PADI Tec Instructor

[RJP]

I don't have my new DSAT manual to hand, but there has always been a requirement to have a technical diver qualification.

The DSAT Tec Instructor rating is a strange one. As I recall from memory (I might be wrong), Tec Instructors can only teach the new Tec40 course. They have to be qualified as a Tec45 diver or equivalent, where equivalent is defined as qualified to conduct staged decompression dives to 45m using twin tanks and oxygen for accelerated decompression.

There is also a requirement for, I think, 20 staged decompression dives.

There may be some confusion of pre-requisites and exit conditions. A person may be allowed to enter the Tec Instructor course without being a technical diver, in which case the Tec Instructor course *must* include additional dives that lead to the Tec45 diver certification for the instructor candidate.

The candidate won't actually become a Tec Instructor until they have gone off and completed their 20 staged decompression dives *and* interned on the delivery of at least one Tec40 course.

That would make much more sense...

 

[AndyNZ]

Here you go, here's the Tec Instructor Application form that outlines the requirements for being a Tec Instructor.

Hope this helps clear up some confusion.

 

[RJP]

Hope this helps clear up some confusion.

Indeed - I may go back and delete my previous post...

 

[AndyNZ]

Beyond that, what more is there in terms of dives and classroom work that must be done. Has anyone gone through the course that can clarify a little more about what it is all about and how long it takes?

To be honest, if time is a concern then don't even think about it.

Teaching technical diving is not a quick option. I wouldn't even think about it until as a diver you've had at least one dive where you screw up your dive, go over your planned bottom time, have to recalculate your deco schedule on the fly and run out of gas and have to buddy breathe a deco gas through the ascent, and still deploy an SMB and hit all your stops whilst assisting a team member who has lost their mask.... and make it out alive and with a renewed respect for technical diving.

Diving deep is easy, making ascents from depth is hard. Controlling students who are making fcuked up ascents is even harder. Doing bare minimums as a diver, followed by bare minimums as an instructor is not the way to give you the confidence in dealing with the situations your students will put themselves (and you!) in.

 

[AndyNZ]

Indeed - I may go back and delete my previous post...

I wouldn't! This is a confusing issue - I suspect there is a certain amount of marketing involved in saying what you need to enter the course, but not making it clear what you actually have to do to become an instructor!

It doesn't help that there's the added confusion of people still thinking Tec Deep, when really that has been superseded by Tec40, Tec45 and Tec50... with a whole bunch of new instructor ratings!

 

[RJP]

I wouldn't! This is a confusing issue...

Yeah, but too many of these types of thread turn into PADI bashing typified by someone like me saying "I'm not sure what I'm talking about...but if my faulty information is true it's an OUTRAGE!"

 

[Rhone Man]

Diving deep is easy, making ascents from depth is hard.

Reminds me of a quip I heard on a dive boat, where a charter was taking out some tec divers and some conventional rec divers. When asked how deep they were going, one of the tec divers replied about 180 feet.

"Do you have enough gas to go that deep?" the curious onlooker asked.

"We have plenty enough to go that deep," replied the sardonic tec diver. "I just worry about whether we have enough to get back up again!"

 

[AndyNZ]

"We have plenty enough to go that deep," replied the sardonic tec diver. "I just worry about whether we have enough to get back up again!"

Now ain't that the truth!

 

[boomx5]

"Do you have enough gas to go that deep?" the curious onlooker asked.

"We have plenty enough to go that deep," replied the sardonic tec diver. "I just worry about whether we have enough to get back up again!"

:coca-cola:

 

[jorge.a.mahauad]

I think those are pre-requisites. You need to do a portion of the Tec Deep Course (Tec 40, 45) in the diver level and then have a CD train you up to the level of Tec Instructor. Is not that easy... I hope this helps,
Jorge