What to Expect: Tech Class Rituals

Wed, June 17, 2020 03:15 PM Comment(s) By Team DSS

Taking the jump to technical training opens up the depths and far reaches of the underwater world. It's truly an adventure, and one of the coolest hobbies out there. The training we offer for technical diving is unique not only in general, but also in this unique community of instruction. You will find differences in program intensity, structure and detail compared to recreational or even professional programs you may have been apart of in the past.

Each course is custom tailored to the group, but you should expect a few things to be universal across all groups and courses. Some of the most important parts of a technical training dive are the "rituals" that happen before and after each dive. You should expect the rituals as part of your training program and fun dives afterwards. We call them rituals not only because they're universal across all groups, but also because they' performed religiously, every. single. time.

Instructional Briefings

Before each day, activity, and dive, your instructor will run through the most important aspects of the activity. You should always have a clear understanding of the team roles, mission, and timeline. If you forget, or need clarification, always ask. The instructor's goal is to set you up for success and this information is vital for that.

Predive Checks

Before each submersion you, your team, and your instructor will go through personal and team predive checks. Personal predive checks are what each individual does to ensure all of their equipment is functioning, the dive mission is clear, and they're mentally prepared to go diving. The minimum number of personal checks is two. The first personal check should happen before any gear is assembled. Ask the question "do I have everything I need?" If the answer is yes then ensure none of your teammates have a problem that might require assistance. If it's no, then you should solve that problem before doing anything else. The second personal predive check should take place after assembly and donning in the form of a a head-to-toe checklist. The "pre-assembly" and "post-don" checklists are minimums for every diver at the technical level.

Team Checks

Team checks are the evaluation of your equipment functionality and mental preparedness by the team. In some areas, like quarries and springs, personal checks take place at the picnic table and predive checks happen standing in the water. When diving from charter boats, the personal checks typically happen at the car and the predive happen on the boat bench. Divers give a short head to toe checklist that allows them to verbally and visually confirm the function of all items. Teammates should pay attention and provide verbal communication for each step. Once this is complete it's time to dive!

Debrief

The debriefings are always led by the team of students and are required to have a few elements. Ideally the briefing is done right after the dive. If there's a situation that prevent this, like a diver needing to use the restroom or the dive site closing, it's important to jot down notes to review later with the team. In a situation where we're rushed to leave the water or the site we may forget important elements from the dive and questions we have.

1. What was the purpose of the dive? Did we accomplish it?

2. What is one thing you loved and should not change?

3. What is one thing that was not ideal and needs to change?

Everyone, including the instructor, will give a brief rundown of elements 2&3.

An example of this debrief style would be something like "We reached the wreck - which was the mission. It was really cool. My trim and buoyancy felt perfect so I'm keeping the weighting just like it is. I had trouble deploying the marker because I let the line foul which took too long so I've gotta dial that in by rigging it more efficiently."

After the team concludes their debrief, which will at a minimum contain items 1-3 above, the instructor will provide feedback. This is ideally done in water and reinforced later with video feedback. The purpose of this feedback is to make changes and improvements dive-to-dive.

1. Feedback items for the team

2. Feedback items for individuals

Attitude

During technical courses you should expect to run into situations where you struggle some and your comfort zone is extended. While we should actively try to avoid mistakes it's expected in technical training and important to identify and fix them. To facilitate this process we encourage an open platform for discussion throughout the course and especially in the debriefs. You should feel comfortable saying "I didn't do this task well" without fear of judgement from teammates. However, you should never say that phrase, or any phrase like it. The correct thing to say in that situation is "I didn't do this task well, if it happens again I will do XYZ to correct it". Diving is fun, and focusing on failures is not only lame, but it's also not productive. Success is the ability to identify and overcome obstacles.

Technical diving courses are not inexpensive. These rituals and the open communication of the team/instructional environment are part of what you're paying for. Successful predives and postdives are tools to mitigate risk.