Wreck Diving "certification"

[rx7diver]

I still like, and strongly recommend/endorse, the old "rules" for newish divers making open water, recreational buddy dives: Don't make overhead dives--including "swim-throughs"--and stay well away from mandatory decompression limits (without additional training).

rx7diver

 

[boulderjohn]

I still like, and strongly recommend/endorse, the old "rules" for newish divers making open water, recreational buddy dives: Don't make overhead dives--including "swim-throughs"--and stay well away from mandatory decompression limits (without additional training).

rx7diver

...and don't you dare swim under the anchor chain--it's an overhead environment, after all.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

When I taught an SDI recreational wreck course, it was 5 dives. In addition to 6-8 hours of classroom time, and if I did not know the student, a pool session where we did line work and blacked-out mask training.

At the site, we would do land drills with a reel and line.
The first 4 dives were all what one could call survey dives of the wreck. Noting the direction it lay, sketching the outline, and identifying external hazards. One dive would be to note entry/exit points and internal hazards that were readily apparent. To go a little further with identifying those, use a mirror to inspect the inside of those points. Some would have points of concern that I tried to show could be encountered by sticking your head in to take a look.

What looked like strings of algae hanging down were actually control levers that the end had come off and could snag a hose or cylinder. Using a mirror allowed you to do an inspection without getting your noggin hurt.

The standards allowed for limited penetration on the last dives, and I made sure they understood that there was nothing worth dying for to see.

I always taught that any penetration should make use of a line. For the most part, the recreational wreck class was also about showing the students why recreational divers had no business in an overhead environment, and I cited numerous accounts of recreational divers getting into serious, and sometimes lethal, trouble doing so.

I was also an Advanced Wreck Instructor through TDI, and that was a true penetration class. I did require the recreational class as a pre-req. As well as AN/DP. If you are going to do serious penetration, you'd better have the gas necessary, and if it's at all deep, there's a good chance deco will be involved.

 

[tursiops]

I used to teach with another instructor at a site that had a dock sticking out into the dive area. The dock was not high off the water; you could not surface under the dock and have enough open overhead space to breathe. When entering from shore beside the dock, you could go out to the main diving area by swimming around the end of the dock, or by swimming under the dock. The instructor would "fail" students -- even DM candidates -- it they swam under the dock, arguing they were in a disallowed overhead environment. He had no concept of "swimthrough" and was, in general, quite an a$$.

 

[noserider]

Taking people past places where other divers have died certainly focuses the mind.

Got taken past a place where an instructor and diver died and one diver somehow survived on the USS New York. It sounded like a series of potential mistakes has been made.

 

[boulderjohn]

My discussion with PADI was triggered by a very fine DM briefing before a dive on a large wreck. In that briefing, he said there were several swim-throughs (wheel house) for "those with appropriate certification." When he was done, I called him over and asked what the appropriate certification was for doing a short swim-through of the wheel house. He laughed, knowing as well as I that there is no such certification. It was a CYA comment--if anyone without that non-existent certification got in trouble, it was not the shop's fault if the diver went in without that certification.

In my subsequent PADI discussion, I asked why they did not make it clear anywhere that a swim-through is not considered an overhead environment. They said that first of all, they had made it clear--they had explained it in the 4th quarter 1991 training bulletin (IIRC) that went out to instructors, with which, of course all divers in the world are familiar. They said the fact that everyone knows it can be inferred by the fact that people of all training levels go through swim-throughs all around the world every day.

I talked with the dive shop at that time, and the manager said, no, he did not know it, and he assumed he was taking a legal risk every time a customer did a swim-through on a wreck. He had to take that risk, because if he made it against their rules, he would be out of business in no time.

 

[Cthippo]

I used to teach with another instructor at a site that had a dock sticking out into the dive area. The dock was not high off the water; you could not surface under the dock and have enough open overhead space to breathe. When entering from shore beside the dock, you could go out to the main diving area by swimming around the end of the dock, or by swimming under the dock. The instructor would "fail" students -- even DM candidates -- it they swam under the dock, arguing they were in a disallowed overhead environment. He had no concept of "swimthrough" and was, in general, quite an a$$.

This is entertaining because one of my very first few dives (like first five dives after certification) was helping move docks for Seafair. Involved installing and removing shackles to underwater anchors as the crane dragged the docks through the water. I learned the value of having a surface support person to scream at boats that got too close.

 

[rx7diver]

...and don't you dare swim under the anchor chain--it's an overhead environment, after all.

Well, here in MO/AR freshwater lakes, if there are anchor chains to swim under, then, guaranteed, there is monofilament fishing line suspended beneath. If you're lucky, then silt has built up on the monofilament, and the line will be easily spotted and avoided. However, if you're not so lucky, then the monofilament will be virtually invisible, and you WILL get hung up in it. No big deal for a thoroughly trained open water diver. But, for a marginally trained open water diver, ...

The old "rules" are unambiguous--which is one reason I like/recommend/endorse them for new/newish open water divers.

I won't describe some of the "fun" stuff I was doing before I took my cavern diving course and really learned why new/newish open water divers, including moi at that time, should avoid diving in overhead environments.

rx7diver

 

[grantmac]

I've been in the Boga wreck mentioned. It's a completely sanitary swim through in the light zone. The only reason it would appear black is because the water outside is so bright your eyes haven't adjusted in the small amount of time it takes to traverse.
Generally DMs take people from the deeper entrance towards the shallow end however since that's a much bigger exit point. Both are not any appreciable restriction.