Wreck Diver Curriculum

[KJackson60]

I was wondering what was taught in the SDI Wreck Diver specialty. My LDS is running a promotion this month and I was wondering what I should expect from the course. Please be as specific as possible. I have read the generic description on SDI's web site and would like a more in depth explanation. Thanks in advance.

 

[wedivebc]

I was wondering what was taught in the SDI Wreck Diver specialty. My LDS is running a promotion this month and I was wondering what I should expect from the course. Please be as specific as possible. I have read the generic description on SDI's web site and would like a more in depth explanation. Thanks in advance.

Is this specific enough?
http://wedivebc.we.bs/26 - Wreck Diver Specialty.pdf

 

[Steve SDI/TDI HQ]

I was wondering what was taught in the SDI Wreck Diver specialty. My LDS is running a promotion this month and I was wondering what I should expect from the course. Please be as specific as possible. I have read the generic description on SDI's web site and would like a more in depth explanation. Thanks in advance.

Dave seems to have answered the original question... can I pose two new ones to the OP?

Where are you diving?

What kind of diving interests you the most?

 

[Diver0001]

I was wondering what was taught in the SDI Wreck Diver specialty. My LDS is running a promotion this month and I was wondering what I should expect from the course. Please be as specific as possible. I have read the generic description on SDI's web site and would like a more in depth explanation. Thanks in advance.

If the outline Dave posted is what you'll learn then you can't go wrong. It seems on the surface of it to cover most of the foundation of what you need to learn.

What's missing from that outline, if you ask me, are the following:

- penetration protocols (first in, last out, laying guidelines on the inside of a wreck)... what to do... and what *not* to do!

- a nod to deep diving/narcosis and the use of Nitrox on wrecks. Wrecks are where they are and you may not be able to dive them with ideal gasses and/or profiles. A review of "emergency" deco and making proper ascents if you need to make a free-ascent from a wreck is useful and practical information. Wrecks are invariably just a "little bit deeper" than what's handy.

- the basics of wreck identification. The most interesting thing in the world (to me) is finding a wreck that nobody else has been on and trying to identify it. What do you look for, *where* do you look, how do you quickly and efficiently map the basic form and structure? I guess you could call this the "millimetre deep" handling of marine archeology. For example, a group I was with a few years ago dove on a wreck that was listed on the GPS as "?". As soon as we were on it, we could see that what we had found was clearly a submarine.... . but which one? Everyone had some experience with this kind of thing so we split up in teams. I was sent with my buddy to the stern to make observations, and we were asked to measure the width. Another group went to the front to look for torpedo bays, guns and other features and to measure the length. The third group went inside to salvage a couple of instruments to see what language they were printed in (English, German, Russian).

After 20 minutes on the wreck, our group came back with the following information: It was 55 meters long, 5 metres wide, gauges were in English, it had one aft torpedo bay (which was loaded!!! ), two propellers and two aft rudders (one was gone) and the batteries were mounted directly under the aft deck. There were also 3 or 4 *very* large cod living in there... LOL. It had one mounting for a gun on the foredeck (gun was gone) and the aft deck was damaged too badly to see. We took some pictures including to the damage on the aft deck. It did not appear to have been blown up by a mine or torpedo and aside from the damage on the aft deck it appeared to be intact, aside from the ravages of time. The forward torpedo bay(s) were under the sand and couldn't be counted.

With this information, we went to the internet and determined that it could *only* be a British E-class. The damage to the aft deck even allowed us with a little digging to identify which particular submarine it was..... There was only one British E class that sank in that area and it sank after having it's *aft deck* run over by another ship... jsut where we saw the damage. Not a bad result for a 20min dive. Of course you don't always get this lucky but it's nice to have a rough idea of how to spend your time if you're confronted with a completely unknown wreck.

R..

 

[AndyNZ]

What's missing from that outline, if you ask me, are the following:

- penetration protocols (first in, last out, laying guidelines on the inside of a wreck)... what to do... and what *not* to do!

There's nothing in the SDI outline that prevents these things from being taught, Rob. Which to me is a reminder of how important it is to pick an instructor who actually dives wrecks and knows what they are doing.

Most basic wreck courses that I have seen taught (of an agency) really don't pay any attention to the line and how to use it. Some provide inaccurate or unsafe information on how to use lines and how to wreck dive....

To the OP, I'd definitely consider talking to your LDS and find out who will be teaching the course and how much wreck diving they've actually done, you'll get a lot out of the SDI course provided it's taught by someone who eats, sleeps and drinks wreck diving!

 

[Red Sea Shadow]

What's missing from that outline, if you ask me, are the following:

- penetration protocols (first in, last out, laying guidelines on the inside of a wreck)... what to do... and what *not* to do!

- a nod to deep diving/narcosis and the use of Nitrox on wrecks. Wrecks are where they are and you may not be able to dive them with ideal gasses and/or profiles. A review of "emergency" deco and making proper ascents if you need to make a free-ascent from a wreck is useful and practical information. Wrecks are invariably just a "little bit deeper" than what's handy.

These parts are covered in the Advanced Wreck course of TDI.

 

[captndale]

To the OP, I'd definitely consider talking to your LDS and find out who will be teaching the course and how much wreck diving they've actually done, you'll get a lot out of the SDI course provided it's taught by someone who eats, sleeps and drinks wreck diving!

If you want a good SDI Wreck course, find an instructor who also teaches the TDI Advanced Wreck Diver course. Talk to him about how he approaches the SDI course. The SDI Wreck course should be considered as the first step in wreck diving, much the same as a Cavern course is the first step in learning to cave dive.

 

[AndyNZ]

If you want a good SDI Wreck course, find an instructor who also teaches the TDI Advanced Wreck Diver course.

I agree with the principle, but alas there is a lot of variation about how TDI instructors interpret the course standards...

.... which on one hand, I love because it lets me teach TDI courses that really prepare divers for the dives they want to do. But then it also means that you get people slipping through who do bare minimums with at best lip service to the intent of the course.

For example, I know a TDI Advanced Wreck instructor who teaches line use as an individual skill.... in a group of 2 or 3, whilst one person is doing their line skills the other two are just hanging around doing nothing.

This differs from how I teach both basic and advanced wreck courses - where line laying is a team activity. Each member of a team of 3 has specific responsibilities during line laying and retrieval. Spreading the load amongst 3 (or 2) people makes everything run more smoothly and you get longer, safer penetrations as a result. Both interpretations would fit TDI standards (though the AW course I teach is not TDI) but they add different things to the student.

So along with finding a TDI AW instructor, there still is a whole bunch of questions to ask them....

 

[KJackson60]

Dave seems to have answered the original question... can I pose two new ones to the OP?

Where are you diving?

What kind of diving interests you the most?

Hey Steve. Currently I am diving local quarries, lakes and Lake Michigan near Chicago and Milwaukee which is why I am interested in the wreck diving course. I dove a couple of wrecks last summer and was really hooked. I have two more charters booked for this summer to dive wrecks and want to make sure I get the most out of those dives. The course outline sent by Dave seems to cover most of what I am interested in doing, at least until I gain more experience. I would like to learn penetration skills and that also seems to be covered but in an additional course? I am going to talk with the LDS owner this weekend so hopefully will get all my questions answered then. Thanks to everyone who posted on this thread. Your insight is always very helpful.

 

[Steve SDI/TDI HQ]

Hey Steve. Currently I am diving local quarries, lakes and Lake Michigan near Chicago and Milwaukee which is why I am interested in the wreck diving course. I dove a couple of wrecks last summer and was really hooked. I have two more charters booked for this summer to dive wrecks and want to make sure I get the most out of those dives. The course outline sent by Dave seems to cover most of what I am interested in doing, at least until I gain more experience. I would like to learn penetration skills and that also seems to be covered but in an additional course? I am going to talk with the LDS owner this weekend so hopefully will get all my questions answered then. Thanks to everyone who posted on this thread. Your insight is always very helpful.

Well, you live in the center of some truly excellent wreck diving.

Very simple penetration can be part of the basic SDI wreck course. It will get you going, but be warned, once you really get hooked, you'll be signing up for intro-to-tech, deco and advanced wreck!

Have fun. Dive Safe.