Dive Training Blogs

Diving Diaries (Part 1)

Published

2 years ago

March 23, 2022

In this new series Scubaverse blogger, Isobel Fairbairn, keeps a diary as she learns to dive with her university BSAC club (Salford University Diving Society or SUDS for short). Follow her progress as she heads underwater for the very first time.

Week 1 (March 2nd 2022)

Honestly I feel as if overwhelming would be an understatement. From two hours of information in a theory class to be then plunged underwater carrying tanks on my back (which, by the way, is extremely difficult when you’re 5’3 and fairly small, why I didn’t prepare myself for this I have no idea, but I didn’t, thought I was going to die, or at least end up staying on my back for the entire two hours)…

To begin with: a theory full of air pressures, atmospheric pressures, cleaning kit, breathing (I thought I knew how to do this?) valves, how not to die or be seriously injured, and how to tell if someone is, well, going in that direction. It was a lot to take in, it did make sense in the end, and, of course is all completely necessary, but wow, way to be slightly off-putting I guess.

Now, getting into the water for the first time was a different situation altogether. As a human being I did not realise how difficult it was to simply find the perfect level of air to stay buoyant at, on top of managing to be stuck with the wrong size BC, so swimming around with the equivalent of an oversized, heavy life jacket on did not tick all my boxes to begin with. I had some weights added to me to stop me from looking like a sunfish as I floated to the surface of the pool, and then I learnt how to breathe – unsurprisingly, a foreign concept when you’re submerged underwater, yet, quite easy to get the hang of! Luckily I did not get into the habit of trying to hold my breath while I was underwater so that was excellent.

Once air had been obtained into my lungs at a continuous flow, we stood in the shallow end and bobbed in and out of the water, going from learning to kneel down to stand up again, and learnt some hand signals (the usual “okay”, “up”, “down” “you watch me” “stop”). We then practiced getting used to those while sat on our knees so we could properly communicate with one another.

Once that was done, we took our first proper swim down to the middle of the pool. Now managing flippers, a BC, big air tanks and remembering to breathe while swimming was a lot for those first few seconds, but that quickly went away when I stopped feeling like a fish out of water (or a human IN water). I pushed through and carried on, and it felt great! It was cool to be able to just swim along, not having to worry about coming up for air, getting the hang of carrying around my newest summer accessory, the metal canister backpack. When we got to the deeper area of the pool, I could suddenly FEEL my ears though. I’m not too sure they agreed with being borderline face down on the bottom of a pool floor, but I had learnt how to clear them so after a while I was okay, you can’t please everyone I guess (sorry ear canals).

Check back for Part Two next week!

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Isobel Fairbairn

Isobel Fairbairn is a 22 year old first year Marine Biology student at the University of Salford with a passion for both writing and marine life. She says: “I love to share things that I learn along my journey and that’s when I decided I wanted to take my career towards writing, I’ve always wanted to write but when my two passions collided I knew I had to go in this direction.” She lives in Manchester. Her favourite fish is the Chimera Shark and she is currently undergoing her diving training with BSAC with the University’s Diving Society. “I am equal parts terrified and excited.” Follow her on Instagram: @ihf.media

Blogs

Intro to Tech: What is it about?

Published

3 weeks ago

April 7, 2024

International Training

Article by José Pablo Mir
Pictures by Cezary Abramowski

The world of technical diving is exciting. It opens the door to new sites, depths, and bottom times. More importantly, it opens our minds to a new way of planning, facing, and experiencing dives, even those not purely technical.

Becoming a technical diver is a process, and like in other aspects of life, we should find the proper entry point that suits us best based on our knowledge and experience. The Introduction to Technical Diving course from TDI -the world’s largest and most recognized technical diving teaching organization- is the best option for divers who have yet to gain experience in the fundamental aspects of this new practice. The course’s content and its embrace of new techniques and technologies make it possible to acquire a solid foundation to learn and gain experience in this practice properly.

Becoming a technical diver is not something that happens overnight, whether deciding to become one or receiving a certification card stating we are now technical divers. It is a slow process extending farther away than any introductory course. It requires effort and dedication. But it will bring us satisfaction from day one -or two.

It is a matter of mentality

First, we must understand and accept that technical diving, involving greater depths, longer bottom times, exotic gases, virtual or real ceilings, and more, comes with higher levels of risk than the sport diving we have been practicing until now.

Although this discussion usually starts with a warning about risks, as I’ve done in the previous sentence, our practice is not a game of chance.

Technical diving is a rational activity that requires maturity and good judgment, and we will put everything into ensuring that each dive is a successful one -meaning we return from it safe and sound. With this understanding, we will strive to establish a mental attitude more aligned with our practice and its realities.

This new “technical diver” mindset we will develop will lead us to be more cautious in our executions, more analytical in our plans, more rational in our strategies, and more detailed in our procedures.

Experience will keep teaching us to know ourselves better, to keep our anxiety and other emotions under control, and to manage our impulses. Over time, our senses will sharpen, and we will be more attentive to the particulars of the situation we find ourselves in.

tech diving

Strategies and procedures

Our strategies, those broad guiding lines tracing the path to follow, from how to approach planning to where, with what, and how we are willing to get there, will be more specific and more practical. Not because they magically become so, but because we will consciously and deliberately frame them that way.

We will establish clear, concise, and realistic procedures. Not only for the undesirable situations that may present themselves but also for those that are part of our dive objectives.

Even though, as technical divers, we often use equipment different from what we were previously accustomed to, it is essential to note that the gear does not make the diver. In a way, we could consider such equipment as the necessary tools to implement what our goal seeks to achieve, according to our strategies and procedures.

Technique plays an important role

We must put our greatest effort into learning and perfecting the different techniques we will be acquiring. Buoyancy, trim, propulsion, cylinder handling, deploying DSMBs and lift bags, valve drills, and more are essential skills we must begin to master to progress in our art. What we cannot do, when we need to do it, can harm us.

Our techniques must be effective and achieve the purpose for which they were devised. But they must also be efficient and require the least resources possible, including the time they take and the effort they demand. Effectiveness and efficiency will prevail over beauty and other considerations that may come to mind, although none of them should be mutually exclusive. A technique executed efficiently and effectively tends to have an inherent beauty.

Refining techniques is a lifelong mission. Some of them will be easy to master from the go; others, on the other hand, will be our life mission and will require many repetitions just to resemble the idea we have in mind of how they should be executed.

We must consider the environment

Our learning, the needs and musts of the practice we engage in, the experience we gradually gain, our strategies and procedures, and even our equipment and tools change with the environment.

Diving in the ocean, everything about us must be suitable for ocean dives. Conditions there rarely emulate those found in a pool, lake, or river. Variable winds and currents, greater depths, visibility conditions, other divers with uncertain skills around us, marine life, maritime traffic, distance from the coast, and many other factors add complexity and uncertainty.

It is never necessary to master the pool on the first day, but planning and aspiring to gradually cope with the ocean’s conditions is essential.

The cost of good training

We are aware that our resources are often scarce in relation to the possibilities of use we could give them if they were not. To a greater or lesser extent, we are part of the economic reality in which we are embedded.

Fortunately, the cost of good technical diver training is not an entry barrier. Comparing training and equipment costs, we see that the former are generally lower. Yes, lower cost for personalized service, essential to our future

performance and safety, than for a series of mass-produced products that are mere, albeit necessary, tools for an end.

The value of good training

The value of the training we received encompasses a range of characteristics, from emotional and methodological to technical and technological. TDI and its Introduction to Technical Diving course offer a deep and modern approach, with a teaching strategy that aims to create thinking divers, not merely obedient ones.

As technical divers, our knowledge is our primary tool. In this type of activity, what we don’t know can harm us.

Is this course optional?

Unfortunately, the fact that this Introduction to Technical Diving course is not a prerequisite for any subsequent training is an invitation to consider it optional. And we all know what usually happens to “optional” under budget constraints.

However, this course should be seen as optional only by those divers who are somehow familiar with the use of technical equipment, who have a mindset more in line with the requirements of this type of diving, who plan and execute the dives the proper “technical” way, who know their gas consumption rate, who are not intimidated by non-decompression tables, who feel comfortable using their dive computers, and know the techniques and have at least an acceptable level of buoyancy, positioning, and propulsion. Those can go straight to a more advanced training course, such as TDI’s Advanced Nitrox.

We must ask ourselves whether or not we are in that group.

Remember our goal: to have fun

Recreational diving is our passion. Jumping into the water carrying heavy equipment and having properly dotted our I’s and crossed our T’s have only one ultimate goal: fun. This is the activity we have chosen as a hobby. We must enjoy it; it must give us pleasure and make us vibrate.

Having a good time is not optional!