Definition of technical diving

[seavonj]

What are we going to call it when helium becomes normal for dives in the 100 - 130 ft range?


DIR REC triox

 

[H2Andy]

that thar questin' wuren't mine

them thar's reefraff's handywork

 

[caveseeker7]

What are we going to call it when helium becomes normal for dives in the 100 - 130 ft range?

Or maybe 'Recreational Trimix' (IANTD)

 

[Rick Murchison]

I think Ben and Soggy pegged the definition.

But the implications go just a tiny bit further.

In recreational diving if you have some sort of emergency you (and your buddy) can proceed directly to the surface to resolve that emergency. Entanglements and entrapments aside, you are free to surface at any time and particularly if things should go very wrong.

In technical diving if you have some sort of emergency you cannot surface to resolve it. Either you are physically prevented from doing so by an overhead obstruction, or you carry a decompression obligation that will put you in a wheelchair or kill you if you surface. Medical problems, wicked leg cramps, Out-Of-Gas, regulator problems, freeflow, Lost Mask, etc. - whatever solution to the problem is to be found, MUST be found at depth.

That, in a nutshell, is the dividing line that you cross when you conduct technical diving. The equipment is secondary to the thinking, training, planning, and practice that goes into ensuring that you and your team can resolve ANY (reasonable) problem at depth.

This is the best I've seen yet. It is both situational and mindset. I also include dives where the circumstances require exceptional care in planning and execution to prevent death or serious injury. For example, I can think of a specific blackwater dive on an old civil war wreck with many sharp edges, exposed nails etc. that was shallow enough and open enough that it didn't *really* qualify as an overhead, except that a wrong move or a bolt to the surface would likely leave chunks of meat behind... the planning and execution required to conduct the dive safely put it in the "technical" arena to my mind. I would also include many salvage jobs, and *anything* that has to do with any active drain or uptake pipe, many underwater construction jobs, etc. I think commercial diving is often "technical" whether an overhead is involved or not.
As a historical note, decompression diving, the use of "hang tanks" & such were just another part of open water diver training 35 years ago (at least they were part of my YMCA course - along with pushups in full scuba gear and swimming 75' to your gear on the bottom to put it on and other useful stuff ), so I think Mike Ferrara has a point when he says "the term technical diver is just something the industry uses as an excuse not to teach most divers how to really dive."
Anyway, I guess that in addition to the overhead environment and the vehicle caveats, I'd add something like this to the definition: "When the planning takes at least twice as long as the dive."
Rick

 

[MikeFerrara]

Just a thought here, guys.
Before y'all trade in your 1-tons for tractor/trailer rigs you might want to have a look into rebreathers.

A rebreather is one way to go but that introduces a whole new set of issues and I'm not sure I'm up for commiting to that right now. I think I'll stick with open circuit for a while.

 

[glbirch]

As a historical note, decompression diving, the use of "hang tanks" & such were just another part of open water diver training 35 years ago (at least they were part of my YMCA course - along with pushups in full scuba gear and swimming 75' to your gear on the bottom to put it on and other useful stuff ), so I think Mike Ferrara has a point when he says "the term technical diver is just something the industry uses as an excuse not to teach most divers how to really dive."

Sounds like your instructor and mine knew each other pretty well.

 

[ArcticDiver]

As far as I'm concerned the term technical diver is just something the industry uses as an excuse not to teach most divers how to really dive.

Amen, Mike. After I completed my OW and went some other places to dive I couldn't believe how little other divers who had many more dives knew compared to what I had been taught, and required to perform.

My definition is Mike's sentence plus one, to me very important thing.

A Technical Diver is a diver who thinks, plans and acts to solve underwater problems underwater.

 

[BigJetDriver]

I like what Doc Intrepid and Big Jet Driver 69 have posted for this, except the quote from Nietzsche, because all too often "That which does not kill us only makes us damaged" (my variant). I would have to fall back on some definition of "What is Technical Diving" too in order to define "what is a technical diver", and the summaries otherwise pretty well jibe with this, acknowledging differences in individuals as well as in different training agencies' definitions.

http://www.andihq.com/ANDIHQ/What is TSD.htm

WarmWater,

I would have to agree with your take on Nietzsche. I should point out, however, that the edges of the technical diving envelope have been pushed out by some very daring divers willing to risk themslves as "crash test dummies". Some famous names, such as Exley, Pyle, Parker, and Mount come to mind, as well as some less well-known names such as Carlson and Imbert. Some came back from the frontier, some did not!

The bit about Nietzsche was more of a joke about Tracy Robinette (of Divematics, USA) and his struggles with his GMC Motor Home which he has named "Nietzsche" for obvious and mostly painful reasons!

BJD :anakinpod

 

[BigJetDriver]

An awful lot of stuff we learn NOT to do comes from people who are honest enough to post their experiences and say: "I learned about diving from THAT!!!"

 

[pipedope]

The problem is that there is a whole spectrum of diving ranging from the guided tour to the saturation commercial dive. In the mid range is technical diving.

Technical diving (the term) was invented to relieve recreational agencies of liability and relieve divers from commercial rules so they can operate in the 'gray area'.

Commercial diving is very technical not just because of the equipment and dive profiles but because of the planning required and most important because of the focus. Commercial divers are not there to be 'diving', we are there to solve a problem or do a job and the dive is just how we get to the work site. We have to be able to concentrate on the JOB and not think much about the dive while we are working. This means that all of the diving skills and emergency handling be automatic.

I am a strong supporter of individual choice but if you are thinking of doing a commercial dive job (and are not a commercial diver), ask yourself why is someone willing to pay me to do this? Do I really know ALL of the significant risks? If things go wrong, will I survive? and will my insurance pay?
When it comes to pipes, dams, and salvage of anything bigger than what you can personally pick up then unless you 'really' know what you are doing it is better to let the pros do it.

The typical commercial dive school takes 3 to six months of 5 or 6 days a week just to get you to entry level skills and knowledge`.

In short, Tech Diving is anything in the gap between recreational diving as defined by the recreational agencies and commercial diving as defined by OSHA/USCG or other organization in charge of working dive regulation in your region.