Is Solo diving a category of Technical diving?

[Scuba]

This may be a loaded topic, but here it goes anyways.

Technical diving requires a certain amount of experience generally acquired through recreational diving. It requires a more advanced skill set and level than necessary for rec. Along with greater diving knowledge and specialized equipment, in order to perform these dives relatively safely. I think most will agree that Solo diving shares all these qualities with tech. However, widely accepted tech dive disciplines share one thing in common that solo does not - overhead environment. Is this enough to exclude solo from the tech categorization?

In truth, I have not found “a definition” for tech. It can be anything from the various overhead environment dives (soft and hard), to the use of different gases, to rebreather use. Although the latter two are generally often used in overhead diving, this is not a requisite. Yet, solo diving seems to be getting left out of the tech category by a training agency ( SDI ), and this board. Don’t know of others as this appears to be a rather new subject openly discussed on its own merit.

Is the risk level, dive difficulty, knowledge, skill level, necessary specialty gear, of a higher degree for currently accepted tech diving disciplines than solo? Which type of dive presents the greatest risk to an inexperienced new diver? (on a comparable dive) To a well trained diver? In the long term? Can we fairly accurately assess these different type dives? Is the difference significant enough to differentiate them based on these criteria?

Generally, an overhead environment presents additional risks, how does it compare to the additional risk created with the exclusion of a dive buddy in some cases? Through the whole range of skill levels.

Is tech one of those categorizations designed to denote certain qualities, such as degree of difficulty and risk, along with the required attributes needed to practice it? Or are the qualities denoted by it stating other issues in common? Both? If you consider tech overhead diving, does the increasing acceptance of solo diving demand a new, more encompassing, definition of technical diving. Lest it loose one of its most useful aspects, to warn the uninitiated. It could possibly become a dangerous term if it fails to include types of high risk diving, since its meaning to most new divers is: higher risk advanced diving. By neglecting to incorporate solo diving as a tech category some may believe that it has a significantly lower degree of difficulty and risk level. Does it?

Is technical diving much ado about nothing? Our friends in other parts of the world where no such categorization exists will probably agree. After all, those practicing advanced diving such as cave, wreck, solo, etc. can be assumed to have progressed through the beginning and intermediate levels already. And a team cave diver is not necessarily qualified to wreck dive, ice dive, deep dive, solo, etc. And vice versa. All these specialties have some specific inherent qualities, both risks and demands, that are not present in others. The particulars of each type of dive need to be accounted for in order to perform each specific style of dive safely. In addition, a cave diver with one thousand dives will most likely not be better than a comparable diver who dives shallow reef dives in the latter’s environment, and vice versa. An applicable across the board comparison. Each type of dive stands on its own merits.

My concern is, is the exclusion of Solo diving from our commonly used tech categorization in the U.S. leading new divers to believe that solo is somehow easier and less demanding than tech?

New divers may want to comment here.

 

[budgy]

I've had some open circuit tri-mix training and a few deep dives. My experience in local conditions of wrecks deeper than air limits, is dives with no light penetration and vis about as far as the length of my arm. The torch light barely able to penetrate the gloom due to backscatter. Laden down with half a ton of diving equipment, spending a fortune on helium gas and rich O2 deco stages, not to mention sharing the expence of a boat charters and occasionally paying out but unable to do the planned dives due to bad weather.
My solo diving is totally the opposite to tech diving. I dive from the shore in depths of less than 9m, no deco or re-entry calculations necessary, the water is warmer and light penetration is better, no torch required. Being alone there is less silt disturbance and I see more. I reckon shallow dives are the best hunting grounds, old moorings for bottles, rock ledges for scallops, sandy bays for razor clams etc. A little barter for shell fish at the end of the day with a Chinese take-away can get me a cooked dinner for 2. I also get much more diving time from a cylinder fill.
Regarding safety, I think critical path analysis of diving incident/accident indicates, people who don't dive regulalry are at greatest risk.
In the U.K. many participants in recreational diving belong to clubs.
Individuals when they participate, work with others or form part of a group, accept rules that can compromise or reduce the freedom of reason or choice, this can lead to an individual finding themselves diving in unsuitable or marginal conditions.
I suppose the way we feel and react is a reflection of our individual character. With a buddy I don't mind calling a dive, but at times I find I support anothers wishes to dive, when perhaps I wouldn't dive if I was alone.
When the average annual dive club membership turnover in numbers is 100% every 4 years and the average member dives some 12 days a year, it is probable that a dive club buddy will be a person, with very little experience or competance in diving, perhaps taught by people of good intention who don't know much. In gaining experience as a club member, I've been a buddy and dived with buddies who don't pay much attention to checking a buddy, remembering dive plans or responding to signals. There have been occasions, when to stay with a club buddy and keep those buddy's in sight, I have found myself, finning faster, staying longer, going deeper and diving in marginal conditions, basically putting myself in a stressful situation. Over- riding my own judgement of what I regard safe or want to do. I have also put others in the same situation. Some people are comfortable abandoning a buddy at any time, and won't get in that situation, I'm not. No flaming of individuals or clubs is intended. People have lessor or greater apptitude for diving and I think each of us should dive within our own individual comfort zone. I have found many excellent instructors and dive buddies through the club system. These days I mostly dive solo.

 

[Kim]

I believe that solo diving is a form of technical diving. As with other forms of technical diving it has it's degrees of level and difficulty. The reason that I think that it is technical in the first place is that there is no room for error - none at all. A buddy system allows for a few mistakes - solo diving doesn't.

 

[Mako Mark]

Good comments so far on what can be a really hot topic.

I really believe that solo diving is and should be seen as a technical dive if it is to be performed properly, but budgy's description of putzing around in the shallows without a buddy is a good one too.

So, is "Putzing around in the shallows with no buddy" solo diving?

I would feel very comfortable saying something like, if you can snorkle that deep, and you know that you could CESA out of any OOA situation, and there is no strong current or entanglement hazard, then Putzing around in the shallows with no buddy is ok.

If you are beyond the limits of "Putzing around in the shallows with no buddy", then the dive should be considered a technical solo dive.

what is the definition of a technical diving?

When you have to sell your car and buy a truck, cause the cars suspension is not strong enough to carry all your dive gear.

 

[Jim Baldwin]

I clearly think that solo diving is a form of technical diving and I base this on about 25 years of diving.

I have made numerous trips to Panama City, Florida and routinely am the first diver in the water and the last one out. I have two independent regulators and normally dive with a 100 or 120 cu. ft. tank.

As a police diver for many years I did search and recovery diving in zero visilibity so diving low vis has never been a problem.

I carry a camera now and most divers do not enjoy going very slow and looking for some of the very small things that I am trying to find. Solo diving works well for me.

After hundreds of dives and numerous certifications including decompression I think that it takes a person with the proper attitude & training to carry out solo diving safely. Situational awareness and being able to handle an equipment malfunction is something that comes with training and experience.

Solo diving may not be nearly as demanding as full blow decompression diving with twin tanks, and stage and deco bottles but it does require a level of thinking that may new divers with limited expericence have yet to master.

SDI is currently the only agency that offers a solo certification and I believe it requires a minimum of 100 logged dives before you can take the course.

This is just a little more than my two cents.
Jim
Louisiana

 

[DA Aquamaster]

It can be and even when it is not, it should be treated that way. A large number of my solo dives tend to be deep and with specific objectives. Deco is pretty common for me while solo and these dives are obviously technical with equipment configuration that is no different than if I were dong the same technical dive with a buddy. The redundancy in configuration is the same for both as they both occur in demanding and unforgiving conditions where direct access to the surface is not a safe option.

But even if a diver is not diving solo in any soft or hard overhead environment, solo diving does have additional equipment and training requirements that take it beyond the limits of normal OW/AOW diving as it is less forgiving and has less margin for error.

 

[DennisS]

I don't think a warm open water solo dive in 30-40 feet could qualify as a tech dive. That's usually my limit when solo diving.

 

[MikeFerrara]

My take on it...

I have to seperate recreational solo from technical solo because so many of the solo divers I know do most of their solo diving in the tiny, low vis caves that they dive but I don't think this is what they're talking about.

OTOH, there's only one agency that offers solo training to recreational divers and the skill list for the class reads like some INTRO to tech class.

All the recreational agencies train entry level (all the way to instructor for that matter) divers with the assumption that there will be a buddy.

They teach that the best way to get out of an entanglement or entrapment is with the help of a buddy. They teach that the best responce in a OOA is to get air from your buddy.

From what Is ee in the water and what I read on this board there are lots of solo divers who do everything just like they were taught except for bring a buddy. This puts them in a position where, in the case of a OOA, they need to use what was taught as just about the last choice (an ESA) as a first choice. Doesn't seem smart to me.

Therefore many would agree that to do anything other than wander around in 10 ft of water pretending to be a solo diver (as Mark mentions) you need to have other equipment and skills beyond what's offered in recreational training.

I guess that sort of makes it technical depending your definition of technical.

It also presents the problem of having to go through technical training or learn on the street because I don't know of a proven educational program aside from maybe a sidemount cave specialty. Of course you already need to be a cave diver of some experience to take a class like that.

 

[MikeFerrara]

Even if you consider it technical diving and look at tech equipment. There's still an issue as I see it. If you look at the SDI solo course, they allow the use of any redundant air source. It could be a pony, manifolded doubles, independant doubles, an h-valve or even a spair air I think.

In a way it demonstrates their cluelessness since most tech divers that I know who solo dive in manifolded doubles or an h-valve carry a "buddy bottle" because there are still failure modes that result in a catastrophic gas loss that you can't recover from.

While it's true that it's really pretty rare to have any kind of a problem on a dive whether you're alone or not from what I see of the posts in our solo forum there are a bunch of divers who aren't thinking things through.

You just don't know what you don't know until you know it.

Is solo diving technical? I don't know. Are you a technical diver?

 

[jerrynuss]

The SDI solo program is on their recreational side and not TDI so it appears to be a non-technical certification to me. I teach the course but we go into a lot more than what size of redundant gas supply to carry. I go into a lot of accident analysis. About half of thre students in the course determine solo diving is not for them. A lot of people that inquire about the course are fairly new divers and they don't have the proper equipment or they have so much they look like a christmas tree, and they don't have enough experience to be in it. As a minimum I require a 30cuft buddy bottle for the redundant gas.