Cow Springs Cave Dive

TDD Director, Decompression Diving Karl Shreeves, PADI Course Director Harry Averill, cave diver Devon Fleming and PADI Course Director Grant Graves dive Cow Springs in North Florida on 8 November 2009 following the DEMA Show.

TecRec Events in Greece

Η PADI διοργανώνει σεμινάριο TecRec και προγράμματα Discover Tec, το Σάββατο 5 Δεκεμβρίου στην Αθήνα.

For non technical divers: Now there is a great opportunity to try how it feels to dive with a full technical diving rig. Free of charge. Everyone interested are welcome!

For technical divers: First ever TecRec seminar in Greece where you can hear the latest developments in the technical diver training and about technical diving in Greece. Seminar fee 10 euros, please note the registration.

TecRec seminar
Date: Saturday 5th of December 2009
Time:   09:00-12:00 Discover Tec – try diving with full technical diving equipment led by a TecRec Instructor
           13:00-18:00 TecRec seminar – presentations about technical diving and TecRec training programs
Venue: Oasis Hotel, 27, Poseidonos Ave., 166 75 Glyfada, Athens – Greece

The Discover Tec is conducted in the hotel pool and led by TecRec Instructors free of charge. Full technical diving rigs are available. Participant minimum prerequisities: Certified PADI OWD or equivalent from another training organization, 18 years old, 10 logged dives. Own mask, fins and divesuit needed.
TecRec seminar will be conducted by PADI Regional Manager Immi Wallin and we will have guest speakers giving presentations about technical diving in Greece.
The seminar fee is 10 euros. Coffee and refreshments are offered during the seminar.
There is a special offer for Instructor cross overs, Tec Instructor Exams will be conducted during the TecRec Seminar in Athens.

Hotel Oasis is offering accommodation for the seminar participants with the following special rates:
- Single occupancy room € 60.00 BB
- Double occupancy room € 80.00 BB

Please, register your attendance latest by 20th of November to immi.wallin@padi.co.uk Please inform us if you want to participate to the Discover Tec pool session or to the TecRec seminar or both!

It is possible to book room reservations directly to Hotel Oasis oasis@ath.forthnet.gr

Cave Diving News

The National Speological Society – Cave Diving Section (NSS-CDS) officially wrote into the minutes of the Training Committee Meeting held this month recognition of the PADI Cavern Diver course.  In addition, the Training Committee approved a proposal to develop a pre approved outline for NSS Instructor members who hold PADI MSDT certification to download and apply for the new PADI Cave Diver Distinctive Specialty which was unveiled at the DEMA show.

Poll: what do you think of the new TecRec courses?

By now you may have had a chance to learn about the new range of TecRec courses. Below is a semi-serious poll to see what you think of the changes. Feel free to ‘leave a comment’  about the changes at the bottom of this post too.

Diving in the Eagle’s Nest

Steve Mortell, Director of Cave Diving in PADI’s Technical Diving Division, recently made a dive in the Eagle’s Nest, described by some as the Mount Everest of Cave Diving. Just prior to the DEMA show, Steve along with Jeff Loflin, Bobby Smallwood and Kevin Kirk headed to Lockwood tunnel reaching approximately 650 feet back in the system.

Brazilian Wrecks Explored with Sidemount Rigs

By Eduardo Macedo, TecRec Trimix Instructor Trainer

Dear Tec friends.

We have now conducted several dives on the wrecks of Recife, PE (Brazil) with the configuration of sidemount. This configuration also allows more mobility in the boat, and allows us to get in environments never before explored by tec divers with doubles cylinders in the back. See the photos (speaks for itself).

I am writing a distinctive specialty for Advanced Wreck Sidemount. I’ve used the setting sidemount to explore some wrecks since I made my course sidemount in 1998 with Cave Instructor Bill Rennaker in Florida. Besides caves, I have used sidemount to explore the many shipwrecks in Brazil. Where the ease of using simple cylinder (S80) that any (recreational) Dive Center can provide, allows you to get to places previously unexplored.

The use of sidemount here in Brazil makes it much easier Tec diving since most operators in the Northeast (where there are the greatest number of wrecks) are operators that work exclusively with recreational diving and don’t have doubles with manifold. PADI/DSAT was very happy to accept this approach (I waited years for this), because now we can dive anywhere in Brazil where there is a recreational service provider.

New TecRec Training Materials

Tec Diver Course Instructor Guide
(includes newly revised instructor guide and instructor appendix CD-ROM)
- replaces 70407 Tec Deep Inst. Guide
Product # 70605

Tec 40-45-50 Instructor Slates Set
Newly-revised 19 slate set, coil-bound and printed on “wet notes.”
- replaces 60204 Tec Deep Inst. Cue Cards
Product # 60420

Tec Diver Course Lesson Guides CD-ROM
- replaces 70838 Tec Deep Lesson Guides
Product # 70913

Tec Trimix Instructor Guide
(includes instructor guide and Tec Trimix 65 addendum)
If you already own the Tec Trimix Instructor Guide, please contact PADI Training regarding the revisions. Product # 70430

Exams
Tec 40 student exam (product # 71040)
Tec 45 student exam (product # 71045)
Tec 50 student exam (product # 71050)

Blank answer sheets and answer keys are in the Tec Diver Instructor Guide and will be available soon on the PADI Pros site.

The instructor-level exams have changed. If you are a TecRec Instructor Trainer please contact PADI for details.

Unchanged Items
None of the student materials have changed for any of the courses.
No changes to the Equipment Set-Up DVD.

Gas Blender: none of the Gas Blender materials have changed. The instructor guide is now in a new binder so it matches the other guides, but the content is unchanged.

Tec Trimix: students use the Tec Trimix student exam for the Tec Trimix 65 course. Instructors can continue to use the same Trimix Lesson Guides.

Promotional

The new TecRec ‘Go Beyond’ brochure is product # 19205.

If you have any questions about implementing the new courses, the changes that have taken place, or becoming a PADI TecRec instructor or diver, contact your local PADI TDD Technical Consultant.

Tek Chicks

Article by Ayesha Cantrell, TecRec Instructor, of Thailand Technical Diving

Female technical divers certainly seem to be in the minority and I always seem to be stuck on a boat with guys comparing hose length and discussing penetration. Imagine how happy I was to teach my first female student and have an all girls tech team. That prompted me to try and understand why there are considerably less of us and maybe break down some of the barriers.

By training as a technical diver you are agreeing to accept the increased risks that come from exceeding the no decompression limit. Females are naturally more cautious which I believe is part of what inhibits their participation yet ironically caution is a strong trait in any good technical diver.

You might also be concerned about all the gear, its weight and your physical strength. There is a lot of gear and yes it’s heavier than your recreational kit but I’m all of 5 foot and I manage. I’m certainly not skipping around the deck but I can giant stride off with 4 tanks. Once you’re in the water the kit becomes more manageable – the same as your recreational kit does. And here’s the inside scoop…yes there’s more of it but it’s no more technical than your recreational kit. If you understand how that works then you’ll understand this. Your kit, simply put, is doubled. You take 2 of everything, just to be sure, rather like a handbag really!

The pre-requisites of technical training mean that you are already quite an experienced diver and unless you are a dive professional tec training will be the most intensive course you have taken since your rescue course. This in itself could leave any diver a little intimidated but at this level it’s likely that you have been conducting your own dives for a while and have a good understanding of dive theory too. We teach you the rest …remember…if we were fish then we wouldn’t need to take a course, so don’t be frightened about learning something new!

Technical diving deepens your understanding of dive theory and really sharpens your techniques underwater. Courses are actually split too so that you don’t have to commit to the full thing. A basic technical course will broaden your skills and knowledge as well as giving you the opportunity to decide if you want to continue to full decompression diving.

It doesn’t actually seem that long ago that ladies were in the minority on recreational boats and I hope the numbers of tec chicks will increase too. But please don’t make me wait too long as I really need to have a serious conversation about crotch straps.

DEMA TecRec Seminars a Success

Two seminars were conducted at the DEMA show in Orlando, USA on the 4th and 5th November; one on the future of CCRs in the recreational field and one explaining the range of new TecRec courses. Although they were conducted in 100 and 150 seat rooms respectively, they were both fully subscribed.

In the CCR talk, Mark Caney (Director, Rebreather Technologies in the PADI TDD) explored what is needed for these devices to become mainstream tools for recreational divers. Towards the end of his talk he outlined PADI’s policy regarding supervisory staff using rebreathers when running PADI courses. This new policy, which comes into being in the first quarter of 2010, essentially states that staff can use CCRs on any dives where indirect supervision is allowed, with certain other limitations.

The second presentation had Steve Mortell, Jeff Loflin and Mark Caney as presenters. Mark outlined the new range of courses, Steve, the TDD Director, Cave Diving, described the new TecRec distinctive specialty options, including Cave Diver. Jeff, an extremely experienced Cave Diving instructor and TecRec IT, explained how sidemount could be a very valid option for open water diving as well as for penetration diving. Dive Rite, Oxycheck and OMS also attended and gave short demonstrations of their sidemount harnesses.

An indicator of how the changes to the TecRec range were received was that at the end of the conference, 25 instructors who held other agencies’ technical diving qualifications elected to take the Tec Instructor exam on the spot so that they could take advantage of the new courses.

ISO Gas Blender Standard Under Development

International experts from the diving industries of Austria, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, Germany, Italy, Malaysia, Norway, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, UK and USA gathered in Orlando during the last two days to discuss draft ISO standards for diving. One of the standards under negotiation covers the requirements for a Gas Blender rating. This standard is now largely drafted in its initial form and will be moving to the next stage of development.