What defines technical diving - and how to get there?

[Gilldiver]

divechk, to get back to your original question. People have tried to define for you what technical diving is, and they have trouble, because it isn't well-defined. Some things almost anybody would agree fall into the realm of "technical" diving: The cave diving I do, for example, or deep wreck diving with multiple deco gases. Other things sort of lie in a gray area, like long scooter dives, or recreational helium.

What is common to all more complex diving is that the diver needs very well developed skills, sharply honed emergency procedures, and above all and MOST critically, the diver needs to be able to remain calm, focused, and thoughtful in the face of problems. Anxiety and apprehension are major problems for ordinary divers, but can be lethal to someone at 200 feet.

My advice to you is not really to think about it, except perhaps to set your original gear up so that it would be compatible with a move to double tanks later on (which you have already done). Just go diving. Find a mentor or mentors, and work on good skills, and above all, work on becoming confident and calm in the water. Get in a hundred or so dives, and then take NAUI Intro to Tech or GUE Fundamentals, and get a sense of where the bar lies for more ambitious diving, and then go off and work until you're there.

Don't rush things. There is a TON of absolutely fantastic diving to be done in our area in recreational depths. Puget Sound can also teach a lot of lessons, about functioning in low viz, and dealing with current and cold. Enjoy all of those lessons, and move on when you're really ready. As Joe Talavera told us in our Rec 2 class, "Do all the dives you can do with the training you have, and when you're really bored, then get technical training."

To add to what TSandM stated it can also depend on the conditions of the dive site.

We do some common dives, for us, in Long Island Sound that due to the conditions of current, low to very low visibility, entanglement hazards from nets, fishing and lobster pot lines all add up to very technical diving problems. This in anywhere from 40 to 200 feet. Many Technical divers just do not have the skills to successfully do this dive never mind accomplish anything on the dive.

Is a dive of this complexity a recreational dive at 60 and a technical dive at over 130 feet? The added decompression is one of the most easily accounted for of all the problems.

So what is "Technical Diving"? Well as a judge once said about pornography, "I can't define it but I know it when I see it."

 

[battles2a5]

Well, I didn't say your def does not cover rec cave.
I didn't say the diver is neccessarily carrying the O2.
I appreciate your restrictive diving, good for you.
But to assume if someone doesn't maintain your
tight practices is not a tech diver is likely not
true. Obviously you feel the definition for tech
requires an overhead environment. I would
respectfully disagree.
Kal

Lol, if your definition of "restrictive diving" means not doing stupid s*** that will get me killed, then yes, I am guilty. I don't have tight practices, I dive with common sense. The scenarios you laid out are bizarre to say the least, and pretty much any technical diver that actually does the dives would likely agree. If that's your definition of technical diving, then enjoy it while you last.

 

[Tortuga68]

Depends. How much helium do you want to waste as a travel gas

As little as possible while remaining neutrally bouyant

 

[String]

hey all. i'm curious what it means to be a technical diver and how one can get there. what is the difference from rec and tech- besides they go much deeper and lug alot more gear -er sink to the bottom faster?

"Technical diving" is in my view one of those completely meaningless terms invented by someone in an office that has never dived in their life.

In the real world there is no clear cut nice dividing line between 1 type of diving and the next. Its all just diving but various levels of complexity.

Someone diving to 40m on a single is recreational but go to 41m and its "tech" ?
Someone diving to 35m on a single is recreational but same diver with a twinset at 35m is "tech" ?

Someone riding the 1 minute NDL from bottom to surface is recreational and safe but someone going to do 1 minute of mandatory deco due to staying 20 seconds longer is "tech" ?

Its entirely farcical, creates a false sense of security and a meaningless phrase. Its all just diving but the deeper or longer you go requires gradually more kit, experience and calculation. There is no line separating the 2.

 

[highflowdiver]

Lol, if your definition of "restrictive diving" means not doing stupid s*** that will get me killed, then yes, I am guilty. I don't have tight practices, I dive with common sense. The scenarios you laid out are bizarre to say the least, and pretty much any technical diver that actually does the dives would likely agree. If that's your definition of technical diving, then enjoy it while you last.

You seem to think that breathing a stage at the bottom of a quarry means there is no redundance, this is not so. If I am restricted to only breathing my backgas in a quarry then I find that too restrictive. Sorry the term 'restrictive' pushed a button ( I did not mean it to be mean spirited, I meant it to be descriptive). You compared staging in a cave with quarry diving. There are fundamental differences. Remember, in a quarry one can ascend to any depth one desires at virtually anytime. You were comparing oranges with apples. If you add to the definition, 'multiple bottles with switches' the definition, 'overhead environment' with an and/or then that is a nice and tidy definition that would seem to cover all bases.
Kal

 

[battles2a5]

You seem to think that breathing a stage at the bottom of a quarry means there is no redundance, this is not so. If I am restricted to only breathing my backgas in a quarry then I find that too restrictive. Sorry the term 'restrictive' pushed a button ( I did not mean it to be mean spirited, I meant it to be descriptive). You compared staging in a cave with quarry diving. There are fundamental differences. Remember, in a quarry one can ascend to any depth one desires at virtually anytime. You were comparing oranges with apples. If you add to the definition, 'multiple bottles with switches' the definition, 'overhead environment' with an and/or then that is a nice and tidy definition that would seem to cover all bases.
Kal

If you are breathing a stage at a depth beyond the MOD of your backgas and deco gas, you have no redundancy. Period! If you have a failure on the stage, you have no other safe gas to breathe at that depth. You can be in a cave, a quarry, or a bathtub, doesn't make a difference. It's a bad practice no matter which fruit to fruit comparison you want to use. Multiple bottles and gases are tools used to manage the overhead, not a defining factor of technical diving, especially not in the context you used.

 

[highflowdiver]

on't people dive singles all the time yet still have redundancy? Like, backup bottles,other divers, the option to ascend a little? Do the bottles have to be
manifolded to be considered redundant? What about sidemount divers? Their bottles
are not manifolded. Kal

If you are breathing a stage at a depth beyond the MOD of your backgas and deco gas, you have no redundancy. Period! If you have a failure on the stage, you have no other safe gas to breathe at that depth. You can be in a cave, a quarry, or a bathtub, doesn't make a difference. It's a bad practice no matter which fruit to fruit comparison you want to use. Multiple bottles and gases are tools used to manage the overhead, not a defining factor of technical diving, especially not in the context you used.

 

[battles2a5]

on't people dive singles all the time yet still have redundancy? Like, backup bottles,other divers, the option to ascend a little? Do the bottles have to be
manifolded to be considered redundant? What about sidemount divers? Their bottles
are not manifolded. Kal

You can't be serious about singles having redundancy. The only true source of a redundant air supply for a diver in singles is the surface. Since your title is "Solo Diver" we'll leave the buddy issue out of this one. You don't need a manifold to be redundant, but you do need fully redundant gas supplies at any depth; that can mean independent doubles, sidemount, isolated doubles, rebreather w/ bailout, etc. You don't always have the option to "ascend a little" and having a plan that relies on having that ability is foolish.

This is getting way off topic. Why don't we start a new thread in the technical diving sub-forum with the title "Is it a good idea to dive a bottom stage deeper than the MOD of my backgas" and we'll see where it takes us. Deal?

 

[highflowdiver]

You can't be serious about singles having redundancy. The only true source of a redundant air supply for a diver in singles is the surface. Since your title is "Solo Diver" we'll leave the buddy issue out of this one. You don't need a manifold to be redundant, but you do need fully redundant gas supplies at any depth; that can mean independent doubles, sidemount, isolated doubles, rebreather w/ bailout, etc. You don't always have the option to "ascend a little" and having a plan that relies on having that ability is foolish.

This is getting way off topic. Why don't we start a new thread in the technical diving sub-forum with the title "Is it a good idea to dive a bottom stage deeper than the MOD of my backgas" and we'll see where it takes us. Deal?

You say we need fully redundant gas supplies,, doesn't that mean enough
gas to get me to the surface safely? Why wouldn't a pony do that? Why
can I now not have a buddy? Why can I now not ascend a little, at the bottom
of this quarry is nothing to hang myself up on. Why do you restrict me this way?
Are you one of my past tech instructors? Your just yanking my chain aren't ya.
Kal

 

[Blackwood]

Why can I now not ascend a little

How much is a little? Generally, I wouldn't consider a depth change necessitating a leaner gas mix to be "little" (nor would I consider a bottle leaner than my backgas to be a "stage").