My journey towards the three stars (3*)

[Storker]

There is now a definite preference to have people move to mixed gas qualifications for deeper diving 40m+.

I have the distinct impression that we're seeing the same thing here. It helps, of course, that we aren't officially certified beyond 40m even with a 3*, but I believe that the influence from agencies like GUE has had some effect. Given the amount of divers taking technical certs, the tech instructors don't have too much work, and people wanting technical certs often turn to GUE or IANTD.

Most of the divers I've heard talking about deep air beyond 40+ m usually tell their stories as horror stories from the past. Me, I usually notice being narked already well before 40m, so I prefer not to go much deeper than 30m.

 

[Adam Grose]

Unfortunately, I’m having to endure 31’C water and 35’C air: Koh Lipe.

Poor Baby..... such a rough life.

 

[Storker]

if you don't make mistakes, you won't learn

Which is why I'm being more than averagely candid about my mistakes and mess-ups. Because I'm learning a bunch and I want to convey how my mistakes and mess-ups are contributing to my learning.

It's hurting my pride, but I believe it's making the thread more valuable.

 

[Storker]

Last theory session and theory exam

As I've mentioned before, much of the theory was supposed to be learned as self-study, so the theory sessions went rather fast. After covering the last three chapters of the book, it was time for the exam. According to the instructors, a 75% score was required to pass 3*, and a 90% score - with at least 90% on each section, which in fact required full score on every section, since no section had more than 9 problems - to qualify for enrolling the 1* instructor class.

Again, it was pretty obvious that those who had designed the exam weren't trained educators. More than one problem was difficult to interpret (basically, "what the heck is the answer they're fishing for?"), and in my - very far from humble - opinion, perhaps not the best questions to check for understanding of the central parts of the theory. Good thing the instructors were of the opinion that diving is a practical sport. One full page - out of five - was tables. Perhaps a little bit exaggerated, but OTOH I believe that a gut feeling for the tables is a pretty good thing to have, so perhaps it was appropriate. IDK. Anyways, it was interesting to be checked on being able to work our national tables when I never had used them before. They are somewhat different from PADI's, even if the basics are very similar. What i appreciated about them was the more nuanced perspective on going to higher elevations or flying after diving than the PADI tables and guidelines give.

In any case, we all passed. With >90% score. So I guess that's a good thing. But I definitely see some margin for improvement in the questions I got.

 

[Marie13]

@Storker

When doing the bookwork (review questions at the end of each chapter for TDI Intro to Tech and AN/DP), I also felt some of the questions weren't worded as well as they might have been.

 

[Storker]

@Storker

When doing the bookwork (review questions at the end of each chapter for TDI Intro to Tech and AN/DP), I also felt some of the questions weren't worded as well as they might have been.

My favorite was "How does a 2nd stage freeze?" Correct answer: "Open". On a good 2nd place was the question what certain tank stamps meant. Not covered on any of the pages of the textbook.

 

[Graeme Fraser]

Last theory session and theory exam

As I've mentioned before, much of the theory was supposed to be learned as self-study, so the theory sessions went rather fast. After covering the last three chapters of the book, it was time for the exam. According to the instructors, a 75% score was required to pass 3*, and a 90% score - with at least 90% on each section, which in fact required full score on every section, since no section had more than 9 problems - to qualify for enrolling the 1* instructor class.

Again, it was pretty obvious that those who had designed the exam weren't trained educators. More than one problem was difficult to interpret (basically, "what the heck is the answer they're fishing for?"), and in my - very far from humble - opinion, perhaps not the best questions to check for understanding of the central parts of the theory. Good thing the instructors were of the opinion that diving is a practical sport. One full page - out of five - was tables. Perhaps a little bit exaggerated, but OTOH I believe that a gut feeling for the tables is a pretty good thing to have, so perhaps it was appropriate. IDK. Anyways, it was interesting to be checked on being able to work our national tables when I never had used them before. They are somewhat different from PADI's, even if the basics are very similar. What i appreciated about them was the more nuanced perspective on going to higher elevations or flying after diving than the PADI tables and guidelines give.

In any case, we all passed. With >90% score. So I guess that's a good thing. But I definitely see some margin for improvement in the questions I got.

Well done mate. Onwards and upwards!

 

[Neilwood]

My favorite was "How does a 2nd stage freeze?" Correct answer: "Open". On a good 2nd place was the question what certain tank stamps meant. Not covered on any of the pages of the textbook.

Those are pretty poor questions tbh.

 

[Storker]

After a bit of a hiatus, we had our last course weekend. The instructors combined the last parts of the 3* class with some parts of the instructor class, since one of the instructors flies in for the weekend. I've already mentioned that we thought we'd be done earlier, but our performance the last time wasn't up to the standard the instructors wanted it. Despite having been encouraged by the instructor to participate, I passed on the pool session for the instructor class, because 1: I don't take 1* instructor and 2: I couldn't take a Friday off from work this time. The ocean dives were planned for Saturday, and then the instructor students were going to have their theory exam on Sunday.

The weather forecast for the weekend didn't look particularly good. 11-13 m/s and snow showers for Saturday, 4-6 m/s and pouring rain on Sunday. Plague or cholera? The issue was of course the wind, because a bit of rain while kitting up only turns your drysuit into a mostly-dry-suit. OTOH, some 10+ m/s of wind from the wrong direction could make it more interesting than necessary to jump in and get out of the water. We'd (or at least I'd) had just enough of that the previous weekend. So because of that, the plan was a bit flexible until Saturday morning.

I had just finished my breakfast and lined up the gear by the door, ready to load it into the car while cussing over the snow shower which started just some ten minutes previously when I got a message on the group chat. "What's on for today? Diving or theory?" So I called the instructor to check and was told to hold my horses for two minutes. After some five (conservatively estimated, of course) I got a new message, this time from the instructor. We were going diving. The delay was pretty nice, because it allowed the snow shower to pass before I started loading the gear into the car. Someone in the group had access to professional quality weather reports and forecasts, so we had better information than I usually have access to. Apparently, the wind was going to blow from a good direction in the morning, and at least until 10-11 we could count on a fairly clear sky with little precipitation before the wind would turn less favorable and increase even more.

 

[Storker]

Con't.

We arrived at the site fairly early, with hardly any waves and an almost (I'm being a bit liberal here) clear sky. The wind was blowing from land, and we had a bit of height behind us, so we were pretty well sheltered, regardless of the official wind strength.

I was in the first team to splash. The tide was low, given the recent full moon we were very close to spring tides, and we were close to low tide. So there was quite a distance down to the water from the wharf, and there was no way I was doing a big stride into a 5m drop. I'm well into middle age and well past the stage where I need to prove my masculinity to other persons than my wife. So climbing slick, algae-covered rocks it was. As I hadn't dived that part of the site before I asked for the local current conditions and was told that they were very reasonable, even at spring tide.

Our task for the day was to plan a standard no-deco dive to the local attraction (an old barge wreck), then putter around a little a bit shallower, before my buddy - an instructor student - were to demonstrate some drills which I should repeat. Then up to 5m, and when the safety stop was done, I should play unconscious while my buddy rescued me. We agreed on up to 25min at 25 nominal meters, then some 25min at some 15 nominal meters, gas allowing. Max depth 30m, max run time 60min. That's one of my standard depth plans and pretty close to min gas for me if I have a good day. Besides, it's pretty close to riding the NDL on air. We were on EAN32, but that was just a safety margin. I was to lead the first part of the dive, handing responsibility over to my buddy when we left the wreck.

The wreck was located from 25-ish to 40-ish meters, so the initial plan was to descent rather quickly to 25-ish meters, then just turn left and hold the depth until we saw the wreck. Worked like a charm, after only a few minutes the wreck started to show itself. We paddled around it, got a look or two at the sides and got on top of it, towards the steering wheel. That was when the narcosis hit me. Have I mentioned that I'm probably more than averagely susceptible to narcosis? I was at about 29m, after a rather fast descent, in pretty crappy lighting and rather limited viz. And suddenly I realized that I wasn't quite able to keep formation, check my gas and depth, while enjoying the view and retaining enough mental bandwidth to be alert for any issues. Damn. Pretty far from any kind of really unpleasant experience, but enough to make me decide to leisurely get out of Dodge. I don't need this kind of crap, I'm too old for that.