Psychology of Tec Training

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...how much of your technical training has been driven by a legitimate curiosity for new dive adventures versus that need to be an expert ...

100% by curiosity. My training was always the result of wanting to "see" something deeper, attempting it, realizing I needed more skills, finding instruction....rinse and repeat.

My jump to tech diving was exactly that, over the years the wrecks I was diving and my spear fishing was taking me deeper. In 1992 I read an article by Tom Mount about the Hydro Atlantic. I was hooked, a "real" wreck just up the road. I knew I needed some upgraded gear, read all the deep wreck books I could find. Found the dive boat that went there and jumped in! After that first dive I realized (i) that was awesome (ii) there are more deep wrecks I want to see (iii) I need better training!

My friend and mix instructor back in 1997 told me I should do cave 1 at a minimum merely for how well it would prepare me for tec. Never believed him, I had done some cavern diving in the 80's but never got the itch to cave dive. Then in 2015 I found myself in a sink hole (did not do any cave diving) and the cave bug bit....and I realized (i) that was awesome (ii) there are more caves I want to see (iii) I need better training!
 
To answer your question directly, it’s 100% been about curiosity, adventure and the desire to remove the recreational boundaries.

I’m probably going to stray a bit or perhaps narrowly focus on something but it’s germane in my mind.

I completed Trimix training last month and I still think I’m just an advanced open water diver. I’ll probably feel like I’m a technical diver once I’m on a RB with deliciously long BTs south of 70m. Like @helodriver87 indicated, it’s about training and having the comprehensive skills to accomplish the dive objective.

I think it’s great to touch on the psychology of advanced (OK, technical) diving and, for me, there are two aspects to be studied - motivation and behavior. While I believe most of us pursue technical diving for virtuous reasons (motivation), we seem to let some of our worst traits come to fore after we get trained (behavior).

What’s interesting to me is the amount of emphasis there is on team diving in technical dive training. Yet, I think many of us struggle with what it really means to be on a team, to work together like a team where effective communication and durable trust are sacrosanct and to make the best decision possible as a team where life and death are at stake. I try to start my dives thinking that I have to be able to return this person to his / her loved ones, dead or alive, and look them in the eye that I did my best in planning, dry land rehearsals, execution and contingency procedures.

It seems many of us (technical divers) get on SB and rather than coach people along, we weaponize our opinions about techniques or gear selection and lose sight of principles (I hold that principles are more important than techniques). Things are competitive but not in a healthy way.

So, I offer that while the variety of motivations to pursue technical training are likely virtuous and redeeming in some way or another, it’s our behavior after a course where I think we flag ourselves as “getting it” or not.

I admit team-building can be hard because a lot comes down to the mix of personalities. But it’s either something I strive for in all aspects of my life in which case I can lead no matter my position on the team. Or it’s something I intuitively want but aren’t quite sure how to achieve. In that case, I’m trainable. Or it’s something I can probably answer correctly on a test but am not really ready to put into action for a variety of reasons. In that case, I require some real effort.

I’m interested to find out where I fit in once I move back to Florida. I do believe that paying more for an instructor is worth it when that instructor represents a gateway to a network of seasoned, reliable, proficient and emotionally mature divers who are motivated to explore.
 
100% about being able to see something I couldn't safely do without training. I stopped taking classes when I had a few in a row that didnt add anything of value.
 
I took all these classes simply because I needed them to go where I wanted to go. I figured out real quick what I was interested in and just worked at it to get there. I needed a set of skills to be able to explore/ help explorers, and that's framed my whole diving career since about 2005.

In my experience, folks that take the courses just to learn the material or to say they "did it" don't last very long. They quit because the diving isnt what motivates them. Once they've got all the classes...well... the boxes are checked and its time to move on to flying, skydiving, sailing, or whatever. I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with that, though.

One thing's for sure though. Just having the cards doesn't make one an expert.

Same, I got my OW card in 1993 but have been aspiring since about 1997.

And I have seen more of the "course/skill mastery" people quit than I can count. Once they nail the ascents that vexed them, or get the next card, added the next piece of gear, etc. They get bored and quit.
 
100% about being able to see something I couldn't safely do without training. I stopped taking classes when I had a few in a row that didnt add anything of value.

Like my IANTD Tech Deep Air card from '95. :)
 
I’ve often wondered why most people go cave diving; I think most do it because it’s seen as the pinnacle of dive training and I think that’s wrong.

For me, I’ve been dry caving for 20 years and actively scuba diving for about 8. I have done cave diving (Intro only) but I’m in no rush to finish full cave just to say I’ve done it.

Doing it for a card and not to explore, seems fake to me.
 
Most, if not all of my cave students over the years learn to cave dive in order to improve their diving skills and/or because they love the beauty of the caves.
 
I just want to see interesting things, and for me most of those interesting things are in caves. Tech wise, AN/DP was required for the NSS-CDS cave card, I decided to helitrox as it gave me likely all the gasses and range I need to do dives I would want to do on OC.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/
http://cavediveflorida.com/Rum_House.htm

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