Value of TDI-Extended Range course

[RyanT]

Edit: just to clarify, I meant going from AN/DP directly to Trimix.

 

[rjack321]

Edit: just to clarify, I meant going from AN/DP directly to Trimix.

So nowadays adding 30ft onto your 150ft AN/DP card is all you get

I seem to recall that extended range used to be a 200ft/60m card - 10-15yrs ago.

 

[tomfcrist]

I'm sure plenty of people think that's nonsense.

Many people do. I think that experiencing narcosis is beneficial. The difference between air and Trimix at 180’ is night and day. Some people need to experience that to truly appreciate it.

 

[KentB]

I’m doing it right now.
I have no desire to do air that deep but managing 2 deco bottles is worth it to me to be sufficient with it before moving on to trimix.
I will need to switch to backmount doubles soon though. I currently dive SM and just don’t have the back gas to really do deeper longer dives

 

[Blue Quaker]

So nowadays adding 30ft onto your 150ft AN/DP card is all you get

I seem to recall that extended range used to be a 200ft/60m card - 10-15yrs ago.

When we first started teaching the E. Range program ( 1994/95) it was a 218ft max. depth course and there was no trimix course available from TDI at that time. We did 25 minute bottom times @210ft + deco to meet progam demands on the final dives. The C cards came back from HQ with the max depth that students dove on the course as the depth they were certified to. Some got the full rating, some did not, depending on how comfortable they were at depth.The skill drills and gas management skills transfer to trimix diving as do the dive planning and bailout. it was as much about establishing self discipline on the dive as going deep.
Once trimix training was more widely available most of us realized that the depths we had been teaching to were "over the top". To do dives on mix that one has done on air and thought that you were fine and in control is quite the eye opener: hence the drop in the number of E. Range programs offered... Personally I don't dive deeper than 150ft/45m on air and either use mix or don't bother if the dive is deeper even though I have several dives deeper than 65m on air in my log book from the pre trimix days.

 

[tursiops]

When we first started teaching the E. Range program ( 1994/95) it was a 218ft max. depth course and there was no trimix course available from TDI at that time. We did 25 minute bottom times @210ft + deco to meet progam demands on the final dives. The C cards came back from HQ with the max depth that students dove on the course as the depth they were certified to. Some got the full rating, some did not, depending on how comfortable they were at depth.The skill drills and gas management skills transfer to trimix diving as do the dive planning and bailout. it was as much about establishing self discipline on the dive as going deep.
Once trimix training was more widely available most of us realized that the depths we had been teaching to were "over the top". To do dives on mix that one has done on air and thought that you were fine and in control is quite the eye opener: hence the drop in the number of E. Range programs offered... Personally I don't dive deeper than 150ft/45m on air and either use mix or don't bother if the dive is deeper even though I have several dives deeper than 65m on air in my log book from the pre trimix days.

2007 TDI Standards had 180 ft max for Extended Range. I believe the 2002 standards were 180 ft also. I'm curious when it changed from air MOD of 218 ft.

 

[Blue Quaker]

2007 TDI Standards had 180 ft max for Extended Range. I believe the 2002 standards were 180 ft also. I'm curious when it changed from air MOD of 218 ft.

I didn't keep the old standards from that far back to avoid confusion when looking up course standards, but I did check in my log book (I have always used use metric instruments since starting out in the UK with BSAC). The last E. Range training dives I did with a student in excess of 60m (60.2m) was in the summer of 1998. if I recall correctly the depth limit on E. Range decreased from 218 to 200 to 180ft as the Trimix Diver program was introduced and expanded to the two levels that many are familiar with. I think the years of change were 1999 to 200 and 180 in 2002 . When we first started with TDI there was no trimix in the program and the E. range started out as "Technical Deep' on our original instructor cards, which were actually Brett Gillam's business card with the instructor rating typed on, then laminated, when he certified us as instructors. When I did my "full" trimix course (100m/325ft max cert) in 1997 with IANTD in Canada at least 2 dives on mix had to be deeper than 190 ft.,( Jodrey on a clear head!) which we thought was ironic when we were teaching on air to deeper depths.

 

[PfcAJ]

What’s the course cost?

 

[Blue Quaker]

2007 TDI Standards had 180 ft max for Extended Range. I believe the 2002 standards were 180 ft also. I'm curious when it changed from air MOD of 218 ft.

I managed to find a CD with the 2001 update showing the change to 180ft. I think the 218ft limit only lasted for 2 years. I have no training dives deeper than 60m after 1998 or from 1994 -1996. The reason that it stuck in my mind was that in 1998 we had a pair of divers who normally buddied up, but had schedule problems and didn't do all the training dives together. Their final dives were at slightly different depths and when the c-cards came back from HQ diver "A" had a 218ft card and diver "B" had a 200ft card. Diver B was miffed that his buddy's card was not a match to his. Next year (Jan 1999?) the limit was dropped to 200ft as best as I can remember.

 

[in too deep]

I was one of Blue Quaker’s students who received the 218’ cert, when I find the card I can post the date. He had mentioned that this was not typical but since many of my dives leading to the cert were deep, dark and cold there was a level of confidence for the training dives. I remember the last dive and final skills on the Dufferin Wall....one of the best courses I’ve taken in all my years.
Also did my trimix with him to certified to a shallower depth.
Too bad he’s not teaching anymore - I want the solo cert.