tech ?

[dirtydon]

looking into tech diving.i still need more dives before going tech.i have a couple questions. i would like to read up on tech diving before starting the class.should i buy the crew pac and study first or is there some other books or info someone could suggest ? i'm thinking about buying the dsat pac and study for a while before taking any class. not in a hurry at all.want many more dives before trying going deep.thinking at least 2 more years before going deep.would like to get more info thanks...dirtydon

[jj1987]

"tech" is a stupid name that has been developed to cover dives outside of what you're trained for in simple OW courses. Don't get too caught up on the label. I've never done a dive that wasn't "recreational" in nature, yet I'm sure many would classify them as technical, but whatever.

The GUE Tech 1 manual has some good information and theory. UTD has an excellent online ratio deco seminar that explains deco basics as well as I've seen from anyone. "Deco for divers" is a new book that I've heard good reviews about, I'm hoping to get my hands on it soon.

[MSilvia]

Originally Posted by dirtydon

li would like to read up on tech diving before starting the class.should i buy the crew pac and study first or is there some other books or info someone could suggest?

If by "crew pac", you mean the PADI training materials, no... I wouldn't recommend that. PADI is essentially a recreational diver training organization, and I would steer you toward a training agency that specializes in mixed gas and overhead environment diving, like TDI, IANTD, or GUE, to name a few popular choices. If I were to recommend a good comprehensive reference work, it might be "IANTD's Encyclopedia of Technical Diving", but I'm biased as that's the one I'm most familiar with. Jarrod Jablonski's "Doing it Right: The Fundamentals of Better Diving" is also well worth reading, and has a lot of valuable information about gear, techniques, and procedures that are good to be at least familiar with if you're interested in more advanced dives. (Don't get Jablonski's book from Amazon for $80... GUE has it for $19.)

If you want something a bit easier to digest, there's a really good primer on technical diving for recreational divers in the latest issue of DAN's Alert Diver magazine. It's available online here.

As another online resource, you might be interested in looking at the "Transitioning to Technical Diving" forum at thedecostop.com.

[dirtydon]

thank you for the info.i'm looking for the info that you listed befor i think about going tech. mix gases and some of the other things that i would would need to research before lookinginto the classes.i need alot more dives before i consider the classes.i've seen some of the dive sites that are deep and would like to dive them after i have much more experience.thankyou for the help...dirtydon

[dirtydon]

i did read DANS artical that's why i'm asking some of the questions,thanks again

[Jack Hammer]

While books can help you to expand your basic understanding of the concepts, you really need to hook up with a mentor who can explain the reality of what is done and why and to help you to make wiser equipment and configuration choices. A mentor can also give you pointers on how you are actually diving vs how you believe you are diving (trim, technique, etc).

Be advised that "tech" diving tends to be equipment intensive, as in you need a lot of stuff and the costs add up. You may need to replace a lot of what you currently have.

Jack

[cbope]

Kevin Gurr's Technical Diving from the Bottom Up is a solid reference book for technical diving. It could use a few more illustrations/pictures, mainly about gear and equipment, but otherwise it's pretty thorough. I'm about 2/3 through the book so far.