Technical Spearfishing Instruction

[inletsurf]

Anyone? Or do I basically have to go to Tampa to get any advanced multiple gas training?

[SpearMax]

Originally Posted by inletsurf

Anyone? Or do I basically have to go to Tampa to get any advanced multiple gas training?

Inlet, you are so close to cave country right there. Why don't you contact the President of Dive Rite, Lamar Hires, and ask for a tech instructor referral? Dive Rite has been an SBO sponsor for a long time. Lamar is a great guy who is very knowledgeable on most things technical diving related.

During the 70's and 80's, Lamar was one of the pioneer underwater cave explorers. He helped to map many of north-central Florida's cave sites. He has since gone on to be a leader in technical diving: he is an active cave and technical diving instructor, and he recently retired as Chairman of the prestigious National Speleological Society-Cave Diving Section (NSS-CDS).

Their info is below. Good luck!

Dive Rite
175 NW Washington Street
Lake City, FL 32055
Phone: (386) 752-1087
Office hours: 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. M - F
General Support: support@diverite.com
Web Support: websupport@diverite.com

[dagodiver]

To this I will add that if you go to cave country you can get a 3mix ticket with only having to do 1 open water ocean dive. Not that there is anything wrong with this but I think for a guy that in the end wants to spearfish that the training should for the most part be done in the open ocean. After all shootin the lift bags and doing the drift deco's are the best part. Not to mention the ripping current's when you are not allowed to surface because you have some deco time. I have a Intro/Cave cert plus my TDI advanced trimix cert so I can talk about this stuff.! And soon as I kill some nice fish I will talk about spearing.!


thanks
Dago.

[inletsurf]

Thanks Tony and Mike

[trimix]

In Texas, diving on the rigs, to get to the big fish you need to go deep. In my opinon Trimix is the way to go. With deco bottles staged along the way back up. You can never have too much to breath when spearfishing.

[Chad Carney]

Originally Posted by trimix

In Texas, diving on the rigs, to get to the big fish you need to go deep. In my opinon Trimix is the way to go. With deco bottles staged along the way back up. You can never have too much to breath when spearfishing.

I would love to use trimix spearing on deep rigs, but so far the murk layers have really thrown me a bunch of curve balls. About half of the dives I've done up in rig country have been super dirty past recreational depths. These dives were on the multi-day tournaments the last 4 years from TX to AL. Sometimes it's been the reverse, dirty on the surface and then they clear up deep. Planning MODs is a real bitch, so I have used air deep and lean nitrox on dives later in the day.

I prefer to carry my deco gasses here in Florida and on rig trips. Although likely on a rig, I still can't be sure I'm going to be able to get back to hung off stage bottles. And there would be no time to deploy and pick up stage tanks, diving with the Hell Divers. By the time you got down there they would have already killed everything!

Chad

[WreckHunter]

Originally Posted by dagodiver

To this I will add that if you go to cave country you can get a 3mix ticket with only having to do 1 open water ocean dive. Not that there is anything wrong with this but I think for a guy that in the end wants to spearfish that the training should for the most part be done in the open ocean. After all shootin the lift bags and doing the drift deco's are the best part. Not to mention the ripping current's when you are not allowed to surface because you have some deco time. I have a Intro/Cave cert plus my TDI advanced trimix cert so I can talk about this stuff.! And soon as I kill some nice fish I will talk about spearing.!


thanks
Dago.

Inlet, I could not agree with what Mike says here more. There is a world of difference between diving springs and caves and diving the ocean, as you already know. These differences are compounded when you go deep and do significant deco with all the equipment and techniques that involves.

My buddy and I took GUE Tech I with Tyler Moon in High Springs (cave country). He was a great instructor and we learned a ton. But we have since done almost all of our practicing and tech dives in the ocean. That is what we are interested in. We will take a cave course one of these days just to get some really good overhead training, but our next course will be the next level trimix course and will happen in south Florida. That is where we do most of our tech dives anyway. And there is no substitute for training in the actual conditions you will be doing the dives. There are several good tech instructors down that way. You are right, there is no tech instruction in Brevard.

[jfjf]

So tell us all how you Spearfish DIR. Do you follow the GUE "team" requirements when spearing or what? They seem so regimented in all their gear and every thing else...

[dagodiver]

Originally Posted by jfjfjfj

So tell us all how you Spearfish DIR. Do you follow the GUE "team" requirements when spearing or what? They seem so regimented in all their gear and every thing else...

DIR mentality works great for all types of diving. GUE is a completely different thing than just DIR style diving.


Dago.

[inletsurf]

Wreckhunter, Dago, I agree. Diving deep Sebastian (>150 feet) is similar to diving deep south florida. Ripping currents add a whole new playing field, and I would like to get certified by someone who has considerable experience in these gulf-stream type dives.

[WreckHunter]

Inlet,
I have asked many people for recommendations for a tech diving instructor in SE Fla. One name that kept popping up is Lesley Jacques Pitaro (Runawaylobster on Thedecostop) Mike Barnett and many others whos opinions I respect have recommended her highly. She is a NAUI instructor part time and is certified to teach trimix I, II and recently cave. She is very DIR in style and equipment and teaches that way (which I think is good) She does alot of deep wreck diving as her main focus so understands and teaches to that set of skills. She is who we want to take our next course with. Unfortunately she has been tied up lately dealing with some immigration problems with her husband so has not been easy to pin down.

jfjfjfjfjjfjfjfjf,
Regarding DIR spearfishing: My buddy and I think very highly of the DIR techniques/ style/ system, whatever you want to call it. We researched all the different agencies and DIR vs not DIR with an open mind. We came to the conclusion that DIR makes ALOT of sense for tech diving or cave diving. That said we did NOT drink the Koolaid! By that I mean we are not dyed in the wool hardcore DIR devotees who think anything not DIR is DIW. Most DIR divers I have met are not really that regimented. Don't judge us all by a few inflexible, closed minded goosesteppers who post B.S on the internet. I dove for 30 years recreationally before taking up tech and still own most of the same recreational gear. I still dive with my recreational buddies and wear my recreational gear on recreational dives. I teach my kids and dive with them in rec gear. BUT when I dive to 200' or more and do significant deco I will do it DIR, with tech gear, and with a trained tech diver buddy (DIR or not) or I won't do it at all. I am not saying anyone elses way is right or wrong and I have NO interest in getting in a big DIR debate with anyone but I want to do all I can to make my tech diving safer so I can come home to my family at the end of the day. After all diving is what I do for fun, I am not trying to prove anything.

[Jaizzen]

I'm not too sure about the DIR system and deep spearfishing. Some of the configurations seem like they may put you into a bind in a not so perfect enviornment. No debate here, dive what ever works for you and the situation. Just giving my observation.

Jason

[phlipper]

the guy who started dir owns pipewelders in lauderdale. he wuz a fisherman and a hunter b4 he wuz a diver so he started divin just to get fish. b4 he started doin the cave thing he and his budz used to like to spear deep on air. anyway if u want to lern how to do it right ya might want to ask him or the headhunter guys who taught them enough to get started. therz alot of tech propeller hedz out there that never ever even handled a gun and id remove all of em from any potential teacher lists.

[jfjf]

Originally Posted by phlipper

the guy who started dir owns pipewelders in lauderdale. he wuz a fisherman and a hunter b4 he wuz a diver so he started divin just to get fish. b4 he started doin the cave thing he and his budz used to like to spear deep on air. anyway if u want to lern how to do it right ya might want to ask him or the headhunter guys who taught them enough to get started. therz alot of tech propeller hedz out there that never ever even handled a gun and id remove all of em from any potential teacher lists.

Who can argue with this?

[jfjf]

Originally Posted by WreckHunter

Inlet,

Regarding DIR spearfishing: My buddy and I think very highly of the DIR techniques/ style/ system, whatever you want to call it. We researched all the different agencies and DIR vs not DIR with an open mind. We came to the conclusion that DIR makes ALOT of sense for tech diving or cave diving. That said we did NOT drink the Koolaid! By that I mean we are not dyed in the wool hardcore DIR devotees who think anything not DIR is DIW. Most DIR divers I have met are not really that regimented. Don't judge us all by a few inflexible, closed minded goosesteppers who post B.S on the internet. I dove for 30 years recreationally before taking up tech and still own most of the same recreational gear. I still dive with my recreational buddies and wear my recreational gear on recreational dives. I teach my kids and dive with them in rec gear. BUT when I dive to 200' or more and do significant deco I will do it DIR, with tech gear, and with a trained tech diver buddy (DIR or not) or I won't do it at all. I am not saying anyone elses way is right or wrong and I have NO interest in getting in a big DIR debate with anyone but I want to do all I can to make my tech diving safer so I can come home to my family at the end of the day. After all diving is what I do for fun, I am not trying to prove anything.

I just wonder what specific gear configurations and techniques you apply from GUE that are superior in your opinion for Spearfishing. It seems no one mentions DIR here anyway, so I hope it wouldn't get into a koolaid drinkers pissing match.

I specifically wonder how the buddy team approach works. It would seem that if multiple members of the team are shooting simultaneously (or even actively hunting) then the strict (or what I perceive as strict) buddy diving protocol would be diificult to implement. In other words, how do two or three guys really watch each other if they are all fighting their own fish?