Initial tec decompression diving/trimix course – advertised vs. actual duration

[R.Chisholm]

Hi,

I am considering taking an initial “light trimix” technical decompression diving course sometime in the future (typically covering light deco with a max of 15-30 minutes duration, light or at least normoxic trimix, diving with back gas deco or a single deco gas to depths in the 45m-50m range)

Examples here – from various agencies would include TDI Helitrox, IANTD advanced recreational trimix (ART), PADI Tec 40, GUE Tec 1 and the equivalent courses from CMAS, ISE or UTD.

While most of these course take 4-5 days and encompass a minimum of 6-8 dives or so – I have heard anecdotal comments from various tec instructors to the effect that many (most ?) of their clients don’t pass with the minimum dive or time requirements.

This is of course different to say OWD where almost all students that don’t drop out pass and get certified.

So here’s the question – I’d be interested in what the average experience is from both instructors and technical divers – do most students in these initial tec courses take longer than the normal allotted course duration to get certified?

The reason I ask is not because I want to get certified with the minimum effort and expense on my part – but the logistics of taking such a course.

I live in Switzerland and could take TDI Helitrox with a local instructor (and easily book extra days for any necessary remedial training)

For PADI Tec 40, CMAS, IANTD ART I would need to travel within the country and probably devote a week or several continuous weekends to this.

For ISE, UTD or GUE Tec 1 – apart from passing fundies or the equivalent I would need to travel outside of the country whenever that becomes possible again.

It is for that latter option I am trying to understand the realities beyond the agencies advertised minimum requirements. If I did travel then failing to pass with an instructor in another country would probably leave me unable to complete the course.

Any tips or shared experience welcome,

Regards,

Rory

 

[rhwestfall]

Throw in uncertainty of weather (lake conditions and charter availability), life issues, and other students similar issues (there were two of us taking the class), and it took a year for my class...

Winter shut us down, and we ended up traveling to a quarry 9 hours away in the spring to finish up as the lake wouldn't cooperate.

My class, however, was Intro -> ANDP, and Helitrox (never finished the last part)

 

[tbone1004]

my experience is that if students come into the course adequately prepared, they pass within the agency minimum number of dives. The key is having people come into the course with adequate experience. For the DIR agencies, you have to pass fundies at a tech level, so the only thing they are teaching you in the class is how to handle bottles. You have already proven that you can do all of the skills as far as buoyancy/trim/propulsion, so provided you haven't regressed, it's an easy course.
With the others, it tends to be a crap shoot from an instructors side on how prepared they actually are. If you passed an intro to tec course, or if you even took one, and to what standard that course was taught. It is similar to cavern/intro to cave. If people actually show up prepared, it's not going to kick your butt, but if you show up and have to go through remedial training, you won't finish in 4 days and you'll get your butt kicked.

 

[Rich1280]

I did GUE T1, so had the Fundies Tech pass pre requisite. Having said that, I turned up dived up and had done a bit of prep in terms of practicing valve drills and kicks on a couple of previous dives just to refresh myself of the bits you don't do every dive. Of the two others on my course, one was very dived up and already a cave diver, and the other wasn't as dived up and finished with a referral pass where they had to come back just to show skills. I think the bit that most helped was being dived up, the other diver could do the skills, just a bit slow and not quite as consistently which is what dragged it down.
Depending on which agency you go to, I think some sort of intro tech would really help, and a little conscious preparation and practice on things like valve drills and neutral buoyancy.

Rich

 

[wstorms]

It also might be a good idea to discuss how many dives per day you can do from a practical point of view, depending on your elevation. Most course templates are developed with sea level in mind, so if you are high up in the Swiss mountains, things might be different.

 

[Marie13]

I'm just starting my TDI AN/DP/Helitrox course in water work this weekend with a skills weekend in the water. We did classroom/pool time this winter, but CV-19 delayed dives. This weekend doesn't count towards the actual course dives, but since we've been out of the water for longer this spring due to CV-19, we all need practice. This course combination requires 10 dives/5 days, 2 dives per day. I'm doing mine with a well-regarded local instructor. He turned out to be the best fit, but other things I took into consideration:

I know multiple people whose traveled elsewhere to do their tech course, which ended up getting interrupted. Ear issues, weather (if ocean diving), etc. Travel costs can pile up quite easily. If you get delayed by those issues, how soon are you going to be able to get back to finish your training? It could be months.

Taking a big chunk of time off work can be an issue for some. With a local instructor, you can do your course in chunks over multiple weekends. I like not having the time pressure of going away to do a course. Makes things much more relaxed.

Where will you be diving? There's a line of thinking that you should train in the conditions (or similar) you will actually be diving in. For example, I will be diving Great Lakes wrecks in water that will often be around 40F/4C. Does it really make sense to train in a warm climate (where you will possibly in a wetsuit, no gloves, etc.), if you would be diving cold water in a drysuit (and thick thermals that make valve drills more difficult and dry gloves that give you less dexterity)? My class dives will be in cold quarries.

ETA: I did Intro to Tech last August and got some time in at the pool this winter that helped identify some issues (needed to remove the Sitech replaceable neck seal system from my drysuit as it interfered with shoulder mobility with my narrow shoulders).

The instructor who did my ITT class said the 4 days people often allow for just AN/DP might be too little. He said he's only seen very, very turned on students get it done in the minimum.

 

[ChuckP]

Speaking for the PADI and TDI stuff, be very very solid on your core skills - buoyancy, trim, kicks, regulator exchange, mask clearing, smb deployment. Be a great diver because all that stuff needs to be second nature. I'd think I'd add, make sure your core skills and configuration are in line with what agency you will be training with - don't have some out of wack set up that takes a day to re configure.

Practice tech skills - you don't need doubles to practice simulated boom drills, use hand motions. Drop and pick up weights off the bottom while remaining neutral - you don't have to use a deco bottle. Practice deco stops - stop at 30' for two minutes, 20' for two minutes etc - maintain your depth. Practice kicks. Heck, even the classroom stuff, read Deco for divers.....

If you are a good core skills diver, spend time reviewing the new skills and even go over classroom material - the class is easy.

 

[Marie13]

You do need some dives (25-50 is a good number) in your tech gear (doubles or sidemount) before showing up for the actual tech course (not an intro one - although some of us have that before doing the intro course).

I even got the class texts a year in advance and during a bored winter read them and did all the homework. The math was challenging for me since I'd not done that type of math since my first year at university in the late 1980s. Then when actually doing the actual bookwork "for real" this winter, it was much easier.

 

[Efka76]

I passed TDI AN/DP/Helitrox at once, however, I had 1 additional day comparing to advertised time. In the middle of course I had 1 day off which I used for theory revision. Courses were really hard and not comparable to any PADI courses that I previously had.

PADI 40 is not equivalent to TDI Helitrox course. I think only in PADI Trimix course you get exposure to trimix.

 

[boulderjohn]

The difference in the amount of time needed for tech training varies dramatically from student to student. I have had students come to me looking like they had not only already passed the course, they looked like they were ready to teach it. I have also had quite the opposite, where on the first dive I'm thinking, "Oh, my! This is going to take some time."

The number of required dives is just a minimum, and it takes at least that many dives to complete the required skills. The true measure, however, is performance of the skills. If you complete a dive that includes doing a valve shutdown to a certain level of performance and you don't do it at that level, then you still have work to do. I don't ever want the nightmare of learning that a former student of mine died because of a failure to perform a tech skill properly.