Tech Diving for Seniors?

[lermontov]

my suggestion is rather them looking at it from a weight point of view look at it from a support point of view

Places like truk lagoon and most Live on boards have great crew support and are incentivised to help you by the hope of a decent tip, compare that with say sump diving where you carry all your stuff or shore diving where you have to carry all your own stuff down the beach and entry/ exit through possible surf.
reality is some dives are too much fro me because im not as fit or strong as i was so i cut my suit to fit my cloth.
As much as i want to go on caving expeditions - i just dont want to hold up my buddies or rely on them to carry my excess weight, so i pick my dive trips with that in mind

 

[Marie13]

my suggestion is rather them looking at it from a weight point of view look at it from a support point of view

Places like truk lagoon and most Live on boards have great crew support and are incentivised to help you by the hope of a decent tip, compare that with say sump diving where you carry all your stuff or shore diving where you have to carry all your own stuff down the beach and entry/ exit through possible surf.
reality is some dives are too much fro me because im not as fit or strong as i was so i cut my suit to fit my cloth.
As much as i want to go on caving expeditions - i just dont want to hold up my buddies or rely on them to carry my excess weight, so i pick my dive trips with that in mind

In Mexico, you can hire porters to schlepp your stuff up and down all the steps to the cenotes. 500 pesos/US $25 a day when I was there in 2022 for my full cave class. Worth every penny.

 

[TerryC]

I’m turning 69 in September and in pretty good health. No high blood pressure or heart issues. Started diving in my mid-teens 50 years ago but gave it up in late 20’s for career, family etc. Got back into it 4 years ago and got advanced, deep, wreck and Nitrox certified and am thinking about tech. Have read a lot about decompression theory but know nothing about getting tech certified. Im a little overweight and my leg strength isn’t great but for almost 69 not too bad. How physically demanding is tech training? I strain a little to get up a dive boat ladder with a steel 100 on my back. I question if i could do it unassisted with doubles on my back and deco bottles to boot. Should i just stick to recreational? Thanks for any insight.

Strictly Sidemount for me, too old for doubles.
On and off the boat with 1 tank if that. The other 3 get passed down.
Practice required on sorting in the water but it did get easier.

 

[ABay Diver]

Strictly Sidemount for me, too old for doubles.
On and off the boat with 1 tank if that. The other 3 get passed down.
Practice required on sorting in the water but it did get easier.

Do you do a giant stride getting in? How about getting out, no climbing a ladder with tanks dangling off you?

 

[Watthem]

Do you do a giant stride getting in? How about getting out, no climbing a ladder with tanks dangling off you?

Typically some flavor of giant stride getting in.

For doffing gear you have a few options:
1. Climb with tanks attached (by far the worst option)
2. De-kit and clip tanks off to a line off the boat to be pulled aboard, and climb out with only your harness
3. Hand your tanks off to boat crew from the water one at a time

Option 2/3 are preferable, but will depend on crew & setup

 

[Tom Winters]

Not to rain on this lovely parade, but why not stick to easy simple pleasure diving? You start screwing around with doubles and a deco bottle on a boat, and you’re looking at maybe messing up your back, among other things.
In central NY, unless things have changed since the days of gearing up at Richard’s Aqua Lung Center on West 42nd Street in Manhattan, there’s not a whole lot of tech diving going on up there so keeping your technical chops in good standing might also be a problem.
It’s your call, and it’s also your back. Good luck in your endeavors.

 

[ABay Diver]

Not to rain on this lovely parade, but why not stick to easy simple pleasure diving? You start screwing around with doubles and a deco bottle on a boat, and you’re looking at maybe messing up your back, among other things.
In central NY, unless things have changed since the days of gearing up at Richard’s Aqua Lung Center on West 42nd Street in Manhattan, there’s not a whole lot of tech diving going on up there so keeping your technical chops in good standing might also be a problem.
It’s your call, and it’s also your back. Good luck in your endeavors.

Thats a fair comment but would like to progress in the sport. By the way, central new york is the syracuse area, not midtown Manhattan. St Lawrence river and Lake Ontario wrecks abound up here.

 

[Polarorbit]

Please don’t let anyone tell you that you are too old for whatever type of diving you want to pursue. Yes, you will have to deal with real physical limitations. So what? Make responsible decisions and dive what you can comfortably and safely dive. I’m a 55 year old recent military retiree and have been diving since 1979. I currently dive back mount double steel 100s (cold, dark, and dry). However, the weight of a full rig with a couple AL80 deco bottles does push my limits. As others recommended, you can always back off to 72s rather than 100s, or a nearly infinite list of other alternatives, including rebreathers. Find what works for you and do as much diving as you can. Your physical limitations may constrain your depth and/or duration but so what, everyone else’s do too. You may also find that as you dive, your abilities improve. Just get out there and do it. Be responsible and ease your way into it. Have fun and refine your skills.

 

[happy-diver]

Oorah!

 

[Nick_Radov]

I’m turning 69 in September and in pretty good health. No high blood pressure or heart issues. Started diving in my mid-teens 50 years ago but gave it up in late 20’s for career, family etc. Got back into it 4 years ago and got advanced, deep, wreck and Nitrox certified and am thinking about tech. Have read a lot about decompression theory but know nothing about getting tech certified. Im a little overweight and my leg strength isn’t great but for almost 69 not too bad. How physically demanding is tech training? I strain a little to get up a dive boat ladder with a steel 100 on my back. I question if i could do it unassisted with doubles on my back and deco bottles to boot. Should i just stick to recreational? Thanks for any insight.

At about your age, Jacques-Yves Cousteau was doing mixed gas tech dives to 400ft on the HMHS Britannic. Age doesn't matter as long as you can meet the standards. Even though you're in pretty good health, a heart stress test and VO2 Max test might be advisable. A VO2 Max score lower than 40 mL/kg/min would be cause for concern as that would leave you with inadequate reserve capacity to handle emergencies.

A good tech course will be physically demanding. It's not just the diving. Depending on the course you'll be going nonstop for 3 – 7 days. This includes loading cars, hauling gear across the beach, surface swims, etc. Maybe a little sleep deprivation depending on logistics.

While advanced age isn't a contraindication for diving, there does come a point around age 75 (plus or minus) where progressive muscle wasting becomes inevitable regardless of how hard we train and what we eat. If you've built up enough extra capacity in advance then you can potentially keep tech diving for many years. But if you're already close to the limit then you might not have much time left.