How to proceed ?

[berndo]

Refined skills:
- buoyancy control under task loading
- positioning in the water to maintain contact with team
- free ascents in a team with precise stops

Different mentality:
- more diligence with equipment, gas analysis etc
- the surface is no longer an option for troubleshooting
- more situational awareness
- you need to plan for failures and be able to deal with them efficiently

Non of this is 'technical'. It's basic scuba.

 

[berndo]

I am currently facing a question and would like to hear some opinions.
I recently did the SSI Deco Diver and since then I have been doing dives with around 20 minutes of TTS. I like it a lot and it works well for me. I've also had some oh s*it moments that have been solved underwater and I've learned from them. I am currently diving a 15l mono on a Mares jacket with an 80 cuft stage. Depending on the dive with up to 40% o2. I would like to continue in the coming years, but I don't know in which direction to go. The goal is to dive CCR. But now the question arises, should I first buy a double unit and dive with it for a while until I master it? Or should I continue with my 15l mono and stage until the moment for a rebreather has come? What tips do you have for me and what would you have done in my place?

Are you diving solo? If your dive count is really only 25-50 you shouldn't be doing any deco dives. Let alone solo on a single tank... good way to kill youself if it's what you're doing.
What you should do is do more dive without deco and a buddy and then get training from another shop after 100-200 more dives. A lot of the accident victims in cold lakes in Germany/Austria/Switzerland where people who rushed into deep diving with little experience.

 

[steinbil]

Non of this is 'technical'. It's basic scuba.

I actually tend to agree with you, in that I think it should be taught from the start (beginning with the end in mind, and all that), but I don’t think that‘s the reality.

 

[Narked_Muffin]

I actually tend to agree with you, in that I think it should be taught from the start (beginning with the end in mind, and all that), but I don’t think that‘s the reality.

Agreed.
PPB, Navigation, Trim and Finning techniques should be part of the Open Water course.
The amount of times I've been diving in some more well known spots and the guides, instructors and all their students are hanging vertical in the water, kicking up all the silt and dragging their fins across the reef...
Leaves me absolutely fuming... No respect whatsoever...

 

[berndo]

I actually tend to agree with you, in that I think it should be taught from the start (beginning with the end in mind, and all that), but I don’t think that‘s the reality.

It is taught from the start, you've just been brainwashed into thinking it isn't by your cult.
You just repeat what you've been told. It's called groupthink.

 

[Lorenzoid]

It is taught from the start, you've just been brainwashed into thinking it isn't by your cult.

Some instructors somewhere may teach all that in their OW course, but I have never met a Fundies student who said they were taught all that in their OW course. None of that was taught in my OW course.

 

[berndo]

Some instructors somewhere may teach all that in their OW course, but I have never met a Fundies student who said they were taught all that in their OW course. None of that was taught in my OW course.

Holding a safety stop, knowing where your buddy is, analyzing gas etc. is as basic as it gets. You and him just use different BS vernacular for it to make it sound like more than what it is.

Most points of his are just phrases you people repeat but doesn't really mean anything:

- buoyancy control under task loading
- positioning in the water to maintain contact with team
- free ascents in a team with precise stops

It's called good bouyancy control. There is nothing more to it and it's not technical.

 

[Lorenzoid]

It's called good bouyancy control...

I would call it that as well. But my OW course did not teach me good buoyancy control. I was not asked to hold a particular depth and position while doing some task. I was not asked to arrest my ascent at a particular depth; it was always all the way to the surface. Hovering at safety stop depth is something that for years I could only enviously watch more experienced divers do. Sure, I could have practiced it on my own, but that's not the question here; the question is whether "good buoyancy" and other things @steinbil mentioned are commonly taught in basic OW scuba courses.

It's my understanding that nowadays more OW courses are indeed having students hover in neutral buoyancy while performing the required skils, but it's still not the norm. As has been discussed many times in many threads on SB, most OW courses just do not allocate the time to have students learn to do these things in class. And I can appreciate that. There is a lot of material to get through in a limited number of days. The demand for skills beyond what is taught in hurried OW courses is why we have Fundies, Intro to Tech, "scuba tune-up" clinics, etc.

 

[steinbil]

It is taught from the start, you've just been brainwashed into thinking it isn't by your cult.
You just repeat what you've been told. It's called groupthink.

Whatever, man. You obviously have an axe to grind. I keep trying to be reasonable and respond respectfully, but to no avail. I actually feel sorry for you, if you’re really so angry that you have to look for every opportunity to spew bile. I hope this is just something you do for fun to rile people up, and that you’re not actually like this offline.

Let’s just say my experience does not coincide with yours.

 

[Degenerate]

Holding a safety stop, knowing where your buddy is, analyzing gas etc. is as basic as it gets. You and him just use different BS vernacular for it to make it sound like more than what it is.

Most points of his are just phrases you people repeat but doesn't really mean anything:

It's called good bouyancy control. There is nothing more to it and it's not technical.

Tell me which OW class teaches you to analyze gases.
I know GUE Rec1 does it, but which are the other ones at it is apparently "as basic as it gets".