Awsome posts, both GDI's and Drewski's made a really good read.
Tech diving, equipment, awareness and too much too soon
- Thread starter GDI
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Ice9:
You don't even need task loading for some serious mistakes to occur. 2 weeks ago in Roatan I witnessed a diver who was over weighted having a problem. She did a giant stride and started to descend immediately and without realizing she was dropping; all she was concerned with was equalizing. Her hand was not on her inflator and; had she not hit the bottom which was 21 feet she would have just continued to descend. I knew she had a problem when she was descending in a seated position. She had no idea where the bottom was nor how deep she was. I got to her about 3 seconds after she hit the bottom.
I should add that no one else seemed to notice there was a problem, until I told another diver in the water what was happening and went down after this diver. This was to be a drift dive with all divers remaining on the surface until the boats DM got into the water (he was to be last in). It was a good thing that the boat was over the reef and not on the other side of the wall.
Cheers
OP
drewski, great post and good points
dtmc78
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Great post! I think some divers attempt to gain experience by taking as many classes as possible. Yes, we need the follow on training but a class is not the environment to practice skills from a previous course. Go diving. Learn the acquired skills, get comfortable and then advance to the next desired course. Great post! A great reminder to myself and other divers that nothing compares to just getting in the water and becoming comfortable with your own skill level and equipment.
Hi Everybody,
Thank you for this interesting and educational post. I agree wholeheartedly with you on this.
I am a new diver, just over a year with 51 dives behind me. I am a PADI Div er ( is it ok to admit that
)I have done a few courses and now need to finish up for my MSD. My partner & I do training dives, that is, we do some dives just for the experience. We dive with all our kit, smb, knife, torch etc, everything. We do some 30m dives, we do dives in dark water (with plans & buddy lines) we take hangtanks, we practice, mask & kit removal underwater. The object is to know how the equipment and we work in all circunstances.
We get funny looks, comments etc, but it is our lives and so we do it. My motto is to minimise the risks and manage those that are left. Simple.
I would like to turn this thread around a bit and say this. I am a technical learner. I like to learn and the more the better. While starting to dive, I watched a number of friends going through training and I watched the instructors. I started looking for instructors that would add some "body & passion" to the training. Boy did I get flak.!!
On my deep course, when I started putting a hangtank together for the simulated deco dive, the instructor told me not to as even though we dive to 30m, we are only going to simulate going into deco. Now I may be wrong but to me, hang tanks are an integral part of deep diving.
Another instructor was bragging about how he was qualified to instruct on 17 specialities, but that he himself had only completed 3 as a student. Doesn't really instill me with confidence.
I have found that a large number of instructors do just enough to cover the minimum required in the book. I am not looking for book training, I want to learn from their experiences.
Other instructors and schools are not there because of their passion for diving, it is the lifestyle & money that drives them.
My partner and I have both decided to make this year an experience year and to do DiveMaster qualifications, both to learn more and to help more.
Have fun & be safe
Thank you for this interesting and educational post. I agree wholeheartedly with you on this.
I am a new diver, just over a year with 51 dives behind me. I am a PADI Div er ( is it ok to admit that
We get funny looks, comments etc, but it is our lives and so we do it. My motto is to minimise the risks and manage those that are left. Simple.
I would like to turn this thread around a bit and say this. I am a technical learner. I like to learn and the more the better. While starting to dive, I watched a number of friends going through training and I watched the instructors. I started looking for instructors that would add some "body & passion" to the training. Boy did I get flak.!!
On my deep course, when I started putting a hangtank together for the simulated deco dive, the instructor told me not to as even though we dive to 30m, we are only going to simulate going into deco. Now I may be wrong but to me, hang tanks are an integral part of deep diving.
Another instructor was bragging about how he was qualified to instruct on 17 specialities, but that he himself had only completed 3 as a student. Doesn't really instill me with confidence.
I have found that a large number of instructors do just enough to cover the minimum required in the book. I am not looking for book training, I want to learn from their experiences.
Other instructors and schools are not there because of their passion for diving, it is the lifestyle & money that drives them.
My partner and I have both decided to make this year an experience year and to do DiveMaster qualifications, both to learn more and to help more.
Have fun & be safe
Man what a freaking cool read..FINALLY.
TASK loading as stated is not rocket sience. But is all too important to master. When I explain to new divers especially divers that think Technical diving is all the fancy gear, Back plates doubles etc...reels etc...And they do not understand the true meaning of techdiving.
A recreational diver, can be configured with the same gear that technical divers use.
As many are using, on a recreational level, Backplate and wings, diving single tanks or doubles and not exceeding the NDL of recreational diving. USing gear that was developped for tech divers but adapted to recreational diving to a point.
A Technical diver in the true sence of the word has more advanced training in environments that demand more gear, specific to the type of diving. IE: deep deco dives, Mixed gas diving, overhead environments, cave diving, RB diving, saturation diving.
MANY recreational divers do not make a dive plan, some just jump in and come out 45 minutes later..have no clue what the basic rules of thirds are related to proper gas management. In the simplest of form.
As this thread was posted and very well defined...I do hope the recreational diver will have a better understanding of what techdiving is and how the SKILLS are so important to master on ANY level...regardless of experience.
Recreational divers whom are starting out. I have this to say...PRACTICE. Shut up and learn, practice somemore. Find a more experienced diver to mentor you as you progress in your training. Do not be afraid to ask questions, even if you think it may be a silly question.. there are no silly questions. There are reasons many experience divers do things. Also very important...leave your egos in the car. Scubadiving is not a competition on whom went deeper that the other...think about your actions before you kill someone with your stupidity.
Safe dives everyone
Stephen
TASK loading as stated is not rocket sience. But is all too important to master. When I explain to new divers especially divers that think Technical diving is all the fancy gear, Back plates doubles etc...reels etc...And they do not understand the true meaning of techdiving.
A recreational diver, can be configured with the same gear that technical divers use.
As many are using, on a recreational level, Backplate and wings, diving single tanks or doubles and not exceeding the NDL of recreational diving. USing gear that was developped for tech divers but adapted to recreational diving to a point.
A Technical diver in the true sence of the word has more advanced training in environments that demand more gear, specific to the type of diving. IE: deep deco dives, Mixed gas diving, overhead environments, cave diving, RB diving, saturation diving.
MANY recreational divers do not make a dive plan, some just jump in and come out 45 minutes later..have no clue what the basic rules of thirds are related to proper gas management. In the simplest of form.
As this thread was posted and very well defined...I do hope the recreational diver will have a better understanding of what techdiving is and how the SKILLS are so important to master on ANY level...regardless of experience.
Recreational divers whom are starting out. I have this to say...PRACTICE. Shut up and learn, practice somemore. Find a more experienced diver to mentor you as you progress in your training. Do not be afraid to ask questions, even if you think it may be a silly question.. there are no silly questions. There are reasons many experience divers do things. Also very important...leave your egos in the car. Scubadiving is not a competition on whom went deeper that the other...think about your actions before you kill someone with your stupidity.
Safe dives everyone
Stephen
diven'-larry
Guest
Excellent. Thank you very much. As my first post, I'd like to say this is EXACTLY the situation I am in: AOW, Dry, Nitrox and wanting to get more. I really appreciate your thoughts and look forward to hearing more!
verybaddiver
Contributor
People seem to be hinting that courses develop you the skills that you take the course for? this is rubbish. The course shows you the skills you need to dive in that environment, safely. Experience after courses, practicing what you have learnt is what's important.
Take GUE for example. They refuse to let divers move from cave1 to cave2 without the diver making 25 cave dives inbetween, as a minimum. This is because you need atleast 25 dives to understand what you have learnt in cave1.
There is simply no way OW divers should go straight onto AOW or other specialties as they are still learning the skills from OW.
This doesn't take a genius to work out. When you pass your driving test. You dont immediatly take a nascar/formula1/bus driver test. It would be stupid as you don't have the basic skills. This is the same as diving, take the course, learn the skills, practice and refine the skills.
Take GUE for example. They refuse to let divers move from cave1 to cave2 without the diver making 25 cave dives inbetween, as a minimum. This is because you need atleast 25 dives to understand what you have learnt in cave1.
There is simply no way OW divers should go straight onto AOW or other specialties as they are still learning the skills from OW.
This doesn't take a genius to work out. When you pass your driving test. You dont immediatly take a nascar/formula1/bus driver test. It would be stupid as you don't have the basic skills. This is the same as diving, take the course, learn the skills, practice and refine the skills.
I agree wholeheartedly.
Who is more experienced, a AOW,Nitrox, Wreck diver with 20 dives in a single site or an OW diver who has dived 5 different sites including the sea and from a boat? Yes I know it is debateable, but the point I am trying to make is that diving in different sites under different conditions teaches you more that any course ever will.
The course is there to give you the theory and basic practical applications of the skills required. It is only by doing repetitive dives while utilising the theory and practising the skills that we gain experience.
Here in South Africa, our sea diving is quite interesting, at Aliwal Shoal, 3m swells are probably the norm or at least quite average, I have been out in 5m swells, the currents down on the wreck of the produce can be hair raising, like hang onto a spar and act like a flag kind of hairraising.
We dived Sodwana over New Year. When we went out we had nice small half to 1m swells, When we surfaced an hour later, it was now 2 to 2.5m swells and getting worse. Very easy to get seperated.
This is stuff that you simply cannot prepare people for on a course, you have to get the theory done and then dive the sites with experienced DM's.
Personally, I would never consider diving a south African sea site without a local DM.
Who is more experienced, a AOW,Nitrox, Wreck diver with 20 dives in a single site or an OW diver who has dived 5 different sites including the sea and from a boat? Yes I know it is debateable, but the point I am trying to make is that diving in different sites under different conditions teaches you more that any course ever will.
The course is there to give you the theory and basic practical applications of the skills required. It is only by doing repetitive dives while utilising the theory and practising the skills that we gain experience.
Here in South Africa, our sea diving is quite interesting, at Aliwal Shoal, 3m swells are probably the norm or at least quite average, I have been out in 5m swells, the currents down on the wreck of the produce can be hair raising, like hang onto a spar and act like a flag kind of hairraising.
We dived Sodwana over New Year. When we went out we had nice small half to 1m swells, When we surfaced an hour later, it was now 2 to 2.5m swells and getting worse. Very easy to get seperated.
This is stuff that you simply cannot prepare people for on a course, you have to get the theory done and then dive the sites with experienced DM's.
Personally, I would never consider diving a south African sea site without a local DM.
RS
Guest
do it easy:
Ditto.
With a bold on the aspiring part.
Thx
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