Mark's Dive Log

As I mentioned earlier, I've been looking into technical dive training. After a lot of research, questioning a lot of people, and doubling my logged dive count I have enrolled in a Transition to Tech course that was designed by C. Stephen "Doc" Oborn to develop the diving skills of those interested in tech diving prior to starting the DSAT TecRec course. The idea is that if he can start training you to dive like a technical diver before you actually start the technical dive training, then the tech training will be that much easier. So instead of waiting until you have the 100 dives to start thinking and diving like a technical diver, you start before you've developed too many bad habits and then reinforce the tech thinking while getting the 100 dives.

Not only does this provide transition path from recreational style to technical style diving, it also makes it easier because you are learning some of the tech stuff earlier and reinforcing it with practice rather than practicing the recreational way for a while and then trying to switch mindsets. The course could be called "Advanced Deep Diver". It sits between the "Deep Diver" specialty and the "DSAT Tec Diver Level One" (previously called "Apprentice Tec Diver"). It's not a DSAT course because it stays within the recreational limits of no-decompression diving to 130 feet and air or Nitrox up to 40%.

Doc's transition course focuses on deep diving (between 70 and 130 feet) on air and Nitrox. You do these dives in a dry suit, so you get more dry suit practice as well. If you don't have the EAN, Deep, or Dry Suit certifications, Doc will integrate those courses into your training. In my case that meant we started the transition training with the dry suit and deep classes. Doc's background is in education and he seems to tailor his training to the students he's working with rather than trying to fit the students into a preset curriculum. In this way, his style reminds me more of flight training than traditional scuba training. Maybe it's a coincidence that he used to be Flight Instructor and an FAA Designated Pilot Examiner.

TDI was the certification agency that was recommended to me for tech training, but overall, the majority of technical divers seem to recommend finding a good instructor and to not worry about the agency since, in the end, they all teach the same stuff. The biggest difference between TDI and PADI/DSAT seems to be that TDI breaks up the training into a lot more courses. PADI basically has two courses, Tec Deep Diver and Tec Trimix Diver. (There's also the Tec Diver Level One which is really part of the Tec Deep Diver course and the Tec Gas Blender). TDI breaks this into "Intro to Tech Diving" (a brand new course similar to Doc's Transition to Tech course), "Nitrox Diver" (equivalent to PADI's recreational EAN course), "Advanced Nitrox" (covered in DSAT's "Tec Deep Diver"), "Decompression Procedures" (covered in "Tec Deep Diver"), "Extended Range" (covered in "Tec Deep Diver"), "Trimix Diver" (covered in "Tec Trimix Diver"), and "Advanced Trimix Diver" (covered in "Tec Trimix Diver"). TDI also has several overhead environment training courses that DSAT doesn't have, but I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

In any case, my next class will be spent putting together my tech rig, followed by a training dive to start practicing with doubles. That should be even more disconcerting than my first dry suit dive. Especially since I don't have that much experience in a dry suit yet.

I supposed the first skill a technical diver has to learn is how to dive in doubles. I get that opportunity this weekend. So, even though I had a brief taste of some technical dive training when we did the dry suit and deep diver specialties courses, this will be my first real technical dive training.

The dry suit class was basically just a recreational class except we were taught to use our suits tech style instead of rec style. That means we used both the dry suit and the BCD for buoyancy control instead of just the dry suit like you normally would in a pure recreational course. For the deep diver course, we practiced gas switching using a stage bottle hung at 20 feet (in standard recreational deep training the hanging bottle is just a bailout bottle in case you run out of air during your "safety stop"). We also did one dive using the tech diver rule of thirds to signal the end of our dive and then the final dive was done using run times and staged decompression stops (even though we were well within the no-deco limits). So these weren't really anything special: any recreational diver can do that.

This weekend, however, I'll be learning how to use a technical diving rig. This is a big departure from the standard recreational diving gear. In addition to having two tanks, the whole rig is different from the standard rec set up.

The first task is learning how to set up the gear, which we did this week. This started with connecting the two LP95 tanks together with an isolation manifold and tank bands. The tank bands are just metal bands that hold the tanks together and onto the rest of the rig. The tank valves and isolation manifold allow you to connect two regulators (one to each tank) and access the gas in both tanks from either regulator. Normally both regulators are drawing from both tanks. In the event of a regulator failure, you can turn off the valve to that regulator, but you are still getting air from both tanks using the remaining regulator. If, for some reason, you need to turn off the air from one of the tanks, you can close the isolation valve. Then each tank/regulator acts independently. I don't know know what situation that would be useful for, but I'm sure I'll learn that soon enough.

The next thing we did was set up the regulators. We used two Aeris AT400 Pro regs with DIN connections. The manifold is a Thermo 300 Bar DIN. You use DIN in tech diving because it's less likely to leak, especially if the connection gets knocked into something. Both regulators are high quality primary regulators. You don't use a standard octo in technical diving because the environment you are diving in requires that your backup be just as reliable as your primary. However, the second stage we designated as primary gets a seven foot hose instead of the standard hose. This regulator is connected to the right post and the hose routed down between you and your wing, then up across your chest and around your neck, left to right, and then into your mouth. The other regulator is mounted on the left post with the second stage hose going to the right and over your right shoulder. The second stage is attached to a regulator necklace. This holds your backup right below your chin, so in an out of gas emergency, you can hand off your long hose to your buddy and quickly pick up your backup. Both regulators get break-away clips. Basically this is just a gate clip attached to the hose using an o-ring and zip tie. If you have the regulator clipped off on a D-ring and you need it in an emergency, you can easily pull it off breaking the o-ring instead of fumbling with the clip.

Next we set up the harness on the backplate. The backplate is just a metal plate with holes and slots designed for routing nylon webbing to create the harness. We started with seven feet of two inch webbing which we routed through the various slots. In the process of doing this we added two D-rings to each shoulder strap and one to each waist strap. We added a metal belt buckle to connect the two waist straps and a plastic weight belt on the right side waist strap to hold the flashlight cannister (that I don't have yet). We finished it off by creating a crotch strap with a D-ring in the front and back, so you end up with four D-rings on your chest (two about shoulder level and two about three or four inches lower) and four on your waist (front, back, and each side).

Then we put it all together to see how it fit. Lay down the tanks with the tank band bolts pointing up. Put the wing on next with the bolts going through the appropriate grommets in the wing. Then put the backplate on the bolts and secure each bolt with a washer and wingnut. Next connect the regulators to the tank valves (long hose on right post and short hose on the left post). The LP hoses for the wing inflator and the dry suit inflator are connected to different regulators so you don't have all of your buoyancy on one regulator (redundancy). In our case, we are putting the wing inflator hose on the left post and the dry suit inflator hose on the right post. Additionally, the left post gets the SPG (with breakaway clip).

One other note. We removed all the hose boots. The reason for this is so we can see all the connections to look for cracks and leaks.

Comparing this set up to my recreational rig, it's simultaneously simpler and more complex. More complex because you have two tanks with an isolation manifold that you need to learn how to use. Simpler because there is not much to it. There is no integrated weight system, no fancy BCD inflation system, no adjustable tank strap that you have to set at the correct height every time you mount a tank. The tech rig is designed to be simple, redundant, and streamlined. Looking at a properly equipped technical diver, you will see that he's much more streamlined, in spite of the double tanks, larger wings, and other gear, than the average recreational diver. Recreational divers aren't general taught about streamlining, so they tend to jump in the water with all kinds of things hanging off off them. I know because I was one of them.

So the first think I learned from technical diving, streamlining my rig, will be an immediate benefit to my recreational diving.

This weekend we'll be headed for Gilboa Quarry for my first dive in doubles. This could be called my second dive weekend in the transition to tech course, since we started working on thinking like a tech diver during our dry suit and deep diver certification dives last month. In spite of the cold, it should be a good time.

When I started my dry suit class, everyone told me that learning to dive in a dry suit was like starting all over again, and they were right. So when I was told learning to dive in doubles is like starting all over again, I took it to heart.

The first thing about the technical rig (other than the weight of the doubles) is the change in philosophy. For one, in recreational diving, you keep your octo available for your buddy in an out of air emergency. You would only use it for yourself if your primary regulator failed. In technical diving, your two regulators are equal and you donate your primary to your buddy and take your back-up for yourself. This makes a lot of sense because in an emergency you want to make sure your buddy is getting a good, working air source. If you are breathing off of a deco bottle, handing your buddy the regulator in your mouth is your only option, so it's a good habit to get into. I guess the thought is that by the time you get to technical diving you are competent enough to deal with not having a regulator in your mouth for extended periods, so making sure your buddy has a good air source is more important.

Another difference is that technical divers focus on streamlining their rig. Recreational divers nearly always have things hanging down from them while they're swimming. Even if your octo and console are clipped off properly, the hoses tend to be long and looping, so they dangle. I used to always carry my dive tables on a ring with my dive slate. The whole bunch was clipped to a D-ring on my BCD, but when I was swimming, they hang. Recreational divers frequently snag their hoses on stuff. In tech diving, you focus on removing as many snag hazards as possible.

So before getting in the water, we check to make sure everything is routed correctly. Hoses are routed so they don't hang loose, everything that is loose is clipped to a D-ring to minimize danglies. Because you donate your primary regulator (the one on the seven foot hose) in an out of air emergency, you need to make sure it's not trapped by any other hoses or equipment. Double check your LP inflator hoses to your wings and dry suit. Make sure your regulators are functioning correctly. Once in the water, you check all of this again and follow it up with a bubble check of your buddy. A bubble check is basically just checking for bubbles coming out of your buddy's manifold or regulator connections. It's all about safety. Every critical piece of equipment is backed up. The primary and backup are double or triple checked.

So this is what I'm thinking about as we prepare for our first dive.

After checking and double checking everything, putting some air in my wing, and rubbing some defog on my mask, I was ready to get into the water for the first time. I followed Mike, one of the instructors, down the stairs into the water. With the crowd at the stairs, I made my first mistake: I decided to float out and put my fins on once I got away from the stairs. Well, it turns out I didn't have enough air in my wings and without my fins on (and no mask and no regulator in my mouth) keeping afloat while I found the inflator was a struggle. Fortunately it was a minor issue. A bigger problem was that trying to put on my fins while floating was a lot harder than in recreational gear. I was like a turtle on its back floating with legs out of the water. Live and learn, I guess.

Once we were all in the water and everything checked, we dropped down to the 70' platform for some buoyancy drills. First was the pin fivot. This is supposed to be the same as what you did in your open water training: get neutrally buoyant and then pivot on your fin tips as you inhale and exhale. Unfortunately, with the light fins I had on and the heavy rig on my back, I couldn't keep my fins on the platform, so it was more of an elevator than a pivot. Additionally, one strap was looser than the other, so the rig wasn't centered on my back. That made me want to roll over to my right. So my pin fivot wasn't very good. Next I had to get neutrally buoyant a couple of feet above the platform and float there. Finally, we headed off for the other side of the quarry. It was a nice long 55 minute dive that gave me plenty of time to get used to the new rig. The dive ended back at the original dock with several decompression stops (even though we were well within no-deco limits).

Our second dive of the day was a bit simpler. The plan was to dive to bottom of the quarry (120 feet), go to a submerged trailer, and then follow the north wall until someone reached their turn pressure. Well, we never found the trailer, but the north wall is impossible to miss, so we swam out and back along the wall, followed again by practice decompression stops. By this time I'm starting to feel pretty comfortable in the tech rig and operating the dry suit is starting to become second nature. All seems to be going well.

We woke up the next day to rain. The forecast called for rain all day. Now rain isn't a big deal when it's warm. But in northern Ohio in November, rain makes a cold day miserable. We decided that we would do our two dives back to back with a short surface interval.

The plan for the first dive was to demonstrate an S-drill. An S-drill is basically practicing emergency procedures. This one was to practice an out of air emergency. First Doc would demonstrate with Mike, then he would work with me. So we descended to the 70' platform and I dumped enough air from my wing to kneel solidly on the platform to watch Doc and Mike go through the drill. When they were done, Doc turned to me, signaled "OK", which I returned, and then gave the out of air signal.

As I said, in technical diving you donate our primary regulator on the seven foot hose and then put your backup in your mouth. To do this, you duck your head while pulling the regulator out with your right hand to unwrap it from your neck. This is why it needs to be free from the rest of your equipment. In this case, somehow my backup hose was covering my long hose. I had failed to fully check it at the surface. The result was that after donating my long hose, I couldn't get my backup fully in my mouth. I only had the left side of the mouthpiece in my mouth and running out of breath I had to inhale, which resulted in a lung full of quarry water.

Now, most scuba divers have inhaled small amounts of water at some point. It's not an uncommon thing, and even underwater, not a big deal as long as you have a functioning regulator in your mouth. But when you don't have a functioning regulator in your mouth, and you know it, and you're sitting at 70 feet below the surface, I don't imagine too many people who wouldn't have at least a moment's pause. Panic would not be an unusual reaction. Having just inhaled a nice mouthful of water and still not having my regulator completely in my mouth, and knowing that I'm at 70' feet, I had my first moment of real panic underwater.

What went though mind was something like: "Oh crap! Regulator's not in my mouth! I'm sucking water! Where's the regulator! I gotta get to the surface! NOW!" That took approximately a tenth of a second to flash through my brain. The next half of a second was: "I'm at 70', I'll never make the surface. My regulator is in my mouth, just not fully. Just relax, I can straighten this out out. The long hose must be wrapped around the short hose pulling it away from me. Pull the long hose away from Doc! No, don't do that, just try harder to get the back up completely in my mouth. Purge!" My hand was still on the regulator, so hitting the purge button happened pretty quick. That allowed me to get more air in my mouth along with more water, but now that I was expecting water I was able to keep from inhaling it. Still, I hadn't been able to cough yet because I didn't have the regulator in my mouth and I was afraid that if I coughed, I would involuntarily inhale while coughing which would make matters worse.

By this point Doc was well aware of my situation and he was returning my long hose to me. In fact, he told me later, he was getting ready to shove it in my mouth. I saw him offer a regulator to me (I didn't know it was my long hose, I just saw a regulator), but I didn't want to take the regulator that I had out of mouth, so I put up my hand to signal "wait". Since he was handing back my long hose, the stress on the short hose was gone and I was able to get the backup fully into my mouth and hit the purge button. I forgot to plug the mouthpiece with my tongue, so I ended up with more water in my mouth, but I managed not to inhale it and then I managed to get a full breath for the first time since taking my primary regulator out of my mouth. I think this was my third breath on the backup, so only a few seconds had passed.

Now I had myself under control, but I knew I didn't look like it, so I kept my hand up to let Doc know I was handling it. I wasn't OK yet, so I didn't want to signal "OK", but I needed to communicate something, so "wait" was the only thing that came out. He saw that I was responsive and coherent, so he let me handle, but he continued to hold my primary in front of my face in case I needed it.

After a coughing fit and a few seconds of breathing water free air I gave Doc the OK sign and switched to my primary regulator. Then Doc untangled my hoses for me, took my primary and wrapped it around my neck and everything was back to normal. The whole event, from the time Doc gave the out of air signal until I had all of my equipment back in place and I was breathing normally was probably only a minute, but it felt like a lot longer. I had two simultaneous thoughts: "I want to get out of the water" and "I hope Doc doesn't end the dive".

Fortunately, Doc is experienced enough to know "when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em" and with all the excitement over, he signaled "8-0" and "level off" indicating that 80 feet was our hard deck (maximum depth) for this dive, as we had discussed on the surface. I signaled OK and we swam off the platform. We immediately started descending and when we reached 80 feet, I stopped descending, but Doc and Mike kept going. I wasn't sure if he had changed his mind or if he was testing me to see if I would follow him below the hard deck. Doc looked up at me and I gave the "level off" signal, but he kept going down. I ended up descending a few feet below 80, but then Doc started swimming along the wall to the shallow side of the quarry per the dive plan, so I followed, keeping my depth about 80'. At the end of the dive, when we talked about it, Doc said he was testing me, but he was looking for me to come down and stop him. Next time, I'll know.

The rest of the dive was rather uneventful. We swam up to the shallow end past a submerged school bus and helicopter and through the cabin of a submerged plane. Then we practiced decompression stops and surfaced on the opposite side of the quarry from where we started. The first thing I did was cough out more quarry water. Then we debriefed, discussing the various events in the dive.

For the next dive, the goal was retrace our steps (or rather kicks) back to the deep dock, but with the short surface interval, we set our hard deck to 50' for the way back. Additionally, Doc wanted me to lead the dive. This was the first time I had lead a training dive, which was kind of neat.

Once we were ready to go, I signaled "descend" and we all slipped below the surface and began our swim back to the deep end of the pool. Part of the purpose of me leading was so Doc could see whether or not I could get us back. Fortunately, from our position, the route back was pretty simple. We were about twenty feet from the tail of the plane. The route back was to swim to the front of the plane, which gets you to the helicopter. There's a rope off the front of the plane that takes you past the helicopter to the school bus. Once you reach the bus, you are only fifteen to twenty feet from the deep side wall. Then you just follow the wall all the way back to the deep platform.

The trip back was pretty uneventful. Once we hit the deep wall, I kept my depth between 46 and 49 feet the whole way. When we got back to the deep platform (or at least above it, I signaled "up" and led us through the deco stops. I forgot to look at the time, so I was just guessing on the stop durations, so I need to work on that, but I went through the motions. It was, for me, the best dive of the weekend. It was also the shortest at 23 minutes.

After we surfaced, Doc and Mike critiqued the dive. They complemented me on keeping to the plan and checking back frequently, but they said I was kicking too fast. So I need to slow down.

All in all, it was a good weekend in spite of the weather and the small problem I had on the third dive. I'm starting to feel very comfortable in the dry suit and by the end of the weekend, I was getting very comfortable with the tech rig. The big things I learned this weekend were:

1. Always do a long hose check on the surface to make sure your long hose isn't trapped.

2. I still need to get some better fins for tech diving.

3. I need a lower volume mask for tech diving.

4. This was the first time I had used a wrist mount computer and now I don't ever want to use a console computer again.

Unfortunately, this was probably my last dive of the year, so it will be a while before I can put these lessons to use, but hopefully I'll have the right fins and a new computer by then.

Most scuba certification agencies have a Master Scuba Diver certification. For most, the requirements are 50 logged dives and some number of specialties. Most require either Advanced Open Water or Rescue Diver certification. NAUI doesn't require any specialties, but requires eight training dives as part of the course. For most others, there is no course, it's simply an application after you have reached all the prerequisites.

So some would say that the NAUI Master Scuba Diver is better trained than the others since it's actually a training course. However, it only requires Advanced Open Water and no specialties. PADI Master Scuba Diver isn't a course, just an application, but you need to be a Rescue Diver and have five specialties.

So I suppose it's a wash. If you are a NAUI Master or a PADI Master, or an SSI Master, it's all about the same.

Regardless of what it is, I don't feel like a particularly experienced diver; in fact, I feel like a student. Sure, I have a lot more knowledge and skill than the average Open Water student, but I still feel like a student. I suppose if you put it in the context of school, Open Water is your Freshman year, Advanced Open Water is your Sophomore year, Rescue Diver is your Junior year, and Master is your Senior year. I think that about fits.

From here on out, it's graduate level courses. Divemaster is like becoming a college T.A. From there, Assistant Instructor, Open Water Instructor, Master Scuba Diver Instructor, etc are all various levels of graduate school/professorship. Sure you can learn with straight dive experience, but teaching can give you a whole new perspective on a subject.

I had never intended to become a scuba instructor. Not even Divemaster appealed to me six months ago. A lot has changed since then. A couple of months ago I said that I could see myself ending up as an instructor. Now it's starting to become a goal. Unless the Divemaster course changes my mind.

So now I'm a Master Scuba Diver, but I don't feel like a master. More like a master in training. Maybe all the tech stuff I've been doing lately has shown me a little bit of how much I don't know yet. Maybe the stupid mistakes I made last weekend humbled me. Regardless of why, I think accepting that there's a lot I don't know will help me in my training over the next year...