Tech diving for Sport divers -

Tech Diving Tips for Sport Divers

Enhance your sport diving skills by adopting advanced techniques from technical diving for improved safety and precision.

By Tamara Adame

I have been a technical diver since 2016, but only started working full time in technical diving in 2021. After the pandemic lockdown, I was offered a full time position at a tech diving facility and decided to immerse myself in the world of tech. Before that, I was self employed and had a fun, varied diving job as a private instructor and guide, conducting all sorts of dive operations from reef diving, to cavern diving, to scientific diving and even trips. During that time, I had done several tech diving courses such as Advanced Nitrox, Decompression Procedures and Full Cave. I was trained in technical diving but mostly conducted sport dives for a living, and kept technical diving for days off or special projects.

Technical dive training improved my skills as an Open Water Instructor. It made me dive in a safer way, understand decompression better, have better buoyancy and perfected trim. Without realizing it, it also helped me to introduce my clients to technical diving, as I shared simple tools and techniques that improved their diving as well.

Here are a few of the tools that are often regarded as tech diving but can be applied to any type of sport diving, making the way you dive smoother and safer, without the need for a technical diving course.

Cave diving picture by ©Natalie Gibb

1. Equipment

Hose lengths

A lot of the standard hoses in rental equipment often come in longer sizes than they need to be so they can be used by people with a wider variety of body frames. Buy your own equipment, take the opportunity to improve hose routing, which in turn will improve your diving and ability. Spend a little time checking that the hose lengths are appropriate for you and your size.

The high pressure hose on which you connect your SPG should not dangle all the way to the floor or lower as you stand the tank on the ground. If the hose is just right, you’ll be able to clip it to a waist d-ring or secure it with a clip. Can unclip it to check it whenever needed, instead of dragging a heavy SPG off a hose, which often harms the environment as it dangles below you or loops to the side. If the hose length is just as long as the tank (with most tank sizes), even when unclipped, it won’t dangle far below you.

The regulator hose is one of my favorite things to improve on a sport setup because it immediately looks better and feels better. It also opens the discussion about the long hose/short hose setup, which I have also often shared with divers (see further down in this article).

Main regulator hose on a traditional setup should be long enough to be able to turn your head both ways, without affecting how the reg sits in your mouth. If the hose is too long it creates a heavy loop around to the side and away from the head, sometimes falling over your shoulder. This can tilt the regulator and create jaw tension by sitting sideways in your mouth, forcing you to clench your teeth to keep it in place, which is fatiguing and unattractive.

When it comes to the octopus, or alternate air source, the main objective is the ability to share gas with another person. The octopus hose standard length is 30inch/90cm, which allows us to swim comfortably next to the diver we donate gas to, until we both surface. If the Octopus hose is too short, it will be uncomfortable as divers won’t have space to be in trim, swim horizontally next to each other, or hold a safety stop in a comfortable position.

Short Hose, Long Hose… it comes from tech!

Tech diving uses the principle of redundancy as one of the building blocks of safety, be it deep, overhead, mixed gas, or other type of diving. Redundancy means we have a safety net when our primary source of life support is compromised. In backmount twinsets, a typical setup will include a short hose connected to the left tank, which hangs from a necklace below the chin as a secondary regulator. Long hose (approximately 210cm/7ft long) is used as a primary regulator, and is also the one to be donated in an emergency when another diver is out of gas (as opposed to the secondary reg being donated which is more common in sport diving).

This can be implemented in sport diving too. A single back-mounted tank can be fitted with a regulator on a short hose /long hose setup. We need to have a few key components in place to make it safe and streamlined. The short hose (secondary regulator) should be long enough that the second stage hangs below the chin. When the hose is too short, the reg climbs above the shoulder and moves out of place. When the short hose length is excessive, it creates an unnecessary loop that can interfere with the long hose clipping.The long hose in this type of setup should be in the diver’s mouth during the dive but should be clipped away on a D-ring whenever not in use (surface). The length I use for a long hose in a sport setup is 150cm/60inch, as it is perfect for my body size; however, a 2m hose is the standard in technical diving and can be used in sport setups for taller divers with a larger chest area. The long hose routes down from the first stage on the right side of the diver, goes under the right arm, across the chest and up behind the neck coming from the left, and clips on to a d-ring on the right shoulder. The excess can then be kept under the BCD belt next to the buckle if needed. Make sure nothing is trapping this hose by doing a modified S-drill beforehand (once you’re fully kitted, deploy the hose in front of you to make sure it is free to donate).

Diving equipment picture by ©Ricardo Castillo

Backplate and wing!

This is a frequently asked question in dive forums – should I change to a different configuration? Although most of us learned to dive in a jacket style BCD, it is only one of the options out there. But what is so different between a jacket BCD and a harness and wing?

Backplates can be steel or aluminum, mostly. Steel plates add about 6 lbs of weight to your configuration, which in many cases is convenient, and we wouldn’t have to add weights; however, it is not possible to place the weight accordingly for trim. This works well for people who need a lot of weight, have thick undergarments, or are balanced and not head/feet heavy.

Aluminum plates are easier to travel with and allow us to place weights where we need them.

A Hogarthian configuration would involve a plate and a harness made of a single piece of webbing. The webbing is threaded through the plate itself. Simplicity is key when building our kit so usually there are no paddings or ornaments on a backplate and wing setup. A typical kit would have one d-ring on each shoulder and a waist d-ring to clip the bolt snap on our SPG (see hoses info above!). Tech shorts or dry suit pockets are then used for keeping accessories, which makes the setup very clean so nothing dangles during the dive.

Diving a wing may take time to get used to but when used properly can contribute to great horizontal trim and lateral stability, because the gas in the wing is distributed equally on both sides, like floaties. There are some challenges to using a wing too, as in any configuration. Sometimes gas can be trapped on one side, which only requires developing the skill to make sure gas is vented or balanced properly. Using a backplate and wing combo can also prepare you in case you want to switch to using back mounted doubles and do technical training.

2. Communication

We use single hand communication in tech diving because we should be able to do so with a light or a DSMB/spool on our other hand. Hand signals in overhead environments need to be lit by a light, which cannot be the same hand that is making a signal at the same time. We also use command signals, which means that a signal has to be replied to with the same signal as a means of confirming what was meant to be said was understood. This leaves less margin for error. The signals “OK”, “Hold” and “Ascend/Abort” are command signals; however, it has also become the norm in some circles to make most signals command signals, that’s why a tech diver will often repeat the signal they were just given.

But what happens with signals that require two hands, such as numbers?

Number signals with one hand are executed as follows:

Palm vertical facing forward, 1,2,3,4,5, and palm horizontal facing you, 6, 7, 8 and 9. Zero is then executed with the full hand making an O. Each digit is to be communicated separately. To say 195 we would say 1-9-5.

One-handed dive signals

3. Propulsion

Most people learn to dive without much time spent on propulsion techniques. We all find a flutter kick natural and it comes easy. We are unlikely to do a flutter kick incorrectly, as it is the kick we have all used while playing in a swimming pool or snorkeling in the ocean. When I learned to tech dive, I wanted to give a different challenge to my students who had natural dive skills or needed a higher level of skill. If a student mastered dive skills quickly, I would introduce more complex propulsion techniques to challenge them and give them the opportunity to continue improvement. Little by little, I started introducing frog-kicks earlier and earlier during my courses. At some point I stopped introducing flutter and I used frog-kick as the basic kick during all training dives. I was surprised by how easy it was for most people to learn frog-kick from the beginning. Once that was mastered, towards the end of the course I’d also introduce a reverse frog kick. That was fun and people loved the idea of being able to move back and have better control of their movement in the water. It worked really well and I had to spend only slightly more time on the propulsion skills. A 20 minute practice didn’t really change the course of my class, but resulted in the students being way more skilled from the beginning.

There are several propulsion techniques that can be learned during an Open Water class. If you learn from a tech diver, there will probably be a lot of detail involved.

Aside from frog kick and reverse frog kick, you have helicopter turn, and shuffle.

Helicopter turn is very similar to frog kick,. It is almost the same movement, executed only with one leg. It allows the diver to pivot and it is very helpful in reduced spaces such as wrecks or swim throughs, or when having marine life encounters. It allows us to correct our position compared to someone or something else, and to be exactly in the angle we would like to be.

A shuffle kick is mostly used in narrow passages such as canyons, where there is little space to the sides. The effort it requires is minimal, and the movement is very precise and discreet. For a shuffle kick, we use only ankle and foot movements to propel ourselves forward, alternating between one foot and the other in a rhythmic, steady glide.

Divers conducting scientific diving or photography benefit greatly from learning and practicing refined propulsion techniques, which are also very beneficial for the environment.

Diver demonstrating Frog Kick by ©Ricardo Castillo

4. Gas Strategies

Learn to calculate your gas consumption to ensure your dive plan is accurate and safe. Understand your SAC rate (Surface Air Consumption, which tells you how much gas in bar or psi you breathe at the surface per minute) or RMV (Respiratory Minute Volume, which tells you the volume of gas you breathe in liters or cubic feet per minute). While these two concepts may seem interchangeable, they are not exactly the same; you may choose one or the other for your gas calculation.

Implementing the rule of thirds as a gas strategy can be a good adoption from technical diving. This approach allows you to consume one-third of your gas for the outbound part of your dive, one-third for the return, and keep one-third as a reserve for emergencies, such as an out-of-gas situation where you might need to donate gas to another diver. The rules can be adapted depending on the depth, type, and complexity of the dives. Knowing how much gas you can use and how it can be distributed is safer than using a general rule of thumb (frequently 50 bar/700
psi in the dive industry) as a reserve for any dive.

Sidemount picture by ©Ricardo Castillo

5. Dive Computer Use

Using a computer to check NDL (No Decompression Limit), dive time, and depth can be considered basic. Most computers nowadays have at least some planning features. Asking for information about the average depth of the dive (in addition to max depth) and monitoring it during the dive can help you determine NDL, plan how much time you can spend at certain depths, and avoid deco obligations. Depending on your computer model, you can also choose conservative factors according to your level of comfort and other variables. If you are diving in cold water, an unfamiliar site, with a new dive buddy, or doing a deep dive, you might set a stricter conservative factor. Conversely, if you are diving at a familiar site with your usual team, you might adjust the conservative factor accordingly.

Dive computer picture by ©Natalie Gibb

6. Perfected Buoyancy

The chain of command is a concept many technical instructors use to establish task priorities in the water. Buoyancy, trim, and position are the building blocks of any task we wish to conduct, including moving through the water. If our basic skills are not on point, a large portion of our attention will be focused on staying afloat, neutral, or avoiding floating to the surface. As we perfect buoyancy and trim, we can dedicate more attention to the tasks we want to perform. This is why buoyancy and trim significantly influence safety. When the building blocks are solid, you can safely concentrate on taking notes, communicating, navigating, or taking photos without creating problems for yourself due to poor technique, such as hitting the bottom, lifting sediment, or damaging the environment.

Taking an advanced buoyancy class from a technical instructor is a real advantage for anyone who hasn’t yet honed their buoyancy skills.

As you can see, there are many useful techniques to learn from tech divers without necessarily committing to a technical diving course. Diving techniques are accessible through forums, local instructors, social media, blogs, and videos. We are fortunate to live in a world where technology allows us to find our next step in dive training and adventures with just a few clicks. I hope to inspire you to refine your technique, tune up your gear, and explore technical diving skills and options that will make your recreational dives safer and more comfortable!

Buoyancy picture by ©Ricardo Castillo

Want to learn how to get started with technical diving and use those skills in your recreational dives?

Check out these links:

Intro to Tech, what it is about?

How to become an Intro To Tech diver

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