Beginning of my Tech Diver adventure

[battles2a5]

Damn Rick, trying to sneak into tech diving without giving me a head's up??

Hey man, give me a shout if you want to talk through the equipment. Technical diving is NOT for the faint of wallet. I "thought" I was good to go after my first round of technical classes but have since re-worked a lot of the gear. I'd be happy to talk through everything you need and share my experience with buying (and re-buying) gear. Hopefully I can save you some cheddar. Congrats on the decision to move forward with your diving and good luck with the class!

 

[Waterskier1]

Damn Rick, trying to sneak into tech diving without giving me a head's up??

Hey man, give me a shout if you want to talk through the equipment. Technical diving is NOT for the faint of wallet. I "thought" I was good to go after my first round of technical classes but have since re-worked a lot of the gear. I'd be happy to talk through everything you need and share my experience with buying (and re-buying) gear. Hopefully I can save you some cheddar. Congrats on the decision to move forward with your diving and good luck with the class!

The LDS typically only conducts one of these classes a year. But this summer, there were several of us asking about it, so they were (are) considering another offering. So, it came up kind of quick. Too quick for me - I'll wait until next year.

I'll take you up on your offer. I don't whant to have to re-buy gear any more often than I must.

BTW, are you going to Bonaire in Oct with Marcos? I think he has a Ryan on the schedule - but not sure if it's you.

 

[battles2a5]

I don't think I'll be able to go in October. I already have too many wreck and cave trips planned for that month. I am going to try to make it in the spring, though. Give me a call anytime, PM me if you need my number again.

 

[roakey]

Waterskier1, I'll make the same offer if you'd like to talk/see equipment.

Some of those equipment requirements are your instructor's personal preferences not TDIs

Yes, if this instructor is who I think he is, he’s very, very close to DIR (I can’t honestly say that he or I are 100% DIR). At the very minimum he doesn’t want to be teaching how to handle different equipment configurations in class. He feels that a DIR/Hog configuration is very optimal and by having a consistent configuration among all students he can both teach more efficiently, which allows him to cover more ground given a fixed amount of time as well as enabling the students to help out each other as well.

When I see arbitrary equipment requirements and a cheap price on a tech class it makes me go hummmmm......

Again, if this is who I think it is, teaching technical diving isn’t his vocation; he already has a good job that pays the bills – he does this for fun once or twice a year!

Roger

 

[RonFrank]

Rick,

Black Mask Skirts are NOT necessary, even if I like them!

You should pay more attention. My setup is almost there, and you have been diving with me for a while.

Tech diving is not cheap, but I'm a bit surprise how strict TDI is. I know the GUE is very strict.

There are lots of rental options. If you want to rent, and can not find what you need in CO Springs, Denver is close enough. There are several shops up here that have tech gear to rent.

Don't feel you need to sell everything just because you need to put together a tech setup. You're single rig is still what you will dive a lot of the time, especially when you travel.

I assume the class is now a year off? That should give you some time.

 

[roakey]

As I've told several people, being frugal as you get into technical diving is OK, but being cheap is not!

Roak

 

[Waterskier1]

Rick,

Black Mask Skirts are NOT necessary, even if I like them!

Thanks for the update. I checked last night and the LDS hadn't received an answer to this yet. One less thing to buy.

You should pay more attention. My setup is almost there, and you have been diving with me for a while.

I guess I should! I didn't even know you had a doubles Tech setup!

Last I remember, you were borrowing Kevin's double tanks, manifold and wing, and were swapping out your octo to your pony when you dove it. So, you now have 3 identical first and second stages? And I could have swore your tanks and regs were yoke, not DIN were you able to get a conversion to DIN or did you get new regs?

Which doubles wing do you have? I went with the OMS Larry Green Signature Series.

I also didn't notice that you had 2 redundant brass/glass SPGs, but I really didn't look that closely to what was yours and what was Kevins.

I saw you practice with your SMB, but didn't see a lift bag. I have a similar SMB, but that won't work for 50# min lift bag.

I know you were using a long hose and bungeed octo on your single tank setup, and you have a nice canister light. I will pay much more attention next time, since I now know what to look for.

Tech diving is not cheap, but I'm a bit surprise how strict TDI is. I know the GUE is very strict.

Diving in general is not cheap. And I'm not the type that rushes out and buys everything, no matter what the cost, until I do some research. The LDS usually only conducts one of these classes a year, but they many people who couldn't get in the first class so they are considering a second this year.

I can't speak to the strictness, since I haven't taken classes from either yet. But, you might check out Roger's post #14 (just above your post) regarding the philosophy of the instructor. Personally, I'd rather have a strict instructor, than a lax one.

The point of my post was not to challenge the intructor's requirements, but rather to state I didn't know how much stuff is really necessary (whether actually required by TDI or not) it is by this instructor.

There are lots of rental options. If you want to rent, and can not find what you need in CO Springs, Denver is close enough. There are several shops up here that have tech gear to rent.

Yes, I mentioned in Post #6 that I forgot to mention in my original post that the LDS has much of the equipment for rent.

Don't feel you need to sell everything just because you need to put together a tech setup. You're single rig is still what you will dive a lot of the time, especially when you travel.

I don't think I said anything about selling everything, or anything. I plan to dive singles most of the time. I'll probably have my pony, but I don't plan on diving doubles routinely.

I assume the class is now a year off? That should give you some time.

About 8 months (next April) for me. I will be in Bonaire early October, and won't be back until the 20th, so that was really constraining the schedule. They may still conduct a class yet, but will have to complete the open water dives at Rock Lake in early Oct.

 

[boulderjohn]

The point of my post was not to challenge the intructor's requirements, but rather to state I didn't know how much stuff is really necessary (whether actually required by TDI or not) it is by this instructor.

There were a number of posts referring to what standards were TDI standards and what standards were the instructor's own standards. I contacted TDI directly about this for roughly the same reason related to my own training. I was told by TDI that TDI does not have any training materials of its own, and the instructor is free to use whatever he or she feels is appropriate to instruction. The instructor is also free to apply his or her own standards and equipment requirements. Thus, if a TDI instructor wants to use 100% GUE training materials, standards, and instructional methods, then that's just fine with TDI. They'll be happy to slap their stamp on the final product.

 

[battles2a5]

There were a number of posts referring to what standards were TDI standards and what standards were the instructor's own standards. I contacted TDI directly about this for roughly the same reason related to my own training. I was told by TDI that TDI does not have any training materials of its own, and the instructor is free to use whatever he or she feels is appropriate to instruction. The instructor is also free to apply his or her own standards and equipment requirements. Thus, if a TDI instructor wants to use 100% GUE training materials, standards, and instructional methods, then that's just fine with TDI. They'll be happy to slap their stamp on the final product.

TDI most certainly has their own training materials, I own several of them. However, I have seen a lot of TDI instructors use supplementary documentation to enhace the content of the course. From my experience, TDI gives the instructor a lot more leeway in terms of equipment requirements and course content so that the course can be tailored to the local diving environment. For instance, a Advanced Nitrox and Deco class for people diving North Atlantic wrecks is going to introduce a different set of challenges than diving deep reefs in the Caribbean. Equipment and procedures will differ and the instructor can gear the course accordingly. I don't want to speak for TDI, but this has been the case in my experience. PM Steve Lewis (Doppler) and he will give you the official answer.

 

[boulderjohn]

TDI most certainly has their own training materials, I own several of them. However, I have seen a lot of TDI instructors use supplementary documentation to enhace the content of the course. From my experience, TDI gives the instructor a lot more leeway in terms of equipment requirements and course content so that the course can be tailored to the local diving environment. For instance, a Advanced Nitrox and Deco class for people diving North Atlantic wrecks is going to introduce a different set of challenges than diving deep reefs in the Caribbean. Equipment and procedures will differ and the instructor can gear the course accordingly. I don't want to speak for TDI, but this has been the case in my experience. PM Steve Lewis (Doppler) and he will give you the official answer.

My information came from Steve Moore of the Training and Membership Services Department of TDI. He told me:

The intro to tech program does not currently have any published student material and allows instructors to use any materials they feel help in the presentation of the required subject areas.

The rest of my information came from him as well.