Along the same lines....
Identifying what deco gas you have based upon what regulator is on your tank is like identifying what deco gas you have based upon that little green and yellow nitrox sticker.
From rec to tec - a noob's reflections
- Thread starter Rhone Man
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
Along the same lines....
Identifying what deco gas you have based upon what regulator is on your tank is like identifying what deco gas you have based upon that little green and yellow nitrox sticker.
Which is why I identify my tanks based on MOD, as I stated before.
Reg Braithwaite
Contributor
I identify Rhone Man as a guy who has ventured far further than I likely ever will and not only came back, but shared his experiences with us so that we can marvel and even learn.
Way to go, man.
Way to go, man.
Cool description. Haha Rhone Man...looks like you are healing over from all that gear! Glad it was fun.
hobodiver
Contributor
Thanks for the write up Rhoneman.
Thanks for the writeup RhoneMan. I just started TDI's Advanced Nitrox & Deco Procedures. The textbooks are pretty minimal. The instructors make a big difference. I have two excellent instructors working with me.
Last night was my first time in doubles. We did drills in a pool for a couple hours. Definitely a humbling experience. Stage pickup and drop while maintaining neutral buoyancy was the least graceful of all the drills. Great training, though. I look forward to the rest of the course and getting into open water with the gear.
Last night was my first time in doubles. We did drills in a pool for a couple hours. Definitely a humbling experience. Stage pickup and drop while maintaining neutral buoyancy was the least graceful of all the drills. Great training, though. I look forward to the rest of the course and getting into open water with the gear.
Matthew Mandziuk
Registered
Hey Rhone Man,
Nice trip report and course report.
A couple of things to consider when you're diving at this level now:
Steel doubles....Depending on the size of them, not always the best option, especially on deep ocean walls and reefs, where you're wearing a wetsuit. Remember that if you blow your wing you should be able to swim the tanks up. Aluminum 80's are a great option. If you find they're a little small, you can always stage an AL80 as well with a bottom mix.
Stages. Lean Left, Right Rich, not such a good way to dive. A friend of a friend in Ottawa had a problem with putting the wrong tank on after he was frustrated waiting for students, he toxed out breathing an either EAN80 or 100% at depth, I wasn't there, but he barely made it out of that situation. It's not the 1st that's happened to someone.
Diving Deep on air is very 1990's. Books like the Last Dive (Bernie Chowdry), Deep Descent and Dark Descent (Kevn McMurray), Deep Diving 2nd Edition (Brett Gilliam) and many more books of that nature have really helped shape the diving community to make it as informed as possible about the hazards associated with nitrogen narcosis and higher O2 partial pressures.
Furthermore, agencies such as NAUI Tech, Unified Team Diving and GUE have been practitioners of modern diving instruction. Naui took a hard stand in the mid 1990's promoting zero narcosis. The other agencies have followed suit.
Try to avoid diving deep on air and ask if you can get in on a Helitrox course, which will allow you to utilize helium based mixes from 100-150', Heliair up to 180'. The mixes in the course are a little silly in some people's eyes, however, once certified, you can basically get hyperoxic trimixes for Helitrox and you're still normoxic for Heliair, but I'd suggest bumping the O2 and He up a little bit. There's no sense fighting narcosis through a deep dive and if something were to go wrong down there, response time is often lessened and problem identification is numbed.
Standardizing your equipment accross among your team and keeping up with modern trends in the technical diving field will only improve your diving.
The biggest thing now that you're a technical diver is to keep your skills sharp and to get out diving as often as you can and don't get a negative attitude.
Get involved with divers. Unified Team Diving has come out with a great series of dive programs. They're also an interactive dive community much like this site is, but with a very dedicated group of modern diving enthusiasts looking for something a little bit above the traditional diving agencies cirriculums.
I teach for TDI as well as a few other agencies. TDI lets their instructors run their courses their way. This can be a blessing for some and a curse for others. I would like them to standardize everything much as NAUI did a few years ago because again we run into 80% vs 100%, Lean Left vs All stages on the left, hose stuffer or wrapping the long hose as you're breathing it off the right post.
When students come to me from other instructors, there are always a number of things different that we end up working through when it comes to skills and when it comes to equipment configuration and theory. The student gets mixed messages and then either argues points with me or loses respect for their previous instructor. Either way, this is not the way to start a new course. I started making my students have to complete Naui's Intro to Tech course as a refresher for some and a chance to re-educate others without them having to jump into a course (ie trimix) without the abilities to showcase skills like back finning, s-drills, stage bottle handling, buoyancy control and more rudimentary skills. It's done well for me for those who want to learn, those who pinch pennies don't like it though I'm affraid.
Anyway, that's enough of my essay today. If you ever have the chance to visit Canada, more specifically, Ontario, we've got some great fresh water shipwrecks, walls, drifts and much more. Look me up, we'll go diving.
Nice trip report and course report.
A couple of things to consider when you're diving at this level now:
Steel doubles....Depending on the size of them, not always the best option, especially on deep ocean walls and reefs, where you're wearing a wetsuit. Remember that if you blow your wing you should be able to swim the tanks up. Aluminum 80's are a great option. If you find they're a little small, you can always stage an AL80 as well with a bottom mix.
Stages. Lean Left, Right Rich, not such a good way to dive. A friend of a friend in Ottawa had a problem with putting the wrong tank on after he was frustrated waiting for students, he toxed out breathing an either EAN80 or 100% at depth, I wasn't there, but he barely made it out of that situation. It's not the 1st that's happened to someone.
Diving Deep on air is very 1990's. Books like the Last Dive (Bernie Chowdry), Deep Descent and Dark Descent (Kevn McMurray), Deep Diving 2nd Edition (Brett Gilliam) and many more books of that nature have really helped shape the diving community to make it as informed as possible about the hazards associated with nitrogen narcosis and higher O2 partial pressures.
Furthermore, agencies such as NAUI Tech, Unified Team Diving and GUE have been practitioners of modern diving instruction. Naui took a hard stand in the mid 1990's promoting zero narcosis. The other agencies have followed suit.
Try to avoid diving deep on air and ask if you can get in on a Helitrox course, which will allow you to utilize helium based mixes from 100-150', Heliair up to 180'. The mixes in the course are a little silly in some people's eyes, however, once certified, you can basically get hyperoxic trimixes for Helitrox and you're still normoxic for Heliair, but I'd suggest bumping the O2 and He up a little bit. There's no sense fighting narcosis through a deep dive and if something were to go wrong down there, response time is often lessened and problem identification is numbed.
Standardizing your equipment accross among your team and keeping up with modern trends in the technical diving field will only improve your diving.
The biggest thing now that you're a technical diver is to keep your skills sharp and to get out diving as often as you can and don't get a negative attitude.
Get involved with divers. Unified Team Diving has come out with a great series of dive programs. They're also an interactive dive community much like this site is, but with a very dedicated group of modern diving enthusiasts looking for something a little bit above the traditional diving agencies cirriculums.
I teach for TDI as well as a few other agencies. TDI lets their instructors run their courses their way. This can be a blessing for some and a curse for others. I would like them to standardize everything much as NAUI did a few years ago because again we run into 80% vs 100%, Lean Left vs All stages on the left, hose stuffer or wrapping the long hose as you're breathing it off the right post.
When students come to me from other instructors, there are always a number of things different that we end up working through when it comes to skills and when it comes to equipment configuration and theory. The student gets mixed messages and then either argues points with me or loses respect for their previous instructor. Either way, this is not the way to start a new course. I started making my students have to complete Naui's Intro to Tech course as a refresher for some and a chance to re-educate others without them having to jump into a course (ie trimix) without the abilities to showcase skills like back finning, s-drills, stage bottle handling, buoyancy control and more rudimentary skills. It's done well for me for those who want to learn, those who pinch pennies don't like it though I'm affraid.
Anyway, that's enough of my essay today. If you ever have the chance to visit Canada, more specifically, Ontario, we've got some great fresh water shipwrecks, walls, drifts and much more. Look me up, we'll go diving.
Hey Rhone Man. I thought you did a great job on the write up of your experience.
I have been researching tech training locally for about a season now. My thought for diving in (kinda funny) was to improve my skills, and to also to take it to the next level.
Good Job!
I have been researching tech training locally for about a season now. My thought for diving in (kinda funny) was to improve my skills, and to also to take it to the next level.
Good Job!
Similar threads
