Wreck Penetration Training?

[Seadeuce]

Good advice being given here.
One thing I'd like to add, penetrating a cave i.e. a cave certification course, may be a good initialiser to get you used to overhead environments, and to your reactions within them.
But it must be remembered that caves are natural formations, and will not have the number of sharp, man-made edges, that can cut a line or snag your gear.

Stating the obvious? Guess so, but no harm in realising that wreck overheads deserve their own respect, in their own right.
The Doria has caught as many cavers as divers I believe.

Stay safe

Seadeuce

 

[miketsp]

So, like the SSI shop that I work with, they also have some instructor that teaches tech through a tech agency? SSI training pretty much ends at the recreational/stress and rescue level unless you want to be a dive pro.
..snip..

The instructors do have cave & tech background but they require this level of competence/confidence (line-following in zero vis without a mask) to issue the SSI wreck speciality card. Whether other SSI establishments are as rigorous, I couldn't say.
They also try to dissuade students from getting into wreck penetration until they have at least 100 dives under their belt and have demonstrated good all round skills.

 

[divdude]

you're right, most of the courses don't teach penetration and certainly don't demonstate penetration methods. a reccommendation would be to come to florida and either take a cavern course or cave 1 course in northern florida, or come further south to the ft.lauderdale area and take a wreck course through one of the shops here.we have about 80 penetrable wrecks and most of the boats include a wreck dive in every two tank trip, morning and afternoon. you'll fine several in the keys as well.
wrecks here range from 70' to tech only depths.

good luck

I was thoroughly dissappointed to find out that PADI wreck specialization does not have penetration! What the hell! They would give me a wreck diver certification for going NEAR a wreck??? This is the biggest joke I have ever come across. I wanna ditch PADI and go somewhere else?

Any world recognized organizations that teach wreck penetration?

 

[diverbrian]

The instructors do have cave & tech background but they require this level of competence/confidence (line-following in zero vis without a mask) to issue the SSI wreck speciality card. Whether other SSI establishments are as rigorous, I couldn't say.
They also try to dissuade students from getting into wreck penetration until they have at least 100 dives under their belt and have demonstrated good all round skills.

Our instructors don't do any line work for a wreck specialty. The thought is that SSI is a recreational agency. Even the SSI texts stress that wreck penetration is better taught by a recreational agency. The wreck diving specialty is more to stress how not to tear things off a wreck and how to do a safe EXTERNAL survey of a wreck. Our shop doesn't even have an instructor for a wreck penetration specialty. The people that engage in wreck penetration with the "shop's blessing" are cave divers. Cave diving is obviously taught by other organizations. Let's just say that our LDS owner has no problem supplying tech divers. He does NOT want to be liable for training them. So, we are all on our own looking for tech training and the wreck penetration course is simply not made locally available. It is easier to drive down to Florida and take cave training. Done properly, I have been led to believe that is a long process and the diver will likely have a hundred or more dives logged between trips to Florida to finish that course.

 

[stoiclown]

I was thoroughly dissappointed to find out that PADI wreck specialization does not have penetration! What the hell! They would give me a wreck diver certification for going NEAR a wreck??? This is the biggest joke I have ever come across. I wanna ditch PADI and go somewhere else?

I will be going through the PADI REC Diver training course this year & my instructor says "were going in".

He told me if I understand him right. That the 1st 2-dives would be practice Mapping, the 3rd dive would be the the practise penetration outside, & the 4th dive we were going in. I might have left out some details, but that was the jist of the conversation.

P.S. this is one of those intentionally sunk wrecks w/ holes in it. He also told me that I will have to practice swim a line w/ my mask off.

 

[mattwave]

NAUI Wreck Penetration Classes starting in March.
Taught by one of the leading NTEC instructors.
http://nwsportsdivers.com/Wreck Diving.html
or
divetrimix.com