The Tec - Rec Split: Who Did It?

[drbill]

Hmmm... this thread has apparently digressed from the original topic a bit (nothing unusual here of course).

While I'm no more responsible for the Rec-Tech split than I am for the Iraq or Afghanistan conflicts, I was appalled when I first came across the DIR acronym. To suggest that there was only one way to dive properly greatly offended my American sense of freedom. Once agencies like GUE and groups like UTD appeared, I had no problem with them as they just used a different philosophy rather than assuming some sort of holier than though attitude towards those of us who merely flail through the water with abandon. Of course I continue to dive mostly solo, as I did on my first dive in 1961, so other divers won't witness that. And I ain't got no stinking card to do that... just 49 years of experience.

 

[drbill]

Hmmm... this thread has apparently digressed from the original topic a bit (nothing unusual here of course).

While I'm no more responsible for the Rec-Tech split than I am for the Iraq or Afghanistan conflicts, I was appalled when I first came across the DIR acronym. To suggest that there was only one way to dive properly greatly offended my American sense of freedom. Once agencies like GUE and groups like UTD appeared, I had no problem with them as they just used a different philosophy rather than assuming some sort of holier than though attitude towards those of us who merely flail through the water with abandon. Of course I continue to dive mostly solo, as I did on my first dive in 1961, so other divers won't witness that. And I ain't got no stinking card to do that... just 49 years of experience.

 

[Blackwood]

...I was appalled when I first came across the DIR acronym. To suggest that there was only one way to dive properly greatly offended my American sense of freedom.

And ignited your sense of melodrama, apparently.

 

[diver_doug]

Everything is a spectrum. Good and bad are part of a spectrum, ugly and beautiful are part of a spectrum, hot and cold are part of a spectrum etc. The same would hold true for tec vs rec. If you're diving in a 3mm wetsuit, jacket bc, single tank, reg/airsource3, and splitfins, down to 25ft for 30 minutes in warm, calm water, this is gonna fall on the rec side of the spectrum. If you're wearing a drysuit, rebreather, bringing multiple decompression bottles as well as staging bottles and diving to a depth of 300 feet for half an hour I don't think anyone would dispute that this is gonna fall on the technical diving side. Unfortunately there's gonna be all sorts of stuff that falls into the middle of the spectrum that cannot be clearly labeled "tec" or "rec". Is using a rebreather for 20 minutes in 20 feet of water "tec"...I dunno. What about a drysuit and doubles...tough to say. What if one of those doubles contains trimix? The point is you have some examples that are clearly black, some are clearly white, but most are some shade of gray. And depending on peoples experience/skills/ego etc, you're going to have varying opinion as to where exactly those "gray" instances reside on the tec/rec spectrum.

 

[tomfcrist]

I think the better question is why did it split rather than who coined the term, or who decided there is a differance.

I wonder if the "Pioneers" of tech diving( the ones who are still around) have certification cards saying that they are "tech" divers. And if so, who granted it to them(without them ever being taught how to do it), knowing that the only way that they learned what and what not to do is by watching thier buddys descend for the final time?

 

[scjoe]

No Fire Diver, I did not bring OSHA into the discussion, someone else did. I pointed out the 1977 date and 130 foot floor in response to a third party asking if the floor had come about after the tech/rec split.

You made the statement “OSHA has absolutely no involvement in diver training.” And “An employer has to adopt OSHA standards for there to be any teeth, and that is strictly voluntary.”

These overly broad and obviously incorrect statements seem to be based on your belief that the title to the OSHA regs tells you all you need to know based solely on what you think certain words mean.

There is no point to any further discussion on this sub-topic.