FB posting - standards violations - how many can you pick out?

[Germie]

Ok, we maybe, maybe, maybe see here only a depth violation in naui standards. The equipment can be 'ok' for the course.
But what if this is the first dive after the course? Just a question.
If these divers are cmas 3* divers they already have a 57m or 60m cert (including the 'go' to use normal bcd and single tank, the cmas adv. nitrox is also single tank, the decompression procedures is single tank with air or nitrox as backgas to do deco on). Then they maybe combine their certs and are within their limits (even if this is maybe officially not the way to do).

I only see pictures of a way of diving I don't teach or preach. But we don't know all details. That is the problem of facebook, just 1 word wrong and people interpret things different. Social media is strong, but also can be tricky.

 

[RainPilot]

would welcome comment from NAUI instructors.

As a NAUI Instructor authorised to teach the Helitrox course, the following from the "Policies applying to all Tech Courses" section of the latest S&P:

Equipment
o NAUI Technical Equipment Configuration(NTEC) is required for open circuit technical diver training.
o For purposes of safety, uniformity of instruction, and functionality, gear configurations for water work and training exercises must be the same for instructors and students.
o Standardized rigging of bottom and stage cylinders, isolation manifolds, cylinder gauges, inflators,
primary regulators, and backup regulators is crucial to the safety, success, and effectiveness of technical diver training. NTEC specific configurations of technical diving equipment, that is, its organization and placement on the diver, are presented in NAUI support materials for each technical course. For the detailed description of the standard NTEC consult the NAUI Technical Diver manual.

From the standards for the Helitrox course, specifically:

Helitrox Diver

OVERVIEW AND QUALIFICATIONS

This course is to provide the training and experience necessary to gain the knowledge and understand the hazards of utilizing helium enriched EANx for dives to maximum depth of 150 feet (46 m) that may require staged-decompression, utilizing EANx mixtures and/or oxygen during decompression. Upon successful completion of this course, graduates are considered competent to plan and execute helitrox based dives that may require staged decompression and utilize EANx and/or oxygen for staged decompression without direct supervision, provided the diving activities and the areas dived approximate those of training.

WHO MAY CONDUCT

• Any active-status NAUI Instructor using NAUI support materials who:
o Is certified as a NAUI Helitrox Diver or equivalent, and
o Has attended and passed the NAUI Technical Diving instructor course and completed the
instructor application process and received Technical Instructor designation to teach this course from the NAUI Training Department.

PREREQUISITES

• Age. Minimum is 18 years by the water phase of the course.
  
• Certification/Experience/Knowledge.
  

o NAUI Technical Decompression Diver or equivalent. (This course may be combined with the NAUI Technical Decompression Diver course.)

o Proof of at least 50 logged dives with 15 dives on EANx.
o The instructor is to ensure adequate student knowledge and capability before any open water
training and shall use skill or other evaluations to do so. One open water dive (which does not count toward the minimum number of dives required for the course) may be used as a screening and evaluation dive. This is not required when the student’s diving proficiencies are well known to the instructor.

POLICIES • Ratios.

o A maximum of four students (decompression dives) / six students (no-decompression dives) per active-status NAUI Instructor is allowed in open water.

o The use of assistants(NAUITechnicalSupportLeaders) with specifict echnical diving experience is strongly recommended and will increase the student-to instructor ratio to six students per active-status NAUI Instructor (decompression dives) under ideal conditions.

• Academics (estimated hours). Eight hours.
  
• Practical Application.
  

o MINIMUM REQUIRED DIVES.
– The minimum number of open water dives is four.

o LIMITATIONS.
– All the required dives are to be made using a helitrox mixture, of which at least one is to be a
repetitive dive.
– If this course is combined with NAUI Technical Decompression Diver , then the combined
course will require a total of 10 dives, of which four dives will be with helitrox.

o DEPTH.

• – Training depths shall not exceed 150feet (46m).
  
• – No dives are to exceed 60 feet (18 m) until a student has satisfactorily demonstrated
  
  equipment configuration and management during open water assessment dive(s).
  

• Equipment. The following equipment is required for each student in addition to that required by

“Policies Applying to All Technical Diver Training Courses.”
o Oxygen analyzer, helium analyzer (may be provided or rented for use during the course).
o Air and EANx dive computers are allowed for use as depth and timing devices and for dive
planning.
o Jon lines and other rigging lines as dictated by conditions at the dive site.
o Ascent line reel and surface marker.
o Up-line that is adequate for maximum planned depth, and additional personal lines as needed. o Redundant underwater lights if needed because of site conditions.

REQUIREMENTS – ACADEMIC

(Remediation of specific subject knowledge as needed.)

• Applied Sciences. This area is a review and continuation of the material covered in the NAUI
  
  Technical Diver manual. Included are the NAUI Reduced Gradient Bubble Model theory and tables, physics, physiology, and medical aspects as applied to planned decompression diving, with special emphasis on mechanisms of bubble formation, advantages of oxygen enriched air mixes for decompression, oxygen toxicity (whole body and CNS toxicity, OTUs/UPTDs), hypoxia, nitrogen narcosis, tissue inert gas tension, inspired inert gas tension, “precautionary stops” compared to required stops, deep-stop models and theory, equivalent narcosis depth (END) and equivalent air depth (EAD), rates for ascent/descent, carbon dioxide toxicity, carbon monoxide toxicity, hyperthermia, hypothermia, dive time management, psychological considerations, task loading, stress, perceptual narrowing, and panic Also to be covered are best mix and maximum operating depth mixture computations, plus decompression options using EANx and oxygen and the need for 5-minute air breaks every 20 minutes during staged decompression as well as the off phenomenon when using 100% oxygen.
  
• NAUI Technical Equipment Configuration (NTEC). This area provides the diver with the knowledge necessary for selecting and configuring diving equipment for extended range diving. Included is information about single and twin cylinders, valves, regulators, harness/wing style back- mounted buoyancy compensator, dive computers/depth gauges/bottom timers, ascent and navigation line reels, surface markers for drifting or untethered decompression, preparation of surface-supplied decompression equipment, Jon line and clips, appropriate ballast and buoyancy control during dive and staged decompression stops, a comparison of dive tables and computers, introduction and review of different decompression table models (RGBM based tables, U.S. Navy), correct use of electronic multilevel dive computers for dive planning and decompression.
  
• Helitrox Dive Planning. This area provides the diver with the knowledge necessary to plan and safely execute helitrox dives. Included is information regarding standard operations, i.e., gas needs and requirements, oxygen toxicity limitations, nitrogen narcosis limitations, and emergency planning, including omitted decompression, oxygen toxicity, decompression sickness, equipment failure. Also the following procedures, utilizing primary and decompression gas, normal operations, plan failure, emergency procedure contingencies for failure or inadequacies of procedure, analyzing and logging all breathing gases, safeguards to prevent the misuse of decompression supply regulators, preparation
  and deployment of decompression gear, various methods of entry, use of descent lines or other descent technique decisions; recognizing the signs and symptoms of inert gas narcosis, oxygen toxicity, recognizing breathing pattern fluctuations, options for configuring diver-carried equipment, variable-ascent-rate techniques and applying deep-stop models and theory, diver trim, ballast and buoyancy compensation; tethered or untethered decompression methods, use of up-lines, line reels and surface markers, decompression bars and platforms, free drifting staged decompression or boat- based decompression station, a comparison of diver-carried decompression gases versus surface- supplied or rendezvous gas cylinder, shore or boat based dive team support, contingency planning, chamber locations, evacuation procedures, communications and emergency breathing gases.

REQUIREMENTS – SKILLS

• The students are to analyze their own breathing gas mixture and to plan and safely execute each dive.
  
• Dive planning shall include limits based on gas consumption, oxygen toxicity exposures and inert gas
  
  absorption for each dive and breathing gas mixture.
  
• Each diver is to demonstrate switching and isolating a malfunctioning regulator, first in confined
  
  water, and following adequate practice, at a depth between 33 and 66 feet (10 to 20 m).
  
• Each diver is to demonstrate underwater navigation appropriate to the dive plan.
  
• During a screening dive that is in addition to the four required dives, students shall participate in a
  
  diver rescue simulation to include management of a diver experiencing underwater oxygen toxicity.
  
• On at least two of the required dives ascend with ascent reel and surface marker and perform
  
  necessary or simulated staged decompression.
  

 

[Marie13]

There have been one or two comments about why Helitrox with only 20ft past recreational depths. Easy - you get narced within rec depths and want a weak He mix to counteract the narc.

TDI’s AN/DP combo is 145-150ft limit. NAUI’s tech diver deco class only goes to 130ft, per their website.

 

[Manatee Diver]

If these divers are cmas 3* divers they already have a 57m or 60m cert (including the 'go' to use normal bcd and single tank, the cmas adv. nitrox is also single tank, the decompression procedures is single tank with air or nitrox as backgas to do deco on). Then they maybe combine their certs and are within their limits (even if this is maybe officially not the way to do).

CMAS certs are very very rare in the states.

 

[Marie13]

CMAS certs are very very rare in the states.

I saw one on the boat this summer and it was held by a visiting French diver.

 

[johndiver999]

o LIMITATIONS.
– All the required dives are to be made using a helitrox mixture, of which at least one is to be a
repetitive dive.


Interesting that those standards REQUIRE that deep diving be done in a repetitive manner. Wonder why that is a requirement? Do we interpret that to mean that repetitive decompression dives MUST be done to meet these NAUI standards or can it just be repetitive non-deco dives?

Isn't it safer to avoid repetitive deco dives? Why REQUIRE students to engage in this activity? Would an instructor be reported by people on this forum if a class did not comply with this specific requirement? If so, why?

 

[MichaelMc]

@RainPilot Thanks. Do you have the current NTEC with respect to tanks and BC?

 

[broncobowsher]

Guessing the repetitive standard is to show that planning and execution a repetitive dive profile from the classroom teaching is correctly applied in the water.

 

[Marie13]

Is there a lot of “cowboy” culture in FL (and CA, for that matter), with regards to the spear fishers?

It’s not a mentality I’m intimate with regards to diving. The Great Lakes wreck divers in my circle tend to be careful divers.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Recreational scuba diving in the States began in Southern California. California and Florida rank 1 and 2 in the number of divers. Many have been diving for several decades without getting certifications beyond Open Water. Not everyone who dives beyond 130 feet has taken the multitude of classes that the OP has taken.