How Long Before You Went Tech and Did You Break Taboos?

[Michael Guerrero]

So I'm curious how long (expressed in years, dives, or both) before you pursued a technical diving certification or technical dives without being certified. Additionally, do you think it was too soon, just right, or do you think you could/should have done it earlier/later?

For me, I got my first technical certifications a little over a year after I started diving. I had about 25 deco dives and 50+ doubles dives in 130+ feet of water before I got my tech certs (about 50/50 w/ buddies/solo), with a max of about 30 min deco on EAN50. I did it because I wanted to dive deeper for longer, and it seemed like a natural progression. Breaking the taboos didn't bother me much.

How did you do it and why?

 

[tomfcrist]

I started diving tech stuff in 1994 about 6 years after I learned to dive.. It wasn't referred to as tech too much in those days...we usually called it deep fishing.

 

[dreamdive]

I think you should do whatever YOU decide to do. Just understand the risks. However, I don't think that new divers are able to appreciate them and thus can make an educated risk assessment.

Case in point: Latest fatality at Eagle's Nest where a father took his son diving. Dad was OWC. He was not cave or even basic tech certified and his son had just started diving and was not certified. Dad was not an instructor, either.

The cave diving community has been doing a great job in accident analysis over the last 20 years (or longer). Their overwhelming conclusion in cave fatalities has been insufficient training, diving beyond diver's ability, insufficient equipment management (lights, continuous guide line) and
gas management.

All points after "insufficient training" still tie into "training".

There are numerous examples of "unnecessary" deaths in diving. Unnecessary in terms of that they could have been prevented if the diver(s) had the training. The assumption that for example, that as an OC Instructor one can engage in advanced wreck penetration has cost two diver's their lives on the Spiegel.

If you want to "dive deeper for longer why not get the proper training? Sounds to me like you went on a bunch of "trust me dives" with your buddies. You had to rely on them for help. Could you have helped them? Do you think that people exercise good judgement if they offer to take a novice diver way beyond his/her diving abilities? Be honest!

I know this will rub people the wrong way.......or maybe it is only their egos that get offended. It saddens me every time I read of another fatality due to behavior like that. It threatens the whole diving community and gives us a bad name. Dive sites get shut down because of things like that. Come on, do it right and prevent the grieving of another lost diver by family and friends.

 

[DogDiver]

The cave diving community has been doing a great job in accident analysis over the last 20 years (or longer). Their overwhelming conclusion in cave fatalities has been insufficient training, diving beyond diver's ability, insufficient equipment management (lights, continuous guide line) and


There are old divers............ And there are bold divers............ But there are no old bold divers!!!

There is no such thing as a cave diving rescue........ Only cave diving recoveries........ (With only a very rare exception)


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[TSandM]

Your original post is odd. I "went tech" when I had just under 500 dives. I took a UTD Tech 1 class for two reasons. One, I was about to take Cave 2, and knew I would need to be able to carry a stage and a deco bottle, and I wanted some instruction on doing that before I went to Florida and had to do it for real. Two, I was headed up to Saanich Inlet to see the cloud sponges, which begin below 100 feet, and I wanted to hang out with them long enough to enjoy the dive, and knew that would incur some deco.

I have no memory of incurring a deco obligation before I took that training, and I don't believe that I did.

I believe that when you feel the need to get a technical cert depends on where you dive. In Monterey, the topography is such that shore diving can get deep quickly, and the distances involved also incur a certain elapsed time. I think Monterey almost obligates a development sequence: Single tank, dry suit, double tanks, scooter, technical cert. In Puget Sound, we have so many good shore and boat dives that don't require any significant depth to see good stuff, that you can go YEARS without feeling the need for doubles, a scooter, or a technical certification.

 

[mathauck0814]

So I'm curious how long (expressed in years, dives, or both) before you pursued a technical diving certification or technical dives without being certified. Additionally, do you think it was too soon, just right, or do you think you could/should have done it earlier/later?

For me, I got my first technical certifications a little over a year after I started diving. I had about 25 deco dives and 50+ doubles dives in 130+ feet of water before I got my tech certs (about 50/50 w/ buddies/solo), with a max of about 30 min deco on EAN50. I did it because I wanted to dive deeper for longer, and it seemed like a natural progression. Breaking the taboos didn't bother me much.

How did you do it and why?

About 11 years ~1300 dives in I got my deco cert. It went fairly fast from there.

 

[Tony387]

I agree, it is an odd post. Always dive within your limits.

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[waterpirate]

There is a huge differance between then and now. We now have a clear path of education and knowledge to rely on, then we did not. We enjoy the luxery of standing on the shoulders of those who went before us.

The transition to tech oriented diving is defferent for everyone, and for alot of people it never goes tech at all. One skill I continue to see lacking in divers of all skill levels is " comfort in the water ". A basic skill that has been down played from the old approach.

I came up the old slow road. I was never driven to get to anywhere in a hurry. That meant I was allways where I wanted to be. The other thing lacking in todays approach is the slow progression between higher certs to get really comfortable at that level. We all think that we are gifted, but the reality is that very few divers are naturals.
YMMV
Eric

 

[DevonDiver]

I had been diving more than a decade, and DM qualified, when I took my first tech course (AN). I thought I was a pretty s#!t-hot diver at that time. Mark Powell, my instructor, disproved me of that notion on the first training dive. I started learning a lot thereafter..

 

[kr2y5]

I did my deco training after 100 dives and 3 years, and it was a humbling experience, I learned much especially about my limits and deficiencies. I would not use the term "breaking taboos" to describe diving beyond one's training, because that makes it sound almost like a positive thing (who doesn't like to break taboos, after all, I know I would want to pop that blister), and it implies that there's something unspoken about it, whereas the community is pretty vocal and fairly specific about the reasons why it shouldn't be attempted. There are long threads about it on SB every now and then, and acciddent statistics to prove why it is a really bad idea. The same goes about diving solo. I had the opportunity to do my SDI solo cert just last weekend, I am meeting the formal criteria, but I decided to postpone it, because I concluded I am not ready for that C-card yet, there are important skills that I need to practice first.