Preparing for fundamentals / intro to tech

[Edward3c]

There are dive clubs in the US--don't get me wrong. But I believe most are not affiliated with a local shop. Shops sell trips, and dive clubs go on trips, but I don't recall seeing any affiliation between a local shop and a club (not that I pay attention to these things--I'm sure club/shop affiliations exist). Dive clubs are just not that prevalent in the US--relatively few and far between. What appeals to me about BSAC--of which I admittedly know not all that much--is that there is a unifying organization over all the local clubs, and there is a standard training progression (though apparently BSAC members can be trained through other agencies). Here in the US, clubs seem to like to do their own thing, and I'm not sure having a national umbrella organization would appeal to us individualistic Americans. Our individualism could be a reason why the very idea of joining a dive club is not that popular.

A club system makes a lot of sense for an island nation. Surrounded by centuries of wrecks. And cheap flights to the Red Sea!

Although there are BSAC members who trained with other agencies, BSAC prefers members to take BSAC courses. We provide training from beginner through to Trimix (both open circuit and CCR), instructor (for those who want to put something back into the club), plus a whole range of specialties (like Diver Cox’en, O2, AED, archeology, marine live identification). It’s down to the individual to procure the training they want to do the diving they desire, not the club.

The challenge for a U.S. based club would be getting instructors, plus our Liability insurance isn’t available to North American citizens.

 

[Colliam7]

There are dive clubs in the US--don't get me wrong. But I believe most are not affiliated with a local shop. Shops sell trips, and dive clubs go on trips, but I don't recall seeing any affiliation between a local shop and a club (not that I pay attention to these things--I'm sure club/shop affiliations exist). Dive clubs are just not that prevalent in the US--relatively few and far between. What appeals to me about BSAC--of which I admittedly know not all that much--is that there is a unifying organization over all the local clubs, and there is a standard training progression (though apparently BSAC members can be trained through other agencies). Here in the US, clubs seem to like to do their own thing, and I'm not sure having a national umbrella organization would appeal to us individualistic Americans. Our individualism could be a reason why the very idea of joining a dive club is not that popular.

A club system makes a lot of sense for an island nation. Surrounded by centuries of wrecks. And cheap flights to the Red Sea!

I have a somewhat different take on this, as far as the US goes. I am aware of LOTS of dive clubs, many, if not the majority of which are shop-affiliated. In fact, there are only a few of 'independent' dive clubs that survive without a shop affiliation. As an example, my store does not have an affiliated dive shop, but we are corporate sponsors (and my business partner is president this year) of a club in a nearby city, as are 3-4 other stores in that city, one of which has its own club in addition. Now, it may be that the are regional differences. In a neighboring state, there is a very active 100+ member club in which I also maintain membership, that was shop-affiliated for many years, but has now been independent for the past decade, since that shop closed. That is a relative uncommon configuration, though.

In contrast to many nations (e.g. the UK as a good example) outside of the US, the clubs themselves seldom offer training / certification / credentialing, etc. They are more more social, and 'educational' primarily in the context of offering periodic (monthly / quarterly / whatever) presentaions on scuba topics, including but certainly not limited to, trips. As I think BlueTrin mentioned, they provide an opportunity for like-minded divers to get together and share their enjoyment of diving. And, Edward makes a good point about BSAC compared to the US, the insurance requirements associated with offering training would be prohibitive for most clubs here, and it make more sense for the shops / stores to provide that, since instructors often affiliate primarily with shops (for insurance and marketing purposes) when they don't offer instruction independently.

 

[Germie]

A lot of clubs in Europe offer training and certification. In the Netherlands, France, Germany, Italy, there are a lot of cmas clubs. They all offer training.
But we also have clubs from padi shops for example. They offer also training, but you have to pay extra.

Here are a lot of instructors that are not affiliated with a diveshop. The liability insurance in my country with DAN is 212 euro per year or so for the Silver package. So that is doable.
For 80 euro I am cmas membre including the 25 euro for the insurance as instructor. I can do for this price also private students. The club does not like that really, but cannot say it is forbidden.

cmas in my country only does recreational diving, no technical diving. And it depends on the club mentality if they like that people do courses outside the club. My club does not like it, but I ignore that opinion. They also complaigned that I did 2 open waters and advanced open waters during covid time when the club was closed with 2 clubmembers that wanted to dive. But I all ignore that and come when I want.

In my country there is quite a lot of 'we are better' mentality. So cmas thinks they are the best, gue divers think they are the best, etc. We also have way too many independent instructors to make a living from. There are quite a lot of instructors that pay the yearly fee and insurance and only teach 1 course or don't teach at all. So there is also quite a lot of 'I want your student' in my country. I am already that long in the diving world that I don't mind anymore, I don't need to have students, I like diving and I can say that I do the required yearly dives to stay at the highest levels. In a country without caves it is quite hard to do 20 fundives in caves, but I do it.

In the US or Mexico there are more shops and less independent instructors is my idea.
But to do an intro to tech course or fundies, you can find in every country instructors that fit for you.

 

[Edward3c]

In contrast to many nations (e.g. the UK as a good example) outside of the US, the clubs themselves seldom offer training / certification / credentialing, etc. They are more more social, and 'educational' primarily in the context of offering periodic (monthly / quarterly / whatever) presentaions on scuba topics, including but certainly not limited to, trips. As I think BlueTrin mentioned, they provide an opportunity for like-minded divers to get together and share their enjoyment of diving. And, Edward makes a good point about BSAC compared to the US, the insurance requirements associated with offering training would be prohibitive for most clubs here, and it make more sense for the shops / stores to provide that, since instructors often affiliate primarily with shops (for insurance and marketing purposes) when they don't offer instruction independently.

In the U.K. BSAC, SAA and SSAC clubs all offer training and certification. BSAC offers everything from initial training to Trimix OC and CCR, with boat handling and diver Cox’en plus compressor operation with mixes gases; all with volunteer instructors. Our 3rd Party liability insurance covers all members not just instructors.

 

[Lorenzoid]

I have a somewhat different take on this, as far as the US goes. I am aware of LOTS of dive clubs, many, if not the majority of which are shop-affiliated. In fact, there are only a few of 'independent' dive clubs that survive without a shop affiliation. As an example, my store does not have an affiliated dive shop, but we are corporate sponsors (and my business partner is president this year) of a club in a nearby city, as are 3-4 other stores in that city, one of which has its own club in addition. Now, it may be that the are regional differences. In a neighboring state, there is a very active 100+ member club in which I also maintain membership, that was shop-affiliated for many years, but has now been independent for the past decade, since that shop closed. That is a relative uncommon configuration, though.

I suspect it is indeed a regional thing, more common the closer one is to the coast.

I have walked into many dive shops, here in the Southeast (including Florida) and back when I lived in coastal Southern California, and I don't recall ever seeing anything that would have clued me in to the existence of an affiliated dive club. I might have looked into a dive club had one made its existence known. It's possible they do exist, and they simply don't post physical signs in the dive shop or include club information in the shop's emailed advertisements. I receive all kinds of ads for dive gear and trips from shops, but nothing about any affiliated dive clubs.

 

[rjack321]

[/QUOTE]

I wish more people would look at Fundies as training, and not as an evaluation. I feel like Fundies part 1 / part 2 was an attempt to break it up somewhat so that people could take part 1 and just focus on learning and not be worried about evaluation.

Before Fundies even existed there was just T1 and C1 and student after student couldn't do any of the required skills. So DIRF was created as a workshop and at that time was functionally an audition - for T1 or C1. That was a brief time of rapid development in technical instruction and it turned into a class after just a couple years. That was OVER 20 YEARS AGO. That's right GUE-F has been a taught class *not an audition* since the late 1990s.

I'm glad you found it valuable

 

[Tracy]

I suspect it is indeed a regional thing, more common the closer one is to the coast.

I have walked into many dive shops, here in the Southeast (including Florida) and back when I lived in coastal Southern California, and I don't recall ever seeing anything that would have clued me in to the existence of an affiliated dive club. I might have looked into a dive club had one made its existence known. It's possible they do exist, and they simply don't post physical signs in the dive shop or include club information in the shop's emailed advertisements. I receive all kinds of ads for dive gear and trips from shops, but nothing about any affiliated dive clubs.

There is a local club called the Seasnoopers that take half of my charters every year. They are not affiliated with any particular shop but they are very active and they have at least one charter going every weekend through the season. They often have multiple trips doing both technical and recreational on a given summer weekend. They are easy to do deal with and typically book the boat years in advance to make sure they have seats available. I have one other club that books one trip every year and that is pretty much the extent of what they do.
So, they might not be common, but they do exist in the states.

 

[KevinNM]

Before Fundies even existed there was just T1 and C1 and student after student couldn't do any of the required skills. So DIRF was created as a workshop and at that time was functionally an audition - for T1 or C1. That was a brief time of rapid development in technical instruction and it turned into a class after just a couple years. That was OVER 20 YEARS AGO. That's right GUE-F has been a taught class *not an audition* since the late 1990s.

I'm glad you found it valuable

You can take the audition version. Contact an IE and spend a morning with him. He’ll tell you if you are good to go. Someone here did than to get into a T2 class without any prior GUE experience. So you can do it if you already are absurdly good.

But for mere mortals it’s a class where you get taught what GUE wants you to do to graduate and then how to do it.

 

[Tigerpaw]

Congrats and good luck in your journey. I just completed TDI Intro to Tech AND Sidemount a few weeks ago, so it's fresh for me.

First you need to settle on a configuration and stuck with it. Like yourself I have issues reaching back for doubles so I opted for sidemount. Sdemount the valves are right in front of you and can be easily reached.

During your Intro to Tech class you will dive with your preferred choice of configuration. Pay attention and ask questions. When I did my ITT class it was like a practice run for my actual sidemount class. All the skills I practiced in ITT I did in SM!

Next, work on your finning. Each instructor is different, for me I only did flutter kicks, so I practiced doing frog kicks.

While your shop may rent you gear to do ITT and you may practice with it, there is nothing like owning your own gear. I would recommend buying your own gear and getting used to the setup. Everything is different from rec diving and knowing your gear can save your life.

Good luck and have fun!

Oh quick edit, almost forgot, practice in dry suit and wetsuit. Diving tech, regardless of configuration means diving with a wing/harness. It took me a while to get used to it and to get my Bouyancy dialed in. I spent one session diving wet suit and once I was comfortable and somewhat proficient, I did an additional session in the dry suit. Also, if you are practicing in a pool, make sure you throughly rise your gear, especially your dry suit. Pool chemicals will eat up your seals. I'd also wipe down the inside of your dry suit as well.

 

[JCM@Atlam]

Hello everyone,

I'm looking at taking an entry level tech class (either with GUE or TDI). I want to enhance my skills, get them to be precise and reliable. All of that for the sake of being a better diver, because I'm a perfectionist and in prepartion for actually venturing into tech. Next steps would be some intro to decompression (ANDP I'm thinking) and down the road possibly testing if cave is something I'm interested in and cut out for. But that's a more distant possibility.

Now my question is what do you suggest I work on before taking the fundamentals / intro to tec course? What I am doing:

• getting really comfortable at mask clearing (including no mask swim and switching to a backup mask)
• trim & buoyancy (trying to hover still but I'm struggling with that as my trim is not fully perfect but I'm practicing in a single cylinder setup for now)
• DSMB
• anything related to regulator removal & switching (just switching between regs, S drills as well as gas sharing scenarios)
• finning: helicopter turn both sides, backkick (frog kick is what I use anyways, so no need to practice), as well as modified frog kick and modified flutter kick
• what I cannot practice are valve drills as I'm diving a single cylinder (with two valves, but I cannot reach those)

I'm trying doubles soon so might switch my setup which might help with trim. Not sure yet. I don't think I'll aim for a tec pass anyway (seems unrealistic at the first go) so might just stick with single cylinder. Happy to take your recommendations. I will also ask my future instructor the above questions but it doesn't hurt to get some feedback from divers who have taken this class (and instructors who might be reading this).

If you can't reach the valves in backmount, sidemount seems like an obvious consideration to make