solo diving training vs tech training

[Gandalf-the-Diver]

fancy voodoo gasses.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

yeah...I fully expect some boredom....but the inexperienced divers in the class will be my 3 kids and wife so I'll be ok with that. I figured it more of an opportunity to observe their class, from in the pool and in the springs...and while I'm twiddling my thumbs I'll most likely be over out of the way somewhere adjusting my trim, working on buoyancy control, dialing in my gear set-up, etc... and then get a refresher sign off + a couple dives to satisfy dive charter operators.

as I said I fully expect that would be the case....and I wasn't saying that I would do it or even could do it. Just an observation. And yes I know...20 years. That's why I'm spending time chair diving while I'm waiting for the timing and starts to align for me to get a refresher in. It helps get my head back into it. Thanks.

When I taught the solo class it was definitely not a refresher of OW skills. To start the Solo class I expected the student to have excellent basic skills so that they were instinctual and did not need to be thought about when doing them. This requirement would exclude some DM's and newer Instructors I have seen.
It was also understood that buoyancy, trim, and finning techniques were above average to start the class or it didn't happen.
I also required my solo students to have a rescue cert.
We did at least 1 pool session and 4 OW dives.
There were gear requirements beyond standards and some skills were done with a blacked out mask and others with no mask.

One other note is that there were times that I taught the child, spouse, or friend of an already certified diver. I expected them to attend and participate in the last pool session and on OW dives.
More than once, after that pool session, the certified diver would book a private session after seeing that their skills and knowledge were not on par with what their future dive buddy had just learned.
If you get the right instructor for your wife and kids, you may find that they are significantly ahead of you in some areas.

 

[TerryC]

Places are going to do/require what the want because it is their choice.

Reminds me of the story of a diver (tech instructor/instructor trainer) being denied a Nitrox fill because he didn't have a card. Had a tri-mix cert.... Go figure...

I was refused Nitrox because I only had my 100% oxygen card. Go figure that one.

 

[love for solodiving]

I dived a lot of solo at Gozo. Perfect shore dives if you rent a car. I started to share my experiences see my film: from a beautifull solodive

 

[happy-diver]

from a beautiful solodive

Yes beautiful and the music what is it thank you.

 

[34109411]

Over my lunch break today I watched a video about Padi's self sufficient diver training. Just a random thing that youtube's algorthim popped into my suggestions...
I'm not really looking into it or thinking about taking the class.... although it did cross my mind to try to get my hands on the class text book...well probably not for the padi one...but for some solo diver class...just so that I can knock some of my rust off and see if it covers anything different than what I remember practicing or in recognition that I may not know what I I have forgotten....

I don't know when the mainstream recreational agencies started accepting and teaching this stuff....but I dove with this mindset and equipped pretty much like this I'll say at least 2 decades before they started teaching the class.... diving with pony bottles and added redundancy back when nobody else on any of the charts I'd go on did. I was always thinking through the set-up and scenarios perfecting my system and plans.

Anyway, this was like a 1 hour video (watched at a faster x2 speed) so I recon' it covered it fairly thoroughly, although I know he glossed over a few areas that surely would be covered. It was a vid on the channel "Everything Scuba" if you're curious....

anyway, it got me to thinking....
all the skills that are required to be demo'd were covered and practiced in a much more hardcore way through my journey through IANTD's technical diving courses (adv nitrox, tech diver, deep air, full Trimix diver) I've gotta believe that same thing tracks through everything in the course....pretty much everything was covered and then some....

swim without a mask.... sure thing.....but lets do it by compleley ditching ALL my gear (mask, all tanks, the whole rig)...and following a cave line some long distance maybe 60ft? away to buddy breathe...then leave him and return and re-don all my gear....at depth in 40-Fathom Gratto..not in some swimming pool!​

I think I've seen mentioned in other threads here, about showing the solo certification card and some dive operators will let you go solo without getting forced onto an insta-buddy.
SO I was wondering...if a person had some advanced technical certifications would that be considered equal for solo? (assuming of course you showed up properly equipped)

technical diving is one thing, buddy diving is one thing a solo diving class is another. Going in the water alone without anyone around is another. So to answer your question technical certification doesn't equal solo diving certification. the experience is the key

 

[grantmac]

A solo NDL dive is MILES less difficult than a team deco dive.

 

[rjack321]

Dive boats don't care: they're basically a taxi service and if you say you're a skilled independent diver that's good enough for them. If you're stupid enough to say that and you don't have sufficient skills and you die, tough luck. And long may it remain like that. RIP to the guy who was next to me on the way out and didn't come back.

Not in the United States, there is no such thing as a water taxi. The captain is responsible for passengers even if they are "let off the taxi" and in the water.

 

[PatW]

Tech diving has its own skill tree depending on just what you are doing. You could be doing rebreather diving or multi gas diving, or deco diving or a combination or a challenging environment like cave, cavern or wreck diving.

I have a solo diving qualification. The knowledge base needed for that vs recreational diving is pretty much the same. It requires some redundant gear beyond normal recreational diving. In my certification, they wanted to see if I could switch to my backup cylinder without issue. The other things were pretty much on how well I handled myself. The instructor wanted to see if I was comfortable with diving alone and how well I handled myself. For example, this was off the east coast of FL, deep (but not REALLY deep) with current and some chop. I decided to ascend with a group so I would be with a group of divers to make pick up by the boat easier. To me, solo diving is being more cautious and aware so you can avoid trouble.

Now tech diving is a whole nother ball game. I have no particular interest is it. But that training is critical. I live in FL with caves and wrecks. I don’t see it much anymore, but we used to lose divers all the time in wrecks and caves. Those places can kill you really quick if you don’t have the training and the backup gear. I know some cave divers. They say it is a zero defect sport. The first mistake you make can kill you. In recreational open water, mistakes are pretty survivable as long as you say, hmmmm that is not good, time to thumb the dive.

 

[justinthedeeps]

Ok guys c'mon Tekdive is about TEAM, or UNITY (or whatever savvy trademarked acronym is used now?)

Solo is by definition a violation of the Delta formation. Pretty sure that's excommunication.

If a tekkie does a valve drill and long hose donate while building a reel & SMB and giving ascent instructions, and there is nobody there to it, is it even tech?

But seriously SCUBA is not all that complicated with modern equipment. The certs are about mindset, circumstance, human factors and decision making, and on those level the (teamfest) tech vs solo certs are miles apart