Gennaio 2012 - Learn to Dive - SDI | TDI | ERDI

Your UWJ Magazine is Ready!

Gennaio 30, 2012/0 Commenti

UWJ Issue 23 is ready for download. If you’re not yet a subscriber, simply sign in and create an account with your email address (takes about 3 minutes and it’s FREE).

Your winter issue of The Underwater Journal has some great features – from finding the little stuff with photog Mike Bartick to Capt. Gary Mace’s gripping story about decompression sickness. We’re starting 2012 with something for everyone. This issue covers it all: gear, photography, marine life, advanced diving and adventure travel.

Steve Lewis gives us another pragmatic view in his column Nitrox, Voodoo Gas No More, but Still Misunderstood. His discussion focuses on the details of using this gas that many of us don’t fully understand.

Jump into the icy waters of the Antarctic Peninsula with Eco-photo Explorers Mike Salvarezza and Christopher Weaver. Learn and look at South Florida’s amazing wrecks from our Editor. And be sure to catch the DAN Column, Dive Safety Essentials, and get your dive year started off on a safe track.

There’s so much more to enjoy and learn, get your FREE magazine today. Don’t forget, UWJ is iPad compatible to download and save in iBooks.

This is YOUR MAGAZINE with lots of benefits. We appreciate your support and encouragement! Enjoy, and please let us know what you think.

Underwater Journal is the official publication of SDI/TDI/ERDI

Time to Schedule your SDI™ Nitrox Course

Gennaio 30, 2012/0 Commenti

For some of us, winter is upon us; for others, plans are underway to far off destinations. In either case this means completing that course we started sometime ago, stowing away the dive gear and breaking out the tropical picture show during these extra cold months. But does it have to mean we stop learning new things about diving? No.

There are many locations that will go right on diving through the winter, and in some cases, your diving will even increase. For the rest of us whose waters are great if you like ice skating but not if you want to dive (of course they are good for an SDI Ice Diving course), we still have some options to keep engaged in diving. One great course to take is nitrox. Nitrox is one of those courses that everyone should take for several reasons. Safety is a key concern in diving and anything that can be done to increase safety should be. What nitrox does is increases the amount of oxygen you breathe which decreases the amount of nitrogen you breathe; this in turn decreases the nitrogen uptake into your body, provided you dive nitrox according to air computers or tables. Each year we get a little older and our bodies do not process things as they used to. The way our muscles and tissues process nitrogen are no exception to that rule. Don’t be concerned! There is a solution…

SDI Computer Nitrox Course

Longer Bottom Times. Shorter Surface Intervals. These are among the many benefits of diving Nitrox — a mixture of nitrogen and oxygen in which the concentration of oxygen is greater than that found in air. You’ve no doubt heard of Nitrox, and you probably know divers who use it. You also know that using Nitrox safely requires special training and certification.

Traditionally, becoming a Nitrox Diver required long hours in the classroom, learning how to work obscure formulas and use complex dive tables. No more. Through SDI’s on-line training program, you can complete most of the required academic study in the comfort and convenience of your home or office. As with all SDI programs, you’ll learn to dive Nitrox the modern way, using Nitrox-programmable dive computers instead of arcane formulas and complicated tables.

When you are done with the self-study portion of the course, you will meet with your SDI instructor to review your final exam (academic review) and to take part in a brief, practical application session. Here you will get hands-on experience with oxygen analyzers and Nitrox computers. Your instructor may even provide you with the opportunity to make one or more Nitrox dives. When you have completed the academic review and practical application sessions, your SDI Dive Center will order your permanent certification card. What could be easier? Nitrox opens a world of possibilities, leading to better, more enjoyable diving. What are you waiting for? Get Started Now!

Diving 10,000 Year Old Ice

Gennaio 30, 2012/0 Commenti

There is a very old dive site that has just been floating around waiting to be discovered…

Ask the average scuba diver what they think of when someone mentions ice diving and chances are good they’ll tell you about diving under the winter ice cover of a freshwater lake. But did you know you can dive ice in the summer too?

Every year it is estimated that as many as 50,000 icebergs calve off the glaciers of Greenland to start their long journey south driven by ocean currents. A few hundred travel down the North Atlantic coast of America and make it as far as the island province of Newfoundland. The most famous got in the way of the Titanic 100 years ago (April 1912); and the stream of berg’s since that historic collision has grown stronger in recent years thanks to global climate change.

The process of carving goes on year-round but the best time to see Newfoundland (or Atlantic) icebergs “in person” is in the summer, and one of the best places to find ones that are “safe” to dive is Conception Bay, near that Canadian province’s capital city of St. John’s.

“Safe” of course is an entirely relative term in all types of diving but most certainly in this particular flavor of adventure-diving. An iceberg is a dynamic entity; constantly moving, shifting, stressing and straining. Rolling and splitting are two of the constant threats presented by a huge chunk of frozen fresh water floating in a slightly warmer flow of salt water – and gradually melting away. Of course, these events can be disastrous for anyone close by, whether on the surface or underwater. Because of this and other factors, diveable bergs are bergs that are grounded. These are sometimes called Ice Islands.

Grounding? Let me explain. There is no such thing as an average Newfoundland iceberg. Some are the size of a football stadium, and some look as small as a garden shed (see table), but what they all share is that approximately ninety percent of their bulk is “hidden” underwater. What we see floating is just the tip of the iceberg (sorry; couldn’t resist the pun). As air temperatures effect it – making it melt and crack due to changes in surface temperatures and internal pressure – a free-floating berg is always at risk of turning over or calving off mini-bergs of its own.

You might say that the berg is constantly changing its buoyancy and trim! Only when that hidden portion of the berg bottoms out on the ocean floor is there ANY opportunity to partially manage these risks.

However, few icebergs are held fast for long. As their bulk and mass gradually lessens, buoyancy changes and ever-present currents and tides will tend to push it along, often dragging its way through the seabed. Many berg divers check out this Ice Scour or Gouging – given depth limits – before getting close to the body of the berg. This is an indication of how long the berg has been grounded, and in some part, how it has behaved during its time as an ice island. Also, since the seabed in Newfoundland is home to all manners of cold-water creatures, the gouge often uncovers hidden critters and can attract larger predators to an open feast — take a camera!

Once a berg is confirmed to be grounded, divers usually submerge at a safe distance and swim toward the iceberg. This is one of the most unique experiences. Remember, an iceberg is fresh-water, perhaps more than 10,000 years old. It is pure and unsullied by mankind. As a diver closes in on its walls – which incidentally have the appearance of a multi-hued abstract sculpture – she will pass through the meltwater zone, where seawater and freshwater mix. Her buoyancy will change and she will experience passing through a distinct halocline. Also, the quality of sunlight or daylight will change, and it is not unusual for the visibility around a berg to be “virtually limitless.” The ice itself seems to glow from transmitted sunlight and the berg’s walls will shimmer with countless shades of blue from pale aqua to deep violet.

It will be, all in all, an unforgettable experience.

Size Category	Height	Length
Growler	Less than 1 metre (3.3 ft)	Less than 5 metres (16 ft)
Bergy Bit	1–5 metres (3.3–16 ft)	5–15 metres (16–49 ft)
Small	5–15 metres (16–49 ft)	15–60 metres (49–200 ft)
Medium	15–45 metres (49–148 ft)	60–120 metres (200–390 ft)
Large	45–75 metres (148–246 ft)	120–200 metres (390–660 ft)
Very Large	Over 75 metres (246 ft)	Over 200 metres (660 ft)

Data supplied by International Ice Patrol

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT

Often an iceberg will be surrounded by small chunks of calved ice (Growlers or smaller). If possible, collect one or two of these and use them in your cold drinks (in Newfoundland, this might be an after dive drink of Screech). When berg ice melts, it makes a fizzing sound called “Bergie Seltzer.” This sound is caused by escaping air originally trapped and then compressed as prehistoric snow layers became glacial ice.

WHO IS ICEBERG DIVING FOR?

Iceberg diving is great for advanced divers, equipped and experienced in cold-water diving since even in summer, the water temperatures at depth in Newfoundland hover only a few degrees above freezing. Divers with a sense of adventure and a yen for something out of the ordinary are also recommended.

There are several SDI/TDI instructors working in Newfoundland; to find out more about adventure diving, contact them through our website https://www.tdisdi.dev or call us 207.729.4201

REMEMBER no dives outside your comfort and training should be undertaken without proper instruction and guaidance!

TDI and Rebreathers: What’s Available?

Gennaio 23, 2012/0 Commenti

Feed your curiosity and increase your knowledge base

For anyone that has attend a local dive show, read any diving news or has just spent some time surfing the internet, they have seen that rebreathers, and particularly Closed Circuit Rebreathers (CCR), are all the buzz. Technical Diving International (TDI) heard that buzz in 1995 with the Semi-Closed Circuit Rebreather (SCR) and then again in 2001 with the CCR. Since 1995 a lot of rebreathers have been added to the approved list for TDI training – so many, in fact, that we thought it was time for a review.

Before we get into that review, though, we thought it might be helpful for you to understand why some rebreathers are not on our list. This is by no means a negative reflection on any rebreather manufacturer. TDI selects rebreathers based on the following criteria: annual production of units, user manual and third party testing. That is just a short list of some of the key areas that are evaluated. We have also never authorized the training on “modifie” or “home-built” units. Why? For two of the reasons just listed: there would be no user manual to explain how the unit would work with the modifications or as a home build, and there would be no third party testing. The end goal in everything we do – including approving education on rebreathers – is diver safety.

The first SCR in TDI’s course list was the Draeger Atlantis. The first CCR unit TDI ever approved was the Inspiration Classic; for you old timers that should bring back some memories! These RBs, in hindsight, were pretty straight forward and, of course, not nearly as sophisticated as today’s units. The Atlantis when first released did not even have a PO2 monitoring device; everything relied on a pre-dive checklist that had to be followed. This was also the case with the original Inspiration; however, it did have two (primary and back-up) monitoring devices for PO2.

TDI now has 11 CCR rebreathers on our list. We have come a long way since 2001:

Inspiration,
Poseidon MK VI Discovery,
Evolution,
KISS (Classic and Sport),
Optima,
Megalodon,
Titan,
Ourboros,
Sentinel,
Pelegian and
rEvo.

Each of these units has their own unique features and applications, and just like open circuit (OC) equipment, each competes to appeal to your personal preferences. For the first time in many years, we have also added a new SCR, the KISS GEM, along with three other SCRs. SCRs certainly have their place in our industry and a market that enjoys their use and simplicity.

We are also very proud to announce that we will be adding two more units to our list: the PRISM II and the Explorer (an active SCR). The PRISM II is an updated model of the PRISM TOPAZ and is now being built and distributed by American Underwater Products (AUP).

So where does all this leave you, the diving professional wanting to step into the world of rebreathers? It leaves you in a position with a lot of good choices but ones that need to be researched… which means you get to do some diving! Most, if not all, of these manufacturers put on events that allow you to try the rebreathers, or you could contact a local TDI rebreather instructor and see if they are putting on a try dive for the SCR or CCR that they are certified to teach on.

Where does this leave the already certified TDI SCR or CCR instructor? You are also in a very good place. Lots of marketing effort is being put into the new products to create brand awareness which means that customers are hearing about them. Your job is to partner with and capitalize on those marketing efforts by the manufacturers and start to capture those customer leads.

TDI will continue to stay on the leading edge of the rebreather training market, and as we do we will send out releases of approved units. We will also add them to our unit specific standards so you can find the list in the member section of our website.

To learn more about the benefits that rebreather training will bring to you and your facility contact your Regional Manager in the US or internationally – visit https://www.tdisdi.dev for the Regional Office serving you.

Once you run deep and you run silent, it will be difficult to turn back!

RAPID DIVER™ Grows in Popularity with ERDI™ PSD TEAMS

Gennaio 16, 2012/0 Commenti

When response time is of the essence, so is RAPID DIVER™& ERDI™ Training

RAPID DIVER™ is a lightweight, all-inclusive scuba system that mates a tank, regulator and buoyancy module to a uniform-fit, load-bearing harness. It was created in response to public safety and military needs for a universal fit, compact, versatile and easily deployed scuba system.

The RAPID DIVER™ has seen increased popularity with fire departments for use in submerged vehicle accidents and with police departments for tactical response as well as submerged vehicle accidents. Statistics provided by the CDC show that 10,000 vehicles go into water each year in the US, with 300 fatalities. The leading state for fatalities is Florida followed by California, Louisiana, Idaho, and Indiana. Most drownings occur 3 feet or less from the surface. Many dive teams around the country are opting to have the RAPID DIVER™ as an immediate response capability to facilitate quicker response times and greater success in water rescues.

Divers who deploy out of helicopters appreciate the front mount tank configuration, and the RAPID DIVER™ has become the standard for Off Shore Race Boat rescue divers. The RAPID DIVER™ is ideal for quick shallow water searches. When combined with a larger air source, the RAPID DIVER™ becomes a fully operational kit for the Public Safety Diver. The one size fits all foundation of the RAPID DIVER™ is ideal for larger teams and eliminates the equipment sizing that all dive teams face.

Mission requirements called for a system that had a universal fit, could be stored in a small space, donned and activated quickly, and worn in situations such as helicopter and boat operations in which conventional scuba gear would prove too cumbersome and restrictive. Comfort was also of great importance, as some operations would require the user to wear the gear for extended periods of time while engaged in complex, task-loaded missions. With an overall weight of just 25 pounds, the RAPID DIVER™ stores in a compact hand-carried pouch and readies for use in less than a minute.

Also unique to the RAPID DIVER™ system is the ability to configure the rig for a wide variety of mission profiles. In its simplest form, the Rapid Diver can be configured to become a PFD by removing the tank and life support system, beneficial in most boat operations. For extended dive profiles, the RAPID DIVER™ can be configured with standard sized tanks (80 cu ft) mounted on the innovative back pad with the 13-30 cu ft front mount tank becoming the redundant air supply, a standard configuration with today’s Public Safety Diver. If mission requirements call for an even longer diving profile, the RAPID DIVER™ can be used in conjunction with surface supplied air or in a traditional side mount configuration. Other custom-configurable gas management options allow the user to configure the rig with a redundant air supply and to use full-face scuba masks in conjunction with a gas switching block.

More information about the system can be found at www.RapidDiver.com.

To learn more about the specialized training, please contact ERDI™ at 207.729.4201 for the Americas and areas served by the USA office. International readers can ID their local area office by visiting https://www.tdisdi.com.

Credits ; IMAGES PROVIDED COMPLIMENTS OF RAPID DIVER

NFPA (National Fire Protection Association) Guidelines and What They Mean

Gennaio 13, 2012/0 Commenti

Important Guidelines for ALL PSD Teams

Before we get into the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) guidelines, a few items need to be clarified and some background provided. First on the list: Emergency Response Diving International (ERDI) is an international agency with ERDI trained teams, instructors and instructor trainers all over the globe, such as Czech Republic, Brazil, Korea, Canada and the US, just to name a few. Why is that important to know? The NFPA guidelines really only apply to the US (and Canada to a lesser extent), yet the guidelines are included in all ERDI standards and materials. Some very key members of ERDI may not even know what the NFPA is, but they understand the value of including them.

Another key point here is that the NFPA 1670 and 1006 guidelines are just that: guidelines. No one is required to follow them, unlike regulations, standards or laws. However, there are certain states within the US that are making the NFPA guidelines required; research will need to be done on an individual Team basis to decipher if your state is among them.

There are two other matters to be considered as well: funding and liability. Certain types of funding within the US will require that your team is NFPA compliant or the training you receive is NFPA compliant prior to authorizing any funding. From a liability standpoint, should an incident happen you may be asked whether your team was compliant with the NFPA guidelines. The answer you don’t want to give is “no” – that will leave you and your team with a lot of explaining to do.

From the beginning, ERDI set out to create standards and materials that were fully compliant with any relevant recommendation or guideline; NFPA was one of those. ERDI’s thought process for developing our programs this way was this: at the core of all guidelines and regulations is safety. While we may disagree from time to time that they do not fit our situation(s), these standards, guidelines and laws are generally created by a group of individuals with varying levels of expertise all with a common goal – to protect the people who are going to follow their recommendations.

As a final point – which applies mostly to the US – there is no national standard for public safety diving, and this fact alone means that we should follow any standardized guideline that is available through NFPA or OSHA. For other areas of the world this is less significant as their public safety activities already have regulations in place or fall under the police or military to carry out.

Now to the NFPA guidelines. For those not aware NFPA 1670 has a subsection that addresses public safety diving. NFPA 1006 is a revision of 1670 to address new protocols and safe practices. One of the single largest benefits of these guidelines is their inclusive nature. The NFPA breaks their training down into three levels: Awareness, Operations and Technician.

At the awareness level, the participant is made aware of what the people in the field are doing, and this can be accomplished in one of three ways: reading the manual, going through the online portion of the course or attending a seminar put on by a certified ERDI instructor. The benefit of this level of certification is that everybody in the team, including the person that picks up the phone and takes the call, has an understanding of what is happening and is part of the process.

The next level – operations – is a progression of awareness. The participant has completed the requirements of the awareness level and has also completed some field or hands on training. This level is primarily geared towards supervisors or non-divers. It is critical that a supervisor stays on shore and in control of the operation, but it is equally critical that they have a full understanding of what they are asking their team to do. By applying what they have read and the hands on practical they have taught, a supervisor or non-diver can not only be a part of the team, they can be an asset.

The full level of certification is technician; this is a participant that has completed all aspects of theory and practical and has demonstrated that they can successfully perform all duties required of them. The technician completes the team.
ERDI was the first agency to include these three levels for all of our courses so that no matter what course is offered the whole team can participate. It was easy to see the benefit in doing this.

The other specifics of NFPA 1670 and 1006 are better left to you to read and see how they fit into your training and exercises. There are waterman ship and annual proficiency guidelines. The NFPA, like any organization is also updating and adding new guidelines, and they regularly hold meetings. If you are affected by these guidelines then we would encourage you to become part of the process. Guidelines, like standards and laws, need to evolve to keep up with the times and technology. Who better to help with the evolutions than the people that perform those duties every day?

For more information about the NFPA go to www.NFPA.org. For additional information about ERDI and the courses we offer go to https://www.tdisdi.com and locate a facility near you. You can also contact us at 207.729.4201

While visiting the ERDI site at https://www.tdisdi.com, check out the e-learning section and the online ERDI courses and experience the awareness portion of Contaminated Water Ops and the Tender Course.

Cave Diving 101

Gennaio 10, 2012/0 Commenti

Isn’t it time you learned more?

Click Image to Expand

Perhaps one of the most common questions Technical Diving International’s (TDI) Training Department gets is “why do I need training for overhead environments?” While this question seems pretty obvious to TDI, we understand why it is not so obvious to the average diver. After all, you are breathing underwater, controlling your buoyancy and managing air just like you would on any other dive, right? Wrong. In this article we are going to focus on one specific type of overhead diving: caves.

Caves are one of the most fascinating environments a person can explore. Just think about it: these massive natural tunnels (some only a metre or 3 feet down) are below us, some dry some wet, while life on the surface moves along at its normal pace completely unaware that they even exist. These natural tunnels are responsible for a large portion of our drinking water and for moving water to the oceans or lakes to avoid flooding during rainy seasons and snow melt. Nearly every continent and country contains caves, most undocumented and unexplored. Some of these caves are just barely big enough for an adult to fit though while others are big enough to fit a descent sized town in.

While caves are undoubtedly fascinating, and there is clearly a need for them to be explored, they deserve a lot of respect and require specialized training before they are entered. Not all caves are made alike; some caves are low visibility with high water flow while others have clear warm water. Some caves are solid with no chance of the “roof” collapsing while others have what are called “breakdown rooms.” These rooms are where the earth above has been eroded to a point where it falls to the floor of the cave forming a large cone in the center; when this roof will fall is anyone’s guess. In some areas, even the caves that appear to be very stable are subject to seismic activity and could collapse.

The point here is that before entering any cave system proper training is required. Your TDI instructor, among other knowledge and skills, will teach you how the cave was formed and its stability. You will also learn things to look out for when planning a cave dive like “where do I look to find recent seismic activity so I know when it is safe to dive?”

Cave training is also a progression in training starting with caverns where you learn the basic techniques for deploying guidelines, buddy communication with lights and air management, all while staying in the ambient light zone. The next course is cave which takes you beyond the ambient light zone further into the cave requiring more air management skills and guideline techniques. The pinnacle of cave training is full cave; here you will learn complex circuits with jumps off the mainline and even more air management to allow for decompression dives. Please note: Decompression procedures is a pre-requisite for this course, decompression diving is not taught as part of the full cave course.

At any stage of your cave training you can add in other training such as: cave- diver propulsion vehicle (DPV), cave survey, sidemount or sump diving. There is a lot to do, see and learn just below the surface of the rock we walk on every day, but it requires some training from a TDI Professional. After this training you will be amazed at the exploration you will be capable of, and your friends will love the stories of your adventures.

So if cave diving is something you would like to learn more about, ask your local TDI facility or Instructor for more information. Our website is always a great place to start for additional information https://www.tdisdi.dev, or simply give us a call at 888.778.9073 or 207.729.4201.

Hollis Gear Announces Updates for Prism Topaz Instructors to Prism 2 Instructors and Instructor Crossover Programs

Gennaio 10, 2012/0 Commenti

Prism 2 Instructor Program in Orlando

To: All current Prism Instructors and Instructor Trainers:
To upgrade your current Prism Instructor/Instructor Trainer qualifications (with any training agency) you must attend a Manufacturer Upgrade Program to teach the Prism 2. There will be two programs offered at the YMCA Aquatic and Family Center at 8422 International Drive, Orlando, FL. The first will take place February 3rd & 4th, 2012 followed by the second on February 5th & 6th, 2012. If you are an active TDI Prism instructor or IT, you will be able to start teaching the Prism 2 upon the completion of the program and submitting the TDI Instructor upgrade form. This program is open to all Prism Instructors and Instructor Trainers regardless of training agency and will include both academic and pool time and cover the following: meeting Factory representatives, learn what’s new on the Prism 2, requirements for purchasing units through the local dealer, Factory Warranty and Service programs, training requirements for instructors and so much more. Prism 2 units will be provided for the program. You provide mask, fins and 3 mm wetsuit. The price of the program is $295. Participants will be able to purchase a Prism 2 for an incredibly low unadvertised price.

All current CCR Instructors:
To crossover your current CCR Instructor qualifications (with any training agency) you must attend a Manufacturer crossover program to teach the Prism 2. There will be one program offered at the YMCA Aquatic and Family Center at 8422 International Drive, Orlando, FL. The dates are February 5-8, 2012. This Program is open to all CCR Instructors regardless of training agency and will include both academic, pool time and open water time. The program will cover the following: meeting factory representatives, learn what’s new on the Prism 2, requirements for purchasing units through the local dealer, Factory Warranty and Service programs, training requirements for instructors and so much more. Prism 2 units will be provided for the program. You provide mask, fins and exposure suits. The price of the program is $595. Participants will be able to purchase a Prism 2 for an incredibly low unadvertised price.

Overview of the Event

Prism 2 Updated
Session 1 – Feb 3rd & 4th, 2012
Session 2 – Feb 5th & 6th, 2012

Prism 2 CCR Instructor Crossover
February 5-8, 2012

Event location
YMCA Aquatic and Family Center
8422 International Drive, Orlando, FL 32819-9329
Phone: (407) 363-1911

Closest hotels (located right next door to the YMCA – no vehicle needed)
Ramada Convention Center I-Drive
8342 Jamaican Ct, Orlando, FL
(800) 272-6232

Radisson Hotel
8444 International Drive, Orlando, FL
(407) 345-0505

To register for one of the programs, to obtain more information, or to answer any questions about the program please contact either John Conway jconway@hollisgear.com 800-435-3483, ext. 108; Matthew Addison matthewaddison1@mac.com 310-339-7859; or Dave Burroughs at dburroughs@oceanicusa.com 800-435-3483, ext. 441. Please include your Instructor agency and Instructor number in your email.

Download Registration Form

Take the First Step to Technical

Gennaio 10, 2012/0 Commenti

You will find it to be fun, rewarding and a new adventure!

Many years ago this new breathing gas was introduced to the diving industry, and its name was Nitrox. Many divers then and now continue to use and get trained to use it as their primary breathing gas, and there is a long list of reasons why. At the top of that list are: decreased uptake of nitrogen, reduced post-dive fatigue and most importantly, when used properly, increased safety margins. Nitrox has other benefits as well; the basic nitrox course is not your stopping point when it comes to its uses.

Divers usually take nitrox for one of two reasons; the first are the ones already listed, and the second is to begin their progression into the technical realm of diving, a “nitrox crossroads” if you will. Basic nitrox courses cover the use of 22 to 40 percent oxygen and everything in between, but there is another level to nitrox. Technical divers commonly use higher levels of oxygen for what is again a very long list and in some ways it’s similar to what sport divers are looking for. Higher levels of oxygen for technical diver’s means: reduce uptake of nitrogen on decompression stops, to add additional oxygen to the breathing gas while using a rebreather and for those scientific divers, a massive increase in bottom time for shallow depths.

So where does this leave you, the already certified nitrox diver? You are in the perfect position to expand your diving abilities and explore new things by taking the TDI Advanced Nitrox Course! Advanced nitrox is commonly taught in conjunction with TDI Decompression Procedures. While there might be this thought in your mind: “I don’t want to go any deeper,” the truth is you don’t have to. There is a common misconception about decompression procedures that you have to go deep. This is not the case. As a matter of fact, most decompression dives are performed within the sport diving depths. The TDI Decompression Procedures course teaches you the principles, theory and application of decompression diving which allows you, the diver, to make the educated decision if you should plan and perform a decompression dive. Another benefit of taking the advanced nitrox and decompression procedures courses is, should you find yourself in decompression – which is not the ideal situation – you will understand what your dive computer is telling you to do and the reasons behind it.

One thing you need to consider when taking the advanced nitrox course is that any piece of equipment that will be in contact with greater than 40 percent oxygen needs to be O2 cleaned. This primarily means your regulator set and any cylinders you will be using; this is not an expensive or time consuming upgrade and can be done during your regulator and cylinder(s) annual service. Another piece of equipment to think about is a multi-gas dive computer. There are lots of options for these on the market and most will have the ability to perform dive planning and tracking if you are using air, nitrox or helium based gases. The newer computers are very easy to program; you simply set the percentage of oxygen in the cylinder, and the computer does the rest!

So what’s your next step? Contact your local TDI facility and get started! You won’t regret it. Finally, you will get to spend more time on those wrecks you have been diving or spend more time taking pictures. Whatever it is you like to do while you are diving, take the TDI Advanced Nitrox course and do more of it!

Visit https://www.tdisdi.dev today or call 888.778.9073 / 207.729.4201 and get started TODAY.

Australia’s TDI Rebreather Training Continues to Expand

Gennaio 10, 2012/0 Commenti

Any Diver Would Ask, “What better place than this?”

Left to right Dolphin Scuba Diving’s Sarah Stoneham Rodney Gibbs and Callum Girvan with CCR IT Fil Gray aboard Image Dive Perth

The Poseidon Discovery MkVI Rebreather is one of the most exciting new developments in sport diving in the last few years; nowhere is this being felt more so than in Australia. With one of the largest diver uptake in Rebreathers for Technical Diving outside of the UK – and with two of the most spectacular coral reefs on either coast (the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland and Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia) – Australia is poised to be the Sport Rebreather capital of the world. It is not surprising then that Western Australia’s leading dive Centre, Dolphin Scuba Diving, recently became the first store in the country to host the region’s first TDI Poseidon Discovery MkVI Air Diluent Instructor Course.

Rebreathers are not new to diving and, since the initial release of the Dolphin in 1994; TDI has been at the forefront of developing training programs for the constantly evolving list of units in the market place. The Poseidon rebreather has been available in Australia since April 2010, but until now the only way to become an instructor was via a crossover as an existing CCR Instructor on another unit. That has now changed with TDI Instructor Trainer Fil Gray of Stingray Divers in Sydney recently qualifying as the region’s first CCR Poseidon Discovery MkVI Air Diluent IT.

The four day Instructor course took place in April 2011 at Dolphin Scuba Diving’s TDI/SDI Dive Centre in Welshpool, Perth, with academic presentations in the facility’s purposely built classrooms. This gave the candidates an opportunity to teach and be evaluated on the many elements of the newly formatted TDI generic rebreather curriculum, and in particular, the Poseidon Discovery MkVI. Facility owners Callum Girvan (TDI Adv Trimix Instructor) and Sarah Stoneham (SDI Staff Instructor) were joined by their “test student” and TDI Instructor Rodney Gibbs who was qualified during the course as a Poseidon Discovery MkVI Air Diluent Diver.

The practical sessions of the course gave the two candidates an opportunity to build a future model of how they would run the training, with a strong focus on how to apply the skills to recreational divers rather than technical ones. The dives were hosted by TDI Charter Boat Image Dive, which runs out of Hillary’s Boat Harbour, a short distance north of Perth’s city centre.

So why has the Poseidon generated such interest when so many other units are available?

Instructor candidate Callum Girvan explaining the features benefits of the Poseidon MkVI CCR to student Rodney Gibbs

The answer lies in the electronics, which are designed to remove much of the element of “user error” from the preparation & diving of the unit. A simple system controlled startup procedure means that the unit is configured against the manufacturer’s set criteria and the onboard computer will only clear the unit to dive if all checks are passed with no errors. In water, the controls are also easy to follow with a large display with both visual and audible warnings in the unlikely event the unit malfunctions. The diver still must be aware of how the unit runs, however, this is simplified as much as possible resulting in a Rebreather designed specifically to meet both the basic needs of the sport diver as well as having the functionality for future upgrades suited to the technical diver. Working closely with Poseidon in Sweden, TDI has developed training to meet both these demands and is well placed to offer additional programs for the Discovery in line with the manufacturer’s release of upgrades.

Dolphin Scuba Diving is now a full service Poseidon rebreather facility, providing training, consumables, technical support & oxygen fills to 200 bar with their Haskell booster. Aside from offering both sales and training on the Discovery MkVI, they also offer Try Dives. Both Nitrox (via a membrane system) and Trimix fills are available along with a full range of both sport and technical diving equipment. All of these offerings are backed by friendly and experienced staff and in-house manufacturer approved servicing. Make sure you check them out at www.dolphinscuba.com.au or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/DolphinScubaPerth.

Fil Gray is a freelance TDI/SDI Instructor Trainer, providing Technical Diver & Instructor training throughout Australia, New Zealand & the Pacific. See www.stingraydivers.com.au for more information. For more details on TDI and the TDI Poseidon Discovery MkVI Rebreather programs please see https://www.tdisdi.dev or contact the TDI Australia Regional Office on (02) 8004-0950.

To locate TDI offices around the world visit https://www.tdisdi.dev no matter where your next adventure may take you.

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