READY FOR TECH?
For many divers, the goal of improving their skills is ever on-going. In the beginning, there is a natural progression for how to improve; after your Open Water, take your Advanced course, after that your Rescue course. Throughout these courses divers will take specialties that follow their underwater interests. But after the rescue course what’s next? The classic PADI progression is onwards to do your Divemaster course and become a dive professional. However, many divers have no interest in being a dive professional or handling other divers in the water. Some divers just want to improve their skills for themselves. So, what’s next for these divers?
Many divers will turn to tech, or tech-like diving. Some will jump directly into a decompression course; others will learn to dive more tech-orientated gear (like sidemount or doubles) while still diving recreationally. Some will begin diving in
overhead environments like wrecks or caves, and others still will move to solo diving. Some divers will even do it all! With all these options and no clear path, it can be confusing as to what is best for you, but hopefully this article can help you find direction.
The first thing to consider is if you’re ready to make the leap. Tech diving and tech-like diving require a different mindset than recreational diving. A recreational diver can show up at a group dive, be paired with a buddy and go for it. Many divers don’t make any real plans for their dives, nor do they tend to practice or go over emergency drills. Divers are in similar enough gear configurations that many people don’t question the gear their buddy is using, they simply rely on their basic training to carry them through any situations.
When you’re tech, or tech-like diving, you must take a greater responsibility for your dive. You can no longer assume your buddy will understand your gear configuration or processes without a discussion. In tech diving you must strictly plan your dive and dive your plan.
The easiest starting point is getting into tech gear. This is perfect for the diver that wants more gas to be able to stay down longer, or the extra safety of plenty of spare gas for emergencies. At this point you’re not specifically changing your dive, you're just changing your gear. You’ll have a greater responsibility as you have more gear to manage, and now you must explain to new buddies or dive operators what you need from them (if anything) and how to access your alternate air source, but the actual diving is the same. Any time you’re diving gear different from the standard set up, it is now on you to explain to your buddy, team, guide, or whatever what you need in support, and how they could get air from you if needed.
The most common tech set ups are sidemount and doubles. In doubles diving, you have two tanks connected on your back. Since the tanks are still on your back, the actual diving for it is a bit more like single tank diving. However, for your alternate air source you use a long hose. There isn’t a mainstream set course to learn to dive doubles, although many instructors and agencies have created their own, or modified entry level tech courses to focus more on the new gear configuration. Diving doubles is different enough, I would highly recommend anyone wanting to use them to either take a course or at least go out with a highly experienced diver than extensively uses that set up to learn to safely use the new gear.
Doubles allow you to have double the amount of air, in a redundant set up. With the long hose set up, you’re allowing for better air-sharing capabilities by allowing both divers to
swim regularly instead of being smooshed side-by-side. Both the redundancy and the air sharing ability make diving this style preferred for its safety once a diver is used to the gear. The basic set up is similar enough to single tank diving that it is a very easy first step to go to. Like single tank diving you completely gear up before getting into the water, so as soon as you hit the water, you’re good to go. It is great for boat diving, especially in rough seas or high current areas.
The disadvantage of doubles - beyond the extra gear and training - is first, the weight. Doubles are heavy so if you have a bad back or just aren’t particularly strong, they may not be for you. The other main disadvantage is that your valves and regulators are behind your head, so if a failure occurs, you must reach back and feel your way around to fix it. Part of learning doubles is learning to do this, however some people just aren’t flexible enough to do it comfortably.
In sidemount diving, you have two tanks on your sides and nothing on your back. The tanks are clipped then bungeed to you. This set up is incredibly different than single tank diving and it
is necessary that you take a course to use them. Almost every agency has their own course for it, so finding one should be no issue. I find for most people it takes 10-15 dives to get used to this set up, so expect to still need to practice once your course is completed.
Like doubles, sidemount increases your available gas, as well as giving you a long hose. It also holds you very trim and streamlined in the water. Because your tanks are clipped to your sides you carry them down to the water one at a time, making this style great if you’re injured / have a bad back, or have a particularly long or tricky entry. Climbing over logs to get to a dive site is a lot easier when you can take each tank down one at a time. With the tanks clipped to your sides, your valves are also right in front of you so you can see them and your regs, so if there is any problem you can clearly see and respond to it.
The biggest disadvantage I find in sidemount is the time it takes to clip the tanks to you. You generally clip the tanks to your sides once you get in the water, so if there are rough seas or strong currents this can be very difficult.
Once you’ve learned either sidemount or doubles diving and become proficient at it, you’re able to stay underwater for a significantly longer amount of time, as you have more gas. However, you’re still limited by your NDL (no decompression limit). If a diver is happy diving at a shallower depth, they’ll stay where they are with the more advanced gear, however if they want to start going deeper or even just staying at a moderately deep depth for a longer amount of time, then they’ll move on to tech courses. Tech courses require you to take diving more seriously. When you’re tech or solo diving, you must go through the practice of looking for fail points throughout your dive. You make a plan and dive your plan and ensure everyone on your dive team knows the plan. When you’re
tech diving, you usually end up with a “ceiling” on your dive; a point where you cannot go straight to the surface. This may be because you physically can’t get to the surface (like in a wreck or cave) or because you have decompression obligations, so you cannot safely go to the surface until you’ve met these obligations.
When diving with a ceiling you need to be fully prepared to deal with any issue underwater. That means having redundant gear, and the training and discipline to use it. Diving until you reach half a tank then turning around no longer works, as you must plan for the time that you’re stuck under that ceiling. If you’re using a deco gas, you would still plan enough gas as though you don’t have it in case of a lost gas or other failure.
When you’re deciding whether or not to get into tech diving, you must be able to look at yourself and see if you are willing to accept the technical diver mindset. It isn’t for everyone. Many divers choose to dive to be able to “switch off” and relax, and while you are still able to relax during a tech dive, you aren’t exactly able to “switch off”. No matter how many tech dives you complete, you will always have to plan your dive before hand, you’ll always have to go through checklists, and you’ll always have to be prepared for failures, both from carrying redundant gear and practicing emergency drills. There is no longer any room for winging it.
If you can get into this mindset, then tech diving unlocks a whole new level of underwater adventures. Being able to spend more time underwater allows you to explore further on a dive site, allowing you to see spots that recreational divers can’t make it to. Spending more time underwater also gives you more opportunities to take better photos, by giving you time to find a creature or area then really setting up your shots. Going deeper not only gives you more access to a dive site, but there are also deep-water creatures that you usually don’t see at shallow depth. A common local example is glass sponge reefs. If you can’t get into this mindset, there is still plenty of fun to be had in recreational limits. Tech diving isn’t for everyone and that is fine.
Other than specifically tech diving, there is also tech-like diving. Tech-like diving still requires a lot stricter diving skills, but you’re not doing any decompression. Many people refer to this type of diving as just tech diving, which is also fine; there isn’t a set widely used definition for technical diving. Tech-like diving includes things like solo diving, and short wreck and cave penetration diving.
Solo diving is, as the name implies, diving by yourself. However, for most people it encompasses more than that; it is relying on yourself instead of any dive buddy. Photographers, instructors / dive masters, and avid solo travelers are the main types of people to jump into solo diving. In all these cases, it isn’t people that are necessarily going out and diving alone that become solo divers, it is divers who do not trust that their dive buddy will be able to help them. Photographers are usually people who get so focused on one small area of their dive that their group or buddy often moves on without them. Instructors and dive masters are responsible for totally unexperienced people who may be too new in their training to help them. Solo travelers are buddied up with random strangers when out on diving adventures, and therefore don’t have the confidence that those they’re buddies with will have proper skills. Of course, there are some people who do just want to dive alone, but most just want to have the skill to handle any problems they encounter by themselves without relying on another.
This may sound very similar to tech diving, minus the decompression. In part it is, however, in tech diving you generally focus on team diving. You'll learn to plan dives as a group and respond to failures together. You should still be able to resolve any problems by yourself, but you do so in a group setting. All members of the group should be aware of any issue and prepared to step in if needed. When you’re doing more advanced technical diving you rely on your team as life support. Dives past 60m / 200ft are rarely done with just two divers. Solo diving you’re by yourself, so (obviously) aren’t focused on team diving; you’re focused on yourself alone. When you’re solo diving you’re generally diving more conservative as well to make up for the lack of a team.
Wreck and cave diving are niche areas that are generally only pursued by those that have specific interests in them. This is unlike other forms of tech diving where you frequently have people who just want to improve their diving skills. They both have physical ceilings, so like decompression diving you are unable to go directly to the surface. With both types of diving, you also have to lay lines to get in and out of the environment as getting lost is a serious risk. Laying lines requires specialized training and practice to do so safely. For some divers the skill of laying lines and exploring an unknown wreck or cave is exhilarating, for others it is tedious or claustrophobic.
With any form of advanced diving there comes risk and responsibility. If you can accept these, diving opens exponentially. There is no limit to your exploration. As you progress there is always a next step; on to deeper dives, longer caves, bigger wrecks, rebreathers and so much more. If you choose not to take that added risk and responsibility, there is still so much ocean to explore, you don’t need to feel as though you’re missing out. Tech diving truly isn’t for everyone. It is only for those ready and able to get into the tech mindset and take diving to a more planned, methodical place. Hopefully through this article you now have a better idea of what direction you can go, and what is involved.