“Is that climb a grade 3 or 4?”
DOES DIVING HAVE A COMPARABLE SCALE TO WHAT ROCK CLIMBERS USE TO GAUGE THE DIFFICULTY OF A CLIMB… The short answer is: ‘Nope!” Followed by a pause and: “Well, not really.” Then there is another pause, pursed lips and a finger pointing skyward: “Hummm, actually, to tell the truth, it’s a long story…” Okay. So, when one thinks about it, there is no short answer. The situation is way more complex and the only answer is a hybrid one. Any climber, or downhill skier, can tell a lot about a rock or ice climb, or a ski run, from the grade it’s given. These grades are published and shared within each respective community freely. For example, a double black diamond at Whistler Blackcomb has a big sign at its entrance telling skiers what it is. They know the run is going to be a physical workout and a test of their skills before they point their skis or snowboard down it. Dive sites don’t have that. Along similar lines, an active ice climber knows that without the right experience and gear, attempting grade 3 ice has the potential to maim or kill. Divers are not quite so lucky. We are left to our devices when it’s time to compare our skills, the kit we’re wearing, our recent experience and cert level, with what the dive site requires. But there’s a lot of, what an engineer would call slop in that method. Essentially, there’s enough play in the moving parts that efficiency is lost. Efficiency is lost and there’s more. For example, do the challenges of an ocean wreck dive remain constant or are there variables at play… many of them hidden from the surface observer. Equivalent environmental variables are more apparent to a climber or skier. They can see and feel them BEFORE they set out. Divers have to guess. What complicates the issue in the diving world is we too often equate difficulty with depth, and depth alone. This is a simplistic comparison, yet divers and dive instructors commonly make it. By default, a trimix dive is classified as more dangerous than a nitrox dive, and both are said to be more risky than a 10 metre bimble on a tropical reef off Cozumel. But is that true? Can’t a diver suffer lung overexpansion ascending from 10 metres? Can’t a diver drown in 10 metres of water and be just as dead as one who drowned two or three times as deep? There is no argument that a trimix dive may be more complicated than the others. And convention suggests each requires a different level of experience (and certification). But is it that alone that makes one more dangerous than another? Is one really more risky while the other two and are both risk free? Certainly, swimming around the USS Oriskany’s sail and flight deck most would consider less dangerous than penetrating the wreck, but is that open water dive actually safer than a Cenote dive in Dos Ojos, Mexico, for example? Is one the equivalent of a blue ski run and the other a green one; or are they both the same as a grade 3 scramble up a mountain in the Dolomites? I’m reluctant to say. Oddly enough, it’s not unusual for an diver with just an OW20 to swim in a Cenote, but a dive below 20 metres requires additional work. Is that acceptable? It must be, since that’s what the community supports. But does the “slop” that’s present in the way we classify dive risk, correct and acceptable… in all cases… for every dive site? The truth is that divers are more of less left to “self-police” when they decide whether they have the chops to successfully dive a specific site. After all, there are no warning signs bobbing around on the surface. Perhaps that’s part of the attraction. But perhaps not. Maybe dive sites should be classified and signposted. Do divers have it wrong or are climbers and skiers living in a fool’s paradise? Lots of questions. The bottom line, then, has to be proceed with caution. Every dive has the potential to be a double black diamond or grade 4 ice. And the smartest approach is to treat them as such.
There’s more to this than a cert card
CUSTOMERS WANT MORE THAN THEY ASK FOR… Perhaps not every new customer that walks into a dive store, but most, in fact have a sketchy idea about the certification process. All the nonsense about people wanting “Their ****…” (and accepting it as fact) is poor market research. Actually, it’s not even close to market research, poor or otherwise. Worse, it leads to a missed opportunity. Every sale starts slightly differently, but when someone walks into a dive centre for the first time and asks about learning to dive (or getting their ****) the typical and incorrect response is to say; “yes, we can do that”, followed by something along the lines of “we have an open water class starting next week.” All that comes later. The immediate response should be to ask, “WHY?” The best sales people — people selling scuba classes, clothing, cars, boats, homes, patio furniture, whatever — want to know why. They want to know about the customer’s dreams. And if that sounds a little too New Age, Instagram Influencer to be effective, think again. Asking someone why they want to dive is the perfect ice-breaker. Everyone has their reasons. They range from, “I wanna dive the Titanic” to “I keep tropical fish, and…” A smart (effective and successful) sales person has the ability to match a customer’s dream to something they have “on the shelf for sale.” In the dive industry, what we have on the shelf is epic and exciting. It’s a dream fulfilled, a dream made real. In a lot of cases, making all that happen begins with an OW20, but it never ends there. Diving the Titanic is an obvious ‘No-Go’ but diving the Bianca C or Thistlegorm or USS Saratoga is possible… with imagination, the will to retain customers, and a few additional classes! Sell the dream.
Accident Analysis: a story of poor judgement and broken promises
A HYPOTHETICAL NEAR MISS THAT HAS A LOT TO TEACH US The difference between going home after a day of diving or being strapped onto a hospital gurney while being prepped for several hours in a recompression chamber, can be the result of an margin of error as thin as a human hair, or a lapse of judgement as wide as the Channel Tunnel. Perhaps related to that, a strange habit of divers, especially technical divers, is to engage in what’s called ‘accident analysis.’ This exercise may appear to be ghoulish to outsiders. An act of morbid voyeurism. But technical diving is a high-risk endeavour, and it’s better to learn from the mistakes of others rather than educating oneself firsthand. That means digging around in other people’s’ misery to find what turned a great day into a nightmare, is a necessary and useful exercise. And that’s what this is; just a useful exercise, and nothing more. So, let’s do a little digging. I’ve avoided using names and the location has been fudged, but what follows could easily be based on an actual event. Your job is to identify the points where things went pear-shaped. Good luck and the prize at the end is that you can avoid making the same mistakes yourself: I hope. ______________________ Accident analysis is often difficult. Unfortunately, part of the challenge when deconstructing any diving incident is it’s often difficult to unravel which of the two extremes — human hair or 45-metre-wide tunnel — was a contributing factor. But occasionally, the answer is obvious and stands out like a nun dealing blackjack in a Las Vegas casino. Here’s one of those ‘nun in Vegas’ scenarios. Let’s say this incident involved two divers. Both certified instructors. One a very experienced technical instructor, but from someplace else and a stranger to local conditions. The other was a much less experienced technical instructor, but a local diver familiar with local dive sites and conditions. The highly experienced instructor was teaching a course to the lesser experienced one. So, the dive you are being asked to deconstruct was a training dive. For the record, the course was a trimix, sidemount CCR class. A highly technical program without a doubt. The dive was made from a boat working in an area where the prevailing current is always a factor. If you are thinking God’s Pocket, off Canada’s Vancouver Island, the Strait of Messina, between Sicily and the Italian mainland, or the Gulf Stream as it blasts along Florida’s east coast on its way to the British Isles and Northern Europe, you have the right idea. Several knots on a normal day, strong up and down welling on an extreme day. Not conditions for the faint-hearted, and always a physical and mental workout. The subject dive was on an extreme day. During the pre-dive briefing the charter captain mentioned the current was blowing. However, our divers opted to go ahead with their planned dive to 42 metres (about 138 feet) with around 45 minutes of bottom time. According to all reports, the dive was a challenge. The experienced technical instructor admitted afterwards it was one of his toughest dives. But he and his student put in the planned bottom time in spite of everything. It seems, that during their ascent, holding the required staged decompression stops was a challenge. Partly because of this, and because the student indicated ‘I’m tired,’ the pair added more than 10 minutes to the six-metre stop. Back on the surface, the student showed signs of a serious, possibly neurological, DCS hit. Evacuation ensued followed by recompression and a hospital stay. The required reports were filed and during the resulting investigation, it was discovered the student had a history of DCS and other medical challenges including a suspected PFO. However, these episodes were never mentioned in medical waivers, or pre-course conversations, or dive briefings. Nor had incident reports about them ever been submitted to the agency. In this case, someone dodged a bullet, for sure. This was a near-miss that could easily have had a much worse outcome. But instead, it turned out to be a good learning opportunity for us all. Now, did you spot the ‘errors?’ Diving, especially technical rebreather diving, is about balance. It’s about knowing limits and working within them. For example, most would agree a sensible starting point would be to draw boundaries around a training dive. Training dives are supposed to be controlled and somewhat protected. Not necessarily easy, but not one of the hardest dives an experienced technical instructor has made. Even when it’s a CCR course. Accordingly, a training dive is not the best platform from which to launch an all-out attack on any limits or to beat down the best practices that support ’em like fence posts. Add to that, what for most divers even on a good day, would be challenging conditions, and the odds against a good outcome are building. And then, opting to push limits and undertake a tough dive in unfamiliar gear (managing a sidemount rebreather and bailout bottles), adds another level of complexity. Put all this in a blender and give it a stir, and most would consider the results a nasty concoction… something to be avoided. And yet, all this happened. Certainly, we could all point fingers, but what are the lessons? When and where did this all start to go wobbly? Perhaps we can start with a little self-reflection. As a community we have a loose approach to applying what we know is best practice to every dive we make. We get complacent. Also, too many experienced instructors allow slop when they apply the “spirit of the law” to the advice offered in course standards. Some also forget that not everyone has their experience and comfort when conditions turn tough. Of course, this attitude is ill-advised, but was that attitude a factor in this case and it is really that unusual? Diving in marginal environmental conditions is always a dodgy choice.
Learning about Twinset diving
RECREATIONAL DIVERS ENJOY THE BENEFITS TOO Diving with two tanks on your back was once part of a sort of right-of-passage for anyone who thought of themself as a budding techdiver. Double tanks (joined by an isolation manifold) where once the exclusive kit configuration for cave and deep wreck divers. But times change and who doesn’t appreciate the extra safety, extra dive time, more stability, and convenience that a twimset can deliver? And with this specialty program, almost anyone can spice up their diving adventures and learn new, valuable skills from the experts. Diving with double tanks, also known as twinset diving was originally a convenient way to increase the breathing gas available to divers for longer dives in either a hard or soft overhead (inside a cave or wreck), or when doing staged decompression dives. It was the norm when divers began to push their adventures beyond the limits of traditional recreational diving. But recreational divers soon realized that the advantages of having backup gas, and plenty of it, was attractive to them also. So, to meet this need, RAID developed its TwinSet Diver Specialty to teach these divers the best, safest, and most appropriate techniques to venture into this type of diving. The course teaches everything a diver needs to know about how to get the most benefit with the least fuss from twinset diving. If you’re looking for a course to challenge you, but also to add something exciting to your diving, RAID’s Twinset Specialty is worth taking a close look at. Advantages of diving with double tanks include:
If you’re going to go sidemount…
YOU’RE BETTER OFF LEARNING FROM THE FOLKS WHO WROTE THE BOOK Trying new things is awesome. Learning new things that expand your horizons and add to your diving knowledge and fun, well that’s a bonus. And, what’s wonderful about diving is the adventure always has something new to offer! For example, have you tried diving sidemount? RAID offers comprehensive training in sidemount… and this simple recreational specialty could add a totally new perspective to your diving… check it out>>> You probably know that originally, moving scuba tanks from a diver’s back to their sides was a cave diver’s trick making it easier for them to wiggle their way through tight, low passages. And it stayed that way until recreational divers — people doing everyday dives in open water — discovered the advantages that sidemount diving offers. Today, some divers opt to learn sidemount diving almost as soon as they earn their OW20 cert. Enhanced flexibility and trim underwater, plus the added safety of carrying extra gas and a backup delivery system (two tanks), and the fun of learning new and exciting skills, appeals to them. Advantages of sidemount diving include: Drawbacks of sidemount diving may include: Are you wondering how to reap the benefits and avoid the pitfalls? That’s simple. Make sure you receive proper training from a certified instructor to ensure your safety and enjoyment. And the most straightforward way to get that started is to connect with your local RAID dive centre. Do you have any specific questions about sidemount diving?
Getting to know what makes RAID tick…
YOU SHOULD KNOW THIS ABOUT US AT THE VERY LEAST If you’ve ever wondered if it’s it just Corporate EGO that makes RAID tell people we’re bringing positive change to the dive industry? Or if The RAID Way™ is just a catchy slogan and nothing more, RAID’s owners… divers just like you… would like you to understand what being a leader with impact and influence means to us. Then, you can decide if we’re a good fit for you. READ OUT MORE ABOUT RAID>>> CONTACT DIVE RAID INTERNATIONAL HQ>>>
Silent Diving… It Puts A Different Perspective On Things
THE BENEFITS OF FREEDIVING WITH RAID RAID is putting a lot of effort and a focus on Freediving programs this year. Why is that? We asked our Freediving SME (subject matter expert) to explain why freediving is important to her and why it’s a benefit for anyone who dives as well as anyone specifically interested in moving into that branch of our sport. “As both a scuba and freedive instructor, I’ve taught a lot of people over the years, including teaching qualified scuba divers to freedive. There are some huge benefits to be gained by taking a freediving course. As a scuba diver, you will already have a pretty good handle on your buoyancy, and the feelings associated with being underwater. Learning to freedive can give you a better understanding of breath control, better equalisation skills, improved buoyancy, improved body awareness and more confidence in the water. This can make you into a more relaxed and efficient scuba diver, with better air consumption, meaning you can dive for longer.” Pash Baker is also an underwater photographer, and one of the things she loves about freediving is the ability to have incredible animal encounters that are simply not possible on scuba. “I’ve had baby humpbacks swim over to check me out and then stay and play a while. I’ve freedived with blue whales, had a one-on-one encounter with an Oceanic White Tip shark on breath hold and many other amazing experiences. The images I take while freediving are very emotive for me, as they are attached to memories of phenomenal encounters.” So, with all that in mind, we hope the agency’s recent focus on freediving begins to make sense and that this month… and onwards… you think seriously about expanding your personal experience to include breath-hold, no-tank diving with RAID. And above all the benefits that Pash mentions, it’s fun! VIEW FREEDIVING PROGRAMS HERE>>>
RAID Adds XCCR Training…
EXPEDITION GRADE CCR FROM iQSub NOW AVAILABLE Dive RAID International is so pleased to tell you that we have added training on the XCCR series of rebreathers to our available courses. This unit represents the state-of-the art in CCR design and configuration and we are happy to offer this option to those of you diving The RAID Way™. The compact and ergonomic design facilitates assembly and maintenance. without special tools and the controlling software has been written to reduce human error and increase usability. When it comes to matching the unit to diver needs, that are two canister models – made of Delrin or marine grade hard anodized Aluminum with teflon coating. The capacity for Diluent and Oxygen tanks range from two to seven litres and the quick-release fasteners make tank replacement fast and secure. XCCR uses a radial scrubber with a manufacturer-guaranteed six-hour duration as standard. both oxygen and diluent manifolds have multiple outlets. So, off-board gases can be connected/disconnected directly via Swagelok QC6 quick connects for those divers who need this added function. This machine is a serious tool for serious divers. The head of the XCCR is designed to have advanced air flow paths to eliminate condensation forming on the O2 cells. The Shearwater SOLO board in the head serves reading from three O2-sensors, solenoid firing, CO2-reading, HP reading on Oxygen and Diluent tanks, Head-Up Display control. If the user cuts any cable, the unit will still carry on working and maintain the PPO2 up to surfacing. The X-CCR unit is equipped with Shearwater DiveCAN Petrel2 Controller on the left hand and with DiveCAN Head-Up Display placed on the BOV. The Shearwater electronics has very low power consumption and provides long term battery life. O2-sensors and built-in CO2 sensor are placed in the easily removable cartridge making it easy to dry, check, or replace the sensors. PPO2 readings are electronically separated and in the event of a short circuit on any sensor or cable or one of the computers, the ppO2 reading on the other computer is not affected. There are two independent replaceable ubiquitous Li-Ion 18650 batteries located in sealed compartments out of the breathing loop, so the breathing gas can not be contaminated in the event of a battery leak. The unit’s wiring design is such that a diver should never have to miss a dive due to battery problems. Other features– Every unit is tested to 150m before it leaves the factory.– CE approved. RAID is proud to add training on this exceptional CCR to its growing suite of technical diving programs. Contact your local RAID dive centre for details.
What exactly is a dive agency…
AND WHAT DO THEY SELL? You could be a certified diver with a couple of dozen logged dives, or even have years of experience diving tonnes of exotic spots around the globe, but the chances are that if your great aunt Mildred — the nice one from Brighton — asked you to explain what a dive agency is — what it does: and what exactly it sells — you might not be comfortable answering. Well, you might be happy to answer initially but later you’d feel guilty when you realised you’d supplied her a dodgy answer. Don’t fret, there are a few people who actually work full-time in the dive industry who’d have trouble responding intelligently to that one! The most obvious mistake that folks make, including great aunt Mildred and a lot of people like her, is thinking that a dive agency ‘does’ diver training. They do not. When a student signs up to become a diver, the scuba instructor, the man or woman who’s going to teach them, doesn’t work for the agency. Dive agencies do a few things but teaching is not one of them. That’s the job of dive instructors, and they are employed by local dive shops or dive resorts, and not the dive agency. A dive agency is more like a sort of lending library or publishing company. They sell books. Books about diving. Mostly. (We’ll get into the nuances a few paragraphs down.) But essentially, dive agencies pay “subject matter experts” to write books about all things related to diving, and then they charge a fee for people to read them. Some agencies actually sell printed books… really old-school. However, most sell eBooks. So, their library is virtual rather than some sunny alcove in a vast book-lined athenaeum with potted aspidistras, overstuffed leather chairs, and side tables supporting cups of tea and dainty plates of cucumber sandwiches with the crusts cut off. It follows then that dive agencies make their money primarily from selling library access to the dive professionals who actually do the teaching. Occasionally they may sell directly to student divers, but most of the time an agency’s primary customers are dive pros. It’s important to understand these ‘reading’ fees are modest. eBooks are inexpensive, and in fact represent a small fraction of the cost of a diving course. For instance, an agency makes fewer than $30 from a typical open water class regardless of what the student pays to take the class. The agency fees for a more advanced course, let’s say on a rebreather, nets an agency a little more, perhaps $100, but that is still a fraction of the total cost of learning to dive a rebreather. The bulk of the money, and in fairness, the bulk of the work goes to the shop or instructor. For example, an experienced CCR instructor would charge a student more than $1500-plus for a course that would take a week to deliver. Big difference. But it’s not all pennies and pocket lint for an agency. Firstly, there are obvious economies of scale. A dive shop or instructor certifying 200 basic students a year could be doing very well, but one of the so-called Big Seven agencies will issue thousands and thousands of this type of diver certs every year. And there are other “products and services” that an agency sells. Dive agencies, and there are dozens of them around the world, also police the way diver training is delivered. And this, indirectly, is what makes them money. Dive agencies charge its members — instructors and dive centres — money to be part of their business network. This includes marketing and promotion, but the main ‘product’ is the assurance and protection that comes from those ‘policing’ duties. An intangible but a vitally important one. The way each agency administers this responsibility varies a lot from agency to agency. Some are more strict and on the ball than others. But a common thread is they each publish standards — detailed outlines, a framework — that instructors are required to follow when they are teaching students. These standards make it clear, how to teach, what to teach, how to maintain control, and give tips on how to prevent things going pear-shaped. And it’s the agency’s standards that must be met in order for a student diver to be “certified.” You sometimes hear people refer to diver certifications as a dive licence but a diver certification isn’t really a licence. Not in the legal sense of the word. It just tells whomever is interested that the diver has completed such-and-such course and satisfied the course’s published standards. Certifications, certainly those from the major agencies, are recognized by dive operations globally. And a certification card — digital or physical — is required to rent dive gear, buy a gas fill, get onto a dive boat, have access to a dive site. So, dive instructors and dive operators pay fees to an agency to plug into those standards. Most agencies charge dive instructors an annual subscription — usually a few hundred dollars — to be a member. RAID is unique in that it offers its professional members Zero FEe-Membership. As long as they stay active and certify a handful of students each year, membership fees are waived. We still offer full support to our members, and our students, but RAID’s cost of doing business is kept low — our shareholders are divers not venture capitalists — and we serve a growing market. So, what to tell great aunt Mildred? Unless you enjoy watching someone’s eyes glace over, the suggestion is to tell her that dive agencies are in business to keep divers safe, active, and happy. You know a little more than that now, but the best message is that simple one. WHAT MAKES RAID TICK>>> CROSSING OVER TO RAID>>> THIS IS A BUSINESS OF DIVING MESSAGE FROM DIVE RAID INTERNATIONAL… FEEDBACK>>>
WHY RAID
REASON #775 Did you know that RAID offers a complete Freediving program including static apnea?
