| Technical
Courses
Introduction to Technical
Diving
The Introduction to Technical Diving Program is designed to give
the Open Water or Advanced Diver an opportunity to improve their
skills, knowledge and equipment configuration, thereby increasing
their safety and efficiency. The class will allow open water recreational
divers the ability to increase their confidence and skills under
the watchful eye of a NAUI Instructor. The program will also prepare
advanced divers for the rigors of technical training, should they
choose to continue on with those demanding courses.
By utilizing streamlined and efficient
equipment configurations, divers will have the freedom to improve
their skills. These divers will be more skilled, aware and responsible,
allowing them to have more fun and safer dives.
Improving non-technical skills and
techniques and building diver confidence are the goals of this program.
Correcting bad habits and mastering skills and techniques builds
a solid foundation for divers to continue on with more advanced
training.
Skills that will be concentrated upon
include, but are not limited to: precision trim and buoyancy, diver
awareness, streamlining equipment configurations, improving kicks,
dive team planning, communication techniques and risk assessment.
Prerequisites:
1. 18 years of age
2. Complete all NAUI paperwork
3. Open Water Certification by a nationally recognized agency
4. 50 logged open water dives
5. Meet swim requirements for NAUI Scuba Diver
6. Good physical condition
7. Non-smoker (highly recommended)
NAUI Technical Diver
Program
The NAUI Technical Diver Program is designed to introduce experienced
advanced divers to the techniques and methods employed in diving
beyond the traditional recreational limits. This course provides
training in decompression techniques, the use of technical-enriched
air nitrox and oxygen decompression gases, and the fundamentals
of using oxygen-enriched helium-based mix gas (helitrox).
Candidates entering the program must
already have mastered essential recreational diving skills, such
as exact buoyancy control, dive planning protocols, teamwork and
emergency management. Students enrolled in the NAUI Technical Diver
Program will have the opportunity to cultivate these skills and
many new ones while using more sophisticated designed for pursuing
technical level diving.
Classroom work emphasizes decompression
theory and management, diving physics and physiology, oxygen exposure
management, equipment, dive planning and emergency procedures. Practical
sessions include a minimum of 10 to 12 dives using nitrox or helitrox
bottom gas and EAN50 or oxygen decompression gases from 70 and 20
fsw respectively. The training depths for these dives are 90 to
150 fsw.
Prerequisites for the NAUI
Technical Diver Program
• Minimum age of 21 years old
• Medical clearance and physically fit
• Nonsmoker
• Minimum of 100 logged dives in varying environments with
at least 10 (beyond certification) using EANx.
• Certification and experience at the NAUI Master Diver, Deep
Diver, or equivalent. A reasonable amount of the candidate’s
experience should include advanced recreational dives between 100
and 130 fsw.
• Certification and training in diver rescue, CPR, first aid
and oxygen administration.
Technical Nitrox
The Technical Nitrox course is now incorporated into the NAUI Technical
Diver Program and is designed to provide the certified EANx diver
with the knowledge and skills needed to minimize the risks of utilizing
optimal breathing gas mixtures of 25% through 80% (oxygen) for dives
to a depth of 150 fsw not requiring staged decompression.
Please note, this course is no longer
taught by itself but is an integral part of the NAUI Technical Diver
Program.
Decompression Techniques
The Decompression Techniques course is now incorporated into the
NAUI Technical Diver Program and is to provide the diver with a
working knowledge of the theory, methods and procedures of planned
stage decompression diving. As a part of the course students will
plan and conduct a standard stage decompression dive not exceeding
a maximum of 180 fsw. Equipment requirements and configurations,
decompression breathing gas mixtures (including oxygen and EANx)
and decompression techniques will be presented.
Please note, this course is no longer
taught by itself but is an integral part of the NAUI Technical Diver
Program.
HeliTrox
Helitrox is a special trimix composed of helium and nitrox where
the oxygen content exceeds 21 percent. It is designed for diving
between 90 and 150 fsw on a helium-based gas resulting in a low
PO2 and PN2. We are now introducing helitrox diving in our Technical
EANx/Decompression Techniques program to the sensible alternative
over “deep air”.
Please note that this course is not
typically taught by itself, but as an integral part of the NAUI
Technical Diver Program. However, it can taught as an upgrade to
those with NAUI Technical EANx and Decompression Techniques or equivalent.
HeliAir
This course is designed to provide divers with the training and
experience needed to dive in environments between 130 and 180 ft.
using a “heliar” mixture of 16% oxygen and 24% helium.
This allows the Technical instructor to teach and offer experiences
in the 130 to 180 ft. depth range and still meet NAUI recommendations
for the use of helium based mixtures.
This course is designed to provide
divers with the training and experience needed to dive in environments
between 130 and 180 ft. using a “heliar” mixture of
16% oxygen and 24% helium. This allows the Technical instructor
to teach and offer experiences in the 130 to 180 ft. depth range
and still meet NAUI recommendations for the use of helium based
mixtures.
This program addresses the “gap”
in the NAUI standards for those of us who were intending on teaching
an extended range course but have helium available for use. However,
these standards require the use of helium on dives in the 150ft.
to 180ft. range. Standards won’t allow training in these depth
ranges without experience (and now the recommended use of helium).
To address this “gap”, I am proposing this “heliar”
course. Divers would be restricted to the use of a heliar mixture
of 16/24 which they could use to accumulate the 75 dives below 130ft.
With the additional experience the diver may become involved with
other helium based mixtures and depths ranging first to 225ft. (Tri-Mix
1), and then, after more experience and training, to 300ft. (Tri-MixII)
Trimix I and Trimix
II
The NAUI Trimix program trains technical
divers in the use of oxygen/helium/nitrogen gas mixtures while allowing
them to gain supervised experience in the protocols of deep and
extended range diving. The program accentuates the logic behind
the choices between different EANx, trimix and oxygen decompression
gases and it thoroughly introduces students to the most contemporary
decompression theories and tables available, particularly the Reduced
Gradient Bubble Model (RGBM).
Classroom work emphasizes advanced
decompression theory and management, gas mixing, diving physics
and physiology, oxygen exposure management and dive planning. Practical
session include rigorous cultivation of proper equipment selection
and configuration and technical diver skill execution. Finally,
the program is very experience oriented and stresses the practical
application of deep diving on mixed gases.
Helitrox diving is also covered in
the NAUI Trimix I course along with traditional trimix diving with
oxygen content less than 21 percent in the bottom mix. The Trimix
I course trains divers to utilize helium-based gas mixes to depths
up to 225 fsw. NAUI Trimix II training extends the practical training
depth up to 300 fsw. The Trimix I course requires six mixed gas
dives plus earlier skills sessions conducted in a confined water
setting. The Trimix II course is strictly a practical open water
extension of the Trimix I program and involves at least two additional
dives to depths between 225 and 300 fsw.
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