Teaching an Advanced Trimix Class

I just started teaching an Advanced Trimix Class this week to a group of 4 tech diving students.  These 4 are all students who have taken previous classes from me so it is fun to watch them progress and develop as  technical divers.

I really enjoy teaching Advanced Trimix because it is the highest level of open water training and as such the students must be prepared virtually on every level for extreme diving, including physically, mentally, and emotionally.  These types of dives are very demanding and as such, the training is equally demanding.  

We spent the first night in the classroom talking about what would be required in the class, and beginning our academic discussions.  In this particular class, the academic sessions are typically more discussion than lecture, because the students usually have a firm grasp of the basic academics and now we spend more time discussing various alternative view points and procedures.  The classes are usually quite stimulating.  

Fortunately, these 4 students are local, so we can take some time spread over a few weeks to really dig into the academics as well as the practical - the diving.  Our first dive will be a shallow dive at the Homestead Crater where we will do an assessment of their current skill level as well as string together some more involved complex multiple failure drills.  It is usually a somewhat stressful time for the students due to the volume of skills and drills, but ends up being a lot of fun and makes for memorable discussions afterwards!