hammerhead_sm
Registered
Hey everyone.
[Background]
I've been gradually progressing into the world of tec over the past decade. Starting as a recreational diver, I've accumulated ~400 dives across Asia and earned my divemaster certification to build better awareness underwater and help local dive groups. What really draws me to diving is the 'skill' of it —both theory and technique—and I've consciously worked to become a 'better' diver by learning from and emulating more experienced divers and instructors.
This naturally led me to tec diving. It wasn't just the deeper depths and longer durations that appealed to me, but the seriousness of it—the intentionality and complexity. After completing my Intro to Tech at Gili T, it took another year before I enrolled in TDI ANDP in Koh Tao. ANDP proved challenging, if not only because I decided to do it in sidemount configuration - without any prior sidemount experience. The other students were using sidemount for the course, and the instructors suggested we all use the same setup to learn as a team. Though they did offer me the option of doing the course by myself on twins. I didn't know how steep the learning curve would be, so I spent a few days learning recreational sidemount and then starting the course. Despite having about 250 dives under my belt (all backmount), I struggled a lot, but ultimately demonstrated enough growth to get certified.
After certification, I didn't tech dive again for another year. This February, I returned to the Gilis and switched to twins instead of sidemount. I did a check dive and two tec fun dives. Though my guide seemed happy with my skills and trim, I felt like I was struggling. This year I've decided to pursue tec more seriously and plan to drive down to the coast every six to eight weeks, and log 4-5 dives on each trip. Hopefully by the end of the year I'll have another 20 or so dives under my belt.
My goal is to build the skills and confidence to do the TDI Trimix 75 next.
[Current Challenges]
I completely understand that being tec certified only means that I have the bare minimum skills and qualifications to responsibly dive to the certified depth. I am under no illusions otherwise. And after 5 post cert tech fun dives, I'm still not happy with how I feel during deco stops and the dives in general. I find it difficult to maintain a precise depth—my breathing causes my position to oscillate by around 0.5m - 1m across breath cycles. Sometimes I drop down by 0.8-1m or rise 0.5m above my target level. The 20-30 minute stops aren't exactly pleasant either. I feel wobbly and I feel at times my legs rising too high, requiring constant adjustment to keep them down. I could grab the reel and hold on, but that feels like cheating. Because I am not confident of maintaining my depth, I am staring at my computer for the entirety of the stop. Also because I feel like I'm struggling, I can't help but continuosly flick my fins to steady myself - despite trying hard to refrain - which makes me slowly drift past my buddy and then I need to helicopter turn to face him again - this repeats a few times through the dive. I really just want to stay put.
Even at the bottom, I'm not completely comfortable. Sometimes the BCD feels heavier on one side, and I feel the weight of the twins pulling me over. I've tried adding a drop weight on my waist d-ring to balance it, but I'm not sure it's helping much. With regards to my feet rising, I'm also using my recreational ScubaPro Go Sports fins, which probably aren't heavy enough. Not sure if jetfins or the like will solve for this.
I've asked my divemaster for tips - but he seems to suggest that I look just fine both at the bottom and at the stops. Without structured feedback I'm not sure exactly what to focus on in subsequent dives.
So I'm turning to this forum
- I've attached Shearwater graphs from my most recent two dives below. I know there's a lot of scope for improvement and I would appreciate any feedback on how the data looks and what I should focus on in future dives to get better - and more important feel more in control, throughout the dive.
Thanks!
[Background]
I've been gradually progressing into the world of tec over the past decade. Starting as a recreational diver, I've accumulated ~400 dives across Asia and earned my divemaster certification to build better awareness underwater and help local dive groups. What really draws me to diving is the 'skill' of it —both theory and technique—and I've consciously worked to become a 'better' diver by learning from and emulating more experienced divers and instructors.
This naturally led me to tec diving. It wasn't just the deeper depths and longer durations that appealed to me, but the seriousness of it—the intentionality and complexity. After completing my Intro to Tech at Gili T, it took another year before I enrolled in TDI ANDP in Koh Tao. ANDP proved challenging, if not only because I decided to do it in sidemount configuration - without any prior sidemount experience. The other students were using sidemount for the course, and the instructors suggested we all use the same setup to learn as a team. Though they did offer me the option of doing the course by myself on twins. I didn't know how steep the learning curve would be, so I spent a few days learning recreational sidemount and then starting the course. Despite having about 250 dives under my belt (all backmount), I struggled a lot, but ultimately demonstrated enough growth to get certified.
After certification, I didn't tech dive again for another year. This February, I returned to the Gilis and switched to twins instead of sidemount. I did a check dive and two tec fun dives. Though my guide seemed happy with my skills and trim, I felt like I was struggling. This year I've decided to pursue tec more seriously and plan to drive down to the coast every six to eight weeks, and log 4-5 dives on each trip. Hopefully by the end of the year I'll have another 20 or so dives under my belt.
My goal is to build the skills and confidence to do the TDI Trimix 75 next.
[Current Challenges]
I completely understand that being tec certified only means that I have the bare minimum skills and qualifications to responsibly dive to the certified depth. I am under no illusions otherwise. And after 5 post cert tech fun dives, I'm still not happy with how I feel during deco stops and the dives in general. I find it difficult to maintain a precise depth—my breathing causes my position to oscillate by around 0.5m - 1m across breath cycles. Sometimes I drop down by 0.8-1m or rise 0.5m above my target level. The 20-30 minute stops aren't exactly pleasant either. I feel wobbly and I feel at times my legs rising too high, requiring constant adjustment to keep them down. I could grab the reel and hold on, but that feels like cheating. Because I am not confident of maintaining my depth, I am staring at my computer for the entirety of the stop. Also because I feel like I'm struggling, I can't help but continuosly flick my fins to steady myself - despite trying hard to refrain - which makes me slowly drift past my buddy and then I need to helicopter turn to face him again - this repeats a few times through the dive. I really just want to stay put.
Even at the bottom, I'm not completely comfortable. Sometimes the BCD feels heavier on one side, and I feel the weight of the twins pulling me over. I've tried adding a drop weight on my waist d-ring to balance it, but I'm not sure it's helping much. With regards to my feet rising, I'm also using my recreational ScubaPro Go Sports fins, which probably aren't heavy enough. Not sure if jetfins or the like will solve for this.
I've asked my divemaster for tips - but he seems to suggest that I look just fine both at the bottom and at the stops. Without structured feedback I'm not sure exactly what to focus on in subsequent dives.
So I'm turning to this forum
- I've attached Shearwater graphs from my most recent two dives below. I know there's a lot of scope for improvement and I would appreciate any feedback on how the data looks and what I should focus on in future dives to get better - and more important feel more in control, throughout the dive.Thanks!
