Another reason why this industry is a mess

[divereh]

I am writing to explain a personnel expierence I personnally went thru with two buddies of mine. I took a TDI Advanced Tri-mix with a fellow who will remain nameless and this is what we got. Three dives,two of which were disasters. The instuctor did not know the site, claimed that he did, end result gas mangaement calculations were so far off all ran out of 36 mix doing deco stops (around 60ft), without any acedemic training prior to the dive, or for that matter even a student manual we could have pre read, it got a little crazy as our other bottle was a 80 mix. Not knowing we could revert back to our back gas, as it was a 15/50. But apparently that was alright, why? because we wern't dead? Needless to say because of the screw up he gave us all advanced gas blending certifications, oh ya also with no manual or acedemic training, is there exams for any of these courses we took? If there is we never saw them or did them. WHY THE HELL IS THIS KIND OF TRAINING ALLOWED TO GO ON? To make matters worse one guy who took the course with us is now a entry level tri-mix instructor, he has 20 technical dives under his belt, all as a advanced -nitrox diver, and his messed up tri-mix training dives. No Instructor experence at all. We wonder why people die diving. Instructors trainers who sell certifcations without proper training should be kicked the hell out of this business.
This guy is a IANTD instructor -trainer as well as a TDI instructor trainer. I guess that is why Upper Canada Scuba is gone. Buck up people it's time to get rid of these people they are ruining the industry.

 

[jonnythan]

I'm not sure, but I don't think that exactly meets the TDI standards. Send a full report, names included, to TDI and IANTD.

 

[diverbrian]

Please send the paperwork to the appropriate agencies so that they can deal with the instructor. I wouldn't want to Tri-Mix from someone like this and I am sure that their aren't many people here who would. Wouldn't it be great to send a "ringer" student who was actually an instructor trainer to nail people instructors who are "certified, but not qualified"? Then, maybe instructors would think twice about the classes that they taught.

But, my question is that you had to know that this would be insufficient training. Why did you not insist that the manuals be given and training be performed prior to doing the dives?

 

[Mako Mark]

DiverEh,

I am glad that you all came out if this without injury, your report sounds like some serious violations of standards, and you concerns as both a diver, a student and a client should be expressed to both training agencies. Thankyou for posting them here.

I am not sure if publishing the name of the instructor on the board is allowed, I am sure that a moderator will let you know whether that is a good idea or not, but the agencies HAVE to know.

I would probably ask for all or some of your money back, (you may have to pay for the gas) and retake the courses somewhere else. I know you can get some good referrals for instructors right here on the board.

good luck

 

[Eric__U]

hey,

Sorry to here about your bad dive experience. If you are looking for another instructor locally i would reccomend Dan Mackay (GUE) in kingston, im doing tech 1 with him and am more then impressed with the course.

eric

 

[Tom R]

A shop owner and an active dive instructor and you allowed this to happen to you?

 

[wedivebc]

I am writing to explain a personnel expierence I personnally went thru with two buddies of mine. I took a TDI Advanced Tri-mix with a fellow who will remain nameless and this is what we got. Three dives,two of which were disasters. The instuctor did not know the site, claimed that he did, end result gas mangaement calculations were so far off all ran out of 36 mix doing deco stops (around 60ft), without any acedemic training prior to the dive, or for that matter even a student manual we could have pre read, it got a little crazy as our other bottle was a 80 mix. Not knowing we could revert back to our back gas, as it was a 15/50. But apparently that was alright, why? because we wern't dead? Needless to say because of the screw up he gave us all advanced gas blending certifications, oh ya also with no manual or acedemic training, is there exams for any of these courses we took? If there is we never saw them or did them. WHY THE HELL IS THIS KIND OF TRAINING ALLOWED TO GO ON? To make matters worse one guy who took the course with us is now a entry level tri-mix instructor, he has 20 technical dives under his belt, all as a advanced -nitrox diver, and his messed up tri-mix training dives. No Instructor experence at all. We wonder why people die diving. Instructors trainers who sell certifcations without proper training should be kicked the hell out of this business.
This guy is a IANTD instructor -trainer as well as a TDI instructor trainer. I guess that is why Upper Canada Scuba is gone. Buck up people it's time to get rid of these people they are ruining the industry.

TDI standards states a minimum of 8 hrs classroom breifing
At least 4 dives for a minumum of 100 minutes bottom time
At least 2 dives should be deeper than 180 ft
Candidates must pass the advanced trimix written exam.

here is a link to the TDI standards
http://tdicanada.com/courses/tdi/advancedTrimix.pdf

I think you have a good case for getting the money refunded.
Personally I don't think it is a good idea to mention the instructors name in this forum but please let TDI know about this.

I hope someone on this board can step up and offer a decent course for you.

cheers,

 

[Diver0001]

....snip....

Not knowing we could revert back to our back gas, as it was a 15/50. But apparently that was alright, why? because we wern't dead? ....snip....

Just this part alone is screaming "Troll" in 186 languages. I'm amazed you all got sucked in.

R..

 

[terenceg]

goodness...80 ? wow....glad you're okay

 

[Atticus]

My vote goes with Diver0001 on this.