What does "Tech" mean to you?

[LeadTurn_SD]

Then there's Charles. Charles is a purely recreational diver who understands that wreck diving, decompression diving, deep diving and cave diving are "technical diving" and he's not trained to be a "technical diver" so he doesn't do any of that...

Of course he also thinks that gas management, anti silting fin kicks and good buoyancy control are also "technical" diving skills, so he doesn't do any of that either...

As much as I dislike the term "Tech" (for the same reasons Walter and others have mentioned), the point Lamont makes is good.

Some form of "line in the sand" (water?) is needed, so if the term helps new divers see a distinction between the dives they are capable of, and ones that need more experience, then fine.

Me? I'm a long-time vanilla OW diver.... But I've done dives well into what most would consider the "Tech" realm (including staged deco), about 20 years before the term existed. So what does that make me? I'm one of the "sport divers" that bends the definintion....

Best wishes.

EDIT: I forgot to answer DCBC's original question:

"Tech" to me means any dive that a direct and immediate return to the surface is not possible. It could also include dives that may be within NDL and with no overhead, but which are too deep for the diver to return to the surface on a single breath.

 

[Trace Malinowski]

As much as I dislike the term "Tech" (for the same reasons Walter and others have mentioned), the point Lamont makes is good.

Lamont's point also drives home a situation that I face every day. That is that dive centers and recreational instructors excuse poor skills and limited knowledge by stating that trim, buoyancy, propulsion, gas management, team functionality and proficient emergency skills are "tech" and beyond "rec" diving - so they don't really need to be taught or learned.

 

[lamont]

Lamont's point also drives home a situation that I face every day. That is that dive centers and recreational instructors excuse poor skills and limited knowledge by stating that trim, buoyancy, propulsion, gas management, team functionality and proficient emergency skills are "tech" and beyond "rec" diving - so they don't really need to be taught or learned.

At one point, though, buoyancy control devices were just milk jugs under sheck's armpits, and submersible SPGs had not yet displaced the j-valve... And more recently, Nitrox was going to kill you...

Sooner or later all the old dive shop owners will literally die off... And at some point some of the old timers will simply recognize that there's some money in it, and will keep their thoughts to themselves as long as the $$$ is coming in the front door...

Doing "workshop"-style courses is actually fairly profitable for dive shops (Doubles workshops, Buoyancy workshops, Propulson workshops, Helium workshops, Reel workshops, Gas management workshops, etc). DIRF is actually a bargain at the price for what you get.

 

[Trace Malinowski]

At one point, though, buoyancy control devices were just milk jugs under sheck's armpits, and submersible SPGs had not yet displaced the j-valve... And more recently, Nitrox was going to kill you...

Sooner or later all the old dive shop owners will literally die off... And at some point some of the old timers will simply recognize that there's some money in it, and will keep their thoughts to themselves as long as the $$$ is coming in the front door...

Doing "workshop"-style courses is actually fairly profitable for dive shops (Doubles workshops, Buoyancy workshops, Propulson workshops, Helium workshops, Reel workshops, Gas management workshops, etc). DIRF is actually a bargain at the price for what you get.

Not to mention that tech divers buy two tanks & two regs instead of one, add a deco bottle and another reg, and another, and another, etc. They dive locally, often, get fills and buy all the little things that add lots of profit by year's end. I'm in a situation where the owners aren't pro tech, but realize it brings in money. It would bring in much more if they were pro tech.

 

[DCBC]

...at some point some of the old timers will simply recognize that there's some money in it, and will keep their thoughts to themselves as long as the $$$ is coming in the front door...

Not all "old timers" are interested in selling-out their values for a buck.

Boat diver, altitude diver, deep diver, drift diver... and to think it use to be called a Basic SCUBA program. :shocked2:

 

[tomfcrist]

Boat diver, altitude diver, deep diver, drift diver... and to think it use to be called a Basic SCUBA program. :shocked2:

I agree whole heartedly....but then again the agencies are there to make a dollar....how can they do that if they cant sell you 472 C-cards instead of 1....DIVER.

The best part is that nobody really cares........unless you are taking a charter, you dont even need to be certified to go diving. I did it that way for a long time before i decided that there were some fun charter dives that i wanted to do(but couldnt of course). its the same with "tech"....unless you are taking a "Tech" charter, your safety is in your own hands if you decide to try DECO diving or Deep Penetration. Just as long as you are aware of the risks involved, and the proper procedures go for it.

 

[muddiver]

Ok, I'm hanging off the "old timers" side of the fence in that once one has strapped a pressurized gas cylinder on one back and jumped into the water, one has become a "Diver". :vintagediver: Sans PADI (or insert your favorite acronym) I learned most of what DCBC just mentioned by just going out and diving. :cool2:

I don't think that just learning by adventure is the best mode for everyone and that is where some (not all) of the "specialty" courses do come in for subjects that do require some mentoring or formal training. It is all really driven by the local mode of scuba diving, in that, if doubles is the typical setup where you dive regularly, you will most likely learn to dive using doubles, and possable you will view that as the only right/safe method of diving. Me, I watched and learned the typical So. Calif. method of the single aluminum 80 cu ft cylinder, with or without an octopus and eventually one of those nifty Voo Doo boxes called a dive computer. Tromping off the shore through surf did we ever think that doubles were necessary? No, you have to swim too far to need that much gas, and the beach is right behind you with your other tank. Also, who in their right mind would want to haul all that weight 100 yards down the 30% slope access road at Cresent Bay in Laguna Beach. :shocked2:

I do take my hat off to the guys that have pushed the envelope and hashed out the techniques, equipment and procedures necessary to explore the caves of Florida, or photograph some of the WWII wrecks off the east coast in 200+ feet of water. It didn't require another C-card, just lots of thought and planning. The fact that one can Put-Another-Dollar-In and glean this knowledge from those that have gone before us is a wonderful advancement of recreational diving. But to get to that level one must get the basics down, with or without a more seasoned diver (or insert Instructor) leading you by the hand for a pre-dertermined fee. More power to those that can sell the knowledge and make a (simi)Profession out of it.

 

[tomfcrist]

More power to those that can sell the knowledge and make a (simi)Profession out of it.

I'm not knocking instructors(I am one).....I am merely jaded with agencies that take one course from 20 years ago and divide it up into 16 different courses. All of my students learn Boat, Deep, Drift, Wreck, Penetration etc. procedures in their OW Class, that way if they decide to take a plunge in that direction they have a baseline knowlege of what they are getting themself into. I don't see why the agencies are still charging these people 15 bucks a card for each specialty...Just doesnt make sense to me.

You are right though, self learning isnt for everyone and I quite frankly didnt self learn, I was taught by my grandfather.....But i still honed all my skills and practiced my procedures on my own accord. No class makes good divers.....Dedicated divers make good divers.....

My main point(and DCBC's if im not mistaken) is that things that are considered Tech nowadays are basic skills that every diver had to learn 20-30 years ago. My grandfather taught me to be a well rounded diver, and I teach the same way today as long as it complies with the S&P of the agency that I instruct for.

 

[DCBC]

My main point(and DCBC's if im not mistaken) is that things that are considered Tech nowadays are basic skills that every diver had to learn 20-30 years ago.

When I started learning to dive I was 11. Because a 71.2 was too long for me, I used double 55s and had to put them on in the water because of their weight. The tanks were banded to a steel plate and held by one piece of 3" nylon belt (Hogarthian?) I had a J valve without an SPG. I didn't have a flotation vest on my open-water dive and wore a 1/4 inch neoprene wet-suit that I needed lots of talcon powder to get into. My buddy had a depth guage and knife; I didn't. The year was 1965.

I suppose this could be considered "minimal." Perhaps I would be mistaken as a Tech Diver today. Cool, Hogarthian Rig, Doubles, definitely minimal. Yes, but stone age. We learned basic skills that everyone had to learn. Years later, I teach the same skills in-that I expect a student to know how to swim. Not just with fins and mask.

Values have changed and I suppose this is inevitable. One would hope however the reason why things have changed have not solely been so people can make more money. I'm not against making money, but when people's safety is compromised, I have a problem.

 

[muddiver]

I'm not knocking instructors(I am one).....I am merely jaded with agencies that take one course from 20 years ago and divide it up into 16 different courses. All of my students learn Boat, Deep, Drift, Wreck, Penetration etc. procedures in their OW Class, that way if they decide to take a plunge in that direction they have a baseline knowlege of what they are getting themself into. I don't see why the agencies are still charging these people 15 bucks a card for each specialty...Just doesnt make sense to me.

Ok! That is what I was getting at. But the mass amount of coffee this morning (it's raining and cold = hot liquid diet) screwed my thought process.

I also agree that breaking basic skills, like buoyancy, how to fall off a boat, and how to manage the amount of gas one is carrying, as advanced or seporate classes is really stupid and possably just a money grab, but people fall for it. Seporating them out as Technical diving? Well that's just ludicrous. Just because one or two Tech oriented agencies spend more time on such subject because they are important in cave diving, wreck penitration and deep deco does not make the skills "Technical". Calling them Tech is a lazy instructor cop out.