Are you a recreational, rectech or technical diver.

[LeadTurn_SD]

Just an entirely unremarkable diver here... and having a great time. I've done dives that are firmly in the "tech" realm (deep air, deco), but don't like the term "tech".

A dive is a dive is a dive.... some dives just require more "stuff" than others

Best wishes.

 

[Matt S.]

Though some people don't like the term "tech diving" I think it is absolutely appropriate to have terms to distinguish between OW diving as we know it from OW/AOW certs, and more difficult dives that involve overheads, depths beyond 130', and decompression obligations.

If I got on to a dive boat full of guys that swore at the dock that they were "just recreational" divers and then geared up in CCRs, wreck reels, extra bottles and scooters, I'd be PO'd, because that is not the right boat for me, even if none of them are getting paid to dive.

The tech/rec split may be wrong for semantic reasons--yeah, almost no one's getting paid to dive--but the terms as generally used seem to be useful and well understood.

If the existing terms are so terrible, what sensible terms can be used to convey the same meanings? Because it IS a useful distinction to make efficiently in many discussions.

BTW, my interests and equipment are just like the OP's.

 

[bowlofpetunias]

The problem is that people often claim their skill set matches.. such and such but others may not see that it is justified by their skills. People may have whatever gear but not the skill to use it. The problem with the labels is the same as the with Certificates.. Don't mean a darn thing to me till I see you in action!

I would answer the question more readily if someone asked me what type of diving do I enjoy or aspire to....

If you want to know what kind of diver I am.. don't ask me.. ask someone who has dived with me ...

 

[Trace Malinowski]

When I think of how many times the term "recreational" has been thrown at me as a cop out to quality gear, quality training, quality diving, and personal skills betterment by dive center owners, industry pros and other divers, I have no problem defining myself as a "technical diver", but it would be nice if we could all just be divers again - including snorkelers. pd:

 

[crowleyW]

Reactional warm water diver. just loving shallow and easy dives in tropical locations.
I will do some Advanced training in future, but just to keep me and my buddys safe in something happens.

 

[Lone Frogman]

I dive for fun. I just have more fun when I'm paid.

 

[Ytsejam]

I am a new diver and so far I have only done shallow OW dives. My goal is to gradually progress to wreck and cave diving. I am buying my gear and I am planning my education (UTD Rec 2, followed by Intro to Tech, followed by tech courses) with this goal in mind. Other than that, I only wish to be a safe, able diver, be it a shallow dive or a penetration dive into the Britannic.

 

[TSandM]

I guess I'm a person who wishes she were a better diver

I've got some training and I've done a handful of staged decompression dives, and I spend a couple of weeks a year crawling into water-filled holes in the ground. But the vast majority of the diving I do is still relatively shallow, fish-watching dives. All the training and experience I have has taught me is that any time you put ANY diver in unfamiliar conditions, that person becomes a bit of a newbie again. It doesn't matter whether that's me trying to get through the surf in LA, or trying to swim cleanly through restrictions -- we all have an edge to our comfort zone. For me, wherever those edges are, I want to do what I can to push them out further.

As far as classes go, I think there are only two I still want to take. I want to take Fred Devos's cave survey class, and I think I'll most likely take a sidemount class at some point.

 

[Rick Murchison]

I'm a diver.

Hear hear!
Rick

 

[HowardE]

Most of my dives are recreational, even the ones that some would call "technical" because they may be more technically challenging than just go down... come up. However, I classify my "tech-reational dives" as "recreational tech dives" - when someone asks me

"Where are you diving this weekend?"

"I'm doing a recreational type tech dive, to the _____ at _____ Feet"

I also do commercial dives, where I am working on the bottom. Generally, these include communications with the surface, and being somewhat overweighted by recreational standards for ease of sticking to the bottom.

Some may also call some of my work scientific? Some of my dives are for the purpose of data collection, and to verify the collected data that we may have collected from a surface survey operation... We call it commercial archaeology.