80 replies to this topic

[Sophia]

For the Tech Divers out there, what caused you to get into Tech Diving? I have been pondering this since the stupid gadget thread. Someone defended the underwater mp3 player for the 40 minute (maybe just really, really long) stops (I think it was plural) she took while tech diving. That made me think. What the heck is so cool that 40 minute stops are worthwhile? Was it a dive site beyond recreational limits that made you get into it? Were you collecting cards? Or did you just want to be educated about diving?

Enquiring minds want to know.

[Diverbrian]

Do a google search on the Pewabic, the Viator, the Morrel, the Eber Ward, or the Carl Bradley (although the last is a dive of diminishing returns for deco time).

Some divers (myself included) simply like to be down below as long as we can get away with when we dive wrecks. In the Great Lakes, the deeper the wreck, the more pristine that it is. I believe that the oceans are much the same way.

Cave divers talk about the beauty of the caves and most those dives involve staged decompression.

If a diver gets into tech for ego, it won't be long before nobody will dive with them. They will take foolish risks and be dangerous. But most of the tech divers are into it to experience something that nobody else will ever get a chance to see. That is worth an ocassional dive with some "hang time".

[Genesis]

Yep.

There simply are dives you cannot do without engaging in some form of technical diving.

Caves are beautiful, for example. Yet there is no way to dive them "recreationally" in a safe fashion.

There are wrecks that are beyond 130', or for which you may wish to go inside. Either means you are engaging in technical diving.

Its a means to an end; there's little point in seeing how deep one can go, but if there's a wreck you wish to dive at 200fsw, you either develop the skills and acquire the tools to dive it in reasonable safety, or you don't dive it at all.

[WreckWench]

For me its all about 'bottom time'! But then you know that! And staying down long is fun too!

[jextract]

For me its all about 'bottom time'! But then you know that! And staying down long is fun too! 

... and having come up the dive boat ladder behind you.....

[drdiver]

Now you know that's just not safe....

She might fall............

And there are other dangers from too much bottom time that I won't go into here. But you youngsters can..

Just go right ahead.

[Sophia]

3rd reply and we're onto sex. Woohoo!

Is Nitrox considered Tech Diving???? For some reason I had it in my brain that you didn't get into Tech Diving until Advanced Nitrox.

I'll google those wrecks. Is it that they are not overdove that makes them worthwhile?

Wenchie, what's the link for your page about the NC Wrecks? I found it myself before my trip to NC, but I can't find it now.

[Walter]

Is Nitrox considered Tech Diving???? For some reason I had it in my brain that you didn't get into Tech Diving until Advanced Nitrox.

The "tech" label is a useless distinction. It doesn't matter what is included or not included. Besides, different people and different organizations have different definitions of the term. The designation conveys no useful information.

[Diverbrian]

3rd reply and we're onto sex. Woohoo!

Is Nitrox considered Tech Diving???? For some reason I had it in my brain that you didn't get into Tech Diving until Advanced Nitrox.

I'll google those wrecks. Is it that they are not overdove that makes them worthwhile?

Wenchie, what's the link for your page about the NC Wrecks? I found it myself before my trip to NC, but I can't find it now.

Sophia,

Walter is precisely correct. By old definitions, diving EANx was considered tech diving by most agencies at one time. Now, our shop teaches it as part of OW as the only real addition to the class is analyzing a tank of breathing gas and some gas laws that we are teaching anyways. Up next? Helium may be a "mainstream gas" below 100 ft. At least one organization would push for that. Rebreathers may be considered mainstream or recreational diving one day. Who knows?

Technical diving by my definition is the distinction where one's mindset chances. The most common definition that we use up here is that technical is when the diver's mentality has to be "underwater problems have to be solved underwater" (the recreational mindset, being that if the worst were to happen that you can drop your weights and go to the surface) due to an overhead in the form of a decompression obligation or physical ceiling above the the diver.

If you were to check IANTD standards, Advanced Nitrox is still considered sport or recreational diving because the deco gas is only fifty percent O2. By SSI standards (my original training agency and the one that I am an AI for), the decompression obligation AND the use of EAN50 constitutes "technical diving". This means that they won't teach it and will refer you to one of the "tech agencies".

What does all of this really mean? Nothing, unless you go onto a boat with the intention of diving diving a 100 ft. wreck with a slight deco deco obligation and the captain has other customers to be in dock for when your diving is done. Then, he may tell you that you are limited to "No Deco Dives" and that if you wanted to do tech dives you should have paid the extra to charter the boat for them (Actually, this would be fair as most charter capts. run two trips but are limited to one that day if they have divers in deco and the attendant longer surface intervals before the second dive. The "tech" price is typically a price between the standard recreational rate where he has two groups that day and simply chartering the boat for both time slots.), LOL. If it is the afternoon dive, he may not care and want to leave a mate topside while he "checks the mooring" .

And yes, much of the appeal is that the wrecks are not overdove. But, the fresh water up here is great at preserving wrecks. The weather is not. I have been told that the deeper wrecks are more like time capsules in that the weather has not not had a chance to reach them. A wreck at 30 ft. up here is typically a debris field due to many season's worth of ice damage. Let's not think about waves. I have yet to see the water freeze 100 ft. down. Also, <crosses fingers> so far the zebra mussels have not found a way to infest our wrecks that deep. Many of the shallower wrecks are coated with nice sharp zebra mussels.

[Walter]

The most common definition that we use up here is that technical is when the diver's mentality has to be "underwater problems have to be solved underwater"

I teach my OW students to solve their problems underwater.

[peterbj7]

Just in the same way that every dive is a "deco dive", every dive is technical. It's only a question of degree. Many people think that something changes once you pass 100', and even more so for 130', and so long as you don't go beyond it everything's OK. But neglect your gas management at 100' and you'll be in for a nasty shock, not much different from another diver doing the same at 150'. What's the farthest you could imagine swimming up on one breath?

In some ways the buddy system, as it is usually taught, encourages dependency and complacency. Tech training above all teaches self-dependency, which has to be good at any depth. If you see your buddy as someone to look after and help in times of trouble, that's good. If his/her primary role for you is a source of extra gas and someone to help you if you screw up, that's bad.

[Diverbrian]

But, you are still diving where a safe ascent is a viable option at any time. This is why instructors still teach emergency ascents in OW. With a deco obligation or other overhead, an emergency type ascent really isn't a great option. With a real overhead it isn't an option at all.

Once an emergency ascent is not a safe or viable option, one enters into another realm of diving and the mindset for most divers has to change. For instance in Advanced Nitrox, instead of emergency ascents, they require students to swim around while sharing air, not just do an air sharing ascent. You know the reason for this. With a short hose recreational rig, really all the students can do is face each other and ascent while sharing air. Oh and they will be vertical while doing so as they don't need worry about finding a line. They are just ascending. They are trying to reach the surface, but do it safely. At some imaginary line, the concepts of the surface is NOT your friend enter diving. That drives equipment issues and mentality for redundancy/ self-rescue. Some would say (myself included) that is when diving leaves our imaginary realm that we discuss in OW classes and into technical diving.

Edited by Diverbrian, 27 January 2005 - 11:23 AM.

[Walter]

I would say you cross that line with decompression diving or with cave diving or with wreck diving, there's no reason to ever use the artificial term "tech diving."

[Diverbrian]

I would say you cross that line with decompression diving or with cave diving or with wreck diving, there's no reason to ever use the artificial term "tech diving."

True!

But, the staged deco/cave/wreck does tend to be lumped together to separate the the types of basic equipment and requirements of self-sufficiency.

Also, it gives agencies like the one the I initially trained with a chance to simply send those classes elsewhere and make the insurance easier for them (less risk involved in the dives).

In the whole, I agree with you. But, the term does exist and there is a reason for it! Oh, I almost forgot... It gives some divers a chance to call divers like me completely crazy .

[hnladue]

OK then!! You're completely Crazy!

There... It's been said!