Revisting the TDI Intro to Tech Class

Last year, I wrote a post about the importance of the TDI Intro to Tech class. Since then I have received many emails about the course and why I teach it the way I do. So I thought I would revisit the topic again in order to clear up a couple of the most popular issues I get about the class.

The Deco Bottle Argument
Many people have asked me why I don’t teach my Intro to Tech students deco/stage bottle usage. It’s simple. Many people who sign up for my class have not been introduced to such topics as situational awareness, team diving, and propulsion techniques. For many students, the Into to Tech class is the first time they tried diving a double tank configuration. To add the extra task loading of diving with, and using, a deco/stage bottle would significantly restrict student learning.

Students should be focused on learning how to master the fundamental skills for diving in order to be successful in a technical diving course. If a student’s buoyancy control or situational awareness is weak, then it makes no sense to have them start doing bottle work. The task loading the bottle brings will only distract the student’s focus from mastering the fundamental skills. This will hamper their learning in order to be successful in a technical diving course.

At the end of the day, the TDI Intro to Tech class is still a recreational diving class. A few people have argued that by teaching bottle usage, it will prepare the student to safely dive a pony bottle. People who know me, know that I am not an advocate of a pony bottle. When combined with buddy awareness, proper gas management and planning, a dive team does not need to rely on a pony bottle to give them extra or emergency gas. The team’s gas reserves serve as emergency gas. Thus, divers do not need to use or rely on pony bottles.

It’s All About Control
The one thing that I preach about the most in all of the classes I teach, is staying in control. Control over your equipment, control of your dive plan, control of team positioning, and control over your own position in the water. In my previous post about why I took some time off from technical diving, I talked about my experiences in my own technical diving courses. Especially during my trimix course, I did not have control over any of the things I just mentioned. To be success in any intense course, such as a technical diving course, students must display a certain control in the water.

During my Intro to Tech class, one of my goals as an instructor is to put the students into stressful situations. That is, take the students out of their comfort zones. The reason for this is to see how the students react to the situation presented before them. Can they stay in control of the team and remain in control of their fundamental diving skills? By seeing how the students react, can help them determine if they are ready for technical diving courses. The Intro to Tech course just isn’t a method to introduce potential technical students to technical diving, it should be to help them determine if they can handle a strong technical diving class.

Summary
In my opinion, the course needs to focus on complete mastery of fundamental diving skills and remaining in control. As most traditional scuba diving courses do not cover this in great detail, the class would greatly enhance the recreational scuba diver’s abilities and should not be limited only to people considering technical diving.

The great thing about this course is that TDI gives their instructors the freedom to teach the class how they want. TDI instructors are encouraged to exceed the course standards and even add skills and scenarios to enhance the student’s learning. This is why it is so important for the prospective student to do a thorough job researching prospective instructors for courses such as this.

Dive Safe,
Duane
Precision Diving

Technorati Tags: Deco Bottle, Intro to Tech, technical diving, scuba diving