DIR- Generic Learning Doubles (in Wetsuit?)

[mariosx]

Getting a tec pass in a wet suit is highly limiting, except if you plan to do all your dives in very (very!) warm water.

To my understanding you don't have to retake fundies if you get a drysuit primer after that. But I might be wrong.

Also, to my experience, you can dive amost everywhere with a wetsuit in the SouthEast. The majority of my dives are with 2.5mm that is more than comfortable North Florida springs, along with sea and lakes for most of the year. I also have a 7mm for the winter for lake diving when things are getting more chilly. I am not sure what is your definition of "very very warm water"...

Ofc you need drysuit for cave diving as a backup to wing failure, and for more cooler places (North America, Norway, etc), but I would say it's potentially limiting only if indeed your location doesn't allow you to be in a wetsuit.

P/S: Ofc there is no disagreement on what is better (tec with or without drysuit), but getting a good drysuit could go up to 3-4K$ and might be financially prohibitive for most in the beginning, like myself. I trully believe that if I had to choose between getting my fundies early on, than waiting for 2-3 years until I get a nice drysuit, the first option will be a no brainer. And if somebody could reach a tec pass early on, well... awesome.

 

[ginti]

To my understanding you don't have to retake fundies if you get a drysuit primer after that. But I might be wrong.

True, but skills are 100% harder in a trilaminate drysuit. So it is not unlikely that after the tec pass in a wetsuit and a drysuit premier, divers aren't able to perform at the tec-pass level when using the drysuit.

Also, to my experience, you can dive amost everywhere with a wetsuit in the SouthEast. The majority of my dives are with 2.5mm that is more than comfortable North Florida springs, along with sea and lakes for most of the year. I also have a 7mm for the winter for lake diving when things are getting more chilly. I am not sure what is your definition of "very very warm water"...

As I said before, if you plan to only use the wetsuit, that's fine

Ofc you need drysuit for cave diving as a backup to wing failure, and for more cooler places (North America, Norway, etc), but I would say it's potentially limiting only if indeed your location doesn't allow you to be in a wetsuit.

If you start doing some tech dives, you'll stay way longer underwater, and for decompression reasons, you need to ensure that you are warm enough during the deco stop. Also, when you go fairly deep, the water temperature may decrease. Because of these reasons, tech divers ofter wear drysuits even in warm water (for instance, the Mediterranean sea in summer!).

P/S: Ofc there is no disagreement on what is better (tec with or without drysuit), but getting a good drysuit could go up to 3-4K$ and might be financially prohibitive for most in the beginning, like myself. I trully believe that if I had to choose between getting my fundies early on, than waiting for 2-3 years until I get a nice drysuit, the first option will be a no brainer. And if somebody could reach a tec pass early on, well... awesome.

If this is the reason, I agree with you. Just do not start tec courses if you aren't sure you can do them with the equipment you need.

Technically speaking, the tech pass is sufficient to do, say the tech 1 course, provided that the diver has sufficient diving experience. But try to show up to the course with a drysuit that you can't handle at a tec-pass level, and let's see what happens (hint: the diver is going to waste a lot of money)

 

[mariosx]

True, but skills are 100% harder in a trilaminate drysuit. So it is not unlikely that after the tec pass in a wetsuit and a drysuit premier, divers aren't able to perform at the tec-pass level when using the drysuit.


As I said before, if you plan to only use the wetsuit, that's fine


If you start doing some tech dives, you'll stay way longer underwater, and for decompression reasons, you need to ensure that you are warm enough during the deco stop. Also, when you go fairly deep, the water temperature may decrease. Because of these reasons, tech divers ofter wear drysuits even in warm water (for instance, the Mediterranean sea in summer!).


If this is the reason, I agree with you. Just do not start tec courses if you aren't sure you can do them with the equipment you need.

Technically speaking, the tech pass is sufficient to do, say the tech 1 course, provided that the diver has sufficient diving experience. But try to show up to the course with a drysuit that you can't handle at a tec-pass level, and let's see what happens (hint: the diver is going to waste a lot of money)

Fair enough, it makes sense...

I 'll transition to a drysuit the next 4 months. I just hope I will stay at least at a rec level.

 

[ginti]

I 'll transition to a drysuit the next 4 months. I just hope I will stay at least at a rec level.

Even if you don't stay at a rec level, it'll just take a bit of practice to improve and reach not only your previous level, but even the tec-pass. If you want to do it, you'll make it

 

[happy-diver]

Oh yeah and some more incessant talking

Assembling Doubles

I picked up some highland bands but they have no instructions and I'm not mechanically inclined enough to figure out the right placement of the bolt kit bits. I have a couple of capped screws, lock nuts, standard nuts, lock washers and flat washers. I could put the washers and a nut on the...

scubaboard.com

Assembling Double Cylinders | Dive Gear Express®

Here is the Dive Gear Express recommended procedure to assemble a set of doubles using any modern design double o-ring style manifold and tank ...

www.divegearexpress.com

And here is what Tom Mount actually said and meant

Before you all twisted it but twisting it less these days

While I don't really appreciate the condescending tone

Mate I'm on here talking to the crowd and supplying you all with information so how
you interpret that information, and how my posts affect you, is totally in your control


Go diving, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

 

[rob.mwpropane]

A buddy let me try a set of doubles.. I really liked them so I bought my own. I think in 5 or 10 dives I felt comfortable. Started slow in 20'. I never looked back.

No class needed. It really is as simple as putting them on and getting experience.

And (gasp) I did the same thing in a drysuit. But I also say dive and let dive. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

 

[Lorenzoid]

A buddy let me try a set of doubles.. I really liked them so I bought my own. I think in 5 or 10 dives I felt comfortable. Started slow in 20'. I never looked back.

No class needed. It really is as simple as putting them on and getting experience.

And (gasp) I did the same thing in a drysuit. But I also say dive and let dive. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

If the goal is simply to get “comfortable “ with them, sure. If the goal is to be able to do skills in them per a specific agency standard, maybe more training in them would help. The OP posted in the DIR forum and appears to have GUE standards in mind.

 

[rddvet]

If the goal is simply to get “comfortable “ with them, sure. If the goal is to be able to do skills in them per a specific agency standard, maybe more training in them would help. The OP posted in the DIR forum and appears to have GUE standards in mind.

This is what the "just throw them on and dive" crowd seem to not understand. I was able to dive doubles safely for many years and could do a valve drill. Problem is I couldn't do it in a manner that was as smooth and comfortable as it could be. This is what fundies showed me. A couple minor harness adjustments, being taught to properly do valve drills as well as to quickly and effectively diagnose a problem and choose the right path in the failure tree algorithm to get to the problem quickly were things I never would have learned on my own. My initial mentors who taught me doubles did a good job, but they did not teach me the nuanced details.
Yes, any idiot can throw on doubles and learn to dive them comfortably. But if I put 30 backmount cave divers in front of you I would suspect half of them can not do a quick and effective valve drill. I'm sure they could trudge through one, but it would be far from ideal. It's just not covered well in most people's cave or tech classes. And also not something most mentors (who aren't good instructors) would cover.

 

[rob.mwpropane]

If the goal is simply to get “comfortable “ with them, sure. If the goal is to be able to do skills in them per a specific agency standard, maybe more training in them would help. The OP posted in the DIR forum and appears to have GUE standards in mind.

I didn't realize this was DIR specific forum. Apologies. I should have never given an opinion on it.

 

[Manatee Diver]

S drills,
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

Are S-Drills BS?

The underlying goals behind the traditional S-Drill are vital. Unfortunately, this skill, as commonly taught, fails to meet them.

cavediving.com

I know the author of that article, and I've dove with him before in a mixed team. And he isn't advocating what you appear to think he is advocating for. Instead that we adopt a more flexible procedure that reflects the changing configurations that we are seeing in cave country. And COVID finally did that in, the air share part of the S drill is largely extinct.