Why is tech suddenly the in thing for new divers?

[Mtbr]

I am new to diving - close to 100 dives, and I totally get the bp/w thingy. In fact, I now dive with a bp/w setup. However my shop heavily promotes tech/dir to new/first time divers. The shop is in an area where people have disposable income. I shake my head when newbies come in and the shop decks them with Halcyon doubles, HID lights, and dry suit and get them in a fundamental classs.

Is it me or is tech and diving doubles the new in thing?

 

[drdaddy]

Rip-off!!! Shame on these dive shops!

Years ago, in my ow class, our LDS emphasized using their rental gear while we were beginning, but as we developed we would want our own gear. They even told us that they would sell us used gear, if that is what we wanted. Over the years I have continued to build a relationship based upon trust with our LDS and as a result I have bought much from our LDS - without feeling pressured.

I cringe when I see a new OW class decked out in thousands of dollars of new gear. It saddens me to see new divers who relationship to diving is based upon dollars.

The good part is plenty of stuff to pick up on Craigs List !!!

drdiver

 

[IceBergSlim]

Not so much new but absurdly expensive. If you you can push a student into tech there is a great deal of money to be made. Problem is, most dive shops (but not nearly all), are not equipped for true tech (either because of their own limitations or the realities of being a retailer). Because of this most student will move away from the shop eventually.

That's not a dig at any shop but once a diver gets heavily into tech they are going to explore many sources for gear purchases and instruction beyond the LDS.

Another point may be the diving conditions in your local area. If a more technical type of diving is common the owner/ instructors may be more programed to want to bring you along in that direction.

As far as doubles diving being the new thing? Cannot say but I have noticed that pony bottles have become wildly fashionable in the last few years.

Oh, and doubles are not only for tech diving.

 

[covediver]

I am not sure it is the new thing, rather the culimination of a trend. A couple of reasons come to mind...all somewhat inter-related. A lot of it has to do with how impressionable new divers are. Why did I buy a conself IVX many eaurs ago? It was a great regulator but I got one because my instructor had one and recommended it.

The first is that some people like to be on the cutting edge of anything in sport, especially if it is perceived as having good risk to reward ratios. This is not limited to diving, think about adventure sports that are on the edge. Breath hold free diving is rapidly becoming the new craze...New divers want to emulate the best. Marketing people understand this impulse. Up until a few months ago, four wheel drive offroad SUVs were how people identified with outdoor high adventure. Most of these vehicles never leave a paved road much less get put into four wheel drive. In 2000 the Nissan XTerra was the hottest status symbol at UCSB as it defined the driver as an adventurer.

Second, what is cutting edge and dangerous yesterday is mainstream and trendy today; attracting more divers.

Third, there is the "cool" factor. Tech is cool and what diver wants to be a dork? (apologies to dork divers on the board). a few years ago a series of books came out such as The Last Dive, Deep Descent, Fatal Depth, that really described what I would call the sociology of deep wreck diving, a pursuit quite separate from Cave Diving. These folks were the high men of the sport and normal divers want to emulate them.

Fourth, equipment has gotten better, moved from limited production workshop to manufacturers, and costs have dropped enabling people to buy equipment from more locations.

Fifth, certification agencies, such as GUE, use a tech approach and are certifying more people in the DIR tech based training. Other agencies follow. I recall that at the scuba show in 94 in LA I saw a Naui instructor go after a group of tech divers who had a small display set up, now it is mainstream.

 

[mpgunner]

From my experience I've found using my instructors for equipment advice is much better than the LDS. I had the same two instructors my OW, AOW and Rescue (and more). One is a tech instructor but he provide great common sense on getting our own gear.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Equipment manufacturers and agencies pretty much ignored "technical" divers. For example when wreck and cave divers started diving nitrox, it was derided as "voodoo gas" and agencies like PADI were dead set against it - until the trainaing agencies and equipment manufacturers figured out how much money they could make off it.

Tech diving in general has followed a similar course - ignored by the industry until they realized how much equipment technical diver purchased, how often they dove and how much gas they consumed - all potential revenue sources where in the end the average techncal diver spends at least 10 times as much on diving as the average recreational diver. In that regard you can;t blame shops for catering to techncial divers.

That said, shops pushing OW divers down that track from the beginning is unethical and is probably related more to trying to separate them from as much money as possible as soon as possible that it is an honest effort to support a divers technical diving ambitions.

When I got certified in 1985, I was at the tail end of an era when diving was regarded as what is today known as an adventure sport where a high degree of swimmng ability, a much higher minimum of physical strenght and endurance and a degree of risk taking was needed. In the mid 1980's PADI and other agencies changed their marketing and training approaches to appeal to a much "wider" market (pun intended) where prospective divers did not have to have a great deal of swimming ability, physical fitness or ability to crunch numbers or understand complicated gas laws and decompression schedules. In other words the average OW course got dumbed down from a course that would prepare you and an equally newly minted buddy to dive independently to a course where a newly minted diver would dive under the guidance of a divemaster for a long or maybe even permanent period of time. In short, it ceased to be "dangerous" and became a sport everyone could access. Not all bad, but different and not real appealing to adventure seekers.

For many people modern technical diving I suspect has the same appeal as pre-1980's scuba diving held - a greater element of adventure and greater personal demands in terms of knowledge, academics and physical ability in addition to a higher level of minimum ability that is required to advance in the sport. What I have noted is a larger number of younger divers interested in diving than I saw in the 1990's. Of course due to the expense of technical diving, I also see a large number of middle age divers who now have the disposable income required to get heavily into techncial diving without having to be single and unattached to adult expenses like a car loan and mortgage or become a tank bum.

The younger risk taking market also carries with it come instructor and shop owner responsibility. In the past, a diver interested in a technical end of the sport often had to have 100 dives with at least 25 below 100' and display the emotional stability and maturity needed to get an instructor to teach him. I see minimum expereince sand pyschological screening sadly lacking today resulting in technical diving candidate who have poor introductory skills and / or a personality that reduces their chances for long term survival in the sport.

 

[TSandM]

I would be very surprised if a GUE-affiliated shop was certifying divers in doubles.

However, the people who gravitate to GUE-type training often have ambitions before they ever get there. If the diver knew from the beginning that what she wanted to do was dive caves, then getting her into doubles and Fundamentals early is a very reasonable step.

These people do self-select, to a large extent.

 

[ianr33]

Is it me or is tech and diving doubles the new in thing?

Doubles are so last week. Gotta dive sidemount to be cool these days.

 

[GrumpyOldGuy]

I have a lot of respect for real techinal divers (I am just a plain old diver). However, I see a lot of wannabees out there, I assume for one of 2 reasons.

Strapping on a bunch of tech gear is a way to visually seperate yourself from the vacation divers / reef hugging / rototillers. Its a pretty expensive way to massage your ego, but it probably works and requires minimal skill.

Some divers tend to want to use gear to compensate for skills. Who needs to do a gas plan for a dive if you have doubles or are slinging a 40 cu ft pony. Just dive until your computer starts beeping at you and surface slowly. (Please do not take this sarcasm seriously, this is obviously a way to kill yourself!)

 

[Underwater Ogre]

Possibly the the LDS figures if the diver spend more $$ up front they will most likely keep with the sport. Also if the instructor is a "tech" type his enthusiasm might be driving this trend. I cant judge but hopefully it is to train the diving community better.

U/O