Why did you go Tech, or not?
- Thread starter RonFrank
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Bombay High
Contributor
I think moving from rec to tech is just an advancement in training. I dont think it is a line in the sand, but rather a gradual slope.
In my case I started diving as a commercial diver, so I never knew rec diving. Having now started diving recreationally, I am certainly happy for the training that I already have.
You think you lot have trouble, Mike.
I had no idea what I was saying as I was saying it
I think I was doing nineteen year old stuff, driving
around the countryside with a girlfriend in a search
for guidance even managed to incarcerate myself as
hightower with the rest of them for five months and
the 1980 printing of the New Science of Skin and Scuba DIving
was printed
I had no idea what I was saying as I was saying it
I think I was doing nineteen year old stuff, driving
around the countryside with a girlfriend in a search
for guidance even managed to incarcerate myself as
hightower with the rest of them for five months and
the 1980 printing of the New Science of Skin and Scuba DIving
was printed
OP
RonFrank
Contributor
From an insurance providers perspective its definitely a line in the sand, but I agree with what you are suggesting.
I have gone beyond 130' one time, and I was at just over the line. As I have said in other posts I have no desire to push this limit as 130' is plenty deep. For me the 130' limit is easy. Even when diving in Coz where there is no measurable bottom on some walls I just don't go deeper than 125' and generally keep my depth above 120'. If the dive does not start until 135' I skip it. As rec diving has a very short stay that deep when doing Devils Throat or a similar profile (130'), I just don't stay that deep for long.
I have gone beyond 130' one time, and I was at just over the line. As I have said in other posts I have no desire to push this limit as 130' is plenty deep. For me the 130' limit is easy. Even when diving in Coz where there is no measurable bottom on some walls I just don't go deeper than 125' and generally keep my depth above 120'. If the dive does not start until 135' I skip it. As rec diving has a very short stay that deep when doing Devils Throat or a similar profile (130'), I just don't stay that deep for long.
Bob DBF
Contributor
Gerbs
Contributor
What is the difference between Rec and Tech anyway?
Here in .de, sports diving may include deco. In my club, some of our dive instructors are also technical divers, therefore good ideas percolate down - Long hose regulators being the prime example. Also, by looking at how stuff is done elsewhere, and asking about why you tend to learn stuff - and if you have learned and understood what is going on, your safety increases.
So... just because my buddies and I dive double 12L, BP/W and have long hose regs, doesn't mean we go deep. We just go longer...
The safety advantages (being able to shut down your own regulators, having enough gas, having the comfort of diving doubles with BP/W and hence less stress...) are just too great to ignore...
Doesn't make it technical diving in my opinion... but it's on the slope towards it...
Gerbs
Here in .de, sports diving may include deco. In my club, some of our dive instructors are also technical divers, therefore good ideas percolate down - Long hose regulators being the prime example. Also, by looking at how stuff is done elsewhere, and asking about why you tend to learn stuff - and if you have learned and understood what is going on, your safety increases.
So... just because my buddies and I dive double 12L, BP/W and have long hose regs, doesn't mean we go deep. We just go longer...
The safety advantages (being able to shut down your own regulators, having enough gas, having the comfort of diving doubles with BP/W and hence less stress...) are just too great to ignore...
Doesn't make it technical diving in my opinion... but it's on the slope towards it...
Gerbs
Originally Posted by the wart
Why Tech? Wrecks.
I still find plenty to do above 40m. This normally falls into the category of swearing at my camera when I screw up yet another shot.
Sorry, can't resist . . .
"'Tis a poor craftsman that blames his tools. " Just sayin'!
well it should be a give & take relationship.
It takes my money...
.. so give me a decent shot!
Going Tech, as you say is not a line in the sand. It is another tool in your toolbox of diving. Without the skills, you don't have the tools.
Tech training also develops your diving skills as a whole... It teaches you more about diving physiology, gas planning, and decompression theory. You work on skills that you don't or aren't pressed to develop in recreational diving.
Once you've "gone tech" it's not like you have to dive doubles every dive, or you'll lose your card. For me the same can be said about rebreathers. I am certified on one, but I rarely dive one, as my current diving actually has me more in a hard hat than open circuit even.
Needless to say... Without the training, you don't have the option. If the option presents itself where deeper, longer, further is the mission, then you have the tools available.
With all of that said... Let me add...
Just like a recreational once a year diver... The Tech once a year diver runs risks. You must keep your skill set and muscle memory intact, otherwise you'll lose some of that. Don't make a 300' dive if you haven't dived in a year I guess is what I'm saying.
DevonDiver
N/A
I love wrecks...and many of the ones I wanted to dive were deeper than I was qualified or confident to dive based on my existing (recreational) training. I was already a BSAC Instructor, PADI Divemaster and PADI Deep Diver. Quite simply, none of the recreational training courses I had done had given me an adequate skill-set and knowledge-base to complete such dives with a high margin of safety.
Also, even though I had done lots of research and read lots of technical diving books...and I had worked constantly to refine my dive skills... I still wanted an 'acid test' of my capabilities by someone authoritative in the field of technical/wreck diving. That test was eye-opening... and made me understand that I wasn't anywhere near as good a diver as I had previously judged myself to be.
Technical training doesn't just provide new skills and knowledge - it provides feedback and critique. Knowing your own limitations is a critical factor in safe dive planning, especially at a technical level.
Tech diving is still about wrecks for me. The deeper ones hold more mystery, are better preserved and haven't been stripped out and sanitized by hordes of recreational divers. There's an indescribable 'buzz' from going somewhere new... somewhere inaccessible to the masses. I try and dive 'virgin' sites whenever I can...wrecks and reefs. In the modern world of mass-market diving, it's easy to forget that there are places to dive, where others haven't ventured before.
Also, even though I had done lots of research and read lots of technical diving books...and I had worked constantly to refine my dive skills... I still wanted an 'acid test' of my capabilities by someone authoritative in the field of technical/wreck diving. That test was eye-opening... and made me understand that I wasn't anywhere near as good a diver as I had previously judged myself to be.
Technical training doesn't just provide new skills and knowledge - it provides feedback and critique. Knowing your own limitations is a critical factor in safe dive planning, especially at a technical level.
Tech diving is still about wrecks for me. The deeper ones hold more mystery, are better preserved and haven't been stripped out and sanitized by hordes of recreational divers. There's an indescribable 'buzz' from going somewhere new... somewhere inaccessible to the masses. I try and dive 'virgin' sites whenever I can...wrecks and reefs. In the modern world of mass-market diving, it's easy to forget that there are places to dive, where others haven't ventured before.
ian@1904
Registered
For me there is no line in the sand.
I will happily dive on a single setup doing 3 or 4 dives a day on a liveaboard. However I prefer to use nitrox for this as I feel it to be safer. (Some consider nitrox as technical)
I prefer to use a twinset for all my UK sea diving be it 20 metres, 30 metres or considerably deeper. I like to have a lot of redundant gas. I feel safer that way. I have been involved in a number of out of gas incidents and a three litre redundant cylinder is often not up to the task with a very scared diver. However a long hose attached to a twinset does provide adequate gas. Twinsets are not a PITA if you have a trolley
Trimix diving is very expensive and hard work. Seeing a terrific wreck at say 50 metres, with a clear head on account of the helium is fantastic. The fish life at 50-60 metres can be very different.
I have dived rebreathers and cannot justify the cost for the number of trimix dives that I actually do. Plus where as open cicuit diving is second nature to me diving a RB is not.
I will happily dive on a single setup doing 3 or 4 dives a day on a liveaboard. However I prefer to use nitrox for this as I feel it to be safer. (Some consider nitrox as technical)
I prefer to use a twinset for all my UK sea diving be it 20 metres, 30 metres or considerably deeper. I like to have a lot of redundant gas. I feel safer that way. I have been involved in a number of out of gas incidents and a three litre redundant cylinder is often not up to the task with a very scared diver. However a long hose attached to a twinset does provide adequate gas. Twinsets are not a PITA if you have a trolley
Trimix diving is very expensive and hard work. Seeing a terrific wreck at say 50 metres, with a clear head on account of the helium is fantastic. The fish life at 50-60 metres can be very different.
I have dived rebreathers and cannot justify the cost for the number of trimix dives that I actually do. Plus where as open cicuit diving is second nature to me diving a RB is not.
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