going tech the wrong way

[ignacioblanch]

Hello guys, I will try to explain my concern to read what you opinions are and try to get some advice from you.

I am a PADI instr as well as SSI instr, with something like 230 dives living since 3 months in Hurghada, Egypt.

I was on my first live-aboard a few weeks ago when a technical diver asked me if I would joing him on a trip to 50 M on a no-deco dive. Just a touch and go.

Now, at the begining this sounded quiet odd and wrong to me, but after a few minutes I began to feel interested.

I did a mental list of all the things that I would be doing wrong if I did this dive which included:

Diving beyond recreational limits
Diving beyond legal limits (max for recreational divers in red sea is 30 m)
Diving on a single 12 lts while my buddy was on twins 12's
Diving without knowing any decompression procedures beyond the recreational emergency ones
Diving with my computer as a bottom timer given after 48 meters it would block, or start going crazy with deco stops given it's a very conservative one (mares nemo)
Using my buddy's computer to stay within no-deco limits (galileo sol)


After this I thought of the reasons I would like to do this dive:

Never been beyond 39 meters and I wanted to check how my body, mind and equipment behave at 6atm for a few secs.


So aware of all this I agreed to do it. The only condition was that we would check currents and visibility and agree if to go farther or not once in the water at 30 meters and again at 40.

Dive profile is this: after 4 minutes we reached 51 meters and began ascent at 9 meters/min to keep diving between 15 and 10 meters to complete a total botom time of 54 minutes. No-Deco according to the galileo Sol and still plenty of time before running into deco.


Many of you may think 'oh, what's the big deal, I've done plenty of dives much more complicated than this'
Well, I consider myself a very responsible diver and I did not have the proper training to do this dive, so hence is not very responsible.

I've been thinking about getting proper technical diving training but at the moment it's impossible for me to affoard it.
I read as much as I can on the internet (from trustable sources, of course) and try to learn as much as possible without getting the proper training I know I should get.

Do you have any comments about this, any thoughts... Is there any way to go tech on a 'cheap' way?
My own answer would be: don't be stupid and wait untill you can affoard proper training before doing anything like this. Even if this can take a year or two.

Just want to read what's in your minds after reading this post.

Thanks a lot!

 

[Steve SDI/TDI HQ]

You need training and you need to do some more research.

Want you did was not a Technical Dive in ANY way shape of form... there was no plan and you were not equipped or trained to deal with contingencies. What you did was a "trust-me" deep bounce dive. As a dive leader, you should not need input from others to work all this out for yourself.

Also, I'm wondering what leads you to believe your buddy on this dive was a "technical diver?" Sounds like a muppet to me.

 

[rjack321]

Do you have any comments about this, any thoughts... Is there any way to go tech on a 'cheap' way?

There's no cheap way. More than a couple people before you took shortcuts and the training we have today is a direct result of their injuries and deaths.

My own answer would be: don't be stupid and wait untill you can affoard proper training before doing anything like this. Even if this can take a year or two.

Wise move. The ocean will be around for awhile, what's the rush.

 

[udtfire]

why do we know better but step infront of the bus anyway

courage through knowledge skill through training

your benefit was not worth the risk you took and if on a live aboard risk everones trip if you had gotten hurt time and stress on them for your risk your fun is that fair to them.

if the training is worth it to you you will find a way to afford it or dont cheat your self and others

dive safe and thanks for sharing so others may learn

 

[Captain CaveMan]

If your a instructor like you say u are you should have know better to risk your life as well as your insta-buddy. As a instructor you have to show responsibility for your action. No real dive plain, no back up tables in case computer failure. Too much to risk for a 30sec crash dive. Your asking to get bent or death.

 

[ignacioblanch]

Loud and clear...

This is a bounch of things that I am aware of 99% of the time.

I guess for some reason I just got carried away and was part of the stuuuuuupid ppl that pray 'oooh, don't worry. It's going to be ok'

Maybe the whole reason of me posting this is so others can learn, as Udtfire says... but it's also a nice reminder not to betray myself again and use that stupid phrase I hate again.

Steve, my buddy was a technical diver. At least on papers... I guess not a responsible one.

Thanks u all!!

 

[TSandM]

One of the traps in scuba diving is that the vast majority of dives go off without any problems. Equipment rarely fails, and if a diver has some skills and some equanimity in the water, minor problems are dealt with before they snowball into major ones. So it is very easy to begin to believe that diving is safe or even harmless, and to begin to push limits. The majority of those "pushing" dives will go well, too . . . Until the day one doesn't. At that point, the diver learns in a very painful or deadly way, what the training he didn't get was designed to convey: That virtual and real overheads require solid skills and the ability to solve ALL your problems underwater, without losing any hold on the basic skills of buoyancy, trim, position, and communication.

Technical diving instruction is designed to give you the information to plan dives safely, both from a decompression and a gas standpoint, and to plan for contingencies. It's also carried out to ensure you have the skills and the poise to deal with depth and a decompression obligation, in the face of things going haywire. It is my belief, from having taken some quasi-tech and some cave training, that until you are exposed to some of the scenarios you will face in a good class, you really don't know what your weak points are, or how they might come around to bite you in a real diving situation.

I believe you can probably be mentored into technical diving, by a very experienced, trained diver who introduces you to ideas, skills and stress (but instructors are also taught how to keep people safe while doing this, which a fellow diver may or may not be well prepared to do). But expanding your diving into technical depths with inadequate gas, an inadequate plan, untested skills and an unknown buddy is taking a lot more risk than I would be willing to assume.

I don't think there is any cheap way to get into technical diving safely. Just the equipment required (and the gas!) runs a hefty tab.

 

[Meng_Tze]

... that until you are exposed to some of the scenarios you will face in a good class, you really don't know what your weak points are, or how they might come around to bite you in a real diving situation.

Agreed.
Even then, in real life issues you can face, it can get dark and VERY lonely quickly. Even though we train for scenarios, we do not really know how we manage things mentally in those situations.

Only experience through/after training can set one on a solid path...... start at the beginning of the path.

 

[lamont]

I was on my first live-aboard a few weeks ago when a technical diver asked me if I would joing him on a trip to 50 M on a no-deco dive. Just a touch and go.

That practice has a fairly high body count.

Around here there's at least 2 divers who died on touch-and-go's to 60m in the past couple of years. We do have cold and low viz, but throw in even a small overhang that you get lost under (e.g. blue hole in dahab) and that can turn into a fatality quick.

On the other hand with proper equipment and training, 50m is no big deal.

And doing something stupid with someone who is a certified technical diver doesn't make it any less stupid.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

An instructor has to ask questions like this? And we wonder why so many open water divers suck?