Posted by Clinton Bauder on April 11, 2000 at 11:38:08:
In Reply to: Tech diving posted by MHK on April 10, 2000 at 18:04:23:
Why do we need a label like "Tech Diving" anyway? Various levels of Scuba Certification qualify people for various types of diving. A basic Open Water cert is good for 60 feet. More advanced classes qualify you to go deeper, longer, into over head enviroments etc. To dive on a rebreather you need a certification for that too. I regularly do decompression dives to 170 feet of so. This is strictly for recreation as I certainly aren't making money from it. Other folks dive in caves, on deep wrecks or whatever. Obviously this kind of diving requires more training, discipline and equipment but most of us are still just doing it for fun.
As far as the 130 foot or no-deco rules are concerned I would say that all dives are decompression dives and that 130 feet is strictly an arbitrary number. I've did several 160 foot decompression dives in New Guinea (100'+ vis, 80F water, no current or swell) that were much easier IMO than any number of 100 foot NDL dives I've done in Monterey ( <10' vis, 48F water, current, 10' swell etc.).
So why the need for a definition? To impress your friends with how daring you are? I say regardless of the type of diving you choose to do, you should make sure to have the proper training, motivation and experience necessary to do so safely.
Clinton