DevonDiver
N/A
I tend to add a lot extra to my basic sidemount (a legacy from having trained sidemount with other agencies), so I'm interested to see what variances exist between different agencies (including PADI) at the Advanced/Tec Sidemount level.
I'm looking forward to teaching the PADI tec sidemount soon - just been waiting for the materials. Postage here to the Philippines is absurd... can take a week..or a month...or several. Sometimes horrific taxes, sometimes none. No reason or logic for it. I wish PADI would start releasing all manuals/materials in electronic format as standard... it's 2012 and hardly an outrageous expectation.
What I'm most interested in is comparing PADI's 'Tec Sidemount' against the offerings from other agencies. That's both for me, so that I can market it best, and also for the article I'm still working on (published on my blog, but not complete without some assessment of training syllabus and emphasis).
Sidemount seems to be a well kept secret online... lots of buzz about it, but nothing concrete regards course syllabus, training or goals. I'd expect more concrete info to be available...
I had been hoping that the PADI 'Tec Sidemount' would be more penetration orientated - to make best use of sidemount properties. Anyone can do a basic sidemount (equipment familiarization) and then transition onto Tec40/45/50. I don't see how the Tec Sidemount fulfills any extra benefit there - other than giving a small amount of preparation to diving stages.
Basic Sidemount + Tec40 seems to give a lot more than Tec Sidemount alone... and, if the student is doing the Tec40 afterwards (in sidemount) they're going to be introduced to stages anyway.
If the student isn't immediately progressing to a tec course, then there's little point teaching them to use stages, without the capacity for >40% O2 mixes and deco procedures etc. It's a capacity they'll not use...
That leads me to believe it is aimed more as a 'cross-over' for qualified technical divers?
Until I see the PADI syllabus for Tec SM, I'm clutching at straws (good job PADI)... if your tec/sm instructors don't know the score, how do you expect to market it to students??
I might have to put my fingers on the keyboard and write a distinctive for what I really want to teach ' Sidemount Overhead Protocols' or something like that..
I'm looking forward to teaching the PADI tec sidemount soon - just been waiting for the materials. Postage here to the Philippines is absurd... can take a week..or a month...or several. Sometimes horrific taxes, sometimes none. No reason or logic for it. I wish PADI would start releasing all manuals/materials in electronic format as standard... it's 2012 and hardly an outrageous expectation.
What I'm most interested in is comparing PADI's 'Tec Sidemount' against the offerings from other agencies. That's both for me, so that I can market it best, and also for the article I'm still working on (published on my blog, but not complete without some assessment of training syllabus and emphasis).
Sidemount seems to be a well kept secret online... lots of buzz about it, but nothing concrete regards course syllabus, training or goals. I'd expect more concrete info to be available...
I had been hoping that the PADI 'Tec Sidemount' would be more penetration orientated - to make best use of sidemount properties. Anyone can do a basic sidemount (equipment familiarization) and then transition onto Tec40/45/50. I don't see how the Tec Sidemount fulfills any extra benefit there - other than giving a small amount of preparation to diving stages.
Basic Sidemount + Tec40 seems to give a lot more than Tec Sidemount alone... and, if the student is doing the Tec40 afterwards (in sidemount) they're going to be introduced to stages anyway.
If the student isn't immediately progressing to a tec course, then there's little point teaching them to use stages, without the capacity for >40% O2 mixes and deco procedures etc. It's a capacity they'll not use...
That leads me to believe it is aimed more as a 'cross-over' for qualified technical divers?
Until I see the PADI syllabus for Tec SM, I'm clutching at straws (good job PADI)... if your tec/sm instructors don't know the score, how do you expect to market it to students??
I might have to put my fingers on the keyboard and write a distinctive for what I really want to teach ' Sidemount Overhead Protocols' or something like that..