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> > e. Is the saying true "you cant be a good deep mixed gas diver until your a
> >good deep air diver"?
>
> I don't dive mix, but I think this is a ridiculous statement. Technology
> moves ahead. Race cars used to use bias-ply tires. Now they use radials. No
> one would ever consider telling a Formula 1 or Indy car driver that he
> couldn't use radials until he had sufficient experience with older, less-safe
> bias ply tires. You use the best technology available to accomplish the
> mission at hand. I've never done a 200+ foot air dive, and with luck I never
> will.
I've always had a difficult time with this question (deep air as a
prerequisit for trimix). My impression is that many of the people who
started using trimix before there were any certification courses were/are
firm believers in the value of a lot of experience in deep air diving,
because virtually all of them feel that they learned their most valuable
lessons in diving while doing deep air dives. This is certainly the case
for me.
But I think this perspective was forged because at the time, there was no
other way to acquire the necessary experience OTHER than deep air diving.
Military and commercial folks had some insight on how to use helium, but
that is only a part of self-contained trimix diving. A more complicated
and difficult part (in my estimation) is methods for managing different
gas mixtures with adequate redundancy on self-contained (unteathered) dives.
But the most important part of all is an attitude of DISCIPLINE, and many
of the early non-commercial trimix divers forged that discipline in
themselves over many years of deep air diving. Early on, many of us were
still more comfortable at 250 feet on air than on trimix simply because we
had done hundreds or thousands of deep air dives, whereas trimix was still
relatively new ("More comfortable with the devil I know than the devil I
don't"). And from that, it was easy to draw the conclusion that ANYBODY
who wanted to do deep trimix dives should first be experienced deep air
divers.
Things, of course, are changing (and very rapidly, it seems!) The body of
experience in unteathered trimix diving is growing quickly, and this
unfamilar devil is accordingly becoming more familiar. I find that my own
perspectives on deep air diving are changing. I still would have few
qualms about diving to 220 or even 250 feet on air, but I sure as hell
wouldn't recommend it to anyone else - especially not to someone who
hasn't already conducted more than a few hundred deep air dives over many
years. And as new technology becomes available to me, I become less and
less likely to ever be in a position to conduct a deep air dive again.
As time goes on, the rationale for deep-air experience *per se* as a
prerequisit for trimix seems to diminish. I still do not have a clear idea
of whether I think new divers should first become experienced deep air
divers before progressing to trimix, or if they should go straight from OW
to shallow nitrox to trimix. Because I am not in the instructional
business, I doubt I'll ever be qualified to really have a valid opinion
anyway. But I will say this: If a diver chooses to bypass the years of
deep air diving, he/she damn-well better recognise the need for
self-discipline. Of all aspects of deep diving training, the concept of
discipline epitomizes my point about how this stuff cannot be taught, but
can only be learned. Consistently staying alive on deep dives is
a function of *qualification*, not certification.
Aloha,
Rich
Richard Pyle
deepreef@bi*.bi*.ha*.or*
*******************************************************************
"WHATEVER happens to you when you willingly go underwater is
COMPLETELY and ENTIRELY your own responsibility! If you cannot
accept this responsibility, stay out of the water!"
*******************************************************************
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