Icediving TEC or REC?

[JDostal]

Personally, I think the phrase "technical diving" is pure BS.

You're still a recreational sport diver, no matter what type of breathing gas you are using, no matter why type of exposure protection you wear or no matter where you dive.

It's a sport, a hobby. Yes, I may personally be ridiculously obsessed with my sport and have a ton more gear and a ton more training than most others involved in my hobby...but it's still sport recreational diving.

It's like saying I'm a "technical bicyclist" when I bike 3000 miles in a summer. Or I'm a "technical hiker" for having hiked the entire pacific crest trail in a summer. Laaaaaaaaaaaammmeeeee.....

When you are in a hardhat doing some welding on an oil rig with surface support...then I'll agree you might be getting technical. But then you are a commercial diver.

Yes, some divers do take recreational sport diving to greater lengths than other people. The reason I personally don't think Ice Diving is technical diving is because I really don't think any of the diving we do as a sport/hobby is technical diving.

 

[icediver]

All diving then would have to be considered Technical. Every course you take be it OW you require special gear, regs,BCD,tanks and so on. To do a rescue course you need special gear, throw rope, floats and so on. You can be Wreck certified but not be a Technical diver, as long as you adhere to the training that you received.

So why is it that the technical agencies don't teach ICE DIVING?

T

 

[JDostal]

Part of the reasoning behind my post is that I did post early in the morning when I'm a complete craba$$, so I get a little harsh sometimes

 

[mddolson]

I am speaking from historical info.
Ice diving has been considered a recreational specialty.
General technical requirements are: depths beyond 130 ft rec limit, or manditory deco, or change of breathing gas, or rebreather use.

You can argue that diving in an overhead envirnment should constitute technical , but it doesn't. Neither does wreck penitration. Just specialty training.

Due to the limited exposure time, due to the cold and being teathered back to the hole, depth is limited.

MikeD

If you live up where the snow flies, and you can't afford a trip south, Ice Diving may be the only option.

 

[frogxman]

I think everything depends on the way how the diving is conducted. According to PADI standards (which are recreational) the diver should be secured by a line (special requirement to the line - it should be floating) and has a personal tender onthe surface. In this setup I don't think that this way of diving is much more than a recreational diving. Yes - it is cold, yes - it is an overhead diving, but it is usually shallow and the diver can be pulled immediately to the surface.
Now not all the ice diving is done this way. Take a look on Arctic/Antarctic scientific diving reports - the divers are not tied to the surface. The hole is marked with a strobe light. There should be a second safety hole. It should be protected from freezing. Divers go much deeper (since they are not limited by the line) and probably stay longer. In such conditions I would say, the redundant air system is a must. In this case ice diving can be considered a technical diving.

 

[DIR Tec Diver]

This weekend, I was solo diving in Finland, under ice, with my scooters (Gavin of course) and well below 40 meters and over 100 meters from my entry/exit point.

Yes, to me it is recreational diving because I do it for fun and relaxation, but completely technical in nature, as I needed to do decompression, and all of my gear is well beyond the standard recreational configuration. Everything redundant, everything streamlined and in proper order.

Would I recommend this to a non-experienced and competent diver? NEVER. I would not recommend this to almost anyone, but I know this site like the back of my hand, I am a competent diver, and it is what I wanted to do. Having the scooters also ensures that in the unlikely event something did happen, my travel time to my exit point was extremely short.

In effect, my diving was safer than most dives that people can do in almost any type of dive, but certainly well beyond the competencies of your average diver.

I will let you decide if it is tec or rec, but to me anything in an overhead environment is technical even if you are doing it for fun.

PS Please stow your comments about solo diving we will never see eye to eye, so lets agree to disagree..

 

[Scubaroo]

This weekend, I was solo diving in Finland, under ice, with my scooters (Gavin of course) and well below 40 meters and over 100 meters from my entry/exit point.

DIR = Do It Right, Or Don't Do It At All

Sounds like you should listen to your own advice.

 

[O-ring]

Scubaroo once bubbled...
Sounds like you should listen to your own advice.

You mean you can't just pick the parts of the system you like and adopt those???

 

[JDostal]

Man, this guy is too funny. He should really stand up and take credit for giving me a laugh in the middle of the day

Hey, at least he's persistent!

 

[icediver]

So answer me this. What happens in the unlikely event that your scooter craps out and there's nobuddy to tow you back.

Don't know if this is the smartest thing I've heard of.

My dive buddies and I do the same thing. Well I guess it's not the same thing as we do it together. Safety in numbers.

T