What does "Tech" mean to you?

[mikemill]

I think one problem with these labels is that we are trying to cover the type of dive being done and the purpose of that dive in one word.

A 30 foot dive for 45 minutes could be for recreation, work, or scientific study. Same with a 200ft dive for 90 minutes.

So Tech to me means diving that requires the use of skills and knowledge of technical nature in order to bring the risk factors to an acceptable level. Using just the skills and knowledge gained in OW won't allow someone to do that 200ft dive for 90 minutes safely.

 

[DCBC]

That's what it means to me.

How do you define recreational diving?

 

[TGreene]

A 30 foot dive for 45 minutes could be for recreation, work, or scientific study.

Exactly.

Given the working environment that I was in (23' of cold seawater for hours at a time that often required 1 minute tank swaps by our surface team without ever removing our rigs due to time critical "issues"), let's assume that your hands are both fully occupied and completely unavailable to do the things that you must normally do when diving such as operating your inflator/deflator, pinch your nose to clear, etc. Without your hands available to you, you can't do this without working as a fully functional team where another member is your "operational shadow" that does everything for you as needed, and that gets pretty "technical".

After a week of this, our team had devised signals for pretty much anything and everything that in a million years would never be recognized by a diver that was not a part of this project. We had our own signals, but more importantly our own set of routines. I can't begin to express how odd it is to be descending, then all of a sudden a hand comes from out of nowhere to pinch your mask so that you can clear. Light handling and bouyancy control was also often handled in the same manner. We learned to talk through our regs with great proficiency and clarity, when we had our hands too occupied to be able to write on the wet-notes.

Our working bouyancy was critical, so being the least capable member of the team in the beginning, I believe that I came away with the greatest element of newly learned abilities, thus my skill set was advanced the most.

Define them (Tech or Rec) how you may, but there will always be differing functional elements that won't conform to most given definitions...

According to my Certs, I am not a "Tech Diver".

-Tim

 

[wedivebc]

If I am not getting paid it's recreational.
Technical diving is an obsolete term coined in the last century to describe a newly emerging form of sport diving. You might as well call someone a groovy diver.

 

[DCBC]

Given the working environment that I was in (23' of cold seawater for hours at a time that often required 1 minute tank swaps by our surface team without ever removing our rigs due to time critical "issues"), let's assume that your hands are both fully occupied and completely unavailable to do the things that you must normally do when diving such as operating your inflator/deflator, pinch your nose to clear, etc. Without your hands available to you, you can't do this without working as a fully functional team where another member is your "operational shadow" that does everything for you as needed, and that gets pretty "technical".

Thanks Tim, I've been commercial diving for 38 years and never had occasion to have anyone pinch my nose, or inflate my buoyancy. What was the nature of the job?

 

[tomfcrist]

To me tech diving is any Deco dive, Diving with multiple different gas mix's, or any dive requiring special equipment/skill sets that if you dont possess, will make you a dead diver. This isnt saying that a recreational diver cant run DBL's and a slung pony, just that if he/she doesnt know how to use the stuff, its worthless.

 

[mikemill]

If I am not getting paid it's recreational.

That ignores the whole scientific diving group. And then what about diving instructors who are getting paid to dive? Would you lump them into commercial diving?

IMO most of these labels are worthless except in a vague reference kind of way.

 

[TGreene]

Thanks Tim, I've been commercial diving for 38 years and never had occasion to have anyone pinch my nose, or inflate my buoyancy. What was the nature of the job?

We were working at the Georgia Aquarium doing underwater structural and cosmetic restoration in the Beluga Whale tank...

My job was primarily that of applying, blending and texturing our proprietary epoxies for the cosmetic work, thus my hands were usually completely gooped up and incapable of touching anything without essentially destroying it in the process.

My nose needed pinched while I was swimming down containers of freshly mixed epoxy that were sitting in the palm of each hand.

The bouyancy issues came into play when hovering a foot or so above the work area so as not to land in the fresh epoxies that were just "painted" on, while both hands were again fully occupied with one holding a container and the other doing the "painting" and texturing.

-Tim

 

[TSandM]

In open water, I don't think there's a bright line. If I've done the first dive of the day, and according to my tables or computer I've racked up five minutes of deco and I have to blow it off, I'm probably not in much more trouble than the diver who's done four dives to 100 feet and pushed NDLs on all of them that day, and who does a rapid ascent.

I think as the dives get deeper and/or longer, the importance of solving problems underwater increases, the importance of good buoyancy control and good ascent procedures increases, and the importance of good dive planning and adequate reserves (of anything, including teammates!) increases. The need for good, meaningful experience and/or good, thoughtful training increases. The desirability of some kind of redundancy in equipment also increases. You can point to the far ends of the spectrum as being clearly different (a 20 foot reef dive in clear water, versus a 250 foot wreck dive in cold, murky water) but there's a whole unclear middle ground.

Even with hard overheads, it's not cut and dried. How many OW divers have done the Cathedrals at Lanai, or Devil's Throat, or the cenote tours? At some point, you're seriously in an overhead environment and need different equipment, training, skills and mindset. But unless you're willing to take the "Peligro" sign as a cutoff, it just isn't that clear there, either.

Prudence is more important than a definition, I think

 

[DCBC]

...The bouyancy issues came into play when hovering a foot or so above the work area so as not to land in the fresh epoxies that were just "painted" on, while both hands were again fully occupied with one holding a container and the other doing the "painting" and texturing.

Thanks Tim, one would have thought that the Georgia Aquarium would have followed the Occupational Safety and Health Standards for Commercial Diving as this type of work is exempt from the Scientific Diving definition (OSHA standard 1910.402). The diver should have been properly equipped for the job i.e. surface supply and a proper dive helmet, so that these problems wouldn't have been an issue.

It does certainly sounds like it was a challenge to do with scuba! Like you said, a learning experience. That which does not destroy us.....