Pre tech education

[rhwestfall]

Lewis' "Staying Alive"
&
The TAO of Survival Underwater

(I have read the former and the latter is one that seems to get some serious recommendations..)

 

[Omisson]

PADI Tec programs are fine if you have a good instructor.

The Tec 45 and 50 get into formulas and theory extensively. They do not TDI or IANTD correlate directly. But Intro to Tec/ Tec 40, Advanced Nitrox/ Tec 45, Deci Procedures/ Tec 50, Normoxic Trimix/ Tec 65tmx, and Hypoxic Trimix/ Tec Trimix.

Good prep is Deco for Divers but since you are doing nursing level Weinke is good reading- Basic Decompression Theory and Diving Physics with Bubble Mechanics.

 

[Subcooled]

Powells book is really nice and informative. It even describes some decompression models in some detail. Diver down is another good (sad, depressing, feel-bad) book as it describes how people drown or get injured. Diving psychology that is. Teaches some humility. Then there are books on diving medicine / hyperbaric medicine, but I haven't read those (yet), so can't comment.

 

[eponym]

Six Skills and Deco for Divers were both great, lots of meat.

Three more of my favorites are:
Diving Physiology in Plain English by Jolie Bookspan, Ph.D.
Doing It Right by Jarrod Jablonski
Deeper into Diving by John Lippman and Dr. Simon Mitchell

And for bedtime reading, an anthology subtitled "Great Writers on Diving" is Down Time

Hope this helps,
Bryan

PS. If you get bogged down tackling Wieneke and RBGM in the original volumes, you are not alone. But bubble mechanics theory is absorbing (pun not intended).

 

[Young33]

Thanks for all the replies guys! Great responses, much appreciated.

As far as in the in water skills are concerned, I make a concentrated effort every dive to improve at my skills. Now, this winter I am hoping to be in the pool with some regularity to keep practicing skills. However, my instructor is from a dive shop about 40 minutes north of me and my lds is right around the corner(where the pool is). So, my practice in doubles may be very limited. However, I plan on doing tec40 with a single and stage anyway. So, this winter I am going to get my stage bottle and start practicing with it in the pool.

 

[Subcooled]

Some simple thoughts

Learn to round down to the closest number easily divisible by three, then divide by three, and subtract the result from the total (unrounded value). It's a recipe for longevity (this is not a joke). Even better, divide by four. Turn around pressure.

Other usefull knowledge includes the multiplication tables of 0.21, 0.28, 0.32, 0.36, 0.40 and 0.50. Dividing 1.4, 1.5 or 1.6 by those numbers is popular, too. Basic nitrox calculations.

Learn to calculate your air consumption rate (to estimate your available bottom time) and learn to use some dive planning software.

Simple things like these are important. Deeper understanding of physiology is fun, but doesn't always help at the pond, unless it is a very very deep pond.

 

[Patoux01]

Thanks for all the replies guys! Great responses, much appreciated.

As far as in the in water skills are concerned, I make a concentrated effort every dive to improve at my skills. Now, this winter I am hoping to be in the pool with some regularity to keep practicing skills. However, my instructor is from a dive shop about 40 minutes north of me and my lds is right around the corner(where the pool is). So, my practice in doubles may be very limited. However, I plan on doing tec40 with a single and stage anyway. So, this winter I am going to get my stage bottle and start practicing with it in the pool.

Why would you need to have your instructor or a twinset to train?
Grab a camera, jump in the pool. Ditch the deco tank and whatever piece that you're not supposed to master yet, for sure there's more than enough work to be done on trim, buoyancy and finning while taskloaded. Then once that's ok, you start adding stuff ONLY if you know how to add it. Don't start learning bad practices.

The way I'm being taught is "as long as you don't master the fundamentals, you don't add a piece of gear or go further down" and "when you add gear, make sure you understand damn well how it works and what procedures are related to it".
If you're doing adv nitrox + deco procs for instance, the focus of the course shouldn't be on your trim and finning, but on you learning about O2 and decompression.

For the reading part, I really wouldn't bother too much with theory, except if you're interested in it.
That's my approach to it, as I believe it's easier to learn theory than actual skills that will be useful underwater.

 

[Max Speed]

Or get a calculator and practice with the gear you're gonna use...

 

[Seya]

Have perfect buoyancy without moving your arms or legs. The books stuff is the easiest part. Task loading while maintaining buoyancy and trim is the hardest to learn. The hardest tech class is the first one since you realize it's completely different than OW/AOW

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk

 

[PfcAJ]

Single tank for tech diving? Wat?