Technical Diving Webinar with John Chatterton

[scubamountaingirl]

Wendy,

My real name is Anthony and I just posted a intro post to "New member introductions".

BTW: I was the guy told you to go click the link in the email to solve your problem with the webinar interface.

Anthony

thanks dude that was the key to helping me...hope to meet you soon. wendy

 

[scubamountaingirl]

The course I am doing runs from 8 - 14 February (if you are going to be away from home on 14 February, make sure you have an understanding wife), but they also run the same combo course from 17 - 23 May (and probably again later in the year).

I attach a link to their traning calendar below.

Pirates Cove Dive Center - Samana, Dominican Republic

Funnily enough, when I booked the course I had no idea who JC was; it was just the nearest place I could fly to learn about Tec diving. Then everyone at my LDS told me who he was. He is very relaxed and user friendly to noobs like me; when I was getting a bit nervous about making the jump he said: "Colin, it is Tec diving, not joining the Navy Seals!" Hopefully that's right. :reaper: :blessing:

u will have a blast and learn from one of the best on the planet...you are very lucky and are gonna have a great time...

 

[hobodiver]

What are the actual dates in Feb cause I want to do Adv Nitrox/Deco classes next year?

What happened to "Baby Steps"?

 

[Rhone Man]

u will have a blast and learn from one of the best on the planet...you are very lucky and are gonna have a great time...

Thanks. The other thing that was strange (to me, at least) was that the combo was cheaper there than anywhere else I found it. It was the same price as the combined Advanced Nitrox / Deco Procedures in the Cayman Islands (ie. without the Extended Range bit), and in Cayman you had to pay extra for accommodation, meals, gases and rental of whatever equipment you couldn't carry on the plane. The Pirates Cove package was all-in (except booze - that would be too good to be true!).

John certainly isn't leveraging his fame to squeeze money out of people.

 

[scubamountaingirl]

that is so nice to hear about John...he could too.. its way out of my league and as rich said, baby steps, Nitrox almost made my head explode...i am rereading the book as we speak. I have my AOW for april and then it transistions with the same teacher into tech 1...I have decided to go local and use Trace Malinowski. I think he is very qualified and I am going to stick with him so that one teacher can see me and know me and my foiables. Then when i am ready to move onto Cave in year (s) I will have a new teacher and gain from his input...
Trace Malinowski
Technical Training Director
PDIC International

if anyone wants a local dude who is very very good...you can google him

 

[Chatterton]

I had a great time hosting the webinar, and am glad so many of you enjoyed it.

Personally, I like Extended Range over Basic (Normoxic) Trimix. For ER, divers train in order to plan and execute dives to 180', which should not be an excessive depth for trained deep air divers. Divers who complete ER, can then eventually move directly on to Advanced Trimix and depths to 300', without taking the BT. I am somewhat concerned that some divers may use Normoxic Trimix as a crutch?

I think divers who gain experience in the 150-180' range on air, are better equipped for Advanced Trimix, than divers who have the limited experience of Normoxic Trimix in those same depths. Divers on air in those depths, seem to :

a) take the dives and their planning more seriously
b) focus more intently on their execution of their dive plan
c) make more dives due to lesser cost
d) gain greater respect for the deeper depths

This is my opinion, formed by observing new tek divers, but I also understand that we are not all the same and what works for this diver is not necessarily the best for every single diver.

The key here, in my mind is about gaining experience that we can use to achieve our ultimate goals, whatever they might be.


Cheers

JC

True, but on the other hand, if you can do it here, you can pretty much do it anywhere.

I would add that I'm not sure the TDI extended range is worth it. I'm of the opinion that breathing air down @ 185 fsw is probably a recipe for disaster, as you would be super narced. Better to jump to Trimix.

 

[BoomerNJ]

Thanks John for jumping in & posting here in DNY! Great webinar last night, very valuable. I look forward to taking one of your tek training packages in the next year or two. To have guys like you & Richie here on SB to answer our questions like this is invaluable to those of us with higher aspirations in the sport!

 

[scubamountaingirl]

I had a great time hosting the webinar, and am glad so many of you enjoyed it.

Personally, I like Extended Range over Basic (Normoxic) Trimix. For ER, divers train in order to plan and execute dives to 180', which should not be an excessive depth for trained deep air divers. Divers who complete ER, can then eventually move directly on to Advanced Trimix and depths to 300', without taking the BT. I am somewhat concerned that some divers may use Normoxic Trimix as a crutch?

I think divers who gain experience in the 150-180' range on air, are better equipped for Advanced Trimix, than divers who have the limited experience of Normoxic Trimix in those same depths. Divers on air in those depths, seem to :

a) take the dives and their planning more seriously
b) focus more intently on their execution of their dive plan
c) make more dives due to lesser cost
d) gain greater respect for the deeper depths

This is my opinion, formed by observing new tek divers, but I also understand that we are not all the same and what works for this diver is not necessarily the best for every single diver.

The key here, in my mind is about gaining experience that we can use to achieve our ultimate goals, whatever they might be.


Cheers

JC

hey John nice to see you on our own dny clubola...come when ever you want and put your two cents in...webinar or not.

dive a wreck for me... wendy

 

[dbuggy]

Thanks John for jumping in & posting here in DNY! Great webinar last night, very valuable. I look forward to taking one of your tek training packages in the next year or two. To have guys like you & Richie here on SB to answer our questions like this is invaluable to those of us with higher aspirations in the sport!

Ditto! PLus I am really interested in the ER course but i will still have more work to do on the path first!

 

[Chatterton]

Just to add a little clarification here, I am not an advocate of 300 foot dives on Open Circuit Trimix, unless they are something along the lines of touchdown divers.

In 1994, we dove on Lusitania at about 300' using OC. To tell the truth I felt we were near the limit of OC for working wreck dives involving exploration and photography, primarliy because we were so ill equipped to manage emergencies like entangllement, getting lost, equipment malfuncitons, etc. We had to rely on our experience to try to avoid the pitfalls.

At the time, rebreathers for the masses were not available and we had no other choice, but we knew we were near the edge. If you scare yourself in 300' on Trimix, you will undoubtredly have a gas management issue as your bottom mix disappears. Now you have two problems? Today, I think the rebreather makes a better means for diving to 300' or even greater depths because the units themselves have evolved so well.

Rebreather technology enables the diver to use a constant PPO2 and decompresses in a nice, easy curved profile, as opposed to the jagged saw tooth profile from OC Trimix with multiple gas switches. This is especially true if the diver follows a ceiling, instead of stop depths.

THis would seem to be far more friendly, biologically speaking. Rebreathers also enable the diver to use heliox, as opposed to Trimix, which is far too expensive on OC. I am a big, big fan of Helium, and credit it for keeping me in deep water. Virtually everyone I know who has gotten bent on a deep dive, has been bent on Nitrogen, or at least the N2 element of Trimix?

Then again, with rebreathers comes increased responsibility, which we had anyway with deeper depths?

This is just what has worked for me.


Cheers

JC