Scuba

[smokenfire10]

Just finished and received my c-card this week. I am a firefighter for the city of Muncie and moving forward in my diving courses for rescue and recovery. Any divers out there and if so what speciality course do you have. Thanks, going diving today at our local quarry, damn near dry suit weather here. Alan

 

[bassani]

Re: Scuba

havent been diving since we had kids...damn i miss it

 

[Wanderlust]

Re: Scuba

Hopefully you're referring to an agency approved R&R course. The PADI Rescue course is pretty worthless. If your dept. has a team see what R&R they recommend.

 

[smokenfire10]

Re: Scuba

Our Dept. is now forming a dive rescue team to add to our other tactical rescue disciplines.

Our short term goals are to take advanced scuba next month, ice diving in february, and DRAM this spring.

Tom Leaird from Leaird's Underwater Service will be coordinating the training.

Thanks Wanderlust for the input. Alan

 

[Killer Spade 13]

Re: Scuba

Nitrox, of course, and deep helps a bit in understanding the fundamentals of gasses and diving a bit better.

Night is good, because many of the environments you'll be diving in will be of very, very limited visibility.

 

[bohem]

Re: Scuba

I dove for years as part of a volunteer unit in NJ. Lots of rivers and muddy, shallow lakes but I got into "dry" suit diving pretty soon after getting certified, it's so much more enjoyable that way in cold water.

Best of luck with the endeavor, it's a great hobby and I really enjoyed the job overall.

 

[smokenfire10]

Re: Scuba

Our dept. also is going with dry suits, we just haven't received them yet. We will take a course on dry suit usage, are they much of a pain in the ass?

Thanks

 

[bohem]

Re: Scuba

No, they're pretty nice to dive actually. Depends what dry suits they're buying as some are worse than others.

I dive a TLS-350 by DUI with a front-zipper (considered a self-donning suit) and I don't use the zip-seals approach or integrated gloves. We dove dry even in warm water if it was flood conditions due to contaminants, integrated gloves meant that in 80* water I was wearing ice gloves.

I have 4+ pairs of gloves in the bag, everything from the "blue" dry gloves by DUI to just a pair of mechanix gloves.

The 2 biggest things to worry about with drysuit use is avoiding a "feet high" situation where you can start to ascend and not realize it which turns into an unarrestable ascent and how always keeping an eye on where your shoulder purge valve is for buoyancy control.

After that, stuff like suit squeezes, "raining in the suit", seal leaks, etc are minor issues to deal with.

Take a class and think about what can happen before trying something, always keep the "quantum bubble-nomics" in your head and realize you're wearing a balloon.

 

[smokenfire10]

Re: Scuba

Thanks for the information, looking forward to receiving the rest of our gear and getting acclimated to it.

 

[johnnycat]

Re: Scuba

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Wanderlust</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Hopefully you're referring to an agency approved R&R course. The PADI Rescue course is pretty worthless. If your dept. has a team see what R&R they recommend.

</div></div>

I have several PADI certs and agree that to a large degree as long as you pay your money you get your cert. I think it varies from dive op to dive op. Some are very lax and others take their job seriously.

My Rescue course was intense and the first course that actually challenged me and taught new material.

Many of the others are just money generators for PADI I think. Still, in our lawsuit happy environment it is starting to be the norm to have advanced certification for some dives that were/are very easy.

 

[Saito]

Re: Scuba

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Johnnycat</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Wanderlust</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Hopefully you're referring to an agency approved R&R course. The PADI Rescue course is pretty worthless. If your dept. has a team see what R&R they recommend.

</div></div>

I have several PADI certs and agree that to a large degree as long as you pay your money you get your cert. I think it varies from dive op to dive op. Some are very lax and others take their job seriously.

My Rescue course was intense and the first course that actually challenged me and taught new material.

Many of the others are just money generators for PADI I think. Still, in our lawsuit happy environment it is starting to be the norm to have advanced certification for some dives that were/are very easy. </div></div>

I completed a stress/rescue course with SSI and it was thoroughly intensive. Not only that, but it was alot of fun. Good, enthusiastic instructors are necessary for a positive learning experience.

 

[smokenfire10]

Re: Scuba

Thanks again for all the input, excited to move forward with our dive team.

 

[Killer Spade 13]

Re: Scuba

With dry suits you just have to learn how to "balance the bubble".

They can be pretty wicked on hot day/cold water scenarios, however.

 

[bohem]

Re: Scuba

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Saito</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Johnnycat</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Wanderlust</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Hopefully you're referring to an agency approved R&R course. The PADI Rescue course is pretty worthless. If your dept. has a team see what R&R they recommend.

</div></div>

I have several PADI certs and agree that to a large degree as long as you pay your money you get your cert. I think it varies from dive op to dive op. Some are very lax and others take their job seriously.

My Rescue course was intense and the first course that actually challenged me and taught new material.

Many of the others are just money generators for PADI I think. Still, in our lawsuit happy environment it is starting to be the norm to have advanced certification for some dives that were/are very easy. </div></div>

I completed a stress/rescue course with SSI and it was thoroughly intensive. Not only that, but it was alot of fun. Good, enthusiastic instructors are necessary for a positive learning experience. </div></div>

I shy away from all things PADI... all of my team members that came in from PADI soon learned how to dive without a computer (apparently now PADI doesn't even teach tables) and learned a lot of the stuff that PADI's been skipping to shove people through.

"Put Another Dollar In"

The SLAM/SAR/R&R work we did was an amalgam of SSI and team techniques learned from our old school divers that had multiple decades of OTJ.

 

[smokenfire10]

Re: Scuba

Thanks bohem, I agree about PADI. The training our department is pursuing is from a local, very reputable dive shop that offers many trained divers with diverse training.
Thanks again for all the input.

 

[Win308]

Re: Scuba

I am a NAUI certified open water, advanced, and Nitrox. The NAUI certs, especially the advanced weren't walk in the park weekend outings. There is a sense in the industry that dive shops use PADI because they gerenrate new customers easier and faster. Personally, I'd rather be challenged to learn safe diving skills to a higher standard, after all, I only have 1 life...

 

[Jig Stick]

Re: Scuba

nitrox and dry suit will take u a long way. i also highly recommend the Zeagle Ranger BC's

 

[smokenfire10]

Re: Scuba

Scheduled to begin advanced in two weeks, also a two day event plus night dive that looks rather challenging. I will look at the Zeagle Ranger BC's.
Thanks, Alan