How old were you when you became a "Tec" diver

[flw]

etype once bubbled...
So my local IANTD shops asked me if i would master some instruction dive charters for eanx diver courses. I enjoy diving so i said sure. What an eye opener....almost every other dive we had someone narcing out...one dive was spectacular. We had a diver who was earlier trained in the US naval reserves (and apparently lost their edge ) narc out and do a spectacular backflip (about 50 meters sw) off a radar deck of a sunken artificial reef and almost dissapear forever, but it was a beautiful sight, we found them before they dropped the reg. This person already had eanx and was doing advanced. The person mentioned was learjetted at 2000 ft to the nearest hyperbaric chamber, it was a very,very close call.


Agree in general about fitness, though the commercial medicals are possible not that relevant, more an emphasis on aerobic/cardiovascular fitness. I live in an area where commerical divers far out-number sport divers, and the two sets of skill-bases are markedly different , and definitely not interchangable.
I think you are confusing the concepts of 'technical' diving with 'deep' diving on air/nitrox. A 50m dive on nitrox, presumably aroun the 25% mark, isn't technical. Narcosis has no place in the technical diving world, so therefore neither does the ability to task load at 50m.
If you look around the gas divers in any given area, you find the numbers actually diving is far smaller than the number claiming to be diving, and it tends to become self selecting teams anyway.

 

[scubadude_eric]

i personally feel that nowadays GUE is the only real way to go with tech diving. They have a very very high failure. If u suck they tell you. On the other hand ive seen "tech" divers from other agencies not knowing what the hell they are doing.

 

[etype]

did i write that lament above? Wow, i must have been on the rag. I can't even read it to see what is said...it's too long.
flw, you make good points...i was seen one two many aow divers taking tech courses and being completely unprepared even at the introductory level. Where i live cold water and current at depth is an issue. My impression was that many were not sufficiently informed nor realistic about the amount of mental and physical pressure they could easily experience as par for course during demanding wreck or penetration dives...that many informed me they were planning right after certifying. I just have the impression the LDS is making it easy and handing out too many cards to divers who may overestimate themselves and underestimate the challenges.

scubadude_eric: i'm become interested in GUE, it seems to me they have identified many of the problems with the PADI $250 and your a tourist diving instruction courses. I'm going to buy a couple books and make inquiries into GUE instructor certification in western Canada.

 

[seanrollins]

scubadude_eric once bubbled...
I think that the 18 year old age limit set by lots of agencies to young for most 18 year olds. I think 20-21 would be the reight age. What do you guys think.

You should be an adult - 18 is fine. At 18 years old, you should be responsible enough to understand the risks associated with tech diving.