UTD Scuba Diving Podcast

Send us a textThe UTD Skills Camps are three to five day camps where you will hone your personal and dive skills while working with a team of UTD instructors.The next camp is March 31 – April 4, 2022 in San Diego, California. Your instructor are Jeff Seckendorf, James Mott, Tom Carr, and Kim Cardenas. In this episode Jeff, James, and Tom give you their take on the what, the why, and the how of UTD Skills Camps.These camps are for every level diver – from the newest open water certified diver to the old salty tech, wreck, or cave diver.Click here for the daily schedule, details and costs. If you are ready to up your game, click below to register!https://utdscubadiving.com/utd-skills-camp-sign-up-form/

Send us a textESM, or Extreme Scuba Makeover, the UTD Scuba Diving buoyancy and proper weighting course, has been game changing for so many divers. People come into ESM at every level but with the same goals...increase buoyancy skills and dial in their weights. From new divers with five dives to tech divers and instructors, everyone benefits. In this episode Jeff and Ben delve into ESM – its history, evolution, how it works, and how you can benefit, plus some exercises you can do in the pool or open water.And since it's the holiday season, what better gift for any diver you know and/or love to give them the gift of buoyancy. Grab the online course content, or search for a UTD instructor and book an ESM class. You'll never regret it and never look back.Course content link:https://utdscubadiving.com/product/extreme-scuba-makeover/Find a UTD instructor:https://utdscubadiving.com/instructor-search/And, as always, please contact us if you have any questions or comments!https://utdscubadiving.com/contact/

Send us a textWe are back home and recovering from a long week at the DEMA scuba trade show in Las Vegas and, we think, it was a very successful show. Jeff and Ben sit down for a short podcast where we lay out our thoughts about the show, the future, and answer the one remaining question from the live "Obscure Questions" episode we recorded at the show.For those of you who missed the DEMA show this year, consider coming to see us in Orlando in November 2022. We will absolutely be there!

Send us a textRecorded live at the DEMA show in Las Vegas, Jeff and Ben answer your questions with a standing room only live audience:Does the color of an SMB matter?Can you use an uncompensated regulator on your argon bottle?Why is the long hose on the right post?When should you ditch your weights?This, and much more, live from Las Vegas!

Send us a textBen Bos, UTD Training Director, on the current state of side mount in recreational diving, presented in the Technical Diving Resource Center at the DEMA show in Las Vegas, November 16, 2021:Side mount has taken the scuba industry by storm over the past few years. At UTD we saw the potential of including this cave-born way of diving into our open water recreational and technical curriculum.However traditional side mount using independent cylinders is very difficult to integrate in a consistent manner into our team diving mindset. We solved this by adding an isolatable gas distribution system to a wing and harness. This allows gas to continuously flow to all regulators and inflation systems (dry suit and BC) regardless of the number of cylinders carried. This also lets us integrate it with our standardized protocols for gas sharing and other emergency procedures. As we could see, most divers who are using side mount are diving in open water as opposed to caves and we had to have a system that would support mixed teams – back mount and side mount.The downside was that it required a proprietary equipment setup – the isolatable manifold mounted on the harness. The system has been widely adopted and used all over the world but, we had to look for a more “stock” equipment configuration to implement our philosophies and thoughts on side mount in a system that supports, singles, doubles, and deco bottles.UTD side mount training is now based on this new system. It is configured with off-the-shelf components and can be adopted by any side mount system on the market. Using this new gas distribution system we are staying true to our core beliefs and not breaking our own covenants.

Send us a textJeff Seckendorf's presentation on Scuba Coaching in the Technical Diving Resource Center at the DEMA show in Las Vegas, November 16, 2021:Great scuba training does not have to be focused on the outcome. It can be about the process. If we take a page from coaching in almost every other discipline, coaches make athletes better. It is not just about making a runner or cyclist faster; it’s about making them better. Beyond just a training schedule, great coaching programs include all the things that make an athlete – and a scuba diver – better: core and strength training, nutrition, hydration, recovery, the mental aspects of the sport – so much more than what can be covered in a simple week-long certification course. Training based on process gives students the best of both worlds – effective scuba training and the time to process and explore scuba diving as a lifestyle. Coaching gives the student time to explore, time to learn, and time to have fun. UTD has pioneered a successful coaching model for both recreational and technical training and continues to offer coaching as an alternative to a traditional course.Click here for the PDF of the presentation powerpoint.

Send us a textBecause what happens in Vegas, shows up on Facebook. For the first time since Covid became our new normal, we're going back to the DEMA show. DEMA, or the Dive Equipment and Marketing Association, is an annual trade show for all things scuba. It alternates between Las Vegas and Orlando, so this year it's in Las Vegas.We will be talking about coaching and our new version of side mount, we'll be doing talks in the technical section of the show, we'll be drinking massive amounts of espresso, playing the ring toss game, and generally having a fun and, hopefully, very productive week.Let us know if you're going to DEMA, come by the booth, have a coffee, and let's talk scuba!

Send us a textIn our last episode – "The Most Obscure Questions in Scuba Diving, The Tech Episode," we specifically left out the questions about diving doubles. So now Jeff and Ben devote the whole episode to doubles...the good, the less good, and the really good. Lots of facts, and lots of opinions. If you dive doubles, or are considering it, this is your episode

Send us a textJeff and Ben take on four obscure questions in technical scuba diving:Why nitrox 50 from 160ft/48m but oxygen from 130ft/39m?Why are all the deco and stage cylinders on the left?Why do we only carry one bottom timer?Why do we use SPG's, not electronic transmitters?This, plus dozens of tangents and shiny objects. Although the topics are founded in technical diving, they are appropriate to diving at every level, so regardless of your training or experience, there should be something for everyone here. 

Send us a textWell, maybe this isn't the most obscure question in scuba diving; actually, it might be one of the most common, and misconceptions run rampant. But we continue to hear about skip breathing so, here it is: Jeff and Ben on countless reasons why skip breathing is both a bad idea and a physiological non-starter. Plus, a look at why we train for multiple failures but only plan for one, a look back at Scubatics, and much more.If you have obscure questions about scuba diving (or not obscure questions that might have obscure answers) please CLICK HERE to submit them.