Icediving TEC or REC?

[icediver]

I guess if your directly below the hole, and make an ascent it would be considered a recreational dive.

T

 

[DIR Tec Diver]

I live in Helsinki Finland, and I am ice diving every week here, and not only am I an Ice Diving Instructor, I am a tec diver and instructor as well, so I feel confident that I know what I am talking about here.

I have seen all types of people with their own way of doing things, and I have seen most of those fail. If you go into an overhead environment (cave, ice, wreck) and you do not have reduntant configurations then you are an accident waiting to happen. This environment in itself is a technical type of diving, but of course it can be for recreational purposes. If you don't at least carry a pony bottle then you are not brave, you are an idiot. The ideal configuration is a set of doubles and twin regulators set up on an isolator manifold.

 

[MikeFerrara]

DIR Tec Diver once bubbled...
I live in Helsinki Finland, and I am ice diving every week here, and not only am I an Ice Diving Instructor, I am a tec diver and instructor as well, so I feel confident that I know what I am talking about here.

I have seen all types of people with their own way of doing things, and I have seen most of those fail. If you go into an overhead environment (cave, ice, wreck) and you do not have reduntant configurations then you are an accident waiting to happen. This environment in itself is a technical type of diving, but of course it can be for recreational purposes. If you don't at least carry a pony bottle then you are not brave, you are an idiot. The ideal configuration is a set of doubles and twin regulators set up on an isolator manifold.

What agency do you teach ice diving under? Do you have PADI ice diving students in doubles? Do you consider this a "tech" course? I believe this is the first time I have ever heard a DIR tech diver recommend a pony bottle for anything.

 

[vlada]

My local PADI shop just came up with a policy of NOT allowing their students to dive in doubles - so much for redundancy or technical approach

None of the instructors or students dive with the pony bottles either

 

[JDostal]

I would qualify ice diving as recreational diving. It's taught by padi for crying out loud (I've got the c-dard). It's not that difficult, you are not that far away from the hole and you are tied to the surface with 3/8" poly rope. I don't think it's got the level of gear, planning or commitment to be a tec dive.

Of course, this is coming from a wisconsinite...either you ice dive around here or you don't get to dive at all for a good chunk of the year.

 

[DIR Tec Diver]

To me the ideal rig is not that someone uses a pony bottle, I recommend you use a DIR doubles configuration, but I know quite a few divers that do not want to dive in doubles, nor can they afford the rig, so since I can not force the issue, then I reccomend that someone have some sort of redundant air supply such as a pony bottle. When I am teaching any course that does not mandate a particular equipment configuration such as in OWD, I use my doubles.

No I do not only train students in doubles, but I will not take them under an overhead environment without at least dual independent regs or a pony bottle. Since their lives are in my hands, I must ensure that they are safe. I could never forgive myself if something happened to a fellow diver and I could have prevented it by ensuring they had some sort of bailout system. I take diving very seriously, but always maintain a relaxed and fun environment. We can all relax more, and have fun when we have the confidence that we have the appropriate equipment for the diving at hand.

Hopefully that clarifies my comment. Thanks for the question.

 

[JamieZ]

Yup you just clarified that you are not DIR. GI says your 100% DIR or your a stroke. You must be a stroke if you use a pony or teach it. Hey man thanks for making that clear. Now we can be buddies because I'm a stroke. Your stroke, I'm a stroke wouldnt you like to be a stroke too?

 

[JDostal]

DIR Tec Diver once bubbled...

I could never forgive myself if something happened to a fellow diver and I could have prevented it by ensuring they had some sort of bailout system.

So by a bailout system, you mean something like the Spare Air I carry, right? I mean that thing should have enough air to get my out of just about any situation I could get myself into. At least that's what all the testimonials on their website say.

I've got independent regulators too - I've got one of those Air2 thingies on my BC. I've never really used but it sure is nice to know it's there if I were to ever need it.

 

[icediver]

DIR Tec Diver once bubbled...
I reccomend that someone have some sort of redundant air supply such as a pony bottle.

My question then is do you prohibit students to take part in your ICE DIVING program if they don't have a pony. This is because you only reccomend having a redundant air supply.

Now I am also a TEC diver and if I have been taught that my buddy is my redundant brain, it only makes sense that they would be my redundant air supply. Yaa think.

T

 

[SDAnderson]

There have been some very interesting and somewhat suprising responses to this question. It seems that the arguments in favor of calling ice diving recreational fall mostly into two camps:

It's so cold here that ice diving is all that's available for much of the year.

Does the fact that you do it a lot mean that it's not technical? Or does it just mean that you do a lot of technical diving?

It's not really technical diving because we have special gear and special techniques to make it safer.

Isn't this one of the best definitions of technical diving? When special training, equipment or techniques not taught or used in recreational diving are required to conduct the dive, it's a technical dive.

Why ice diving is technical, not recreational:

• It's an overhead environment.
• It's so cold as to present extreme risks to self and equipment.
• It requires special training.
• It requires special equipment.
• It requires special techniques.
• Most people think it's insane.

There seems to be an almost automatic "but I'm not a technical diver" flavor to many of the responses and I don't understand why. There's nothing wrong with technical diving. It is special, however, and extra-recreational. If you have the training, equipment and experience to be an ice diver, you are part of the elite in the world of scuba: a technical diver. Just don't tell your insurance agent.

Steven