wreckless1
Contributor
There's nothing to do at work, so I thought I'd post about the Intro to Tech class I took last weekend with Duane Johnson (ppo2_diver here on SB) of Precision Diving - The Great Lakes and Chicago Premier SCUBA Dive Training.
Compared to my previous courses, this was a breath of fresh air shakehead: I'm not going to be good with language today so please bear with me). The course was logically laid out and included a lot of supplementary materials provided or created by Duane, including PowerPoint slides. It's based on Duane's sound educational philosophy and focuses on expanding one's diving capacity. They say "Those who can, do; those who can't, teach," but this is clearly not what's going on here. What I found was a completely higher level of diving practice for me to aspire to. I'm sure many of you have dived with Duane and know what I'm talking about.
Although not a prerequisite to any TDI technical diving course, Intro to Tech introduced the mindset and skills necessary to be successful in those courses and in technical diving in general. Topics covered included gas planning, efficient non-silting kicks, the Basic 6 skills and gas sharing. The skills were first discussed and demonstrated on land, then demonstrated in the water, and finally Duane captured us doing the skills on video for post-dive critique. I especially liked how the kicks were broken down into the loading and power phase so it became much more clear to me. Not that I was able to do them properly ;-) but at least I know what movements I am trying to recreate under water.
Going in, I was very overconfident. Although my ego wasn't shattered, it was undermined and collapsed of its own weight. Not only does the video not lie, but my course buddy, Dan, was an excellent diver who outdid me in every one of the skills. Keep in mind, the ego-reduction was a positive experience for me. Because of this class I've decided to slow down and concentrate on improving the basic skills covered in the class. There are plenty of things to do within recreational limits to keep me busy in the meantime.
Anyway, I'm glad I took this course at the level I'm at now so that I can focus on practice without some of the bad habits I might have picked up otherwise. (Not to mention the things I learned that will keep me from reinventing the wheel.) Also, my goals have become more tangible, and I like to have tangible goals! I recommend the class to anyone who wants to take their diving to a proficient level, especially those considering moving on to tech.
--Peter
Compared to my previous courses, this was a breath of fresh air shakehead: I'm not going to be good with language today so please bear with me). The course was logically laid out and included a lot of supplementary materials provided or created by Duane, including PowerPoint slides. It's based on Duane's sound educational philosophy and focuses on expanding one's diving capacity. They say "Those who can, do; those who can't, teach," but this is clearly not what's going on here. What I found was a completely higher level of diving practice for me to aspire to. I'm sure many of you have dived with Duane and know what I'm talking about.
Although not a prerequisite to any TDI technical diving course, Intro to Tech introduced the mindset and skills necessary to be successful in those courses and in technical diving in general. Topics covered included gas planning, efficient non-silting kicks, the Basic 6 skills and gas sharing. The skills were first discussed and demonstrated on land, then demonstrated in the water, and finally Duane captured us doing the skills on video for post-dive critique. I especially liked how the kicks were broken down into the loading and power phase so it became much more clear to me. Not that I was able to do them properly ;-) but at least I know what movements I am trying to recreate under water.
Going in, I was very overconfident. Although my ego wasn't shattered, it was undermined and collapsed of its own weight. Not only does the video not lie, but my course buddy, Dan, was an excellent diver who outdid me in every one of the skills. Keep in mind, the ego-reduction was a positive experience for me. Because of this class I've decided to slow down and concentrate on improving the basic skills covered in the class. There are plenty of things to do within recreational limits to keep me busy in the meantime.
Anyway, I'm glad I took this course at the level I'm at now so that I can focus on practice without some of the bad habits I might have picked up otherwise. (Not to mention the things I learned that will keep me from reinventing the wheel.) Also, my goals have become more tangible, and I like to have tangible goals! I recommend the class to anyone who wants to take their diving to a proficient level, especially those considering moving on to tech.
--Peter