PADI TecRec standards

[jlcnuke]

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My first line stipulates "As written."
Padi standards require all skills to be done completely neutral with no depth deviation, no finning, and in perfect horizontal trim with no deviation. No other agency requires that.
GUE allows for 20 degrees deviation from horizontal and up to 1 meter depth variance for a tech pass.
I'm sure they exist, but I have never seen a PADI tec instructor capable of performing the skills to the written standard. The courses are generally not taught to the standards, and there is no repercussions for **** instruction which is why I consider the entire agency a joke. I have personally filed a complaint against a tec instructor who ran out of air while teaching a course I was in. They never responded and he became a course director a few years later.
I left PADI not because of costs, I feel they don't care about quality training and are only interested in their bottom dollar.

As I did my Tec 40 class not that long ago, and I know it wasn't done perfectly in trim (especially not while demonstrating other skills at the time), I went to look up what the standards say in the material I have.
I can't find anything that says that all skills must be done in perfect trim with no deviation or without finning in the instructor guide I have a copy of or in the Tec Deep manual itself. There is a skill for spending 1 minute with neutral buoyancy with no sculling or kicking, but even that is only explained more as having the instructor "emphasize relatively horizontal position in the water", not perfectly in trim, and it is the only time in the standards I could find any emphasis on the student's position in the water column.. In fact, the word "trim" doesn't even appear in the instructor guide for tec 40.

Perhaps the standard has changed since when you saw it last?

 

[Tracy]

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As I did my Tec 40 class not that long ago, and I know it wasn't done perfectly in trim (especially not while demonstrating other skills at the time), I went to look up what the standards say in the material I have.
I can't find anything that says that all skills must be done in perfect trim with no deviation or without finning in the instructor guide I have a copy of or in the Tec Deep manual itself. There is a skill for spending 1 minute with neutral buoyancy with no sculling or kicking, but even that is only explained more as having the instructor "emphasize relatively horizontal position in the water", not perfectly in trim, and it is the only time in the standards I could find any emphasis on the student's position in the water column.. In fact, the word "trim" doesn't even appear in the instructor guide for tec 40.

Perhaps the standard has changed since when you saw it last?

They have indeed changed it some. My statement still stands. Their new standards dictate skills must be performed in .5 meters of water column. It used to say while neutral and motionless.

 

[ginti]

They have indeed changed it some. My statement still stands. Their new standards dictate skills must be performed in .5 meters of water column. It used to say while neutral and motionless.
View attachment 637378

They don't look the highest in the industry, but thanks for sharing, it's an objective way to check them

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

My first line stipulates "As written."
Padi standards require all skills to be done completely neutral with no depth deviation, no finning, and in perfect horizontal trim with no deviation..

Suh-weet Jaysus there were major violations in my tec40 class!

 

[irycio]

They have indeed changed it some. My statement still stands. Their new standards dictate skills must be performed in .5 meters of water column. It used to say while neutral and motionless.
View attachment 637378

The way I read it, only deco stop has a precise buoyancy requirement, not all the skills.

 

[Wibble]

Tec40 is an INTRO level course. No course can ever teach you expert skills; the course only gives you the knowledge of how to do the skills and for you to then go off and spend some considerable time practising and perfecting your skills.

It doesn't matter if it's Tec40 or Fundies, they're the same outcome: adequate skills to go off and practice.

If only the marketing material would make that clear. If only the local dive shops would exploit this need for continuous skills training for excellence.

What should be the case is that as you progress to the next level, the entry qualifications are higher. In the case of PADI that's Tec40 --> Tec45, TDI it's Intro to Tec --> Advanced Nitrox & Deco Procedures, GUE it's Fundies --> Tec1.

When you arrive at the next level you must be able to demonstrate competent skills at the previous course level. Therefore you simply cannot -- unless you're an utter diving prodigy -- go immediately from one course to another without spending (lets say) a few weeks practising and refining your skills. This, IMHO, is where PADI does go wrong. Tec skills aren't like moving through OW to AOW to Divemaster. You need consolidation time so that sub-standard divers are either improved or weeded out of the system before they kill themselves and hurt others.

 

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

This thread made me look into the PADI TecRec program. I am a bit confused about the gear requirements and how their progression is structured.

PADI Tec 40! Is this one of those courses that can be done in jacket BCD and a deco bottle hanging? I think this was being presented as the course that introduces technical diving to recreational market. Does this mean that the skill building that say a GUE Fundies or UTD Essentials is supposed to do with double tank proficiency will come after you have become a decompression diver?

PADI Tec 45! Is this the level where double tanks become mandatory? I am assuming that the skills needed for this one would be generations ahead of what you would be learning at Tec 40?

PADI Tec 50! This is where PADI tec program begins to look like a TDI ANDP! 100 % DECO GAS etc??

Id love to hear from PADI tech instructors if I am correct in my above understanding. If yes what is the reasoning / advantage of breaking technical diving in those chunks in your opinions?

 

[Wibble]

You're looking at tec diving. Basically this is twinset with stages. A twinset can be DIR configured manifolded twins, a pair of independent cylinders, a pair of sidemounted cylinders, etc.

Given that most 'tec' divers start off with twinsets, just start with the right kit and that will work for all technical dives until you move to a rebreather. A standard DIR configuration with a backplate, wing and one-piece harness. All technical instructors will be able to teach you and the skills will be the same throughout your intro-level all the way to advanced trimix.

Whilst some people use a recreational single with small pony or a front-slung stage, that is not technical diving; it's merely diving at, or slightly beyond, recreational limits.

Technical diving is diving well beyond recreational NDL and depth limits using the right kit and techniques appropriate to that dive. This means proper redundancy, the correct gas in adequate volumes for you and your team, and using the right skills especially with accelerated decompression using one or more decompression stages.


Personally, I cannot see why anyone would 'do' the intro to tech / Tec40 without the right kit. You will need to re-do the course once you have the right kit in order to learn how to use a twinset -- shutdowns, longhose protocols and the like.

 

[Tracy]

You're looking at tec diving. Basically this is twinset with stages. A twinset can be DIR configured manifolded twins, a pair of independent cylinders, a pair of sidemounted cylinders, etc.

Given that most 'tec' divers start off with twinsets, just start with the right kit and that will work for all technical dives until you move to a rebreather. A standard DIR configuration with a backplate, wing and one-piece harness. All technical instructors will be able to teach you and the skills will be the same throughout your intro-level all the way to advanced trimix.

Whilst some people use a recreational single with small pony or a front-slung stage, that is not technical diving; it's merely diving at, or slightly beyond, recreational limits.

Technical diving is diving well beyond recreational NDL and depth limits using the right kit and techniques appropriate to that dive. This means proper redundancy, the correct gas in adequate volumes for you and your team, and using the right skills especially with accelerated decompression using one or more decompression stages.


Personally, I cannot see why anyone would 'do' the intro to tech / Tec40 without the right kit. You will need to re-do the course once you have the right kit in order to learn how to use a twinset -- shutdowns, longhose protocols and the like.

It is taught in a recreational configuration because not everybody wants to be a tech diver. Some people want to dive recreationally but have a better grasp of decompression and how it affects them. Some wish to do deeper recreational dives with a larger margin of safety.
I tell people, if you want to be a recreational diver and learn about decompression, do the class in your recreational gear. If your goal is to become a tech diver, taking the class in non-tech gear is a waste of time.

 

[PfcAJ]

It is taught in a recreational configuration because not everybody wants to be a tech diver. Some people want to dive recreationally but have a better grasp of decompression and how it affects them. Some wish to do deeper recreational dives with a larger margin of safety.
I tell people, if you want to be a recreational diver and learn about decompression, do the class in your recreational gear. If your goal is to become a tech diver, taking the class in non-tech gear is a waste of time.

don’t take a tech course if you don’t want to tech dive. You need tech gear to tech dive.