Techdiving Classes ?? TDI ??

[ucfdiver]

Let me open up a can of worms here:

Why is rescue diver a prerequisite to tech diving? I perfectly understand requiring rescue for DM, instructor, etc., but for deco? Because it's more dangerous? so is cavern, cave, deep, drysuit, spearfishing, altitude, nitrox, etc. Are agencies going to start requiring rescue for every class we take? Why not teach rescue first and then OW?

I'm not saying the rescue class is a bad idea, or that it's a waste of time, I'm saying that REQUIRING that class before teaching deco procedures is unreasonable...

At least that's my current opinion.... I'm open to having my mind changed by a wiser diver

I'm not sure why any recreational courses other than BOW are required for technical diving. If they're that important, they need to be done through a technical agency that has a bit more control over their instructors (doesn't have 5 million+ instructors to control). There could be good recreational instructors out there, but you never know who you took the course from, it could be someone with 100 dives who went to an instructor factory. They need to make up their minds how important this class is or isn't.

Just IMO.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Let me open up a can of worms here:

Why is rescue diver a prerequisite to tech diving? I perfectly understand requiring rescue for DM, instructor, etc., but for deco? Because it's more dangerous? so is cavern, cave, deep, drysuit, spearfishing, altitude, nitrox, etc. Are agencies going to start requiring rescue for every class we take? Why not teach rescue first and then OW?

I'm not saying the rescue class is a bad idea, or that it's a waste of time, I'm saying that REQUIRING that class before teaching deco procedures is unreasonable...

At least that's my current opinion.... I'm open to having my mind changed by a wiser diver

Well, my take on that would be because a properly taught Rescue class is going to teach you way more about how to open up your awareness to what's going on around you, to recognize when a chain of events is leading up to the cascading failures that typically result in a dive accident, and how to take steps to avoid the accident than it will about what to do once the accident happens.

That's a mindset issue that a lot of folks aren't even aware of until Rescue class ... although they probably got some platitudes in their OW training without any real comprehension of what it meant.

Once you start Tech training, risk awareness and avoidance becomes orders of magnitude more important ... because the potential consequences of an accident are much, much greater. In many ways that matter, Rescue is a sort of "Intro to Tech" from the standpoint of learning how to think about the risks you're taking, and what to do to avoid letting them get you in trouble.

If I had my way, Rescue would be a mandatory class for all divers ... and would occur as soon after OW class as practical. To my concern, it's WAY more important and beneficial to the diver than AOW ... particularly the way most AOW classes get taught.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Hetland]

removed