TRAINING continued
Staying Current: One final consideration is your personal activity level. It is far more challenging to find rebreather students than it is to find open circuit students. Almost all agencies mandate some form of currency requirements, either a minimum number of dives annually, or a minimum number of students certified over a one to two-year period. Agencies may require you to certify at least one student at your highest
Advanced Training Opportunities and Other Income Possibilities: Some agencies differentiate their training between “recreational” and “technical” levels. Others regard all rebreather training as “technical.” Many agencies support a variety of advanced courses. These may include decompression procedures, helitrox (small percentage helium with 21% oxygen as diluent), normoxic trimix (diluent containing
some fraction of oxygen and nitrogen and 16-21% oxygen), and hypoxic trimix (diluent containing increased helium fractions and oxygen fractions less than 0.16 atm). Courses may also be defined not by the diluent gas permitted, but by the maximum depth to which the student is qualified to dive (for example, PADI’s Tec 40 CCR, Tec 60 CCR, and Tec 100 CCR). These two factors are closely correlated.
qualification level over the same period, or else lose your authorization to teach at that level. Being aware of and meeting these requirements is necessary to main- tain your teaching status. Conclusion: As can be seen, income opportunities with closed circuit in- struction can far exceed that of open water instruction. However, the challenges can be significant, with student recruit- ment hurdles, increased fixed and variable
Rebreather Instructor Certification Includes
Open Water Enviroments
Leadership training may include rebreather divemasters or instructors. Most training agencies require that you must have personally certified a minimum number of students on a given system before being allowed to teach leadership levels. And as with closed circuit instructors, some manufacturers may also need to approve the instructor trainers for their units. Offering guided rebreather dives, rebreather refresher courses, introductory rebreather experiences, and hosting dive travel tailored to rebreather clients offer other income potential.
costs, and the need to validate your personal skills and in- structional competency by certifying students on a regular basis. Selecting a rebreather with a limited instructor pool but strong growth potential may ameliorate some of these difficulties, but that may be difficult to identify and or predict. Ultimately, many variables must be evaluated, matched
with your personal development goals and ob- jectives, and properly weighed prior to making the decision to jump into the instruction of re- breathers.
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