Doubles and Certifications

[fyue]

PADI broke up their Tec diving course into three components and the intro class, Tec 40, covers a lot of the skills and theory you will need to use doubles properly. If you are interested in cave diving anyways, as you mention, I would recommend taking the PADI class, if you are PADI oriented. Of course, TDI and other organizations have their equivalent. Pick the organization and more importantly, the instructor that you are most comfortable with. Renting doubles is a good start, but I strongly recommend getting your own equipment before you move too far into the Tec direction. Having a proper fit and being comfortable with your equipment is many times more important when doing Tec diving than recreational singles diving.

-Frank

 

[ajduplessis]

Intro to Tech
Deep air
Advanced Nitrox

 

[knowone]

My intro, to TWIN manifolded tanks, was through the classified section of the newspapers
and whilst not recommended, a 40 or fifty METRE deep boat dive managing with perfectly
calculated on land configuration and weighting, to snap a few shots with a fillum camera

My intro to nitrox, came in the form of IANTD and TDI manuals, bummed from instructors.

So buy books or gear and walk into the water utilising your brain or attempt knitting socks.


It's called the courses for horses that choose not to become so financially challenged as to
have the debt of completely unnecessary course cost detract from the fun of scuba diving.

If only the course could be bottled its easier than knitting socks or drinking chardonnay


More diving leads to less thinking without doing

 

[Garth]

Knowone must have just got done smoking a pipe because I can't understand a dang thing he's saying.
Find a mentor who knows what he's doing, pick his or her brain, get familiar with gear configuration pictures and critique everything you see. Think snag on something when you set up your hoses. Anything that could snag should be adjusted so it doesn't.
There are a ton of valve drill movies online. Watch them. I don't care who you are, if you have the desire to dive doubles safely you can do it with a lot of practice and a lot of tinkering in shallow water. If you don't have a lot of time or don't enjoy tinkering then take a class for doubles, intro to tech or whatever. A video camera helped me a lot with trim and dangly gear.

 

[ozzydamo]

Knowone must have just got done smoking a pipe because I can't understand a dang thing he's saying.
Find a mentor who knows what he's doing, pick his or her brain, get familiar with gear configuration pictures and critique everything you see. Think snag on something when you set up your hoses. Anything that could snag should be adjusted so it doesn't.
There are a ton of valve drill movies online. Watch them. I don't care who you are, if you have the desire to dive doubles safely you can do it with a lot of practice and a lot of tinkering in shallow water. If you don't have a lot of time or don't enjoy tinkering then take a class for doubles, intro to tech or whatever. A video camera helped me a lot with trim and dangly gear.

Think "snag"- sensitive new aged guy????
It takes one, to know one!
Maybe he bummed a pipe full of the blue crystals off you???
*something tells me, knowone has a lot more experience diving then you could "dang" imagine, hence the bent dialogue!
That or he O.D-ed on kung fung the TV series as a youngen.......rip- David Carradine!
Safe diving,
Damo
ps-I am a caring understanding nineties type most of the time.

 

[TSandM]

bwetter, the answer to your question is an absolute, unqualified YES! I am firmly of the belief that anything that CAN be learned in open water, SHOULD be learned -- and practiced -- in open water, before taking those skills into the overhead environment.

My path to cave started with GUE fundamentals in a single tank. I then spent about nine months polishing and solidifying those skills, and then bought a set of doubles and started diving them, with some local mentorship. I took what was then 5thD-X Rec 2 (now UTD Rec 2, I think) which introduced valve failures. I took a wreck diving workshop locally, which introduced line running and blind line following, and I practiced those skills in OW, too. I got my Fundies tech pass, and then I did cavern and Intro. Those classes went MUCH better for me and my husband (who had done essentially the same sequence) than they did for our fellow student, who tried to go from open water diver to doubles overhead diver in one gulp.

The great thing is that there is essentially unlimited open water, and accessing it is cheap. For most of us, overhead environments are something we have to travel to find. Using open water time to be better ready for the overhead just seems to make good, basic sense to me.

 

[bwetter]

Thank you to all for your comments and posts ..
I have recently purchased a set of doubles and will - not in the too distant future - began my journey down the "tech" road but in the meantime I will practice with doubles and with guidance of Mentors.
Again, thank you

 

[Jaydubya]

Knowone must have just got done smoking a pipe because I can't understand a dang thing he's saying.

I don't know if the character of his posts are due to pipe smoking, mental illness, or a warped sense of humor. I do know that I find wisdom in his posts whenever I am receptive.

 

[flots am]

I have recently purchased a set of doubles

It's probably too late now, but there is generally a fine supply of gently-used doubles available from people who have grown old enough to not want 100+ Lbs on their back or knees anymore.

If you end up needing another set, ask around first. You'll probably find some eager sellers (and maybe even some donors)

flots.

 

[bwetter]

Actually, I did purchase a gently used set from a Scubaboard Member and I am eagerly awaiting their arrival
But thank you for the advice