I'm a relatively new open water diver interested in getting into technical diving. I see my first technical diving class as something a couple years away. At 30 dives with only an OW card, don't feel that I'm pulling a zero-to-hero or card collecting. At an average hard-bottom depth of 32ft across my dives, I don't think I'm exactly rushing into the deep. I had just a little bit of a head start compared to some because I had the good luck of taking OW from an instructor who placed heavy importance on proper weighting, buoyancy, trim, and generally not silting the place out, but I would not consider myself a particularly skilled diver for the amount of experience that I have.
However, there are a couple things where my views aren't exactly what some would consider kosher. I learned to shoot an smb and run a reel from the "take things slow and do lots of drills" school of dive training. I haven't violated the 60ft depth limit of OW but to be completely honest that has nothing to do with my lack of an AOW card and everything to do with wanting to refine my fundamental skills and form a stronger buddy team with my dive partner(s) prior to doing so.
I guess I'm somewhat of an internet diver in that there are academic topics in diving that I know way more about than I probably need to, especially around dive planning, because like being able to give a specific reason grounded in reality for why I dive the way I do.
All of this is building up to a recent conversation I had with a tech instructor. I was interested in taking GUE Fundamentals and learning how to use a drysuit this year. He referred me to an allegorical (but real) interview with someone who progressed far too quickly, ignoring the advice of his seniors right up until he awoke in a hospital having avoided death by sheer luck. The message was pretty clear: I'm going too fast and will end up as a statistic if I don't slow down.
I was skeptical. Me? Going too fast? No one had ever suggested such a thing before. I talked to a couple of more experienced divers I know (some with technical and/or DM training, but admittedly no instructors) and they seemed to agree with me that I'm not progressing at an unsafe rate, but I talk to them enough that it might've become a bit of an echo chamber, so I've come here seeking a third opinion. Do I appear to be diving recklessly, whether in general or in the specific case of trying to make the jump from OW to OW+Fundies+Drysuit in a year? If so, what can I do better? I'm willing to provide more details as needed to help answer that question; whether my current practice reflects it or not, I'd like to have a long diving career, free of near-death experiences
However, there are a couple things where my views aren't exactly what some would consider kosher. I learned to shoot an smb and run a reel from the "take things slow and do lots of drills" school of dive training. I haven't violated the 60ft depth limit of OW but to be completely honest that has nothing to do with my lack of an AOW card and everything to do with wanting to refine my fundamental skills and form a stronger buddy team with my dive partner(s) prior to doing so.
I guess I'm somewhat of an internet diver in that there are academic topics in diving that I know way more about than I probably need to, especially around dive planning, because like being able to give a specific reason grounded in reality for why I dive the way I do.
All of this is building up to a recent conversation I had with a tech instructor. I was interested in taking GUE Fundamentals and learning how to use a drysuit this year. He referred me to an allegorical (but real) interview with someone who progressed far too quickly, ignoring the advice of his seniors right up until he awoke in a hospital having avoided death by sheer luck. The message was pretty clear: I'm going too fast and will end up as a statistic if I don't slow down.
I was skeptical. Me? Going too fast? No one had ever suggested such a thing before. I talked to a couple of more experienced divers I know (some with technical and/or DM training, but admittedly no instructors) and they seemed to agree with me that I'm not progressing at an unsafe rate, but I talk to them enough that it might've become a bit of an echo chamber, so I've come here seeking a third opinion. Do I appear to be diving recklessly, whether in general or in the specific case of trying to make the jump from OW to OW+Fundies+Drysuit in a year? If so, what can I do better? I'm willing to provide more details as needed to help answer that question; whether my current practice reflects it or not, I'd like to have a long diving career, free of near-death experiences
