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--Apple-Mail-4-433002118 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed Bruce asked me why I had a negative opinion of TDI. Here are my thoughts. I'd be interested to hear the experiences of others: My own experience with TDI was the basis of my opinion and buttressed by input from others. Back in 1995 I did a course with their training director. Deep Air (Extended Range), Advanced Nitrox and Trimix over a long weekend. Our first dives were to 213' on air in Forty Fathom Grotto. I sat on the hood of a VW and did some math. As we worked through the weekend we completed all the work for the other courses and I passed the tests and the water work, but expressed some misgivings about my ability with math generally, so the instructor decided to delay the Trimix cert card until I felt more "solid." After some prompting he subsequently emailed me a test which I easily could have completed, but of course, I could have had someone else do it for me or simply could have copied the answers out of a book. That experience, along with other input about TDI and their approach solidified my attitude. Early in their history (I can't confirm this myself, so I present it here as a rumor) I heard from what I considered to be reliable sources that they had a pretty easy vetting process for instructor "crossovers." Pay the fee and BAM! you're a TDI instructor. Is this true? Dunno, but I'm sure someone here can prove or disprove it. But even more notorious are the Deep Air "outings" sponsored by TDI like the infamous "wah-wah" incident which you can find a description of here: http://www.subaqua.co.uk/reference/wah-wah.shtml Or the death on Deep Air of Rob Palmer at another TDI conclave: http://www.divernet.com/profs/palmer399.htm Following that incident, some people, ostensibly TDI people, were putting out online that Rob must have died "spontaneously" from some physical ailment. In other words, he suited up for a deep dive in doubles, then had some kind of an attack, passed out and fell in the water and dropped deep before anyone could get to him. That didn't wash and it wasn't too long before the real nature of the dive weekend came out. People change. Even agencies change. I understand that TDI has changed the deep air component of its Tech coursework . . . up to 180 fsw on air. But the "usual suspects" are still at work there, so I can't imagine that much of a change. Bret Gilliam, infamous deep air diver and proud proponent of a beer between dives, is still president, so how much change could there be? You can find Bret's "beer" article here: http://www.scubadiving.com/training/instruction/rules.shtml And in the same magazine elsewhere, a warning against drinking beer (and why) even in the evening before a dive day: http://www.scubadiving.com/training/medicine/dangersdehydration.shtml That same magazine that Bret writes for has also promoted solo diving. SDI, the OW component of TDI has a course for solo training, so you do the math. You can see why I never answered that email. After some reflection I decided that I'd be better off taking a real Trimix course. JoeL --Apple-Mail-4-433002118 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/enriched; charset=US-ASCII Bruce asked me why I had a negative opinion of TDI. Here are my thoughts. I'd be interested to hear the experiences of others: My own experience with TDI was the basis of my opinion and buttressed by input from others. Back in 1995 I did a course with their training director. Deep Air (Extended Range), Advanced Nitrox and Trimix over a long weekend. Our first dives were to 213' on air in Forty Fathom Grotto. I sat on the hood of a VW and did some math. As we worked through the weekend we completed all the work for the other courses and I passed the tests and the water work, but expressed some misgivings about my ability with math generally, so the instructor decided to delay the Trimix cert card until I felt more "solid." After some prompting he subsequently emailed me a test which I easily could have completed, but of course, I could have had someone else do it for me or simply could have copied the answers out of a book. That experience, along with other input about TDI and their approach solidified my attitude. Early in their history (I can't confirm this myself, so I present it here as a rumor) I heard from what I considered to be reliable sources that they had a pretty easy vetting process for instructor "crossovers." Pay the fee and BAM! you're a TDI instructor. Is this true? Dunno, but I'm sure someone here can prove or disprove it. But even more notorious are the Deep Air "outings" sponsored by TDI like the infamous "wah-wah" incident which you can find a description of here: <underline><color><param>1998,1998,FFFE</param>http://www.subaqua.co .uk/reference/wah-wah.shtml</color></underline> Or the death on Deep Air of Rob Palmer at another TDI conclave: <underline><color><param>1998,1998,FFFE</param>http://www.divernet.c om/profs/palmer399.htm</color></underline> Following that incident, some people, ostensibly TDI people, were putting out online that Rob must have died "spontaneously" from some physical ailment. In other words, he suited up for a deep dive in doubles, then had some kind of an attack, passed out and fell in the water and dropped deep before anyone could get to him. That didn't wash and it wasn't too long before the real nature of the dive weekend came out. People change. Even agencies change. I understand that TDI has changed the deep air component of its Tech coursework . . . up to 180 fsw on air. But the "usual suspects" are still at work there, so I can't imagine that much of a change. Bret Gilliam, infamous deep air diver and proud proponent of a beer between dives, is still president, so how much change could there be? You can find Bret's "beer" article here: <underline><color><param>1998,1998,FFFE</param>http://www.scubadivin g.com/training/instruction/rules.shtml</color></underline> And in the same magazine elsewhere, a warning <italic>against </italic> drinking beer (and why) even in the evening<italic> before </italic>a dive day: <underline><color><param>1998,1998,FFFE</param>http://www.scubadivin g.com/training/medicine/dangersdehydration.shtml</color></underline> That same magazine that Bret writes for has also promoted solo diving. SDI, the OW component of TDI has a course for solo training, so you do the math. You can see why I never answered that email. After some reflection I decided that I'd be better off taking a <italic>real</italic> Trimix course. JoeL --Apple-Mail-4-433002118-- -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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