Search and Recovery AOW Elective

[scubasavvy]

Has anyone taken this elective for their AOW? I'm really interested in taking this, but I was a little alarmed when I read mcc's post here: Aow That Was It! about how skimpy the AOW training was. Why would I take something as demanding as search and recovery if they aren't going to teach me much of anything, when I could sit at the bottom of the ocean and identify fish? It all depends on your instructor I guess, but can I have some thoughts, please?

[cummings66]

You're not actually taking the course, you are taking a snapshot of the course and if you like it you can take the course.

Basically AOW is a sampler of the specialties they offer, it's to entice you into taking more courses. You know how in the stores they just give it to you, well here you're paying for the sample.

Not to say you won't learn some stuff, you will learn stuff but not as much as if you took the speciality. Am I clear as mud yet?

[WV Diver]

Matt's right. You will likely learn some knots, play with some lift bags and actually lift something and do some of the more common search patterns to find an object.

Example:

We usually have students find a small object, say something the size of a baseball, using search patterns appropriate for the area and size of the object. Like U-Shaped or circular patterns or both.

Then we have them lift a bucket of rocks with a lift bag, learning to handle the object and practice with the buoyancy of the lift bag to the point where they can make the bucket neutral and keep it neutral during an ascent. And how to tie different knots for different uses of the lift bag or other means of salvage.

It is just enough to give you the idea of what the actual class will cover only in more detail.