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Heh. I know a PADI OW instructor (one of the worst, even for PADI) that has a TDI Nitrox Instructor shingle, and has never drawn a breath of the stuff. He spent 8 hours in a class room, and came out with a TDI Instructor shingle. No dives. Immediately after getting his shingle, I asked him to do a simple MOD calculation for me, and he blew it three times. Had to look at a chart. Nuff said. Scott ----- Original Message ----- From: "Michael Blitch" <mblitch1@ta*.rr*.co*> To: <techdiver@aquanaut.com> Cc: <kirvine@sa*.ne*> Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 1999 10:29 AM Subject: Re: Big Von is a trimix instructor? > On Tue, 07 Dec 1999 19:07:34 +0000, you wrote: > > >It's no secret, I am a TDI instructor trainer. Anytime any of you guys want to > >make a dive let me know. You bring your setup and I'll bring mine. > >Von > > I just got this e-mail/newsletter from Steve Gerrard today that mentioned TDI. I > heard the TDI was the worst agency to learn anything from, but these examples > seem to prove the point beyond any doubt. > > ****************** > > TDI BOYCOTT > > Whoa! Boycott? That's the strong word I'm getting from many cave > Instructors, cave divers, dive stores and businesses here in the Riviera > Maya and in Florida! Apparently, more individuals have become TDI Cave > Instructors during the past year. This past week, Joe Odom was staying in > Akumal conducting a TDI Cavern & Cave Instructor IEC for a group of seven > candidates. What is making everyone upset is some of the individuals lack the > proper cave diving experience in general and everyone questions if these seven > candidates have ever assisted with cavern and cave courses to qualify attending > the IEC as established and agreed by all agencies offering cavern & cave > Instructor certifications. I am told that at the 1999 DEMA Trade Show in New > Orleans there was a meeting between the Training Directors and Chairmen of the > NACD, NSS-CDS, IANTD and TDI and that these four agencies would adhere to follow > minimum standards. Joe Odom promised he would follow these standards. > > An example is a fellow named Jose Barbi who lives in Cozumel. Jose told me > months ago he has assisted with the required minimum two cavern courses > with German Mendoza to qualify for the TDI IEC. German tells me Jose has > never assisted with any cavern courses. So what is going on? > > Personally, I'm still upset with the fiasco of 1998 when Joe appointed Al > Pertner a TDI Cave Instructor Trainer in February, 1998. The problem was > AL certified several individuals as TDI Cave Instructors and these people > had less than 50 logged cave dives and no or little experience assisted > with cavern and cave courses. Plus, they never went through the process of > teaching cavern courses, building experience, then becoming Introduction To > Cave Instructors, teaching a few of those types of courses and then > qualifying to attend a Full Cave TDI IEC. It got so bad they that TDI > revoked Al's Instructor Trainer certification. Everyone along the > Riviera Maya was calling it Easy Al's TDI Express machine. > > Here's an example: I certified Nicholai Toussaint and a full cave diver > during late October, 1997. The summer of 1998, Nicholai becomes a TDI Full > Cave Instructor and was one the evaluators for the TDI IEC > during December 2nd - 5th, 1999. > Another individual I certified as a full cave diver was Scott Bonis. Scott > is an engineer retired from the NASA Apollo Space program. He travels > around the United States and Mexico in his RV with his wife. > He spends every winter in Paalmu Beach campground until this year where he > bought a condo in Puerto Aventuras. He became a TDI Full Cave Instructor > the summer of 1998. How does anyone acquire the necessary experience in > underwater caves with that type of schedule? > > Matt Matthes wrote a message recently on the Internet caver's list voicing > his concern as he familiar with several of the candidates in the local TDI > IEC. Like I said, everyone is pissed and the word boycott is being stated > everywhere. German Mendoza is a TDI Cave Instructor (and NACD) and he > wrote a very strong letter to Brett Gilliam - President & Owner of TDI > voicing his concern with this problem. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't > think anyone is against these or any individuals in becoming cavern or cave > Instructors. It's just must be done correctly following the standards > established within the cavern and cave diving community. Does this make > sense? Enough said! > > > -- > The lottery is a tax on people who are bad at math. > -- > Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. > Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'. -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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