Equipment for Wreck Diving

[boulderjohn]

(every student must have their own copy of the course materials),

Not in all classes.

 

[Diver-Drex]

My understanding is that for PADI you need to have the hologram sticker in order for an instructor to be able to enter your certification into the PADI system. Just buying the manual doesn’t get you the hologram. I may be incorrect on this?

 

[Fletch_boy]

No hologram stickers for spec courses. DM is the first time I have seen the hologram sticker.

 

[boulderjohn]

My understanding is that for PADI you need to have the hologram sticker in order for an instructor to be able to enter your certification into the PADI system. Just buying the manual doesn’t get you the hologram. I may be incorrect on this?

I am not sure, but I believe this used to be true for the OW certification for certain area in the world that had a well established reputation for lending students their training materials. That is what happened with me. I got my OW certification in Mexico, and I used a well-worn OW manual for the class and had to turn it in. I regretted it because I wished I had it for reference for years after that. It was sometime after that when PADI established the hologram requirement for that part of the world. I don't know if that rule is still in effect.

 

[Aloha Joe]

I'm signed up for the PADI Wreck Diver specialty. I had the same experience as the OP - a charter guide took me into the YO-257 and San Pedro, and entering through a window, floating up a staircase, and exiting to a different part of the ship was really fun. Unfortunately I don't think there are many wrecks here that really require Advanced Wreck training. I'd like to take the Advanced Wreck course just for knowledge and experience of using the equipment but the TDI shop here doesn't offer it. I already have most of the gear - assuming I wouldn't need my own tanks - and buying a single long hose and maybe an H-valve isn't that big of a deal.

I looked at PADI wreck-related courses, and also looked at TDI/SDI. The TDI/TDI website lists the Course Standards and Procedures (.pdf) for every course. The TDI 'Advanced' Wreck course requires the TSI 'Basic' course OR SIMILAR (including PADI Wreck specialty) as a prerequisite. The material *as indicated in SDI and PADI literature* is very, very similar. They are both basic introductions to wreck diving:
SDI Wreck Diver - SDI | TDI | ERDI
Wreck Diver | PADI

The equipment needed for PADI Wreck Diver specialty:
'...basic scuba equipment, plus a dive light, a slate, and a line and reel. Your PADI Instructor or local dive center staff may suggest other gear appropriate for wreck diving in your area.'

The TDI Advanced Wreck course is different. The requirements include alternate air source, long hose, lines, cutters, etc.
TDI Advanced Wreck Diver - SDI | TDI | ERDI

If you work with a local/independent instructor, you may be able to find that taking a basic Wreck Specialty course cost little more than going on dive charters for the same amount of dives, which reflects my experience.

 

[boulderjohn]

Unfortunately I don't think there are many wrecks here that really require Advanced Wreck training.

That is true in many cases. Many divers in places like South Florida have probably completed hundreds of wreck dives without ever seeing one that required advanced training.

 

[kablooey]

Is there any special equipment advised for wreck diving (100 ft and shallower)?

It's not really equipment, but there is one thing that greatly increases my enjoyment of diving a wreck.
Whenever possible, I simply do as much research as I can to learn about the history of a wreck before I dive it.

It really makes the thing come alive.

 

[boulderjohn]

It's not really equipment, but there is one thing that greatly increases my enjoyment of diving a wreck.
Whenever possible, I simply do as much research as I can to learn about the history of a wreck before I dive it.

It really makes the thing come alive.

Or not.

A very popular recent addition to the South Florida is The Lady Luck. It is a beautiful wreck tricked out with some casino trappings, like giant chips, roulette wheel, etc. I liked it a lot better before I read the history and found out that its earlier life was devoted to hauling ****.

 

[Diving Dubai]

A recreational wreck diving course doesn't really prepare you to "penetrate" wrecks as most of us think of it. My understanding is that although it is an option to do a "limited penetration" during the course, the bulk of the course is about the exterior of wrecks and the hazards that wrecks present. See WRECK DIVER. A PADI instructor can correct my misconceptions here, but from what I have read, it sounds to me like a typical outcome of the course is to better prepare divers to do what most of us think of as swim-throughs. If it's more than a swim-through, then it's really a tech dive. An Advanced Wreck course can help bridge the gap, though.

That's sort of a fair summary, It of course depends of what wrecks you have available, and teh instructors experience. Most (I guess) will get to play on ships purposely sunk with large access hole cut into them.

I teach Wreck here. The Wreck we use for penetration is a small barge. It's only 60' long, but for the student it can feel daunting.

You drop in via one of 2 hatches 8 x 4' with maximum height of 5' Then you enter the hull of thee barge (which would have been the bilge) through a small ish walk through opening - you have 3 of these to pass through before you get to teh bow. While you can exit up a stairway the preferred method is to U turn and go back.

The bilge has two small vertical walls (for a better description) that are 12" high either side is an open space to the hull, so it's only a tight single person restriction thought each of the door ways. Because students are concentrating on lining they feel as though it's an enclosed corridor.

I reverse in and out in front of the student (One at a time only in the wreck) and am quite adept at getting through the passageway fins first.

I make it very clear before dive 1 that on dives 1 & 2 if I don't feel you're good enough we won't progress until you've have more practice on basic skills (fin kicks and buoyancy Only last week I stopped a student and they've decided to take a PPB course to sort them. If people already have PPB or it just needs "minor remedial work" I help them with that on a normal fun dive.

I don't Stop the course on student to up sell additional training and I'm fairly lenient on their abilities - I want then to enjoy the course but not get stuck or have a silt out.

Even though the wreck is shallow, I introduce them to more technical equipment (BP/W and the essence of streamlining as well as showing longer hoses (my wreck gear has a 7' hose I deliberately task load on dives 1 & 2 - getting them to use slates and reels.

I go into great detail on lining, I take an AL80 as a stage to attach the line to at the entry point - And there is a further AL 80- slung at 5m) Similarly I drag an AL 40 inside with me as a redundant and that too has a 7' hose. I go through the whole thing as though its a proper wreck like we have on the opposite coast (although their depths mean they're beyond the limits for any real penetration given the PADI wreck standards. However one never knows what divers might attempt on their own.

Yes I go to excess with the equipment I take on the wreck given it's size and depth but I like to set an example of what you should be doing and best practice

I do make the course as real and as challenging as I can, while maintaining standards and remembering the abilities of my students.

 

[soggybadger]

I did the padi rec wreck cert. Very basic.