Upgrading from a Rec Kit to a Tech Kit
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ginti
Contributor
It doesn't change anything in terms of time: UTD introductory courses are the same as fundies. The same is true for IANTD/TDI/whatever other equivalent courses, as long as the standards are high enough for tech.
And, to be sure that you are in line with the thread, the OP is asking how to switch to tech diving, so he already decided to try. Introductory courses like fundies or other equivalent ones will tell him if he is ready. People on a forum cannot do that (except if they can evaluate diving skills and psychology on a screen - do you believe it is possible?).
P.S. I noticed that you always state your ideas without showing your reasoning. Are you aware that this approach may lead inexperienced divers to misunderstand what you say? Besides, it may create tension with experienced users, but that's another point.
Scuba Client
Banned
Tension is a state of mind that I find mostly in scuba divers. Divers need to ask further questions. I believe you questioned me earlier and I explained the reason. A new diver doesn't need to be overloaded with too much technical detail. Besides he's going to do Intro into Tech with TDI. Yes, I can evaluate people on this forum. But I may get banned again. There are people on this forum who have a conflict of interest which I don't. Some are very professional and that reflects their character while others are quick to discredit you. And the others sit on the sidelines waiting to jump in. I've only been on this forum for a month and I can tell you there are a lot of poltroons on this site. Scuba divers in general are weak willed. I won't address commercial divers as they have a completely different set of values.
ginti
Contributor
I will not discuss the tension thing; I thought it made sense to mention it, but it's a bit off-topic here, so we can continue in private if you want.
True, and I appreciated it: thanks. But I did not mean that you do not have reasons; I can see you do. My mother tongue is not English, so maybe I did not manage to explain my thoughts very well: what I meant is that you do not present your reasoning.
True, but he needs to understand the process and the reasons behind the choices. I'll try to be clear:
- if you suggest something without explaining why, and the new diver follows your suggestion -> he is not making any choice. You are choosing something for him, which isn't good for two reasons. First of all, you, me, and everyone else here are nobody to decide for others. Secondly, if the new diver follows other people's suggestions blindly, he is not growing as a diver (and, as far as I understand, SB is a place to grow as a diver)
- if you explain what you think, the new diver can compare your suggestions with others. By comparing different ideas and approaches and testing them on the field, he can grow as a diver.
No, he said he would do fundies, post #44, and even if he were going through TDI, that wouldn't make any difference: the two courses are equivalent, assuming the instructors are good.
I was specifically speaking about diving skills and diving psychology. No, you can't evaluate both of them here on the forum. But feel free to think whatever you want in this regard; I will not try to change your mind.
True, and I appreciated it: thanks. But I did not mean that you do not have reasons; I can see you do. My mother tongue is not English, so maybe I did not manage to explain my thoughts very well: what I meant is that you do not present your reasoning.
True, but he needs to understand the process and the reasons behind the choices. I'll try to be clear:
- if you suggest something without explaining why, and the new diver follows your suggestion -> he is not making any choice. You are choosing something for him, which isn't good for two reasons. First of all, you, me, and everyone else here are nobody to decide for others. Secondly, if the new diver follows other people's suggestions blindly, he is not growing as a diver (and, as far as I understand, SB is a place to grow as a diver)
- if you explain what you think, the new diver can compare your suggestions with others. By comparing different ideas and approaches and testing them on the field, he can grow as a diver.
No, he said he would do fundies, post #44, and even if he were going through TDI, that wouldn't make any difference: the two courses are equivalent, assuming the instructors are good.
I was specifically speaking about diving skills and diving psychology. No, you can't evaluate both of them here on the forum. But feel free to think whatever you want in this regard; I will not try to change your mind.
Try the agency started by the guy who created fundies instead of taking fundies?
Did I read that correctly?
Did I read that correctly?
I note in these threads there is a lot of emphasis on agencies and instructors. Nothing inherently wrong with getting both the benefit of experience( which is essentially others mistakes that they lived through to talk about). And of course collective wisdom is wonderful thing.
When my deep wreck and sport diving became "Tec"( over 200 feet) in the 90's we didn't have a lot of others experience or specialized equipment. My buddy and I first started our deep diving at the La Jolla shores in San Diego. We'd dive off the beach and dive into the canyon and follow it down to the 200" drop off. When we'd come back some divers would approach us and look at our gauges. The word was out about us. Instructors who taught there would tell their students stay away from those guys, they are dangerous. And as you might imagine we were approached too by some divers who wanted us to take them deep. We declined. It was dangerous diving but we were just finding our way and figuring it all out.
Later when we were diving deep wrecks we started to look around to other specialties to help us. We checked out cave diving. So many basics to caving are fundamental to Tec. We explored mixes gases. It wasn't always easy to just walk in and get O2, or heliox, of even argon for our dry suits. We blended our nitrox so to speak. Standardization and specially agencies began to evolve. I was certified by TDI in the late 90's, cutting my teeth on the San Francisco Maru in Truk. I was not only on it, I was in it.
At that time the "internet" was really slow and there were boards and chat rooms where ideas were passed around. Trimix hadn't quite made its entry into recreational diving. We figured out we needed staging bottles to go down and back and a deco mix of 100 & O2 for less than 40 feet to off gas. Computers were pretty basic and we often used two( one for the trip down and the other for the trip back and the shallow deco stop because the ability to switch gas mixes on one until didn't come until post y2k.
My point is this, the reasons agencies teach even an open water class is to orient and equip a diver with knowledge and basic skills that will be used for their entire life regardless of subsequent certifications. The key, in my opinion, to transitioning from Rec to Tec is a mind set and equipment. Sure managing a lot of equipment and knowing what each piece does and when to use it is important. But the most important piece of equipment you will take on any dive is your own brain.
An experienced instructor versed in a solid methodology can inform and content you with information. But your mindset and your brain need to be set right about what and why your doing what you do and how to integrate that info in order to make you a self sufficient diver. The truth about Tec is you are diving by yourself. Redundancy isn't just about equipment it is about a mental mind set.
Tec will open up dive experiences to be sure but the object of the dive is still the same, come up the same number of feet you went down, safely. DONT SKIP THE DECO STOPS!!!!!
Good luck
When my deep wreck and sport diving became "Tec"( over 200 feet) in the 90's we didn't have a lot of others experience or specialized equipment. My buddy and I first started our deep diving at the La Jolla shores in San Diego. We'd dive off the beach and dive into the canyon and follow it down to the 200" drop off. When we'd come back some divers would approach us and look at our gauges. The word was out about us. Instructors who taught there would tell their students stay away from those guys, they are dangerous. And as you might imagine we were approached too by some divers who wanted us to take them deep. We declined. It was dangerous diving but we were just finding our way and figuring it all out.
Later when we were diving deep wrecks we started to look around to other specialties to help us. We checked out cave diving. So many basics to caving are fundamental to Tec. We explored mixes gases. It wasn't always easy to just walk in and get O2, or heliox, of even argon for our dry suits. We blended our nitrox so to speak. Standardization and specially agencies began to evolve. I was certified by TDI in the late 90's, cutting my teeth on the San Francisco Maru in Truk. I was not only on it, I was in it.
At that time the "internet" was really slow and there were boards and chat rooms where ideas were passed around. Trimix hadn't quite made its entry into recreational diving. We figured out we needed staging bottles to go down and back and a deco mix of 100 & O2 for less than 40 feet to off gas. Computers were pretty basic and we often used two( one for the trip down and the other for the trip back and the shallow deco stop because the ability to switch gas mixes on one until didn't come until post y2k.
My point is this, the reasons agencies teach even an open water class is to orient and equip a diver with knowledge and basic skills that will be used for their entire life regardless of subsequent certifications. The key, in my opinion, to transitioning from Rec to Tec is a mind set and equipment. Sure managing a lot of equipment and knowing what each piece does and when to use it is important. But the most important piece of equipment you will take on any dive is your own brain.
An experienced instructor versed in a solid methodology can inform and content you with information. But your mindset and your brain need to be set right about what and why your doing what you do and how to integrate that info in order to make you a self sufficient diver. The truth about Tec is you are diving by yourself. Redundancy isn't just about equipment it is about a mental mind set.
Tec will open up dive experiences to be sure but the object of the dive is still the same, come up the same number of feet you went down, safely. DONT SKIP THE DECO STOPS!!!!!
Good luck
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