Why the hating on Tech?

[Dyno Bill]

It's the Hatfields and the McCoys all over again, you know the Fords VS chevy guys. My dog is bigger than yours and the like, guys like.... nope they love having pissing contests for the sake of having one. For my 50th B Day I got a small horse ranch and started riding bucking horses, seemed like a good idea at the time but the truth it made my blood boil with the excitement. Never had so many broke parts, lasted 2 years and I couldn't walk straight for a while and I still have permenently numb places. At times my feels the area just above my neck is one of them..... an attempt at humor. I went back to diving and it seemed somehow tame for a bit. We all chase our dreams in different ways, sometimes we get to live them but as I sit here broke up and full of memories I say chase the one that floats your boat because unless it's needle point there is an expiration date on your ability to honkey tonk till sunup. For what it's worth I REALLY loved cowboying, you know boots, hat and a ****ty looking truck. Wished I'd started it earlier and guys if your single there is a lot to be said for it. Met my wife riding a horse.
Bill

 

[Aerosynth]

Dangerously close to a troll, but I've come to believe that it is completely honest.

Wasn't trying to be a troll. Maybe I could have worded the OP a little less 'loaded', though. I used to admin/mod for an Internet content provider a long time ago, so I should know by now to be more careful with my words, LOL. I type like I talk, which can be a problem at times since people interpret the written word more literally than they do when the exact same thing is spoken.

Nevertheless, my view of tech is already waaayyy more clear. Different attitudes toward the OP, others' posts, and the different responses to everything... it all paints an interesting picture. Although... I may now have more questions than I did originally - HAHA.

Anyway, as I said... my curiosity on the subject was just curiosity. I'm not planning to be a 100-dive-wonder or anything. I just feel that having a strong understanding of the different branches of SCUBA, and the opinions surrounding them, will probably help me grow as a diver.

 

[HowardE]

Just curiosity...

Somewhat new diver and already love the sport like crazy. Just got my EANx cert last night! Always looking to know and understand more about the fascinating world of diving. As I have learned more, I have become intrigued by tech diving. Staged decompression, trimix, advanced wreck and cave diving... they all seem like such awesome skillsets that could take SCUBA to a whole new level.

However... last night when I was asking an instructor about tech... he was less than flattering about the whole thing. This makes the 3rd or 4th person I've asked about tech diving that has offered less than rave reviews about it. I've heard so many different reasons. Last night's was something to the effect of: "What's so interesting about it? They dive to 330', stay a couple minutes, then spend hours ascending."

So far the other reasons I've heard from other people include:

** "Completely worthless unless you live on the coast and dive every day."
** "Certifications you will only use once."
** "Not many tech diving opportunities around to actually use your skills."
((and other inappropriate observations about the types of people that tech dive))

So my question... why the hating on technical diving? Is this a common feeling among mainstream divers, or maybe just with the groups I've dove with? Seems to me that tech would be a really awesome thing to get into once I am at a more advanced level. Is it really one of those paths that people regret taking once they do? Not trying to tick anyone off. As I said, tech sounds very fascinating to me based on what I know about it. I'm just wondering... because so far, I have literally NOT MET ONE PERSON that had anything good to say about it. :-/

My bad for not reading the entire thread, but I hear this question quite a bit in person, so I'll tell you what I tell people in real life.

1) People who have a fear of something generally have a tendency to bash that thing, or "poo poo" it to make themselves feel better about not having to face that fear.

Now let me say this... tech diving has its macho group, like anything where men gather in clusters and show off who has the biggest tank. But tech diving as most people call it; is for the most part just deep recreational diving. It's really not that technical. Switching gas and carrying extra bottles isn't all that technical. IMO, it gets technical when you add in a few tasks, like taking pictures, measurements, communications with other divers and/or topside, recovery of objects, use of tools... you get the idea.

Diving is diving. If you love diving... why wouldn't you want to learn whatever you can about diving? If we can make dives to 300 feet, safely... why wouldn't you at least want to know HOW to do it... even if you never do?

Personally... I enjoy diving. I've also had some incredible opportunities in the last few years, and without having the training to do deep dives... I would have just been surface support.

Simply put... For people that say, "Why learn tech diving?" - I say, "why NOT tech diving" - Tech diving broadens our knowledge of the sport which we love so much, it gives us a broader understanding of decompression theory, and also essentially makes us better divers all around...

 

[lowviz]

Wasn't trying to be a troll. Maybe I could have worded the OP a little less 'loaded', though. I used to admin/mod for an Internet content provider a long time ago, so I should know by now to be more careful with my words, LOL. I type like I talk, which can be a problem at times since people interpret the written word more literally than they do when the exact same thing is spoken.

Nevertheless, my view of tech is already waaayyy more clear. Different attitudes toward the OP, others' posts, and the different responses to everything... it all paints an interesting picture. Although... I may now have more questions than I did originally - HAHA.

Anyway, as I said... my curiosity on the subject was just curiosity. I'm not planning to be a 100-dive-wonder or anything. I just feel that having a strong understanding of the different branches of SCUBA, and the opinions surrounding them, will probably help me grow as a diver.

I'm glad you posted, we all learned something. And BTW, some of the best posts are on the razor's edge of a troll. -took a bit to figure you, my prob, not yours...

 

[Aerosynth]

For what it's worth I REALLY loved cowboying

Those of us that grew up in Cowboy Country, 150 miles from the nearest international airport and 75 miles from the nearest mall, probably love the lifestyle a lot less than you do! LOL! I like to ride horses every now and then but I just remember too many weird, smelly cowboys from my youth to get too excited about ranching!

We all chase our dreams in different ways, sometimes we get to live them but as I sit here broke up and full of memories I say chase the one that floats your boat because unless it's needle point there is an expiration date on your ability to honkey tonk till sunup.

Most awesome advice ever. I woke up one morning not long ago, single for the first time in years, realizing that I had wasted most of my twenties trying to make other people happy. I decided, for once, to say "screw everyone else" and do what made me happy. I signed up for my OW class, hit the water, and it's become a really fantastic experience. I didn't want to become one of those guys in his Sixties, in the La-Z-Boy watching someone scuba dive on the Discovery Channel... thinking, "I wish I could do that."

 

[Nemrod]

Just curiosity...

Somewhat new diver and already love the sport like crazy. Just got my EANx cert last night! Always looking to know and understand more about the fascinating world of diving. As I have learned more, I have become intrigued by tech diving. Staged decompression, trimix, advanced wreck and cave diving... they all seem like such awesome skillsets that could take SCUBA to a whole new level.

However... last night when I was asking an instructor about tech... he was less than flattering about the whole thing. This makes the 3rd or 4th person I've asked about tech diving that has offered less than rave reviews about it. I've heard so many different reasons. Last night's was something to the effect of: "What's so interesting about it? They dive to 330', stay a couple minutes, then spend hours ascending."

So far the other reasons I've heard from other people include:

** "Completely worthless unless you live on the coast and dive every day."
** "Certifications you will only use once."
** "Not many tech diving opportunities around to actually use your skills."
((and other inappropriate observations about the types of people that tech dive))

So my question... why the hating on technical diving? Is this a common feeling among mainstream divers, or maybe just with the groups I've dove with? Seems to me that tech would be a really awesome thing to get into once I am at a more advanced level. Is it really one of those paths that people regret taking once they do? Not trying to tick anyone off. As I said, tech sounds very fascinating to me based on what I know about it. I'm just wondering... because so far, I have literally NOT MET ONE PERSON that had anything good to say about it. :-/

There is no hate on tech diving, there is something of a worn out snit going on about a particular tech acronym and it's implications.

You are interested in the sport, you will likely end up pursuing at least some technical aspects of diving, enjoy your adventure, even if it has the particular acronym attached. Don't let the naysayers rain on your parade. But, be careful, take your time.

N

 

[TSandM]

I wasn't "going tech", I was learning to do the dives I wanted to do, from the people who were best equipped to teach me.

Qnape, I only snipped a bit of your post, but the whole thing was lovely. I still have trouble thinking of the diving I'm doing as "tech". I like to swim around in holes in the ground, is all, and I had to get some extra training and buy some extra equipment to be able to do it safely. Similarly, I wanted to go see the cloud sponges in Saanich Inlet. It was going to be a long run for a very short slide, to drive all the way up there to look at them for five minutes, so I needed to learn what I had to know and be able to do to exceed my no deco limits.

I've been incredibly lucky to live in a diving environment where there isn't a bright line drawn between recreational and technical diving. Because you start with equipment that works for everything, and you learn the skills you need from the get-go, the transition from shallower or shorter or non-overhead dives to something else can be gradual and very natural.

My original dive shop wasn't that way. It was a recreational diving shop (although at that time, it hosted a technical instructor) and saw any decompression or overhead diving as quite foreign and not desirable. They didn't put their students into equipment that would suit for technical diving, and that one thing made a huge perceived gulf between their clients and those weirdo people in doubles

 

[jepuskar]

I didnt read through all the pages...but maybe it is sales driven?? You becoming tech takes money out of his pocket.

 

[Sas]

I didnt read through all the pages...but maybe it is sales driven?? You becoming tech takes money out of his pocket.

Wouldn't it be the opposite?

 

[fjpatrum]

Wouldn't it be the opposite?

Only if he sells the right equipment. Otherwise the business goes to another shop with the right expertise.