How to qualify as a Tech diver?

[Dayang]

I am a relatively new diver with just over 100 logged dives , was wondering what certification to obtain to become a tech diver? What exactly do they do? go deep? how deep? cave , wreck...etc? I have heard of tech 1 , 2 .... what kind of certifiication is that? If I would like to be trained as one how should i proceed? currently a DMT with Padi. BTW I am not nitorx trained yet.

Lots of questions hope you experts can answer thanks in advance

 

[Wendy]

Ok there are cave divers, wreck divers, and mixed gas divers. The mixed gas (trimix divers) can also be cave or wreck divers. When I say wreck diver I don't mean that PADI course, I mean actually wreck penetration.

Tech 1 and Teach 2 are course taught by GUE (www.gue.com). They are just one of a hand full of agencies that teach technical classes. You must take the DIRF course with GUE and pass it before you can take any other classes with them. Also they teach Cave 1, Cave 2, and Cave 3. Info on their courses and what they include are found on the website.

So why the interest in tech diving since you arne't even trained for nitrox yet?

 

[Dayang]

The very reason I took up diving was for caves. I simply love those images I see of underwater caves and wrecks. I never really understood why divers like those small micros.

 

[Wendy]

Are there caves in singapore?

Chances are if they don't teach cave courses over there that you will need to travel to Mexico or Florida to get cave training. Also they may teach cave diving in Australia.

Just promise that you will get trained for cave diving before ever going into one. Don't go with someone that says "come on trust me", as trust me dives never end well. Remember there is nothing in a cave worth dying for.

 

[Walter]

“Technical" diving, how did that concept come about anyway? It's been around for a long, long time, but there was never any need to give it a name. In the late 80’s somebody coined the term to encompass a bunch of unrelated activities. At first it meant dives that broke rules established by agencies. Now, it's trying to (and succeeding in many cases) make new rules to put "technical" diving within another set of rules. Later folks started including established, although not mainstream, specialties, like cave diving, in with the other unrelated types of diving under the "technical" umbrella. "Technical" diving is a meaningless term. It means too many things to too many people. When you say "technical" diving I have no idea if you are referring to cave, mixed gas, solo, deep air, something else or a combination. If you are interested in mixed gas; refer to mixed gas; if it's cave; refer to cave, etc. Your message will be much clearer. Expertise in one type of "technical" diving does not carry over into another. "Technical" diving is a useless distinction that IMHO we should all stop using.

 

[Ontario Diver]

"Technical" diving is a meaningless term.

Sorry Walter. I must disagree.

Technical diving differs from recreational diving in that recreational diving allows a direct ascent to the surface.

Loosely speaking, you may go to the surface at any time during a recreational dive.

Technical diving is diving when there is a "ceiling" that stops you from making a direct surface ascent. That ceiling may be rock (cave), steel (wreck) or a deco obligation.

Technical diving differs because it requires gear and procedures that recognize the inability to go directly to the surface.

The first step in techincal diving is a deco procedure course followed by either an overhead environment course or a advanced nitrox or trimix course.

just my .02$

 

[detroit diver]

I think Walter is right. Tech means different things to different people. To you, it's deco obligation, or a ceiling. To someone else, it might mean rock climbing into a deep canyon in order to dive.

It's too generic of a term.

Sorry Walter. I must disagree.

Technical diving differs from recreational diving in that recreational diving allows a direct ascent to the surface.

Loosely speaking, you may go to the surface at any time during a recreational dive.

Technical diving is diving when there is a "ceiling" that stops you from making a direct surface ascent. That ceiling may be rock (cave), steel (wreck) or a deco obligation.

Technical diving differs because it requires gear and procedures that recognize the inability to go directly to the surface.

The first step in techincal diving is a deco procedure course followed by either an overhead environment course or a advanced nitrox or trimix course.

just my .02$

 

[cdennyb]

I have to agree with Ontario Diver. Technical diving is actually being commintted to understanding why and how long and how the hell you can do it safely. A recreation diver will jump on a vacation boat, throw on some rented gear and hit the water to look around. A technical diver will understand that he (or she) can't just throw on some gear and hit the water. I would have to add that there are speciality areas within technical diving and you all have hit on them, (i.e. cave, wreck, deco obligation, etc.) but the bottom line is you don't have to breath nitrox or trimix to be a technical diver. I consider my daughter (age 16) a technical diver even when she's just running the video camera at 70' on air because she has learned to dive right, learned to DIR as it were, and has the bungeed reg, the long hose primary and an understanding to go with it... and that makes you aware of your actions, the results of your actions (or lack thereof) and what to do when you run across a problem or 'glitch' in your dive, like OOA or other problems. Techincal divers are a more instructed diver group, either from experience or from classes or both. The deeper into the technical field of diving you go, the more you realize the crap can kill you, and the more you understand the need for the right gear and practice, practice, practice with it.
just my opinion but well thought out.

db

 

[Dayang]

Wow thanks for the input.

To be specific I really love caves and would like to go as deep as possible. ( just an obession with depth) Because I am with padi all along I know their "path" well. OW to AOW to rescue...etc but for my next level of training i would like to try some other school and am quite confuse with which one to go to. For rec training the obvious choice here is Padi. (since there is not much other choice here in Singapore) . For Tech it is another story.

So my next step should be nitrox followed by advance nitrox?

 

[RichLockyer]

just an obession with depth

That alone would disqualify you from most classes.
As taught by PADI, the object of going deep should never be the depth itself. The depth is a requirement to reach a particular objective of the dive... to dive on a particular wreck, to explore a new lead in a cave, etc...
Depth alone is not an acceptable dive objective, and any kind of obsession with any aspect of diving (other than doing it as safely as possible) is a flat disqualification.