Mailing List Archive

Mailing List: techdiver

Message Display

Greg Dawe wrote:

> > It was expressed that there was not enough in the technical nitrox or deep 
> > air courses to justify them as separate courses, and that they could be 
> > rolled into the trimix course. The combined length could be shortened by 
> > about a day. 
> 
> Hmmmm.  I think you need to qualify that remark.  Perhaps what you are saying
> is "there was not enough NEW INFORMATION FOR ME in the technical nitrox or
> deep air courses to justify them as separate course"?
> 
> If you are diver without previous staged decompression diving experience, then
> deep air is a good course to begin with.  I suspect that the IANTD courses are
> setup so that they can be taken progressively by less experienced divers AND
> can be taken here-and-there by more experienced divers who have a defined
> need.  From your posting it sounds as if you fit into the second category.

On reflection I think you have a good point here. Staged decompression is
nothing unusual for me, however, talking to others, even those who have been
diving for a long time, there is a sort of "fear of the unknown" when it
comes to decompression. They have been told it is against the rules for so
long that it is shrouded in mystery and they feel that only those steeped
in the black arts know how to do it safely.

I should point out that I have only looked through the manuals for these
courses and talked to those that have done them. I haven't been on the
courses.

The comment about the Technical Nitrox course was made by someone else.
His comment was that there was nothing to justify the amount of time spent
on it; the main part was CNS tracking and that the stuff on psychology of
stress, mixing, and decompression was really part of the trimix course. He
did qualify this by saying that he deals with nitrox a lot and perhaps he
was under-estimating the value of the information, but he felt that the 
whole thing could have been done in a morning.

Alan

Navigate by Author: [Previous] [Next] [Author Search Index]
Navigate by Subject: [Previous] [Next] [Subject Search Index]

[Send Reply] [Send Message with New Topic]

[Search Selection] [Mailing List Home] [Home]