Rebreather Training Course October 13/14, 23-25

[deep thought]

Divers,  If you have been thinking about a Rebreather…now is the time to start your training before the water gets hard.  I know many of you have seen the increase in CCR divers on charter boats in the Great Lakes, and I will be recounting the outrageous amount of dives I have done this season in Superior/Michigan/Huron; it's not just about the savings in helium…it a whole lot more.  Watch for my posting “Why I Tech Dive CCR” soon. 

I have a Rebreather Level 1 (basic user level) course, with one student and openings for more to join.  There will be the option to rent one of my CCR’s:  Copis Meg, Inspiration, or rEvo .  And yes, this is the Copis Meg that I have up for sale ;-)    This is a Rebreather Ron event, not part of a dive store activity so please contact me directly if interested at RebreatherRon@yahoo.com     

The format for this course is
October 13th –classroom Maple Grove 6-9 pm
October 14th – pool skills Maple Grove 6-9 pm
October 23 – Square Lake dives
October 24,25 – Wazee Lake dives

Cost of the course is $1200 which includes the training fees, study guide book, certification process fees.  Cost does not include gas, sorb, rental, or travel expenses.

Good Diving

Ron

[matt t.]

Ron, I'm curious to know how it works out having several different brands of rebreathers in the same class. I would think that there would be a fair amount of extra work involved (for the instructor) in the class keeping tabs on (unit specific questions and/or procedures) a bunch of different units. I think as a student I would prefer to have all of the same brand of unit in my class to avoid any confusion or non applicable info coming at me. Obviously this must work out o.k. as you do it often enough, but what are your thoughts?

[deep thought]

Matt, Good Question and thanks for asking. This requires a couple different angles to answer.

It is not arrogance but a fact that I have personally owned over 8 CCR's (classic inspiration / vision inspiration/ evolution, classic KISS, Sport KISS, Optima, Megalodon / mini Meg, COPIS Meg, rEvo, and home built) and trained on Lar, Submatix, Coltri, plus SCR's.  Having dedicated so much time, and resources into rebreathers allowed me to gain a tremendous amount of experience on different units.  Yes it is a bit task loading for the instructor, but what I have learned is that fully closed circuit rebreathers have more similarities than dissimilarities.  The biggest challenge is to keep up with changes in computer systems such as the upgrades in the Optima or changes in ISC meg handsets... And I know some of the CCR's on the list are very close, however the Full size Inspiration with Vision Electronics is much different to wear and set up than the smaller Evolution with Vision Electronics.  When I started teaching rebreathers some ten years ago, I already had 15 years of training scuba divers so I felt very confident taking 4 new ccr divers in every class.  Today there are many more instructors across the nation, class sizes have fallen dramatically and quite frankly I feel there are too many rebreather choices for a small market.  But back to the basics of difference, is the flow dynamics of each brand name of CCR's that I teach.  My goal is to make sure that the student understands the most basic principle of what/when/where the gas flows in a CCR.  Training agencies have based the skills of operating a specific CCR that is no longer available for sale, this unit was capable of amazing things just as it was capable of overwhelming a diver if they were not on top of changes.  So when a diver learns to flush diluent in an Inspiration, it is vastly different from flushing a Meg, or KISS, etc... To teach all of these confidently requires that the instructor has spent the time/hours in water to develope the "muscle memory" to react correctly to status changes.  I feel confident that I have the experience and can handle the task loading.

For the student wishing to have only one style of CCR in the class, I can appreciate this thought and I do know some instructors who only teach one brand of CCR due to brand loyalty, or simple economics of investing in training and units.  Like a dive store that would train open water divers with a SeaQuest back inflation BCD, verse an Oceanic jacket style BCD...there are different techniques that these totally new divers would experience.  Now when the scuba instructor teaches Advanced Open Water, the students may show up in class with a drysuit / wet suit, an air integrated transmitter computer / hockey puck computer, or split fins vs. paddle fins, Poseidon side exhaust, or Aqualung traditional front purge... there are always challenges.  I know for years teaching recreational / technical diving that it would be nice if divers were all equipped with the same gear from drysuit to regulator, but it is not practical.  Divers who jump into the CCR market have very often done a lot of research into which unit they want to dive, and I encourage but do not force one particular unit....then I smile as I know by experience that many of my past students are on their 2nd or 3rd choice of rebreathers.  The student is not adversely affected by having multiple units in the training because they are enveloped in a bubble of totally new experiences. 

All, or most all of the rebreathers on the market today are good choices - they work - yes some I prefer more than others, and I have bias but still understand the students wishes and provide training.  Unfortunately the market is overwhelmed with choices of CCR's, too few divers making the jump, and more CCR instructors every day... If wishes were fishes, I'd be a whale and only allow rEvo and inspiration students, but then they still harpoon whales - ouch!

Good Diving

Ron