How do you know when you have enough?

[ScubaFeenD]

Stemming from a very heated argument regarding Trimix education, I am curious: when do you know when you are ready to move on to the next level of training?

I dont think dive numbers correlate particularly well with the necessary experience for determining when a diver is ready; just because a diver has enough dives certainly doesn't mean they are ready for a class, nor does not having a minimum mean they aren't. BUT, how did you all, the more advanced and experienced divers decide when you were really ready to move up?

A prominent mod has suggested numerous times that becoming bored should at least be the minimum motivation for looking towards more certs, but certainly that doesn't necessarily mean you are ready. You dont know what you dont know, and that certainly holds true for everyone in diving, but how do you know when to step it up?

Not looking to be argumentative, just curious what different divers have used as their benchmark.

 

[oldogre]

As a purely Recreational Diver, I would suggest when you are bitten by the bug to go beyond your level of training.(It was the same for me with Ofshore Sailing, or Off-Piste Skiing.)

 

[Codiak]

Number of dives really is meaningless. I'm sure we all know divers that went out and did 20 minute 20 foot dives just to fill a requirement.

Comfort (not bordom) with your current training can be an effective guide.
And there's no need to push beyond your comfort since it isn't a race.

Having a bucket list of dives with some beyond your current skill/comfort can at least give you a direction of travel.

 

[SDAnderson]

Questions to ask yourself if you aren't sure if you're ready to move to the next level:

1. Have you mastered all of the skills and knowledge required to be proficient at your current level of training? Moving on before you sort out the stuff you're supposed to already be good at isn't silly - it's dangerous.
2. Do your interests in continuing training have less to do with earning another stripe and more to do with expanding your horizons? It's your time and money to waste but "use it or lose it" definitely applies to technical diving.
3. Do you have the time and the money required? If you find yourself cadging required equipment from friends because you don't own your own gear or making plans to sleep in your truck to avoid the hotel expense, you should probably stay home.
4. Do you have someone to dive with at your new level? Thus far, nobody has come out with a solo-technical card so you need someone to dive with. Are they going to be a mentor or a fellow traveler?

Counting dives shouldn't be the primary criteria when evaluating a prospective student for technical dive training but it sure as heck shouldn't be entirely discounted, either.

 

[Blackwood]

Self assessment.

I think you have to slowly push your boundaries. Take a class, and the limits should be well defined (until well down the road). Dive until you can honestly consider yourself as being completely comfortable at-or-near those limits. Then go a little further. If you're trained for 30 minutes of deco from 150', do 30 minutes of deco from 160'. A little deeper, same exposure. Or do 35 minutes of deco from 150'.

I think small steps are the way to go. By slowly expanding your experience that way, you're less likely to bite off much more than you can chew.

 

[lamont]

getting your ass kicked by an instructor and sent back down to dive and practice more can certainly give you good feedback that you aren't yet ready...

and if you've never had that experience before, you probably need to shop around for a better instructor... you are probably getting smoke blown up your ass by instructors who aren't all that good themselves...

(of course you can wind up simply not getting along with a douchebag instructor, which is not exactly what i'm talking about...)

 

[Blackwood]

getting your ass kicked by an instructor and sent back down to dive and practice more can certainly give you good feedback that you aren't yet ready...

Sure, but I don't think the answer is necessarily 'go take the next class and see how you do.'

The next class in a series is often a big step (normoxic to hypoxic, for example). One may be ready to go a little deeper/longer/futher with bigger cylinders but not yet be ready for a leash and moving extra bottles around (which very well may be the next class).

Maybe go asking around to join a team for a big(ger than you have done) dive. If they say NFW, you probably aren't ready. I expect if I asked Nick and Maciek to join them on the USS Burns, they'd tell me to go take a hike.

 

[rjack321]

Sure, but I don't think the answer is necessarily 'go take the next class and see how you do.'

The next class in a series is often a big step (normoxic to hypoxic, for example). One may be ready to go a little deeper/longer/futher with bigger cylinders but not yet be ready for a leash and moving extra bottles around (which very well may be the next class).

Maybe go asking around to join a team for a big(ger than you have done) dive. If they say NFW, you probably aren't ready. I expect if I asked Nick and Maciek to join them on the USS Burns, they'd tell me to go take a hike.

Taking gear that you aren't familiar or comfortable with on a dive otherwise well within your abilities is one tactic.

But most people aren't overwhelmed by gear they are overwhelmed by environment/conditions. Get a mentor to take you on some dives near your limit and give you honest feedback on your performance is one "non-class" approach.

 

[Rhone Man]

Although comfort level with your skills looms large, in reality it is a compromise with lots of other things as well.

1. Do you have the money
2. Do you have the time
3. Does the time/location of the course make it feasible
4. Are your skills good enough to do the course

If your choke points are at 2 and 3 (which is the case for me), then maybe you take a bit of a leap when it comes to considering point 4. I would love to do a trimix course one day, and I would love to learn about rebreathers one day. I don't know if I am truly ready for either, but if I get a shot to undertake the relevant training I will take it, because I have no idea when the opportunity will come around again. In a perfect world we could pick and choose our moments to undertake further training carefully, but in reality life rather gets in the way.

As an aside: I think you probably learn a lot more from a class that you weren't ready to do than a class that you were. With any luck you absorb the main lesson, and refrain from diving outside your core skills.

 

[Radish]

I think the simple answer is that you can't know that you ARE ready, but you can know that you aren't.

If you only have a handful of dives at your current level, you almost certainly aren't ready for the next one. If you aren't comfortable or are still feeling challenged at your current level, you aren't ready. If there are any -- ANY -- skills required at your current level that you can't do in your sleep, you aren't ready for the next one. If you have screwed up the response to issues on any of your current dives, you need some more time.

If you are comfortable at your current level, feel you have your skills nailed, have handled any issues that have arisen with aplomb, and have a reasonable number of dives under your belt (how many? I dunno) then sign up for the next class. It will quickly tell you if you were right or not.

Personal story: I did Cave 1 in May of 2008. I did 89 cave dives, in Mexico and Florida, over the next year and a half. I felt my skills were solid, and I did some guided dives with instructor and sought feedback from them, and they confirmed my assessment. I handled a variety of problems, from being lost to minor equipment failures, with aplomb.

And I got my ass handed to me in Cave 2.

So there you have it.