Advanced Wreck with John Chatterton (in 2015)

[ChuckP]

@tmassey thanks for the comprehensive writup!

The interesting question for me would be:

let’s assume you have cave training, full cave with all bells and whistles, and you also have full trimix training. So all the skills you described (line work, zero viz, deco, etc) should be second nature. In that position, knowing what you know about the class, would you still take it?

What would be the additional areas of learning for someone who went into the advanced wreck class, who has full cave/full trimix? (I appreciate the aspects on dive philosophy, incl self-reliance vs team based diving you laid out above - I’m trying to understand the more wreck specific content better)

I'll give my opinion on that question too... I took the Advanced Wreck/AN/Deco class last Spring and the Tri Mix class the following week

If you want to look at things from a different angle, not saying follow everything you witness but just observe them, soak it in, take the class. If you want to act like a five year old kid on your first playground, take the class.

With all the negatives said here and there, I really strongly believe one of the biggest benefits was philosophical in that large aspects of diving were discussed and dissected - almost never was it stated this way or no way, a lot of why's though which lead to great discussions about the good and bad of something in particular situations.

I'd take all three classes as it gives to five days and ten dives to just watch, listen and dive - I would take the class again - it was that much fun.

For me, it was the best class I've ever taken and it certainly will effect the way I teach classes.

 

[In2theabyss]

Thank you for the great review...I also hope to get into one of JC's advanced classes one day soon

 

[KentB]

@1atm: an interesting coincidence. @KentB just wrote this in a different thread:



*This* sound like a cave class in a steel cave. This is *also* the class I thought I would be getting when I signed up for my Advanced Wreck. Heavy on underwater skills and techniques. Boot camp underwater! Rar! It's also what I think you were worried about with your question.

This is *not* the class I got. Our penetrations were relatively minimal. Our underwater skills were there, but not drill, drill, drill. At first I was somewhat disappointed. It took me *weeks* to really reflect upon the class that I did receive and where those benefits came from. They were not at *all* what I thought I'd get before I took it.

And now that I've got Full Cave, I have a feeling I would be bored in @KentB 's class. Or at least, underwhelmed. It's exactly what I did in cave class. Multiple times. At multiple levels. Which is likely why you asked your question!

Let me make this clear. The class I took was not Advanced Wreck. It was John Chatterton's Advanced Wreck. It's different. It's a big part of why I wrote the review: So that others would have the proper expectations if they took this class.

I’m going to assume that overhead environments of cave or wrecks are Very similar skills with protocols being the major difference apart from obviously penetration depth.
I feel my wreck course will help a lot when I get into cave diving in the next couple years

 

[Andy in Gap]

Thanks for the write up. I'm taking AN/DP and Advanced Wreck with John in April 2020, working on course material now. Its interesting to see the contrast between different agencies and different instructors. I took Intro to Tech with UTD. Great skills training but very team focused and strict with equipment configurations. Most of my wreck diving is off NJ and John is the guy I want to learn from. Its a different mindset and we have different goals than diving wrecks in other places. Pragmatism and self-reliance are the rules up here.

 

[ChuckP]

Thanks for the write up. I'm taking AN/DP and Advanced Wreck with John in April 2020, working on course material now. Its interesting to see the contrast between different agencies and different instructors. I took Intro to Tech with UTD. Great skills training but very team focused and strict with equipment configurations. Most of my wreck diving is off NJ and John is the guy I want to learn from. Its a different mindset and we have different goals than diving wrecks in other places. Pragmatism and self-reliance are the rules up here.

Think about taking a gas blender class with Alec while doing those classes, the math is simple enough learning how to top off tanks. You'll see them doing it on the boat about every dive.

I did blender and advanced blender and ended up filing all the tanks for classes - for me it just gained a boatload of experience that I couldn't get at home.

 

[tmassey]

To complete the loop: Here's my review of my recent Trimix class with Mr. Chatterton:

Review: TDI Normoxic Trimix with John Chatterton, November 2019