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At this 'level', I think it all comes down to picking the 'right' instructor. But then what's an instructor - it's only a name! Pick a guy that you can learn from, who can offer what you are looking for - experience, down to earth and not just in it for a fast buck! The guy who's doing our Trimix course only wanted us to be Tech Nitrox and all we needed for Tech was Advanced Nitrox and all we needed for that was to be a diver way back when we started this whole shabang! Both the nitrox courses IMO just taught us to 'suck eggs' with minimal new knowledge. Most of the stuff we were already doing, but as much as I hate it, you still need to jump through certain hoops to get that card in your wallet to get you the necessary fills - until our homebrew is up and running (Yes - with our own compressor! - not long now) Training and experience goes hand in hand when it comes to this diving. I'm a firm believer in knowing your limits, but where we are diving, it's hard to find a 'big brother' to learn from and much of our learning has been by slowly creeping over thin ice! Not the best way to skin this cat. The same guy that did our Tech course is doing our Trimix and we know him through a mutual dive buddy. He has a feel for our abilities from a 3rd party. Our Tech course practical wasn't to 'prove' we could do some mega dive, infact it started in the swimming pool! He thinks it's damn right dangerous taking people he doesn't really know to the edge - can't disagree! He knows we are already doing the style of diving this course teaches, although he teaches it the same regardless. The emphasis was on technique. So we plopped to 25m (75ft) made sure everyone was fine, then did 35mins of simulated staged decompression - to show we could adhere to run time, buoyancy control at stops, gas switches etc. The second dive was 60mins in 6m (18ft) doing practice, practice, practice.... switching, taking sides on/off, changing regs, turning off main tanks etc etc. All quite run of the mill - but does get the point across. He won't take any old Tom, Dick or Harry on to do Trimix, as he feels deep diving definately isn't for everyone. If he's happy with proceedings then he'll progress to Trimix. In doing so we've built up a relationship with the guy who we're learning from. We pick his brains and take onboard the good points that we agree with and he builds up a firm picture of us and our experience. He isn't just out to fleece us for easy money. I'm happy to pay for instruction under these circumstances and would prefer to be able to bounce ideas off an experienced mix diver rather than go it alone. We'll learn from him, adapt what we've learnt to suit us and ultimately end up diving with him! It's a two way relationship. We've gained and he's gained. We have a reliable mentour (for lack of a better word) and he has another member of the team to dive with. I know it isn't always that easy to 'adopt an instructor' but in this diving it's small circles and through asking and getting your face about you're sure to find a suitable instructor hidden away here or there who is mutually compatible! Learning or teaching with someone you want to dive with puts a whole new emphasis on the game. Just my ppO2's worth Alex ;o) -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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