Where to start technical diving

[beester]

I don't get it.. why do you do that? Because you believe that the quality of your courses is lower than GUE?

First of all this is not a gue discussion... i know also world class instructors from other agencies.

I feel really proficient in giving all recreational style courses (lets say up to an/dp..plus essentials)... but i truly feel that my technical teaching range is limited. Not because i dont do the dives (i do, have more than 300 trimix dives under my belt) but because i really believe that for the technical course range (normoxic and up) you level needs to be higher than what my level is. I maybe could achieve that level by going pro and spending the next 2 years upping my game..or i can decide that it remains a hobby and adjust and communicate my instructor limits.

I taught and adv rec trimix plus (whats in a name) course at the same time when a top level gue instructor was teaching a t1 class.. he truly is a friend of mine. I can t explain without going into very long posts..but the difference in instruction is in the details... i dont teach enough of these courses..he does.. he has 1000+ trimix dives i have a 3rd...

Knowing your limits is very important..specially in a (technical) teaching role.

So on that (technical) level i rather be a good mentor. I have seen and experienced too many average instructors who think or communicate they know it all... My student did gue fundies..and i am sure after my course she will pass t1 with flying colours..

Anyway this is more a discussion involving some beers and face 2 face.

Ps: doesnt mean i dont believe i am a kick ass diver... i am (there goes mr EGO again )

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

According to PADI standards, for a given level of PADI technical instructor, they must be a certified technical diver to or past that level, have specific technical diving experience for that level, pass the corresponding instructor level technical course, do at least one teaching assist for that level course, and pass a peer review technical diving skills evaluation.

Also, OWSI instructors are only allowed to be first level technical diving instructors within recreational diving limits. You have to be at least an MSDT level instructor to teach anything beyond recreational limits.

just out of curiosity, I saw in the tech deep manual you need 100 dives as a student for tech 40. But someone showed me a screenshot saying only 30 dives.

Which is it?

 

[VikingDives]

just out of curiosity, I saw in the tech deep manual you need 100 dives as a student for tech 40. But someone showed me a screenshot saying only 30 dives.

Which is it?

According to the website, it's 30 dives. I can't see the instructor manual since I'm not a tec 40 instructor. PADI's pretty anal about making training information square up like that, so I'd be shocked if it wasn't 30 dives.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

According to the website, it's 30 dives. I can't see the instructor manual since I'm not a tec 40 instructor. PADI's pretty anal about making training information square up like that, so I'd be shocked if it wasn't 30 dives.

The manual says 100 dives.

30 dives is kind of insane. Given that the requirements are OW (4 dives), AOW (5 dives), deep (4 dives, maybe 3 if credit is given in AOW), Rescue (4?), that's 16 dives. So only 14 non training dives are needed to start technical dive training?

That's insane if correct.

 

[Manatee Diver]

That's insane if correct.

TDI minimum dive count is 25 dives.

But few are going to pass the skill check on dive 1.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

TDI minimum dive count is 25 dives.

But few are going to pass the skill check on dive 1.

That's also insane.

 

[divezonescuba]

The 30 dives logged are only one of many prerequisites for TEC40. It is only a prerequisite. Just because a student has 30, 300, or 3000 dives before starting TEC40 obviously does not mean that they will eventually be TEC40 certified. Each dive in the TEC40 course must be repeated until the instructor determines that the student has sufficient proficiency to conduct the next dive.

The TEC40 class is a crossover class between recreational diving and technical diving. It has a depth limit of 130 feet and no more than 10 minutes of decompression. Because it is a crossover course, some compromises are allowed in the standards, in terms of equipment, to allow students to make the entry easier than a completely tec course such as TEC45. Because of this, some shops may teach the crossover version of the course. If the student then goes onto TEC45, they sometimes experience difficulties because they did not use a full tec setup in TEC40. Other shops do not permit crossover allowances and start TEC40 as a full tec course. There are also additional prerequisites for TEC45.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

until the instructor determines that the student has sufficient proficiency to conduct the next dive.

You know that this can be interpreted quite differently by different instructors. This isn't a knock on PADI. This is a problem for all agencies (including my own) without clear objective performance requirements.

 

[DiveClimbRide]

Why am I still laughing at PADI for offering another class for every 5m of depth? Looks like a good way for an instructor to be PADIng the bank account.

It might sounds ridiculous at first but tech40 is roughly equivalent to intro to tech and isn't a prerequisite. 45=an/dp (1 deco gas) 50=extended range (2 deco gasses) 60=trimix (2 deco gasses) and tec trimix = advanced trimix. So it really isn't so ridiculous after all. Basically the same as tdi

 

[GF99/99]

The bottom line is you choose your instructor, not the agency and definitely not whatever the local dive shop teaches.

Spot on!!!

This sums up everything for where to start in technical diving.

Do not get tied up with agencies and all the different course names and minor variances in depths and pre-requisites. You should be focusing your research on a good instructor with a good reputation. This is what I do and honestly I could care less what agency it is with. That is just a paperwork formality. This is why you will see many experienced technical divers have certifications from multiple agencies and multiple instructors because they choose there training based on specific instructors and many times different instructors teach under different agencies.