I’m looking to improve my dive skills this year, would like comments from any and all

[RJP]

1.) Buoyancy Control
2.) Propulsion Technique
3.) Proper Trim

 

[Jay Cohen]

gbray-good information.
Atomic Diver-why do you suggest skipping the Intro to Tech? I am Nitrox certified, though I have not dive it much? I was planning on taking the advance gas classes at some point.

Thanks again for the great advice and suggestions.

BTW, I'm liking the crew (Dale and Sue) from Deep Six Specialties in Akron Ohio, plus I've met some great divers from Columbus and Michigan, all of which I hope to dive with this Spring/Summer.

 

[Peter Guy]

Jay -- You've gotten some good advice and I hope the following will also be helpful. I've had a lot of training (I'm now an instructor, have a tech card and am full cave) but the best "class" I had was NOT a class at all -- it was some diving lessons from an excellent instructor.

My advice to someone like you? Find an excellent instructor, preferably someone who is a technical instructor with a lot of experience (why technical training? -- because their training is far superior to the normal "recreational" training). Talk with that person and see if you get along and see how he (she) fits with you and find out if he will give you some diving lessons. Hire him for a day of diving and tell him to "test your skills" in any way he wants. At the end of the day, do a long debrief and ask him for suggestions on ways to improve -- and then setup another session a few weeks in the future.

Go do the homework and then go diving with him again.

It is my belief you will get far more out of your time and money than taking any particular class.

 

[fnfalman]

If you want to take a true wreck dive course then take a wreck dive course. The PADI Intro to Wreck course is rather useless.

I'd suggest checking out the various technical diving organizations in your area be they GUE, TDI, NAUI Tech, IANTD, etc., and see who's offering what. If you want to get into real wreck diving (ie penetration and all), you'd have to plan on using double-tanks or multiple tanks and that usually means decompression diving and advanced nitrox/trimix/heliox.

You'd need to learn how to dive with a heavy equipment load (multiple tanks, redundancy, et al), streamline your equipment configuration, and you'll have to learn about decompression diving that usually accompanies advanced nitrox and exotic gas mixes.

If you were just to want to go down and check out the wrecks, then that's a lot easier, but that doesn't make you a "wreck" diver. I dived and eyeballed several wrecks on the outside before but that's to me not real "wreck" diving.

I'm not an expert at this stuff. Hell, I haven't even started yet but I did a lot of research last year about technical diving and began to lay out the foundation for my tech diving lessons for this year 2010.

 

[Jay Cohen]

Jay -- You've gotten some good advice and I hope the following will also be helpful. I've had a lot of training (I'm now an instructor, have a tech card and am full cave) but the best "class" I had was NOT a class at all -- it was some diving lessons from an excellent instructor.

My advice to someone like you? Find an excellent instructor, preferably someone who is a technical instructor with a lot of experience (why technical training? -- because their training is far superior to the normal "recreational" training). Talk with that person and see if you get along and see how he (she) fits with you and find out if he will give you some diving lessons. Hire him for a day of diving and tell him to "test your skills" in any way he wants. At the end of the day, do a long debrief and ask him for suggestions on ways to improve -- and then setup another session a few weeks in the future.

Go do the homework and then go diving with him again.

It is my belief you will get far more out of your time and money than taking any particular class.

Peter Guy;

Excellent advice. I'm getting to know some of the better instructors, as I have PA/OH and MI to pull from. Thanks again.

 

[Jay Cohen]

fnfalman;

On same page with you, not going to take the PADI course, probably lean toward NAUI or GUE. Dive shop in Akron seems pretty tuned in.
Thanks again

 

[Rainer]

You might really enjoy a GUE-F class. Lots of dive skills, plus a large emphasis on gear, dive planning, situational awareness and team diving. I know the class certainly took my diving to a new level.

 

[Jayde323]

+1 for GUE-F! When I started diving I wanted to learn all I could, so I took class after class soaking up everything I was taught. After all those classes I never felt like I had a good, solid foundation for everything I learned. I took GUE-F last summer now I feel like I finally have that foundation. It really has made diving much more comfortable and enjoyable for me.

 

[SkimFisher]

 

[fnfalman]

fnfalman;

On same page with you, not going to take the PADI course, probably lean toward NAUI or GUE. Dive shop in Akron seems pretty tuned in.
Thanks again

Talk with the prospective instructors and see which one is more your style.

I don't want to learn how to wreck dive because currently I have zero interest in penetration dives, but I want to go deeper and stay longer. So I spoke with a few instructors and shops. One shop and its instructor is willing to tailor the class to my wants and needs instead of what the mandated curriculum is suppose to be. I'm going to be taking my advanced nitrox, trimix and decompression dive classes from that shop. I want to learn but not necessarily want to do double tank deco dive on a regular basis, so that shop is helping me coming up with equipment configuration for double-tank diving that doesn't require manifold, double tank bands, etc. I'd probably end up with sidemount when I take the class.

To me that's a good shop. Instead of blindly follow a curriculum, they'd listen to the customer and see what they can do to meet that customer's wants and needs without having to sacrifice the education.