Taking TDI Trimix

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Hello fellow ScubaBoarders,

I'm finally getting around to diving trimix. I'll be in sidemount. Going from the syllabus posted here: https://www.tdisdi.com/wp-content/u...idual/TDI Diver Standards_12_Trimix_Diver.pdf

what would people recommend to the following to have an exceptional class? I'll think about each suggestion and discuss with my instructor (class is July 21/22, just read the trimix manual, going to re-read AN/DP, then reread the trimix manual). Any tips/suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Kosta


In-water Drills
1. Show good awareness of buddy and other team members through communications, proximity and team
oriented dive practices
2. Demonstrate competence managing 2 stage cylinders, either 2 deco gas or 1 deco and 1 extra bottom gas,
including drop and recovery while maintaining position in the water column
3. Demonstrate ability to confirm gas switches at depth with buddy/team members
4. Demonstrate lift bag deployment from depth and use of bag as back-up buoyancy device
5. Demonstrate air-sharing ascent from depth while one member of buddy team is without mask
6. Create contingency decompression schedule after simulated loss of decompression gas
7. Demonstrate controlled ascent with toxed diver including surface tow at least 30 metres / 100 feet with
equipment removal on surface, in water too deep to stand in
8. Complete a horizontal breath-hold swim at depth for 15 metres / 50 feet with mask off or blacked out
9. Properly execute the planned dive within all predetermined limits
10. Demonstrate the proper navigational techniques for the specific dive
11. On 2 of the dives, demonstrate an ascent with ascent reel and lift bag and perform staged decompression
12. Demonstrate the proper procedures for switching and isolating a malfunctioning primary regulator This
exercise should not be practiced deeper than 40 metres / 130 feet
13. De

 

[decompression]

Enjoy Kosta, let me know how things go.

 

[KenGordon]

Remember that this is a learning experience and not a test. The format of your post makes it sound rather like an exam.

The way the TDI stuff works wrt pass/fail is that you have to demonstrate a certain level of competence for the required skills eventually. You are not expected to be perfect at the start.

So, go along with an open mind and be prepared to listen and learn.

I will claim there are only two skills:

1 - Don’t panic
2 - Be able to maintain buoyancy while not panicking.

So just like any diving really. The rest is just stuff you do underwater. It gets a bit more complicated and awkward and so getting flustered is a bigger risk.

 

[ajduplessis]

The TDI "Trimix Diver" is a normoxic course. Do they offer a hypoxic course?

 

[lermontov]

The TDI "Trimix Diver" is a normoxic course. Do they offer a hypoxic course?

yes its advanced trimix

 

[lermontov]

Remember that this is a learning experience and not a test. The format of your post makes it sound rather like an exam.

The way the TDI stuff works wrt pass/fail is that you have to demonstrate a certain level of competence for the required skills eventually. You are not expected to be perfect at the start.

So, go along with an open mind and be prepared to listen and learn.

I will claim there are only two skills:

1 - Don’t panic
2 - Be able to maintain buoyancy while not panicking.

So just like any diving really. The rest is just stuff you do underwater. It gets a bit more complicated and awkward and so getting flustered is a bigger risk.

I second what Ken says - the instructor(s) take particular note of your ability to manage stress and task loading - dont rush it - do it confidently and without getting flustered - if you make a mistake just back up - sort it and carry on

 

[DavidFL]

Kosta, I'm just finishing up TDI AN/DP; will be taking the TDI Trimix class after I get a few more months getting comfortable; please let us know how it goes.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Hey everyone, I'm not looking at this as a sort of exam, but rather holistically, if I'm going to be diving trimix, I should be able to do X, Y, and Z. Now if X, Y, and Z are all covered in the course, great. If not, that's what I'm looking to hear.

In terms of stress, I don't have issue with that. The deeper I go, the more I slow down to do things cautiously, as it is easier to make mistakes. Deepest I've been was 180 FFW. There were a lot of lessons on that dive that I won't get into here. I've dealt with successfully a couple of panicked divers, one who I thought was going to kill himself. I just do what it takes, as losing it never helps.

 

[tursiops]

I've done Both TDI Trimix and TDI Advanced Trimix. The courses are fine, their content is fine. The key is to do more than the required minimum number of dives and REALLY get comfortable with all the gas switches and sequences. Also, do something that allows you to clearly see the benefits of the helium, for example do Fish ID in the same area, at 150-200 ft, without and then wit helium. Or any task that requires cognition and preferably manual dexterity...underwater photography? I had the accidental advantage of having done a 185 ft wreck dive on air, then going back and doing it the next year on helium. Wow, what a difference!

 

[KenGordon]

Hey everyone, I'm not looking at this as a sort of exam, but rather holistically, if I'm going to be diving trimix, I should be able to do X, Y, and Z. Now if X, Y, and Z are all covered in the course, great. If not, that's what I'm looking to hear.

In terms of stress, I don't have issue with that. The deeper I go, the more I slow down to do things cautiously, as it is easier to make mistakes. Deepest I've been was 180 FFW. There were a lot of lessons on that dive that I won't get into here. I've dealt with successfully a couple of panicked divers, one who I thought was going to kill himself. I just do what it takes, as losing it never helps.

When i did CCR Mixed Gas, which is the same course, the other student was OC and doing your course. He was unable to complete it as when we got to ‘tomorrow we are are doing 50m’ it was clearly not going to be safe. His problem was not about the skills taught on the course so much as more basic skills taught on ANDP and before.

So if you want to be doing skills ahead of time I suggest:

DSMB deployment.
Shutdowns (maybe not so hard in your configuration).
Taking off and recovering stages.
Passing stages back and forth.

In my opinion the main way to be prepared is to have done plenty of diving at the previous level. So, for you, lots of reasonably straightforward single deco gas dives of an hour or so in proper real world conditions.

If you are using side mount as shutdowns on a twinset are too hard I would also suggest getting into a twinset and doing shutdowns while neutral. Then everything else will seem easy .