PADI Tec Skin Diver. Distinctive Specialty Course Instructor Guide. Author: Kevin Evans, PADI Master Instructor # All rights reserved.

PADI Tec Skin Diver Distinctive Specialty Course Instructor Guide Author: Kevin Evans, PADI Master Instructor #628923 All rights reserved.

PADI Tec Skin Diver Specialty Course Instructor Guide Introduction How to use this guide This guide speaks to you, the PADI Tec Skin Diver Specialty Instructor. The guide contains three sections: the first contains standards specific to this course, the second contains knowledge development and the third considers confined water training and details the open water dives. All required standards, learning objectives, activities and performance requirements specific to the PADI Tec Skin Diver course appear in boldface print. The boldface assists you in easily identifying those requirements that you must adhere to when conducting the course. Items not in boldface are recommendations for your information and consideration. The general course standards applicable to all PADI courses appear in the PADI Instructor Manual. Course philosophy and goals Tec diving is of increasing interest to scuba divers around the world; media coverage increasingly shows tec diving as a natural part of scuba diving and DSAT s entry into the technical diver training marketplace has brought a natural progression for divers who wish to dive beyond recreational limits. For snorkelers and skin divers, however, no such progression has existed. Skin divers have been restricted to one snorkel and to the sites which can be reached with this recreational skin diving setup. The goal of the PADI Tec Skin Diver Specialty Course aims to rectify this and bring the technical diving concepts of equipment redundancy and gas selection to skin divers. Once certified, student divers will be able to breath hold while carrying up to three different gases at the surface and use redundant skin diving equipment in conditions similar to or better than those encountered during training. Course goals are to: - Explain the concept of equipment redundancy as it applies to tec skin divers - Explain the concept of breath-hold diving while carrying gas mixtures including EAN21, Air and TMx21/0. - Develop the student s ability to control their alveolar FO 2 and PO 2 by varying their rate of ascent and descent while skin diving - Guide students in the skills required to plan and make no-stop tec skin dives Course Flow Options Conduct instructor-led presentations to develop diver knowledge, and have students complete and review the Knowledge Review from the PADI Tec Skin Diver Specialty Course Instructor Guide prior to the training dives. Students must complete the confined water dive prior to Tec Skin Diver Training Dive One. There are two open water (or limited open water) training dives. You may rearrange skill sequence within each dive, however the sequence of dives must stay intact. You may add more dives as necessary to meet student divers needs. Organise your course to accommodate student diver

learning style, logistical needs and sequencing preferences. Incorporate environmentally friendly techniques throughout each dive.

Section One: Course Standards This section includes course standards, recommendations and suggestions for conducting the PADI Tec Skin Diver Specialty Course. Standards at a glance Minimum Instructor Rating: Prerequisites: Minimum Age: PADI Divemaster with a PADI Tec Skin Diver Rating PADI Skin Diver 15 years Ratios: Confined water: 6:1 Open water: 6:1 Maximum Depth: 18m Recommended hours: Minimum Water Sessions: 12 over two days 1 Confined water dive 2 (or limited open water) Materials and Equipment Instructor and Student - PADI Tec Skin Diver Course Specialty Instructor Guide (instructor only) - PADI Discover Snorkeling and Skin Diver Liability Release and Assumption of Risk (10089) - Exposure suit suitable for the local environment - Weight system - Mask - Two independent snorkels, each with a means of attachment which can be operated at the surface - Depth gauge and timer with seconds display or ascent / descent rate indicator - Spare parts kit - Extra weight in small increments for student trim Instructor prerequisites To qualify to teach the PADI Tec Skin Diver Specialty course, an individual must be a renewed and where required, insured PADI Divemaster or higher, must hold the PADI Tec Skin Diver rating, and must be able to show evidence of at least 20 technical skin dives involving the use of at least two different gases from the Technical Skin Diver list of Air, EANx21 and TMx21/0. Confined Water Dive The confined water dive must be completed prior to open water dive one. Students must master all confined water skills using both snorkels prior to open water training dives. Open Water Dives Open Water Dive One may be completed using Air or EAN21 as the surface breathing mixture. Open Water Dive Two must be completed breathing Trimix 21/0. Limited open water sites may be used as long as they provide adequate depth for the skills to be completed.

Site Choose sites with conditions and environments suitable for completing the performance requirements. Ideally, select sites which are familiar to student divers or which reflect typical sites for technical skin diving in your local area. Wall dives, or dives with marine life in the technical skin diving depth range, will give students more opportunity to explore the environment. The fundamental skills are practiced in confined water first to provide initial skill development without environmental variables that can impede training. Students subsequently apply their skills and continue to develop them in open water, applying what they are learning to the requirements of the dive environment. Students must demonstrate environmental awareness and responsible dive practices throughout the open water dives. Depths Confined water: as per confined water in General Standards and Procedures Open water: maximum 18m, minimum 6m Hours The PADI Tec Skin Diver Specialty course includes at least one confined water dive and two open water dives. Recommended course hours: 24 over two days Assessment standards The student diver must demonstrate accurate and adequate knowledge during the confined water and open water dives and must perform all skills (procedures and motor skills) fluidly, with little difficultly, in a manner that demonstrates minimal or no stress. By completion of the course, the student must be able to maintain their ascent and descent rates within 1m/min of their planned rate. Certification requirements and procedures To qualify for certification, by completion of the course, student divers must meet all the performance requirements for the confined water dive and both open water dives. The certifying instructor must ensure that all requirements have been met. Links to other courses Divers may credit the PADI Tec Skin Diver Specialty certification toward the PADI Master Scuba Diver rating.

Section Two: Knowledge Development Conduct Divers complete the knowledge development for the PADI Tec Skin Diver Specialty course through your formal or informal presentations based upon the following course presentation outlines. These presentations are the primary knowledge development method for this course. Knowledge Development One 1. Introduction [Have student divers and staff introduce themselves and provide a bit of background to one another] a. Course goals: i. To qualify and prepare you to 1. Explain the concept of equipment redundancy as it applies to skin divers 2. Explain the concept of breath-hold diving while carrying gas mixtures including EAN21, Air and TMx21/0. 3. Control your alveolar FO2 and PO2 by varying rate of ascent and descent while skin diving 4. Plan and make no-stop tec skin dives in conditions similar to or better than those encountered during training 2. Course overview and schedule [discuss the course sequence, assignments and content. Build excitement] 3. Costs, requirements and paperwork [explain all costs, equipment requirements and logistical details as necessary] Knowledge Development Two Learning objectives: By the end of this session you should be able to answer the following questions: 1. What is meant by the term standardised technical skin diving rig? 2. What are the three technical skin diving gas mixtures and when would you select each? 3. What is Closed Cell Failure and how do tec skin divers address it? 1. Technical Skin Diving Equipment a. Redundancy of key life support equipment [explain the concept of equipment redundancy and the principle of ensuring that equipment vital for life support is duplicated] b. The standardised technical skin diving rig [describe the standardised technical skin diving rig, paying particular attention to the alternative methods for carrying the backup snorkel and methods of attachment e.g. bungee loops or clips] i. Redundant snorkels 1. Mask-strap mounted (on the right) 2. Side-mounted, using a dedicated technical skin diving sidemount harness

3. Chest-mounted, secured to a weight harness 4. Belt-mounted, secured to a weight belt 5. Pocket-carried [explain why pocket mounted is generally considered undesirable for reasons including difficulty retrieving the snorkel in an emergency, or the risk of un-noticed loss of snorkel (LoS) during a dive] c. Redundant buoyancy i. The primary source of buoyancy for a tec skin diver is the wetsuit, which is constructed by trapping inert gas in sealed bubbles (closed cells) in a neoprene substrate. ii. To address the risk of catastrophic closed cell failure (CCF) tec skin divers should wear two wetsuits 1. The primary wetsuit should be worn on the outside, so that in the event of a closed cell failure it may be readily discarded 2. The inner, backup wetsuit will be compressed slightly by the primary wetsuit acting on its outside a. Removing the primary wetsuit and discarding it will allow the backup wetsuit s closed cells to expand to their intended volume, returning its buoyancy to normal 2. Technical Skin Diving Gases a. The different breathing mixtures available to technical skin divers i. As a technical skin diver, you may choose to not breathe any of three different gases 1. Air 2. Nitrox (EAN21) 3. Trimix (TM21/0) [explain to students that for very specialised technical skin diving other inert gases such as neon, argon or hydrogen may be used as long as their gas fraction does not exceed 0%] [discuss the benefits of each gas in turn, focussing on aspects such as the ease of obtaining Air in remote locations, easy EAD calculations for EAN21 and the simplicity of calculating an END for TM21/0] Knowledge Development Three Learning objectives: By the end of this session you should be able to answer the following questions: 1. How can a technical free diver control their PO 2 and FO 2 2. What is the primary method of conducting a constant-po 2 skin dive? 1. PO 2 and FO 2 a. Review of PO 2 and FO 2 [explain the concept of partial pressure of oxygen and fraction of oxygen note that if students are not already certified as nitrox divers this may require significant elaboration. Allow time for this when scheduling the course.]

b. Control of PO 2 and FO 2 [explain that, unlike scuba divers, technical skin divers cannot gas-switch below the water to control their PO 2 and FO 2 ; instead, the PADI Tec Skin Diver will learn to use a process known as oxidative metabolism to reduce the FO 2 in their lungs during descent and ascent, and will vary their depth to effect changes in PO 2 ] i. Oxidative metabolism [explain what oxidative metabolism is and discuss the methods of measuring oxygen metabolism in an individual] 1. Laboratory-measured oxidative metabolism 2. Use of a closed circuit rebreather to measure oxidative metabolism ii. Average oxygen metabolism 1. Oxygen metabolism in ml/min can be approximated using the following formula: a. For men: ( 44 ( 4 x a ) ) x w b. For women: ( 39 ( 4 x a ) ) x w [NB, a is the number of whole decades older than 21 (e.g. for a 42 year old student, a = 2) w is the student s weight in kg] [E.g. for a 33 year old male weighing 90kg, the estimated oxygen consumption in ml/min is: ( 44 ( 4 x 1) ) x 90 = 3,600ml/min] c. FO 2 in the lungs at the surface i. The lung contains approximately 6L of gas, of which approximately 5% is CO 2 ii. The other 95% is made up of our breathing gas (Air, EAN21 or TM21/0) iii. Taking Air as the example, that means 21% of 95% (19.95%) is oxygen during normal breathing 1. 19.95% of 6L is 1191ml d. FO 2 in the lungs during a skin dive i. During a breath hold dive after breathing air, the body will continue to use up the 1191ml we start the dive with at a rate related to our metabolic rate 1. The 33 year old male example above has a whole-body metabolic rate (VO2) of 3,600ml/min. 2. The lungs use just 11% of that oxygen 396ml/min 3. Oxygen take-up into the blood relates to PO 2, so for the purposes of a PADI Tec Skin Diver we consider only lung-consumption not wholebody consumption ii. After a 2 minute skin dive, the diver s lungs will have used up 396 x 2 = 792ml of oxygen 1. This reduces the oxygen in the lung from 1191ml to 399ml out of the 6L total 2. This corresponds to a new FO 2 of 6.7% iii. We can see that by using oxidative metabolism a PADI Tec Skin Diver is able to reduce their FO 2 easily

e. PO 2 in the lungs during a skin dive i. During a skin dive, the pressure outside increases as we descend and decreases as we ascend 1. For each 10m of sea water, the pressure increases by 1ata ii. If we want to perform a constant-po 2 skin dive we need to increase the depth throughout the dive at a rate equal to the decrease in FO 2 1. In the above example, the FO 2 decreases by 0.5% over 4 minutes. 2. To offset that decrease, we need to solve the following equation: FO 2 A x P A = FO 2 B x P B P A is 1ata at the beginning of the dive, so for our example above: 19.95 x 1 = 6.7 x P B = 2.978ata Converting that pressure back to a depth, we can see that a Tec Skin Diver who descends to a depth of 10.98m of sea water over a period of 4 minutes will experience a constant PO 2 throughout the dive. 3. Let s look at another example: An 18 year old female PADI Tec Skin Diver weighing 100kg performs a 150-second breath hold dive. Her whole body metabolic rate will be: ( 39 ( 4 x 0 ) ) x 100 = 3,900ml/min Her lung-only metabolic consumption will be 11% of 3,900 = 429ml/min. In 150 seconds (2 ½ minutes) she will have consumed 1072.5ml out of the initial 1191, and her new FO 2 will be: Using the equation from earlier: FO 2 A x P A = FO 2 B x P B We can see that, in order to maintain a constant PO 2 she would need to descend to: = 10.08ata = 90.08m of sea water

Ensure students realise that this is not a realistic dive at PADI Tec Skin Diver level, and that the correct conclusion from this example is that she must choose a shorter dive duration in order to maintain a constant PO 2. Knowledge Development Four Learning objectives: By the end of this session you should be able to answer the following questions: 1. What are the two main snorkel management strategies in use by technical skin divers? 2. What are the emergency procedures for a Loss of Snorkel emergency? 3. What will be the weight change throughout a technical skin dive? 4. What should a technical skin diver never do with regard to overhead environments? 1. Tec Skin Diving [Explain to student divers that in this presentation you will be discussing skills and techniques which they will be required to demonstrate in the confined and open water dive portions of the course] a. Snorkel Management i. Discuss the two major snorkel management techniques 1. Method one: thirds. Use one third of your dive time with your primary snorkel in the mouth, then switch to the secondary snorkel for the second third. Switch back to the primary snorkel for the final third and ascent. 2. Method two: 30sec. Alternate between primary and secondary snorkel every 30 seconds. b. Emergency procedures i. Loss of Snorkel (LoS) scenarios [discuss with students why a LoS should never happen if a dive is properly planned and your equipment kept in good condition] 1. Recognising a Loss of Snorkel 2. Donating a snorkel underwater and at the surface 3. Snorkel sharing as a last resort 4. Snorkel-less Emergency Swimming Ascent (SESA) c. Effective propulsion [Describe a variety of different kick styles stressing that although the frog kick reduces silting, a PADI Tec Skin Diver should never enter a cave, cavern or wreck beyond the light zone] d. Weighting for tec skin diving [Explain that, as oxygen is used up in the diver s lungs it is replaced by carbon dioxide which is 25% heavier. The weight of 6L of air is 7.14g, and so at the end of a long skin dive the diver may find that they feel overweighted by approximately 1.25g. For most divers and in most equipment configurations, this increase is unlikely to be problematic and may be remedied by exhaling slightly less than one litre of air on ascent.]

Section Three: Training Dives Conduct The PADI Tec Skin Diver Course has three required training dives; one in confined water and two in open water or limited open water. You may split the dives into smaller sections if you wish, and may add training dives as necessary to ensure student comfort. Students must demonstrate mastery of the skills for one dive before moving to the next. All dives must be planned as no-stop dives. Confined Water Dive Performance Objectives By the end of the confined water dive, the student should be able to as part of a buddy team and with instructor guidance as appropriate: 1. Assemble, don and prepare the standardised technical skin diving rig 2. Demonstrate an appropriate skin diving entry 3. Keep a stern and severe look on their face at all times while at the surface, looking condescendingly at non-tech skin divers in the area while shaking their head and making an audible tut sound through their snorkels. 4. Demonstrate a duck dive from the surface 5. Adjust weighting for comfort and efficiency in the water 6. Signal loss of snorkel to a buddy 7. Perform, as both donor and recipient, a snorkel donation drill at the surface and during the bottom or ascent portions of a skin dive 8. Respond appropriately to a simulated loss of snorkel situation at the surface and during the bottom or ascent portions of a dive 9. Perform a SESA: a. Look upward toward the surface b. Remove the snorkel from the mouth to simulate loss of snorkel c. Swim upwards at a controlled rate and with no signs of panic or discomfort while exhaling constantly and making an aah sound. 10. Demonstrate control of ascent and descent rates by diving and surfacing within 1m/min of rates specified by the instructor 11. Demonstrate bottom time awareness and snorkel management skills by both the thirds and 30-second methods Open Water Dive One Performance Objectives By the end of open water dive one, the student should be able to as part of a buddy team and with instructor guidance as appropriate: 1. Assemble, don and prepare the standardised technical skin diving rig 2. Demonstrate an appropriate skin diving entry 3. Keep a stern and severe look on their face at all times while at the surface, looking condescendingly at non-tech skin divers in the area while shaking their head and making an audible tut sound through their snorkels. 4. Demonstrate a duck dive from the surface 5. Adjust weighting for comfort and efficiency in the water 6. Signal loss of snorkel to a buddy 7. Perform, as both donor and recipient, a snorkel donation drill at the surface and during the bottom or ascent portions of a skin dive

8. Respond appropriately to a simulated loss of snorkel situation at the surface and during the bottom or ascent portions of a dive 9. Demonstrate bottom time awareness and snorkel management skills by both the thirds method 10. Demonstrate awareness of and concern for the local environment by avoiding inadvertent contact with marine life and terrain, and by pointing out to the instructor any significant hazards or points of interest Open Water Dive Two Performance Objectives By the end of the open water dive two, the student should be able to as part of a buddy team and with instructor guidance as appropriate: 1. Plan a constant PO 2 dive as outlined in Section Two, using their own body weight and age to estimate their lung metabolic rate 2. Assemble, don and prepare the standardised technical skin diving rig 3. Demonstrate an appropriate skin diving entry 4. Keep a stern and severe look on their face at all times while at the surface, looking condescendingly at non-tech skin divers in the area while shaking their head and making an audible tut sound through their snorkels. 5. Demonstrate a duck dive from the surface 6. Adjust weighting for comfort and efficiency in the water 7. Perform a SESA: a. Look upward toward the surface b. Remove the snorkel from the mouth to simulate loss of snorkel c. Swim upwards at a controlled rate and with no signs of panic or discomfort while exhaling constantly and making an aah sound. 8. Demonstrate control of ascent and descent rates by diving and surfacing within 1m/min of rates determined in their individual plan 9. Demonstrate bottom time awareness and snorkel management skills by the 30-second method 10. Demonstrate awareness of and concern for the local environment by avoiding inadvertent contact with marine life and terrain, and by pointing out to the instructor any significant hazards or points of interest

Appendix PADI Tec Skin Diver Knowledge Review 1. What is meant by the term standardised technical skin diving rig? 2. What are the three technical skin diving gas mixtures and when would you select each? 3. What colour should equipment be in order to look sufficiently technical? 4. How can a technical free diver control their PO 2 and FO 2 5. What is the primary method of conducting a constant-po 2 skin dive? 6. A male, 60-year old diver weighing 80Kg will use how many millilitres of oxygen per minute to support their a) whole body and b) lungs? 7. The diver in Question 6 wishes to make a 90-second skin dive. What depth must he dive to in order to ensure a constant PO 2 for the descent and bottom portions of the dive? 8. What are the two main snorkel management strategies in use by technical skin divers? 9. What are the emergency procedures for a Loss of Snorkel emergency?

10. What will be the weight change throughout a technical skin dive? 11. What should a technical skin diver never do with regard to overhead environments? I have reviewed and understand the questions I missed. Signed Date