Tech Expeditions MainInstructionTravelOur Mission
Contact Us
Tech Expeditions Instruction
Instructors:

 
Trace Malinowski
President, Tech Expeditions
PDIC IT-2075

Extended Range Freediving Instructor Trainer
SCUBA Instructor Trainer
Technical Instructor Trainer
Cave and Overhead Instructor

Instructor Bio: Not only is Trace the owner of Tech Expeditions, he is the International Technical Training Director for PDIC. Trace graduated from Marywood University in 1993 with degrees in English, Philosophy, and Religious Studies. He began SCUBA diving in 1981 and became an instructor in 1989. Having grown up snorkeling, his passion was freediving for many years until the artistry of DIR ("Doing It Right") technical diving began to draw his interest. He holds instructor ratings with PDIC, PSAI, SDI, TDI, and YMCA. He is a public safety diver with the International Underwater Cave Rescue and Recovery organization and an NSS-CDS cave recovery diver. He holds various technical ratings with PDIC, GUE, PSAI, TDI, IANTD, NSS-CDS and NACD. He is an avid surfer, paintballer and lacrosse player. As a professional lifeguard and lifeguard instructor, Trace is committed to aquatic safety above and below the waves. For Trace, technical diving isn't about, "What can we do?" but, "What should we do?" with this technology to come home safely.
Steps in Ultimate Diver Training: Step 1: Freediving 

   In the PDIC Extended Range Freediver course the student will learn the theories, skills and techniques for safe constant ballast breath hold diving to 30 meters/100 feet. Emphasis will be on relaxation techniques, airway management, form, movement, equalization, safe practices, and rescue. Static apnea, dynamic apnea, and deep diving practicum will develop the student's proficiency in apnea diving. Upon successful completion, the student will receive a PDIC Freediver/Apnea Diver certification card. Duration: 2 days. Prerequisites: 15 years of age or older. Required equipment: mask, snorkel, wetsuit, weightbelt and snorkeling or freediving fins.

Also available: Coaching, Freediving Safety Diver, Freediving Assistant Instructor, Freediving Instructor.

Step 2: Open Water SCUBA Diver Training 

   In the PDIC Open Water Diver course, the student will be introduced to the knowledge and skills needed to engage in safe open circuit SCUBA diving in an open water (no overhead obstructions) environment. 8 classroom and pool or confined water sessions will cover snorkeling physiology, SCUBA habits and equipment, SCUBA physiology, decompression, diving oceanography, marine life, open water techniques and testing. At least 5 open water dives will challenge a student's ability to perform self and buddy rescue, demonstrate proper diving skills in open water, handle emergencies and out of air situations, navigate, plan and execute dives using a single SCUBA cylinder. Duration: 10 days. Prerequisites: 15 years of age or older. Required equipment: backplate with single tank BCD wing, mask, snorkel, weight system (if needed), ScubaPro Jet Fins, Turtle Fins, or like design, wetsuit, digital dive timer or dive computer with gauge mode, utility pocket, compass, and the PDIC Dive Tables. You will be assured quality training that exceeds any open water certification course. You will do open water dives in lakes, rivers, and the ocean. Ocean dives will be both surf entry and from boats depending upon the local geography.

Also available: Junior Open Water Diver (minimum age 12 years old).

Step 3: Advanced Open Water 

   The PDIC Advanced Open Water Diver course contains a core curriculum of essential diving skills necessary for true advanced diving certification. This core curriculum includes advanced diving equipment systems, boat diving, advanced navigation, search and recovery, diver stress and rescue, limited visibility and night diving, deep water and decompression diving. Open water training dives will evaluate a student's current skill and performance levels, improve techniques focusing on trim, buoyancy, and total awareness of the student's self, equipment, team and environment. Students will learn the proper techniques for using reels and spools, running line, deploying liftbags, recovering objects, navigating complex courses and patterns, diving at night from a cave diving approach, and deep diving simulating decompression stops. Students attending the class equipped with double SCUBA cylinders will be taught the skills to handle nine possible manifold failures and to deal with them individually and as a team. Team skills, communications and procedures will be developed. Duration: 8 days. Prerequisites: PDIC Open Water Diver or equivalent. Minimum age 15 years old.

Also available: Police, fire, rescue, military and special team development training

Step 4: Specialty Training 

   More intense training and a thorough knowledge base in Night Diving techniques, Deep Diving, Wreck Diving, Nitrox, Technical Equipment, Drysuit, DPV/Scooter, and Advanced Rescue is available for continuing education and skill development. These are not fluff courses, but truly challenging specialties in which divers will be rewarded with knowledge and skills and not just certification cards.

Also available: Dive Supervisor, Nitrox Dive Supervisor, Assistant Instructor, Instructor, Nitrox Instructor.

Step 5: Technical Preparation Training 

   The PDIC Tek Prep course is designed to introduce the student to the skills and techniques that are necessary to engage in technical SCUBA diving. Emphasizing trim, buoyancy, maneuverability, individual procedures, team procedures, and diver creativity, the begining technical student will be taught how to plan, conduct dives that will prepare them for technical training in cave or mixed gas diving. Students will learn the use of double scuba cylinders with isolation manifolds as well as decompression procedures with nitrox mixes. Several diving philosophies will be presented including DIR, Hogarthian, cave diving and wreck diving practices. Your instructor has trained with instructors from PDIC, GUE, FifthD-X, UTD, IANTD, TDI, SDI Solo, NAUI, NACD, IUCRR and NSS-CDS and is able to present a wealth of information from each agency to prepare the student for technical training with each and every organization.

Step 6: Technical Training 

   The PDIC Tek 1 course will help prepare a student for diving with Triox 30/30 and 25/25 from 100 to 130 feet using 1 decompression bottle of Nitrox 50 or 100% O2. Gas planning and management including calculating the amount of drysuit inflation gas, back gas, deco gases, lost gas, best mixes and changing volumes due to pressure and temperature are emphasized. Decompression strategies and omitted decompression strategies are covered. The use of technical equipment as well as liftbag and Jon-line deployments are practiced. 
 
     The PDIC Tek 2 course will prepare the diver to use Triox 21/35 and Trimix 18/45 from 130 to 190 feet using 1 bottom stage and 2 decompression bottles of Nitrox 50 and 100% oxygen. Students will learn to make dives keeping ppO2's at 1.3 or less on bottom gases during the working part of the dive then take advantage of high oxygen mixtures to eliminate nitrogen more rapidly during ascent. The course continues to focus on improving diver skill, trim, diver performance and the use of decompression and stage bottles.

     The PDIC Tek 3 course will continue to build the artistry of technical diving to employ multiple bottom stages and multiple decompression bottles with use of Trimix 15/55 and Trimix 12/60 back gasses from 190 to 240 feet.  

     The PDIC Wreck 1 course introduces the student to safe wreck diving practices including penetration and gas management strategies for safe wreck diving to 100 feet. Successful team wreck diving is emphasized, but team breakdown and individual survival strategies are taught. 

     The PDIC Wreck 2 course continues to build individual and team skills including the strategies for handling multiple stage and deco bottles inside and outside the interiors of shipwrecks for penetration dives greater than 100 feet.

     The PDIC Cave 1 course will help prepare the student for safe overhead exploration up to 1/6 of the gas supply of double cylinders to a maximum depth of 100. Unified team diving is the goal of  PDIC Cavern or Cave divers. However, team breakdown under the heavy psychological stresses of overhead environments such as frozen diver, panicked diver, panicked diver during a gas share and critical decision making are studied and practiced. The protection of the cave environment is just as critical as the preservation of life. The student will be trained to respect caves for their beauty and make low impact dives. In a diving world in which most technical students "want to be the next explorer," the greater emphasis will be placed on gentle cave diving techniques and sharing the cave.

     The PDIC Cave 2 course is a full cave diver certification training the diver to explore the fragile and beautiful cave ecosystems to 130 feet using triox mixtures to 1/3 of a diver's gas supply. Emphasis will be placed on team procedures for properly marking and placing jumps and gaps while navigating routes involving circuits and traverses.

     The PDIC Cave 3 course introduces the use of stage bottles and diver propulsion vehicles for extended penetration and introduces students to survey techniques for mapping and lining cave systems. 

    Because some divers may not have access to helium based gases or may not want to learn technical diving that conforms to team unification and standardization, we also offer the following programs:

    TDI Intro To Tech                                                    PSAI Trimix 1               PSAI Intro To Cave
    TDI Advanced Nitrox                                              PSAI Trimix 2               PSAI Cave                                                           
    TDI Decompression Procedures                        PSAI Cavern                PSAI Advanced Wreck
                                                                                        PSAI Adv Nitrox                                                                                   
                                                                                        PSAI Extended Range Nitrox


Make Diving Your Job:Professional Career Development

    Tech Expeditions is committed to training only the most talented, skilled, experienced, knowledgeable and enthusiastic divers to be dive supervisors, dive masters, assistant instructors, instructors, and technical instructor trainers. If you have high standards for personal diving skill, physical fitness, swimming ability, and want to be far more than your average dive professional, we can help you succeed. If you're passionate about recreational or technical diving and want to share your love of adventure with others, we can train you to teach everything from open water through overhead and trimix courses.

     Also available: Technical coaching.

   Call 570-335-6340 for information and pricing.

     
                                                                                                              
Copyright . Tech Expeditions. All rights reserved.