OP
Thinking about going tec
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OP
Ok, next question.
Do you guys know tech instructors in MA, and RI.
I know ed hayes is back in CT, he is GUE cave. I've heard heather Knowles isn't teaching anymore and those are the only instructors I know from my past.
Do you guys know tech instructors in MA, and RI.
I know ed hayes is back in CT, he is GUE cave. I've heard heather Knowles isn't teaching anymore and those are the only instructors I know from my past.
I didn't know (or forgot) she stopped teaching but I would ask Heather K. who she's sending students to
Frontpointer1000
Contributor
Now that you’re looking at finding the right instructor, here are a few questions that I used when I was interviewing my potential instructors. Maybe some of these will be of benefit to you. I took this directly from an email that I sent out:
Thanks for the quick reply. I appreciate that you see some value in both of us wanting to make sure there is a good fit. At this stage in my life, I am willing to spend a little more time finding just the right instructor, instead of jumping for that certification. To that end, I’ve spent the last year looking at some instructors, and taking some other courses from them as “try out” courses.
I have a handful of questions that I’ve thought about as I’ve been doing some pre-course studying, and I’ve also written down some of my hopes, goals, expectations. I send these out so you can kind of see where I’m at. If you have time, I would love to hear your thoughts and comments.
I realize that I have accumulated quite a bit over time. I apologize, certainly feel free to not answer questions if there’s too many.
I live in Alpine, and would be more than happy to meet up as your schedule has an opening. I’d also love to just set up the SDI solo course if you teach that, as an easy way to get to know each other.
Tech training questions/expectations
As an instructor what are your teaching objectives, How do you adapt your teaching style to the needs of the student?
What gear and Configuration do you require as I start the course?
What are some of the other prerequisites beyond the standard course prerequisites that you personally believe are important?
How do you determine a student is ready to take this course?
What do you look for in a student who is looking at this course?
How do you define success in the student?
What, how, where, do you dive for fun, and how often?
What is your diving philosophy?
What responsibility do you believe you have to the student?
In terms of mentorship versus an instructor, and how does that rule and relationship change after the course?
What is your optimal student to teacher ratio, What do you do if you have a student who wants to take the course but there are not other students at that time?
How do you teach the course/what is your teaching philosophy?
What, if anything, do you require or teach beyond the standards of the course?
How do you personally continue to learn and grow as a diver?
What is your course time frame, classes, classwork, pool time, and the actual check out dives? Where do you do these?
What if I finish the course and I am not quite meeting your standard for certification?
What resources do you recommend your students utilize in terms of pre-reading and preparation work before the course begins?
Once the course is finished, do you have previous students that you can put me in contact with who could become potential dive buddies/practice partners?
***—————————-***
Some of my expectations and what I am hoping to get out of the course:
I want the opportunity to fail the course, I want to be stretched and pushed, I expect an instructor to be hard on me, but not mean.
I would expect standards, not perfection. I want to dive safe, strong, and the right way without instructor supervision once certified.
Thorough. I want to feel safe and capable to dive without an instructor when the course is complete.
If I have questions, I expect the instructor to be available for questions and answers, it doesn’t have to be a best friends relationship, but I would hope there was some availability to clarify issues.
I want this to be a foundation to increase my confidence and ability in solo diving and open the way to solo tech (No pinnacle diving, no penetration, but mild Deco in warmer climates in solo configuration). Foundation for eventual CCR.
I would expect my instructor to teach me the “why” and the reasoning behind processes, and when there are divergent opinions, I am happy with understanding his or her reasoning for doing something a certain way, but I would expect the opportunity to acknowledge that there are other ways something could be done.
Observe my weaknesses and make recommendations so these become opportunities for strength and growth.
Not interested in the minimum # of dives and easiest way to get certified. I want to come out competent, confident, capable.
I want this to be the Foundation for advanced diving: wrecks, caves, exploration.
Especially interested in working on team development, communication, maintenance of position in water column, dive planning, gas management, gas switching. I want to learn and incorporate “best practice” techniques.
Interested in eventual deeper cold water wreck and penetration diving: Great Lakes, Scapa Flow, Norway, Croatia, Malta, Truk Lagoon.
Thanks!!!
Jon
Thanks for the quick reply. I appreciate that you see some value in both of us wanting to make sure there is a good fit. At this stage in my life, I am willing to spend a little more time finding just the right instructor, instead of jumping for that certification. To that end, I’ve spent the last year looking at some instructors, and taking some other courses from them as “try out” courses.
I have a handful of questions that I’ve thought about as I’ve been doing some pre-course studying, and I’ve also written down some of my hopes, goals, expectations. I send these out so you can kind of see where I’m at. If you have time, I would love to hear your thoughts and comments.
I realize that I have accumulated quite a bit over time. I apologize, certainly feel free to not answer questions if there’s too many.
I live in Alpine, and would be more than happy to meet up as your schedule has an opening. I’d also love to just set up the SDI solo course if you teach that, as an easy way to get to know each other.
Tech training questions/expectations
As an instructor what are your teaching objectives, How do you adapt your teaching style to the needs of the student?
What gear and Configuration do you require as I start the course?
What are some of the other prerequisites beyond the standard course prerequisites that you personally believe are important?
How do you determine a student is ready to take this course?
What do you look for in a student who is looking at this course?
How do you define success in the student?
What, how, where, do you dive for fun, and how often?
What is your diving philosophy?
What responsibility do you believe you have to the student?
In terms of mentorship versus an instructor, and how does that rule and relationship change after the course?
What is your optimal student to teacher ratio, What do you do if you have a student who wants to take the course but there are not other students at that time?
How do you teach the course/what is your teaching philosophy?
What, if anything, do you require or teach beyond the standards of the course?
How do you personally continue to learn and grow as a diver?
What is your course time frame, classes, classwork, pool time, and the actual check out dives? Where do you do these?
What if I finish the course and I am not quite meeting your standard for certification?
What resources do you recommend your students utilize in terms of pre-reading and preparation work before the course begins?
Once the course is finished, do you have previous students that you can put me in contact with who could become potential dive buddies/practice partners?
***—————————-***
Some of my expectations and what I am hoping to get out of the course:
I want the opportunity to fail the course, I want to be stretched and pushed, I expect an instructor to be hard on me, but not mean.
I would expect standards, not perfection. I want to dive safe, strong, and the right way without instructor supervision once certified.
Thorough. I want to feel safe and capable to dive without an instructor when the course is complete.
If I have questions, I expect the instructor to be available for questions and answers, it doesn’t have to be a best friends relationship, but I would hope there was some availability to clarify issues.
I want this to be a foundation to increase my confidence and ability in solo diving and open the way to solo tech (No pinnacle diving, no penetration, but mild Deco in warmer climates in solo configuration). Foundation for eventual CCR.
I would expect my instructor to teach me the “why” and the reasoning behind processes, and when there are divergent opinions, I am happy with understanding his or her reasoning for doing something a certain way, but I would expect the opportunity to acknowledge that there are other ways something could be done.
Observe my weaknesses and make recommendations so these become opportunities for strength and growth.
Not interested in the minimum # of dives and easiest way to get certified. I want to come out competent, confident, capable.
I want this to be the Foundation for advanced diving: wrecks, caves, exploration.
Especially interested in working on team development, communication, maintenance of position in water column, dive planning, gas management, gas switching. I want to learn and incorporate “best practice” techniques.
Interested in eventual deeper cold water wreck and penetration diving: Great Lakes, Scapa Flow, Norway, Croatia, Malta, Truk Lagoon.
Thanks!!!
Jon
@Frontpointer1000 are you used to cold water diving already?
My personal preference is anything deeper than 100, and' I am in technical gear for redundancy (typically sidemount in the Keys) and on at least a light mix of helium. Nitrogen and Oxygen are fairly dense molecules, and deeper than 100' even 32% puts you close to or at 6g/l of gas density. Based on a very excellent study (page 66): https://www.omao.noaa.gov/sites/def...rs and Scientific Diving Proceedings 2016.pdf approaching 6g/l is the danger-zone for CO2 retention. Even a light mix breathes much easier than standard gas AND I find myself with less narcosis problems. Technical training is the gateway to Helium, unless you do a recreational/hyperoxic Trimix program.
Plus, like others have mentioned, technical training "should"make you a better diver (I say should because some instructors may not hold you to the same standards as others). By the time you earn certification, you should better understand or be able to demonstrate risk mitigation through redundancy, checklist utilization, contingency dive planning, understanding decompression models and things like gradient factors on your computer or dive planning software, and precise buoyancy control. Again I say "should". I've seen students that were no better after technical certification than before. In fact they are more dangerous because they now have a card that says they are legal to plan and conduct technical dives. No, I did not train these people. They never would have passed a class with me. Period.
That said, if you are just looking to extend your bottom time, you need to ask yourself is the risk of going into saturation worth it, just to get a few more minutes of bottom time?
Plus, like others have mentioned, technical training "should"make you a better diver (I say should because some instructors may not hold you to the same standards as others). By the time you earn certification, you should better understand or be able to demonstrate risk mitigation through redundancy, checklist utilization, contingency dive planning, understanding decompression models and things like gradient factors on your computer or dive planning software, and precise buoyancy control. Again I say "should". I've seen students that were no better after technical certification than before. In fact they are more dangerous because they now have a card that says they are legal to plan and conduct technical dives. No, I did not train these people. They never would have passed a class with me. Period.
That said, if you are just looking to extend your bottom time, you need to ask yourself is the risk of going into saturation worth it, just to get a few more minutes of bottom time?
CAPTAIN SINBAD
Contributor
I am not sure if I even understood the first question. Why would you want to do only one dive and not do a second dive? Is it because you do not have tanks for the double dip? Is it because you do not believe in the decompression stress for repeat technical diving?
OP
I wasn't sure if going into deco even with appropriate stops left enough residual nitrogen where a second dive is not allowed.
Depends on depth/bottom time. Get yourself a copy of MultiDeco or V-Planner and start running dives. Weak Nitrox mixes for back gas on dives 150ft or shallower with deco gas of 50 or 100%. Both are available in desktop or mobile versions. Mobile is enough to get you started, but you will likely need desktop for more functionality when actually taking your course or planning dives (lost gas, more time).
It’s an eye opener running dives you would actually do.
You like your 130ft dives. Run them with 28% back gas and see what you get.
KentB
Contributor
I usually prefer a 1 and done
on charters that are normally 2x60 min I usually ask if I can do a 90-100 min dive and I’m good.
the one charter I go out with regularly caters more towards tech dives so he doesn’t care at all as long as he’s aware of the dive plan.
The other local charter is more rec style so they usually let us in first and out last and we can do 70 min dives since they usually do 2 different locations
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