Water Scuba Instructor training. During the IDC the candidate will learn PADI Standards and Procedures, The PADI system of instruction, diver safety and risk management, The role of the diving instructor in the recreational diving industry, and marketing and sales counseling for recreational diving business. 100 logged dives are required before the applicant can take the two-day Instructor Examination.
PADI puts more emphasis on the business side of recreational diving than most other organisations.
Technical diving training
Technical diving
Technical diving (also referred to as tec diving or tech diving) is scuba diving that exceeds the agency-specified limits of recreational diving for non-professional purposes. Technical diving may expose the diver to hazards beyond those normally ...
is legally a type of recreational diving, but generally requires significantly greater competence to manage the higher risks of the environment, equipment and physiological challenges chosen by the technical diver. Errors and malfunctions that may be merely inconvenient in shallow open-water recreational dives within the no-decompression limits, may be rapidly fatal in overhead or deep, staged decompression dives. The necessary level of understanding of the principles, hazards and possible consequences, and the skills and procedures for managing the equipment and foreseeable contingencies is commensurately greater.
Training providers
Many diver training organizations exist, throughout the world, offering diver training leading to certification: the issuing of a "
diver certification card," also known as a "C-card," or qualification card. This diver certification model originated at
Scripps Institution of Oceanography in 1952 after two divers died while using university-owned equipment and the SIO instituted a system where a card was issued after training as evidence of competence.
Diving instructors affiliated to a diving certification agency may work independently or through a university, a dive club, a dive school or a dive shop. They will offer courses that should meet, or exceed, the standards of the
certification organization that will certify the divers attending the course.
Duration of training
Recreational diver training courses range from minor specialties which require one classroom session and an open water dive, and which may be completed in a day, to complex specialties which may take several days to weeks, and require several classroom sessions, confined water skills training and practice, and a substantial number of open-water dives, followed by rigorous assessment of knowledge and skills. Details on the approximate duration of training can be found on the websites of most certification agencies, but accurate schedules are generally only available from the specific school or instructor who will present that course, as this will depend on the local conditions and other constraints.
The initial open water training for a person who is
medically fit to dive and a reasonably competent swimmer is relatively short. Many dive shops in popular holiday locations offer courses intended to teach a novice to dive in a few days, which can be combined with diving on the vacation. Other instructors and dive schools will provide more thorough training, which generally takes longer.
Location of training lessons
Initial training typically takes place in three environments:
*
Classroom - where material is presented and reviewed. This may be partially or wholly substituted by
on-line learning, which may include on-line assessment.
*
Confined water (Swimming pool or equivalent natural body of water) - where skills are taught by demonstration and initially practiced.
*
Open water - where the learner demonstrates and refines the skills he or she has learned in an environment reasonably similar to the expected actual diving environment, and gains some experience of realistic conditions in a typical diving environment.
The usual sequence for learning most diving skills is to be taught the theory in the classroom, be shown the skills and practice them in a swimming pool or sheltered and shallow open water using the minimum equipment, then practice again in open water under supervision in full equipment and only then use the skill on real dives. Typically, early open water training takes place in a local
body of water
A body of water or waterbody (often spelled water body) is any significant accumulation of water on the surface of Earth or another planet. The term most often refers to oceans, seas, and lakes, but it includes smaller pools of water such a ...
such as a lake, a flooded
quarry
A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their envir ...
or a sheltered and shallow part of the sea. Advanced training mostly takes place at depths and locations similar to the diver's normal diving environment.
Training topics
![BSAC Diving and Instructor Grades](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/BSAC_Diving_and_Instructor_Grades.jpg)
Most entry-level training is similar across the diver training agencies, although some may emphasize certain topics earlier in the program, such as the inclusion of diver rescue in syllabuses such as
CMAS 1* and NAUI,
and its absence from other equivalent courses such as PADI Open Water Diver.
Many of the skills listed below are not included in entry level training, and where they are it may be only a subset of the range of skills in that category.
* Basic diving theory:
**
Diving physics
Diving physics, or the physics of underwater diving is the basic aspects of physics which describe the effects of the underwater environment on the underwater diver and their equipment, and the effects of blending, compressing, and storing breathi ...
**
Scuba equipment
**
Physiology of diving
**
Diving hazards and precautions
Divers face specific physical and health risks when they go underwater with scuba or other diving equipment, or use high pressure breathing gas. Some of these factors also affect people who work in raised pressure environments out of water, for ...
**
Diving signals
**
Buddy system
The buddy system is a procedure in which two individuals, the "buddies", operate together as a single unit so that they are able to monitor and help each other.
As per Merriam-Webster, the first known use of the phrase "buddy system" goes as far ...
* Basic water skills:
**
Finning
Finning is a Canadian industrial equipment dealer specializing in Caterpillar
Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths).
As with most common names, t ...
and mobility in-water
** Fitting and clearing a
diving mask
Diving most often refers to:
* Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water
* Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes
Diving or Dive may also refer to:
Sports
* Dive (American football), ...
**
Snorkeling
Snorkeling ( British and Commonwealth English spelling: snorkelling) is the practice of swimming on or through a body of water while equipped with a diving mask, a shaped breathing tube called a snorkel, and usually swimfins. In cooler waters ...
** Shallow
freediving
Freediving, free-diving, free diving, breath-hold diving, or skin diving is a form of underwater diving that relies on breath-holding until resurfacing rather than the use of breathing apparatus such as scuba gear.
Besides the limits of breath-h ...
**
Entering and exiting the water (seated entry, ladder exit, giant step entry, etc.)
* Basic
open circuit scuba
A scuba set, originally just scuba, is any breathing apparatus that is entirely carried by an underwater diver and provides the diver with breathing gas at the ambient pressure. ''Scuba'' is an anacronym for self-contained underwater breathing ...
equipment
skills
A skill is the learned ability to act with determined results with good execution often within a given amount of time, energy, or both. Skills can often be divided into domain-general and domain-specific skills. For example, in the domain of w ...
:
**
Preparing the scuba equipment
**
Pre-dive checks:
***
Buddy check
The buddy check is a procedure carried out by scuba divers using the buddy system where each diver checks that the other's diving equipment is configured and functioning correctly just before the start of the dive.Sport Diving, p118,123, Britis ...
**
Water entries and exits with scuba gear
**
Breathing from scuba equipment
**
Buoyancy control,
trim
Trim or TRIM may refer to:
Cutting
* Cutting or trimming small pieces off something to remove them
** Book trimming, a stage of the publishing process
** Pruning, trimming as a form of pruning often used on trees
Decoration
* Trim (sewing), or ...
and stability using
weights, the
buoyancy compensator and the
lungs
**
Underwater mobility and maneuvering
**
Ascents and descents
**
Diving mask clearing
**
Demand valve clearing and recovery
**
Air sharing
**
Emergency ascents
***
Controlled emergency swimming ascent
An emergency ascent is an ascent to the surface by a diver in an emergency. More specifically, it refers to any of several procedures for reaching the surface in the event of an out-of-air emergency, generally while scuba diving.
Emergency asc ...
***
Assisted ascent
* Basic
rebreather diving
Rebreather diving is underwater diving using diving rebreathers, a class of underwater breathing apparatus which recirculate the breathing gas exhaled by the diver after replacing the oxygen used and removing the carbon dioxide metabolic produc ...
skills:
** Preparing the Rebreather
** Buoyancy control using the Rebreather
** Ascents and descents
**
Diving mask
Diving most often refers to:
* Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water
* Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes
Diving or Dive may also refer to:
Sports
* Dive (American football), ...
clearing and mouthpiece draining
** Bailing out to an alternative breathing gas supply
** Bail-out ascent
** Diluent flush
* Dive planning skills:
**
Buddy system
The buddy system is a procedure in which two individuals, the "buddies", operate together as a single unit so that they are able to monitor and help each other.
As per Merriam-Webster, the first known use of the phrase "buddy system" goes as far ...
** Use of
decompression tables
There are several categories of decompression equipment used to help divers decompress, which is the process required to allow divers to return to the surface safely after spending time underwater at higher ambient pressures.
Decompression o ...
** Use of
Dive computer
A dive computer, personal decompression computer or decompression meter is a device used by an underwater diver to measure the elapsed time and depth during a dive and use this data to calculate and display an ascent profile which according to th ...
s
**
Breathing gas
A breathing gas is a mixture of gaseous chemical elements and compounds used for respiration. Air is the most common and only natural breathing gas, but other mixtures of gases, or pure oxygen, are also used in breathing equipment and enclosed ...
requirement calculations
** Dive risk assessment:
*** Safe dive site selection
*** Choosing appropriate equipment
*** Precautions for
night diving and
drift diving
Drift diving is a type of scuba diving where the diver is transported by the water movement caused by the tide, an ocean current or in a river. The choice whether to drift dive depends on the purpose of the dive, and whether there is an option. ...
**
Solo diving
Solo diving is the practice of self-sufficient underwater diving without a " dive buddy", particularly with reference to scuba diving, but the term is also applied to freediving. Professionally, solo diving has always been an option which depen ...
* Dive monitoring and management skills:
** Depth and time discipline
** Air management
** Use of
surface marker buoys
** Use of
decompression buoy
A surface marker buoy, SMB, dive float or simply a blob is a buoy used by scuba divers, at the end of a line from the diver, intended to indicate the diver's position to people at the surface while the diver is underwater. Two kinds are used; on ...
s
** Use of
distance line
A distance line, penetration line, cave line or guide line is an item of diving equipment used by scuba divers as a means of returning to a safe starting point in conditions of low visibility, water currents or where pilotage is difficult. They ...
s
** Use of
diving shot
A diving shot line, shot line, or diving shot, a type of downline or descending line (US Navy), is an item of diving equipment consisting of a ballast weight (the shot), a line and a buoy. The weight is dropped on the dive site. The ...
s
**
Compass
A compass is a device that shows the cardinal directions used for navigation and geographic orientation. It commonly consists of a magnetized needle or other element, such as a compass card or compass rose, which can pivot to align itself wit ...
navigation
Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navigation, ...
** Underwater
pilotage
Piloting or pilotage is the process of navigating on water or in the air using fixed points of reference on the sea or on land, usually with reference to a nautical chart or aeronautical chart to obtain a fix of the position of the vessel or air ...
** Doing
decompression stops
The decompression of a diver is the reduction in ambient pressure experienced during ascent from depth. It is also the process of elimination of dissolved inert gases from the diver's body, which occurs during the ascent, largely during ...
*
Diver rescue
Beaching a casualty while providing artificial respiration
Diver rescue, following an accident, is the process of avoiding or limiting further exposure to diving hazards and bringing a diver to a place of safety. A safe place is often a place w ...
techniques:
**
Controlled buoyant lift
** Towing a diver and landing a casualty
** In-water
artificial respiration
**
CPR
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is an emergency procedure consisting of chest compressions often combined with artificial ventilation in an effort to manually preserve intact brain function until further measures are taken to restore sponta ...
on land
**
Oxygen first aid
Oxygen therapy, also known as supplemental oxygen, is the use of oxygen as medical treatment. Acute indications for therapy include hypoxemia (low blood oxygen levels), carbon monoxide toxicity and cluster headache. It may also be prophylactical ...
on land
** General
First aid
First aid is the first and immediate assistance given to any person with either a minor or serious illness or injury, with care provided to preserve life, prevent the condition from worsening, or to promote recovery. It includes initial in ...
*
Technical diving
Technical diving (also referred to as tec diving or tech diving) is scuba diving that exceeds the agency-specified limits of recreational diving for non-professional purposes. Technical diving may expose the diver to hazards beyond those normally ...
techniques:
** Using
Nitrox
Nitrox refers to any breathing gas, gas mixture composed (excepting trace gases) of nitrogen and oxygen. This includes atmospheric air, which is approximately 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, and 1% other gases, primarily argon. In the usual applicatio ...
as a bottom gas
***
Analyzing proportion of oxygen in a
breathing gas
A breathing gas is a mixture of gaseous chemical elements and compounds used for respiration. Air is the most common and only natural breathing gas, but other mixtures of gases, or pure oxygen, are also used in breathing equipment and enclosed ...
*** Calculating
maximum operating depth
In underwater diving activities such as saturation diving, technical diving and nitrox diving, the maximum operating depth (MOD) of a breathing gas is the depth below which the partial pressure of oxygen (pO2) of the gas mix exceeds an acceptable ...
of a breathing gas
*** Calculating
equivalent air depth of a breathing gas
** Using
Nitrox
Nitrox refers to any breathing gas, gas mixture composed (excepting trace gases) of nitrogen and oxygen. This includes atmospheric air, which is approximately 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, and 1% other gases, primarily argon. In the usual applicatio ...
as a decompression gas
*** Planning accelerated
decompression stop
The practice of decompression by divers comprises the planning and monitoring of the profile indicated by the algorithms or tables of the chosen decompression model, to allow asymptomatic and harmless release of excess inert gases dissolved in ...
s
** Normoxic
Trimix as a bottom gas
** Hypoxic Trimix as a bottom gas
* Special interest knowledge and skills:
**
Cave diving techniques
**
Wreck penetration
**
Underwater photography
Underwater photography is the process of taking photographs while under water. It is usually done while scuba diving, but can be done while diving on surface supply, snorkeling, swimming, from a submersible or remotely operated underwater v ...
**
Underwater videography
Underwater videography is the branch of electronic underwater photography concerned with capturing underwater moving images as a recreational diving, scientific, commercial, documentary, or filmmaking activity.
History
In 1909, Albert Samama ...
**
Underwater archeology
Underwater archaeology is archaeology practiced underwater. As with all other branches of archaeology, it evolved from its roots in pre-history and in the classical era to include sites from the historical and industrial eras. Its acceptance has ...
** Marine life identification
**
Marine biology
** Underwater search and recovery skills
** Selecting dive sites using
nautical chart
A nautical chart is a graphic representation of a sea area and adjacent coastal regions. Depending on the scale of the chart, it may show depths of water and heights of land ( topographic map), natural features of the seabed, details of the co ...
s
**
Tide
Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another.
Tide tables ...
s and use of tide tables
**
Weather
Weather is the state of the atmosphere, describing for example the degree to which it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloud cover, cloudy. On Earth, most weather phenomena occur in the lowest layer of the planet's atmos ...
influences and prediction
* Dive group leading skills:
** Group
diver rescue
Beaching a casualty while providing artificial respiration
Diver rescue, following an accident, is the process of avoiding or limiting further exposure to diving hazards and bringing a diver to a place of safety. A safe place is often a place w ...
management techniques
** Dive group safety, accident prevention and supervision
** Underwater
survey
Survey may refer to:
Statistics and human research
* Statistical survey, a method for collecting quantitative information about items in a population
* Survey (human research), including opinion polls
Spatial measurement
* Surveying, the techniq ...
skills
* Logistical skills:
** Boat handling and
seamanship
Seamanship is the art, knowledge and competence of operating a ship, boat or other craft on water. The'' Oxford Dictionary'' states that seamanship is "The skill, techniques, or practice of handling a ship or boat at sea."
It involves topics a ...
** Boat
navigation
Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navigation, ...
and
position fixing
Geopositioning, also known as geotracking, geolocalization, geolocating, geolocation, or geoposition fixing, is the process of determining or estimating the geographic position of an object.
Geopositioning yields a set of geographic coordinates ...
**
Diving air compressor
A diving air compressor is a gas compressor that can provide breathing air directly to a surface-supplied diver, or fill diving cylinders with high-pressure air pure enough to be used as a breathing gas. A low pressure diving air compressor us ...
operation
**
Gas blending
Gas blending is the process of mixing gases for a specific purpose where the composition of the resulting mixture is specified and controlled.
A wide range of applications include scientific and industrial processes, food production and storage and ...
** Use of group equipment such as
diving shot
A diving shot line, shot line, or diving shot, a type of downline or descending line (US Navy), is an item of diving equipment consisting of a ballast weight (the shot), a line and a buoy. The weight is dropped on the dive site. The ...
s and
decompression trapezes
**
Recompression chamber
A diving chamber is a vessel for human occupation, which may have an entrance that can be sealed to hold an internal pressure significantly higher than ambient pressure, a pressurised gas system to control the internal pressure, and a supply of ...
operation
* Instructor skills:
** Teaching
diving theory
** Teaching
personal diving skills
** Teaching group diving, safety and rescue skills
** Teaching
boat handling,
seamanship
Seamanship is the art, knowledge and competence of operating a ship, boat or other craft on water. The'' Oxford Dictionary'' states that seamanship is "The skill, techniques, or practice of handling a ship or boat at sea."
It involves topics a ...
and
navigation
Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navigation, ...
skills
** Teaching instructing skills
Scuba training for younger people
Most training agencies have minimum ages for diving and often restrict younger children to
snorkeling
Snorkeling ( British and Commonwealth English spelling: snorkelling) is the practice of swimming on or through a body of water while equipped with a diving mask, a shaped breathing tube called a snorkel, and usually swimfins. In cooler waters ...
.
BSAC allows 6-year-olds to train for the "Dolphin Snorkeller" grade.
From the age of 8 years old
PADI has the "SEAL Team program" and
SSI have "SCUBA Rangers" which teach diving in shallow swimming pools.
PADI allows 10-year-olds to do the full
Open Water Diver
Open Water Diver (OWD) is an entry-level autonomous diver certification for recreational scuba diving. Although different agencies use different names, similar entry-level courses are offered by all recreational diving agencies and consist of a co ...
course. They are called "Junior Open Water" divers. There are restrictions on their depth and group size when diving. Also they must dive with their parents or a professional. When they reach the age of 12 they can dive with a qualified adult. Over 15 they are considered capable of diving with others of the same age or above.
BSAC allows 12-year-olds to do the full entry level diving course - the Ocean Diver course.
[ ] This qualification has no restrictions for the young diver, but individual branches of BSAC are free to set their own minimum age for branch membership.
The Society for Pediatric Sports Medicine (German
Gesellschaft für Pädiatrische Sportmedizin has developed a consensus statement on the subject of children's diving in th
'Children's Diving' working group which was presented to the public as the
Eisenacher Erklärung at the International Boat Show in Düsseldorf in 2015. The major diving organizations in Germany, including international organizations, have agreed to this declaration. This 'Eisenach Statement' contains the essential rules of conduct when diving (dive training) with children.
International standards equivalence
The
International Organization for Standardization
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO ) is an international standard development organization composed of representatives from the national standards organizations of member countries. Membership requirements are given in Art ...
has approved six recreational diving standards that may be implemented worldwide (January 2007).
The listed standards developed by the
(United States) RSTC are consistent with the applicable ISO Standards:
See also
*
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Diver Training
Underwater diving training organizations
Underwater diving procedures
Underwater diving safety