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.
