Rec or Tec?

[skip]

Some recent threads have discussed rec versus tec diving. It got me to thinking about the distinction, the definitional line between the two. I finally decided that rec diving is recreational (duh) and that technical diving is a mission statement. Gear is not relevant, though it often differs necessarily between rec and tec. Overhead is not relevant, though it is more often tec than rec. Even training level is not relevant, although tec divers typically have more training. Breathing gases are not relevant either. I think it's the mission, the objective of the dive.

Recreational Cave Diving, Recreational Trimix, Recreational Deep Diving, all seem reasonable to me.

Why are you diving? To see stuff? Visit the U/W world? Take some pictures? Just enjoy a nice day around, on, in, and under the water? That's Rec diving.

Why are you diving? To find the reason why the ship sank? To push the virgin cave another 500 feet? To survey, chart, map, locate? Or maybe your mission is dive progressively deeper, discover some unknown species, or to collect data on reef life and health? That's Tec diving. When the objective of the dive is not so much the diving, when the diving is secondary to the objective. That's tec diving.

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[DeepDiverBob]

PADI Deep Diver class teaches that you only dive deep, to accomplish a mission or goal. Not to just dive deep. With that being said, it is still a single gas, no mandetory deco stop dive, staying within the global limits or "rec" diving, but by your definition, this would still be tech.

Very good topic. This should be interesting.

[Captain Caveman]

Def of Technical (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/technical)

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[nauifins73]

I am a Rec diver and plan on staying there - to old for the extreme diving. I will listen to others stories.

But, saying that I do want to take SSI's new TechXR class (classroom only) to learn the theory behind Tec diving.

[Atlaua]

I define a tec dive as any dive with a ceiling, be it physical or mandatory deco.

[reefraff]

I define a tec dive as any dive with a ceiling, be it physical or mandatory deco.I think this is as good a thumbnail definition as you're going to get.

In the old days we used to define technical diving as any dive where you couldn't ascend to the surface on a breath-hold (if you couldn't execute a CESA, it was tech) or where you were breathing something other than air. Times change.