1.1 INTRODUCTION
This specialty is designed to aquatint the diver with the special skills and techniques necessary to successfully plan, execute and evaluate a search and recovery dive.

1.2 WHO MAY TEACH
Who may teach this course?
1. An active SDI Instructor that has been certified to teach this specialty.

1.3 STUDENT – INSTRUCTOR RATIO
Academic:
2. Unlimited, so long as adequate facility, supplies and time are provided to insure comprehensive and complete training.
Confined Water (Swimming pool-like conditions):
3. N/A.
Open Water (Ocean, lake, quarry, spring, river or estuary):
4. A maximum of eight (8) students per Instructor. However, it is the instructor’s discretion to reduce this number as conditions dictate.
5. The Instructor has the option of adding two (2) more students with the assistance of an active Assistant Instructor or Divemaster.
6. The total number of students an instructor may have in the water is twelve (12) with the assistance of two (2) Assistant Instructors or Divemasters.

1.4 STUDENT PRE-REQUISITES
7. Open Water Diver.
8. Fifteen (15) years or older.
1.5 COURSE STRUCTURE AND DURATION
Open Water execution:
9. Two (2) dives are required with complete briefs and debriefs by the Instructor.
10. Dive plan must include Surface interval, Max no-deco time, etc. to be figured out and logged.
Course Structure:
11. SDI allows instructors to structure courses according to the number of students participating and their skill level.

1.6 ADMINISTRATIVE REQUIREMENTS
Administrative Tasks:
12. Collect the course fees from all the students.
13. Ensure that the students have the required equipment.
14. Communicate the schedule to the students.
15. Have the students complete the Liability Release and Medical history forms.
16. The Instructor should review the Liability Release and Medical Forms before starting on the course.
Upon successful completion of this specialty the instructor must issue the SDI Search and Recovery Diver specialty experience card. The Instructor must:
17. Use either a SDI diver registration form or a Pre-paid Diver certification form to file for the specialty certification card if a SDI certification card is requested.
Award card and certificate.

1.7 REQUIRED EQUIPMENT
18. Basic SDI Open Water SCUBA equipment as prescribed earlier in this manual.
19. All lines, lift bags, reels, etc should be provided by instructor.

1.8 APPROVED OUTLINE
Instructors may use any additional text or materials that they feel help present these topics. The following topics must be covered:
20. Navigation
A. Compass use.
B. Estimating Distances.
C. Kicking Techniques.
D. Natural Navigation.
21. Limited Visibility Diving
A. Factors Affecting Visibility.
B. Hazards of Limited Visibility
I. Salt Water (ocean).
II. Fresh water.
C. Techniques of Diving.
22. Search Techniques
A. Shotgun
I. When to use.
II. How to control.
B. Circular Search
I. When to use.
II. How to control.
III. Advantages.
C. Grid Search
I. When to use.
II. How to control.
III. Advantages.
D. Current (Overlap) Search
I. When to use.
II. How to control.
III. Advantages.
E. Signals for Search Diving
I. Hand signals.
II. Line signals.
23. Salvage Techniques
A. Depth Considerations.
B. Lift bags.
C. Lifting Drums.
D. Necessary qualities of lifting devices.
E. Knots and rigging.
F. Fill techniques.
G. Mud/silt suction considerations.

1.9 REQUIRED SKILL PERFORMANCE AND GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS
Students are required to successfully complete the following:
24. Open Water – Dive one (l)
A. Compass review.
B. Search techniques.
C. Lifting techniques.
D. Have students’ practice and perform a few different search patterns.
E. Recover an object from depth.
25. Open Water – Dive two (2)
A. Simulated SCUBA emergency.
B. Minimum of two (2) searching techniques,
C. Salvage and recovery of an object with a water weight of between eleven (11) and thirty three (33) kg / twenty five (25) and seventy five (75) pounds.