GUE Fundamentals Part 4: The Verdict

I will be the judge of that!

By DAY 4 I wasn’t convinced I had awakened, as I attempted to focus on my BlackBerry to determine what ungodly hour it was. Bleary eyed I stumbled into the kitchen; Wifebuddy as usual had the tea on the go, and I was surprised to find I wasn’t the last one up.

Midway through the week’s climactic bowl of Crunchy Nut Cornflakes, Rich appeared; shortly followed by Shelley.


It had arrived; the final day of GUE-F…

MORNING LECTURE

Within 20 minutes we were sat in the comfy bit of the house and morning lectures prevailed. Rich kindly educated the team on Breathing Gases. Surprisingly, I had been enjoying the lectures much more than expected, and the dawn’s learning was no different.

Narcosis, gas density, hypercapnia and oxygen toxicity all became clear over the subsequent hour and a bit. I was especially intrigued by gas density, and interested there were greater elements at play when using Helium; aside from simply reducing the level of nitrogen in a breathing mix.



By 10.00 Kerri and I were on our ultimate trip to Capernwray.




Aside from the exhaustion, I was loving the course; and was genuinely sad we were about to partake in the concluding dives. On the very brief journey to the quarry, Wifebuddy and I attempted to determine how the class was going, i.e. what grade would we receive?



I know, I know; I said I didn’t care how the class went, but as the finale approached, I had to admit I was damn curious how it would turn out.



Rich had made certain statements throughout the week, including; “We are where we want to be…”, “Your trim is within the limit we are aiming for…”, “Certain elements are outside the 1m window we want…”, “We may repeat certain drills if we get time…”


It was full of mixed signals, and we couldn’t determine which statement referred to whom. In the end we gave up, and knew we would find out soon enough.


Damn you Rich Walker and your convoluted professionalism.

DIVE 1

As we prepped for the first dive I noticed Shelley was in a rather splendid looking, if rather well worn, DUI dry suit. In an attempt to rectify her valve drill difficulties Rich had loaned her his “old” suit.

I was jealous, I wanted a go in the fancy DUI suit; I know they are renowned for being a bit “leaky” but up close they do look tremendous.

I made a few comments to Rich about it being “my suit really,” but he didn’t seem to take the hint at all, and merely smirked knowingly.



Once Shelley had a fancy zip seal neck attached we were ready to dive.


Well, i had to wait briefly as Kerri "walked" her cylinders to the steps, then awaited my huge form to carry them the rest of the way...

The first dive was littered with skills:

• Propulsion techniques
• Valve drills (in even more flat trim!)
• Mask off swim
• OOG ascent
• Simulated deco stops
• Rescue skills, including tired diver tow

The drills all went pretty well, although I really had to keep myself together on the mask off swim. It was doable, but the cold was awful which made my breathing hard to manage. I survived nonetheless.



My valve drill was improving further, but not without huge effort. I was able to communicate to Rich if I went completely horizontal I tipped slightly head down and had to ‘wiggle’ my fins a little to counteract it.

He later stated that it was barely noticeable, but reckoned if I loosened my harness slightly it would lower the cylinders and offset the heavy head; obviously my brain is rather densely packed with smart.

Don't make Kerri do another valve drill Rich

Kerri’s valve drill didn’t go as planned.

Her back up reg got caught somewhere, wasn't able to get it into her mouth fully; and essentially breathed water until she was able to get her main post back on, then switch again to the primary.

It wasn't pretty.





I received the “unhappy diver” signal as we finned away. Poor Wifebuddy; it started so well.

RESCUE ME

Upon surfacing we took turns to tow and/or push each other into shore without drowning the casualty. The techniques were a mix of those learned on my PADI Rescue Diver and the TDI Advanced Nitrox class. A little tiring, but performed well.

Once at the shore Rich demonstrated the “easy way” of getting a diver out of a once piece harness without cutting it.




I’ll be honest; the technique works – but it would need practice. In an emergency I would just cut the webbing and be done with it.

EXAMINE THAT

Over lunch we received a thorough debrief of the morning session, a brief of what the afternoon dive would contain, and then conducted the exam.



The exam was fine.I made a few fluffs, but nothing major and was quickly able to identify where I had gone wrong and rectify accordingly.

I hate exams, and it was infuriating how nervous I became once Rich handed them over. True to form, Wifebuddy flew through hers (she’s doing a masters after all) and ensured I wouldn't be copying her by ‘shielding’ her answers. Couples divorce over less you know?



Once the exams were handed over, we lolled down for the final dive of our GUE-F class.



Again Kerri and I attempted to determine how we were doing. Kerri was convinced she had failed miserably due to the valve problem; I just didn’t know. Plus, we weren't officially told we had passed the exam; we did get the odd question wrong.



We were at a complete loss.

DIVE 2

`

Dive 2 was relatively straight forward, containing SMB deployment, OOG drill and ascent. SMB building was grand and we deployed the one breath bag without incident, surfacing nicely beneath it.

Rich advised Kerri she wasn’t ‘knitting’ and to move the whole thing out in front of her, reducing the entanglement hazard and allowing improved situational awareness.



We descended one last time.



I was OOG, Shelley donated (eventually!) and Kerri conducted a flawless SMB deployment and we surfaced perfectly.



Well, almost perfect. We all had a little fun first, mostly at Shelley’s expense.



Prior to the dive Rich explained, explicitly, that once a team member gives ‘thumbs up’ the team may only surface after everyone reiterates by replicating the hand signal; i.e. everyone puts their thumbs in, then leaves.

Rich threw his exaggerated thumb in first to celebrate the last ascent, then Kerri, then me. Shelley simply stared at us.

I overstated my signal again, in the hope of jerking her memory … nothing. Kerri wiggled her thumb … nothing. Rich moved his whole arm out, and then back in with thumb extended … nothing.

All of sudden Shelley nodded and gave the big thumb; we all applauded and surfaced. It amused me greatly.

DIVE DONE

Kerri packed away her smb, and together we swam to shore. We were done; the dives were over. It was really rather depressing. The week was over, no matter what way it went, I had completed my GUE Fundamentals class. Despite the fatigue, and ridiculous dehydration levels, I felt great.


Our tired legs hauled the gear back to Rich’s van and instinctively began packing our kit away for the last time. Rich suggested we get changed, pay the bill and then he would de-brief us.

Oh, the nerves!

As I began packing up my gear I could feel the nerves building again. How had we done? Had I passed?


I gave Kerri a look of “What happens now?” She had no idea either, and the two of us were beside ourselves with anticipation.

THE VERDICT

Rich appeared and asked if anyone was ready for the individual debrief.

KERRI EVALUATION

(Typically) Kerri nearly fell over herself to get there first; she and Rich skulked off to a more ‘private’ area of the car park. I watched in anticipation for the next eternity as the pair chatted; and Kerri obviously received her verdict.

I stood by the car and Kerri bounded over with a huge smile on her face. At the same time Rich was waving me over and just as I passed by the smiling face, Kerri whispered “REC PASS.”

I ARE DIVER EVALUATION

Even as I wandered towards my GUE instructor I still couldn’t hazard a guess what he would say. My mind flooded with thoughts as I marched over;

Surely I too would receive a Rec Pass? I didn’t think I’d done any worse than Kerri all week, but then there was the exam to consider – did I even pass it? Rich also kept going on about 100% flat trim during my valve drill; what did that mean? There was also the initial face plant during the first basic 5; and didn’t I drop a spool on the smb drill?

All I could think about was the things I did wrong, and attempted to measure just how ‘wrong’ they were.



Stupidly I began to ponder a Tech Pass. Maybe Rich was pushing me all week to try and get me a Tech Pass? Yes; that’s what all the super flat trim nonsense was about. But did I make it? - I couldn’t be sure.







By the time I sat opposite Rich I was all over the place.





“How do YOU think you did?”

I burbled something about it being tough, but thoroughly enjoyable, and simply gawked at him.



“Would you like ME to tell you how you did?”

Fuck yeah.



..

...

....





“Straight TECH PASS; I figured you would make it from Day 2.”





I would be lying if I said my face didn’t light up and stretch a smile from ear to ear. I was absolutely ecstatic and violently shook Rich’s hand as he beamed back at me.

I had wanted to do my GUE Fundamentals for years, but as I stated before, living in Ireland made it difficult as we have no resident instructors. Not only that, but I didn’t know any GUE divers in Ireland either.

It was my first experience of GUE training and I had been awarded a Tech Pass - Fucking A.



Rich seemed pleased too, congratulated me and we continued to chat for another 10 minutes about the class, and offered further advice on my future diving.

I took most of it in, and then thought to myself; “You could have told me on day 2…”

CONCLUSION

Post briefing I headed back to Wifebuddy, and we shared the experience.

Kerri knew how much the GUE thing meant to me, and was totally stoked at how we both did. We continued to smile as we packed the Ford Boring up for the last time, and prepared to make our way to the ferry.



Group hugs and handshakes followed as our team of three celebrated the conclusion of an intensive weeks diving. Rich explained he would be in touch about some bureaucratic bits, and he was only an email away if we ever needed anything.

Our GUE-F Team

It was very cool; Rich made it clear the instruction did not end once the course did, and he would continue to offer advice or further training as, or when, we needed it. I thought that was a fabulous touch.



Still smiling, Kerri and I jumped into the Ford Boring and I turned the ignition key.




Nothing.




True to form; our stupid car had decided to have a flat battery.

Comedy gold followed as the GUE Technical Training Director, and a girl in an ill fitting DUI suit pushed our car [backwards] down the car park at Capernwray quarry at 7 o’clock in the evening.






Some fancy clutch work by me got a nice reverse bump start; we sounded the horn and headed off into the distance, leaving with some fantastic memoires from our GUE-F course.

JOURNEY HOME

Kerri and I discussed the course at length on the journey home. The three hour road trip and subsequent ferry voyage flew in.

We arrived home the following morning at about 6am. We were shattered, but accomplished; and I would do it all again tomorrow.



GUE-F was awesome. Go do it.

DAY 1 - DAY 2 - DAY 3

GUE Fundamentals Part 3: The Blue Hand of Education

DAY 3: By the third day I had stopped setting my alarm.

I figured I’d best get as much sleep as humanly possible, and rely solely on Kerri to get me up. Failing that I knew Rich would eventually come and get me.

I’m sure Wifebuddy had her alarm set, but I certainly didn’t hear it. She finally resorted to phoning my mobile from the kitchen at 8.00am to rouse me. I had also received a text message or two;

“Are you getting up?” … “Tea’s ready” … “Get up” … “Seriously - GET UP!”

It was well after 8.00am by the time I trundled down the stairs.



I had also stopped using the banister on the way downstairs, in the vain hope that any rest my arms got would aid in a full recovery before the first dive. That thought pattern was a little sanguine.

I joined the team in the kitchen and the morning ritual commenced; tea, Rich’s expensive coffee, and yet another bowl of Crunchy Nut Cornflakes.

The house was becoming a very comfortable environment, feeling more like home from home, and images of Rainbow were conjured up in my mind; Kerri was George, I was Zippy and Rich was Geoffrey. 

I guess that left Shelley as Bungle; but that seemed a tad unfair.

S-DRILLS – DRY RUN

Breakfast done, it was straight to work and we practiced dry runs of the S-Drill. Regs were attached to backplates with cable ties, can lights donned (minus batteries) and our team of three began OOG scenarios.

Kerri and Shelley in cable tied kit

Rich slowly talked us through the procedure and we took it in turns being donor, receiver and the third man. The drills went well; it was merely a case of doing the right thing in the right order.

Shelley throws a tantrum!

In water, of course, everything changed.

BACK TO THE DIVE SITE

Capernwray was also very familiar by now; we quickly collected our twinsets, analysed our gas, kitted up and awaited our captain’s dive briefing.


Rich explained we would be repeating the Basic 5, and then he would select one of us to demonstrate an S-Drill, followed by the team rotating the scenario, concluding with an OOG ascent.




I was also given a few more tips on my frog kick. Rich seemed really keen to improve my kick a wee bit further every dive.

I gladly obliged and tried to do everything he said as the team finned out to the 6m platform.

BASIC 5 – ROUND 2

Within a minute of reaching the platform we got into formation and began the basic 5 drill. You could see the improvements in buoyancy control from each of us, along with enhanced situational awareness.


Kerri was number one, and rattled through without problem.


I was up next and repeated my performance from the day before; minus the face-plant. I was even becoming more stable with my mask off, which pleased me greatly.

Shelley had a few issues during her drill, developing a taste for her own light cord apparently, but she got there in the end.

S-DRILLS : WET RUN

With the Basic 5 nailed, we progressed to the S-Drill.

Rich levelled in front of us and our eyes darted from one another in apprehension, as to who would be selected for the demonstration.



It was Kerri!



I felt for her, she really had to up her game; the boss man needed her. Wifebuddy performed flawlessly as an out of gas diver, with Rich slowly going through the steps as the donor.



Our trio then took it in turns to donate and receive as we rotated the S-Drill amongst ourselves, with Rich adding any assistance if needed. The drills went very well, the final light cord check proving the only stumbling block.


The final drill consisted of Kerri out of gas, me donating, and Shelley in charge of the ascent.


Everything went very well until the 3m stop. Kerri and I were face to face the whole time, but unfortunately Shelley lost it a bit and disappeared from view; heading to the surface frantically dumping air from her dry suit.



The team thing confused me a little when things like that happened. What was the protocol? It hadn’t really been discussed. I decided Kerri was the “casualty” and our deco obligation was paramount, so we completed our stop and slowly ascended.



Lunch and the video debrief followed.

CAUGHT ON CAMERA, AGAIN!

If I was allowed one video from our class to take home, the OOG ascent would have been the one. I hadn’t realised that Rich had been filming the entire drill, and continued with us on the ascent.


We all watched as I donated my long hose, got Kerri sorted and began our ascent. It was soon apparent Shelley had an issue, and slowly drifted out of the frame. At that stage Rich decided to focus on Kerri and me as we held our simulated deco stop.



I was really pleased; our position in the water was great, trim was good and the ascent rate was awesome.



As we hovered at 3m I clearly signalled “Where is no.3?”


Kerri responded by raising her head, obviously tracing Shelley’s out of control ascent (and pending death if the deco had of been for real), looked straight back at me and gave an exaggerated shrug of the shoulders.



It was classic.



We all burst into fits of laughter and Kerri apologised profusely to Shelley, explaining that the tone of the shrug didn’t translate so well under water.

More laughter ensued during Kerri’s display of overt compassion for the OOG diver; it was so funny. A pattern developed demonstrating that every time Kerri donated her long hose, she cocked her head slightly to one side.




Rich summed it up beautifully;

“Kerri, when you donate your long hose you don’t need to empathise. I can almost hear your thoughts underwater ‘Aw, you’re out of gas; that must be dreadful – here, take mine.’”

Bless; must be the nurse in her.

VALVE DRILLS

After lunch we moved to valve drills.

Kerri a bit chilly before dive two

I really like valve drills, and had been preparing mentally for it all week; as the procedure was slightly different to that of my TDI training. At the shore we ran though several dry runs, then hit the wet stuff.


We loyally frog kicked our way to our platform, lined up, and Rich demonstrated.


It was encouraging to see Rich go through the same set up as I did when preparing, just much faster. I was getting concerned it was taking me too long to sort my “platform,” getting the adequate amount of gas in my suit, and making sure it was all where I wanted it to be.


My valve drill was pretty damn good. Buoyancy was perfect, but I was slightly off the horizontal when turning the valves; about 10 degrees Rich reckoned. It felt good.

THE BLUE HAND OF EDUCATION

The rest of the team didn’t have such a good day out.

Kerri held trim and buoyancy but seemed to struggle with her left post. A little misdirected aggression got her through, but Rich had to intervene on occasion to keep her right; his blue dry glove seemed to come out of nowhere, adjusting the odd valve here and there.

Shelley just didn’t appear to have the movement required to get at the valves, and after a few valiant efforts, repeated assistance from the blue hand of education, she gave up.

BACK TO THE CLEARWATER

Diving done for the day we headed back to the Rainbow House for a video debrief and lectures.


We re-watched the S-Drills, purely to laugh at the infamous “shrug” and “empathy nod” from Wifebuddy, moving on to debrief the valve drill.

My valve drill looked pretty good, but I could clearly see I was moving a little ‘heads up’ when manipulating the valves. Rich explained I really needed to ‘lean into it’ and really stretch my chest out. He seemed convinced I could get it done in perfect trim.



I stashed the knowledge for the next dive.




Kerri’s recording produced another classic video moment.


As the blue hand of education shifted Kerri’s centre post to aid her shut down, Wifebuddy lifted her head and gave Rich a very distinctive look of death. Kerri explained she only looked up to see what was going on, Rich and I concluded it was more likely; “Get off my valve you ****!”

DECOMPRESSION LECTURE

The evening lecture was on decompression. The GUE-F course is a recreational class, so decompression doesn’t really factor into it excessively. However, knowing our background, Rich was happy to go into a little more detail, which was brilliant; he did say it was turning into a bit of a Tech 1 class!

I especially enjoyed the “demonstration” of saturation rates; comprising of a cup of tea poured onto the beloved whiteboard, and a tissue. I’ll leave that with you…

PROJECT TIGER

Lectures concluded early and we all headed back to Capers to witness Rich in all his glory. That evening Mr Walker was giving a talk on a Project Baseline operation he is involved with.

We enjoyed dinner and pints as Rich set up his projector.

The crowds gathered and began a chant;

“Wreck and Cave!

Wreck and Cave!

Wreck and Cave!

Wreck and Cave!”

Rich stormed onto the stage, enjoying his fans, whipping them into frenzy, and finally began his talk on Project Tiger; … or something like that…

All joking aside, the talk was excellent. Project Tiger is a poignant tale, and I urge you to attend if Rich is in your area giving a presentation.






I’ll not go into detail, but I was a little concerned to find out BSAC own a tank.

BEDTIME

The talk concluded at 9.00pm, by which stage we were ready for bed. We explained to Rich we were retiring early and headed back to the cottage leaving him with his fans.

Once we got in I enjoyed a quick beer; but not without taking advantage of Rich’s absence, royally taking the piss out of him and his whiteboard.




I hit the hay and prepared for the final day of our class. I was sad.










DAY 4 loomed.

DAY 1 - DAY 2

GUE Fundamentals Part 2 : Misdirected Aggression & Spag 'Bol

Apparently the alarm sounded at 7.00am again.


I must confess; I didn't hear it. I don't mean to keep going on about the swim test or my apparent lack of fitness; but I was knackered, hence I slept through the incessant beeping that usually makes me cringe at the thought of what the pending day would bring.

At 7.30am my natural body clock finally kicked in, and, as my senses slowly came to life, I remembered where I was, and what I was there for; diving.



Day 2 was all about in water stuff.

Wifebuddy in action

I trailed my newly elongated arms down the stairs, met Kerri, who had breakfast in hand; a choice of tea or coffee at the ready, and partially enjoyed Crunchy Nut Cornflakes.

Don't get me wrong, I quite like the cereal, but to be honest, a big fry up would have been more desirable.

Within the hour the rest of the team were up and about, and the boss man had us in our drysuits.

HARNESS SIZING

A properly fitted harness is critical for pleasant diving, and I was eager for Rich to get mine sized properly once and for all; as well a showing me the correct method of adjustment.



He didn't disappoint.



As Shelley had been more or less sorted the day before, Wifebuddy and I got preferential treatment for the guts of an hour. My harness was pretty close; I had my shoulder straps in a good position, but I needed to shift the D-rings an inch and lengthen the crotch strap.

Kerri's needed completely redone.

By the time Rich had finished with us we looked like different divers. Once donned, I immediately noticed the raised D-rings, and became a little anxious I wouldn't be able to locate them; my muscle memory had adapted to the poor placement.

I was promptly educated in the workings of 'ball joints' and shown how to hit the D-ring every time with a double ender.



Oh, how that would come back to haunt me...





Kerri's rig looked awesome. I always thought it looked 'wrong', but for some reason she always seemed content to dive it the way it was; must be yet another woman thing i'll never understand.



By 10am all was done, and finally we made our way to Capernwray for a dive.

CAPERNWRAY

More affectionately known as "Capers" I must admit I really liked Capernwray Quarry. I know local divers find quarries a bit boring, which I fully understand, im lucky as I have a Lough at my back door, but as far as a big hole full of water goes; Capers is right up there.

View of Capernwray from the accommodation

The facilities are brilliant; big car park, lots of gases available, shop, service centre, rentals, training, changing area, and a cracking cafe in which you can walk about in your dry suit. Did I mention it’s fully licensed?

The staff were brilliant and obviously knew Rich well, and treated us students like new friends; we relaxed immediately.

GAS ANALYSIS

Orientation of the centre done, we finally got the twinsets out of the Ford Boring and got a fill of our new standard gas: 32% Nitrox.


Rich then educated his students in the dark ways of analysing and marking up cylinders after a fill.







All of us were tech trained anyway so it was familiar territory, but every agency has its own slant on things; nothing too out of the ordinary.



Gases analysed, we went for a cup of tea and dive briefing.

DIVE 1

Over tea Rich enlightening us in the finer arts of:

• Buoyancy
• Trim 
• Balance 
• Frog kick 
• Modified frog kick 
• Flutter kick 
• Modified flutter kick 

perfect frog kick

The plan was simple; jump in the water, find the 6m platform, Rich would demonstrate his awesomeness; we would copy if flawlessly, get out and have lunch.



Yeah; just like that.



After a rather hideous walk the entire length of the humongous car park, we slumped onto some strategically based benches at the shore and began GUE EDGE; an almost clever acronym, designed to help a diver remember all the important parts that need stated before a dive.


G - Goal
U - Unified Team
E - Equipment


E - Exposure
D - Deco
G - Gas
E - Environment


It took a few days to get it to stick in my head; along with a new style of buddy check.

Initially I really didn't like our new buddy check, and felt Kerri and I had a better one. After several dives we soon got into the gist of it, and the more logical approach made sense, reducing the chance of missing something.


In hindsight we were just very set in our ways; I'm a bit old for all these changes...




Then we hit the water - awesome!



It felt phenomenal to get weightless and do what I had come for. The three of us made our way to the platform and did our best to remain stationary so Rich could perform for us.


The buoyancy stuff was pretty much as expected; I have a good grasp of how to control it, and was pretty stable once I got settled.


The balance exercise really brought a few things to light. Although I felt I had my arms out in front keeping me balanced, I soon learned I hadn't them spread wide enough. Keeping my legs further apart had a huge influence on balance as well; something I had never tried before.

That was something I would develop as the week progressed.


Trim is something I strive for; I love seeing divers that have the perfectly flat shape in the water, it looks so graceful as they kick and glide through space. I recall just doing everything Rich said; "Arch your back, clench your butt cheeks and keep your head back."

So, I did it. He seemed happy enough, so we moved on.

Watching the boss demonstrate propulsion was just fantastic. I've watched loads of videos of GUE divers looking all cool, fining through caves and stuff, but to see the control up close was unreal.


Demonstrations done, it was over to the students, and the 3 of us began circling the platform with our attempts of the various propulsion techniques. Rich hovered around with his big video camera, taking footage to "educate" us with later.





I felt a bit of a twat. I have been using the frog kick for years, and although in my mind I was doing exactly as Rich did, it felt awkward and weird. The flutter kicks felt much better in comparison, which was strange, as I had never used that type of kick before. The constant knees up was peculiar, but did make me feel pretty flat in the water.


After an hour the big thumb came out and our little team of 3 made our best effort to swim in formation back to the shore. It was iffy, but not bad.


Once out, we semi-stripped out of our suits and headed for lunch and a debrief.

CAUGHT ON CAMERA

I wasn't thrilled to see the camera sitting on the lunch table. I have never seen myself in the water, and I knew it would be educational at best.


Rich pressed play, and the 4 of us huddled around the tiny screen. 

I was happy and disappointed at the same time. My trim looked pretty good, in fact, I was damn pleased with it; but my frog kick was appalling. The power phase was good, but the recovery was abysmal; my fins drooped and lazily made their way back to my arse.


Disappointment washed over me. The kicker was; I had been fining about for years like that, thinking I was all tech and cool like; nah, not the case.

All the students had their problems and Rich gave us individual advice on how to improve the crappy bits.

I needed to point my toes after each power phase, in order to lift my fins and stop sending wash to the sea bed. I was cool with that; twinkle toes from then on!

WE ARE AS THREE

GUE diving is heavily based on the "team" thing. To aid our learning Rich manoeuvred 2 mustards and a mayo sachet around our lunch table to demonstrate how a team should move, and the benefit it brings.

It was actually quite fascinating and made a lot of sense, as expected.



A minute later rich began pouring a small pillar of salt onto his plate. The three of us leaned in close to see what the Jedi master was going to enlighten us with.

As we continued to loom in over Rich's plate he looked up, somewhat surprised; "what are you lot doing?"


We replied in unison: "Seeing what you’re doing with the salt."


Rich slowly and deliberately lifted a chip, pressed it into the salt and ate it; "I'm eating my chips you muppets"

DIVE 2

The next dive was the basic 5.

Basic 5

 

• Reg remove and replace 
• Regulator exchange and stow 
• S-drill 
• Mask flood 
• Mask remove and replace 

All to be conducted remaining at a constant depth, and without moving.


We conducted a few dry runs on the benches by the shore, waded into the rather chilly 6c water, and made our way back to the platform.



Once there Rich demonstrated the back kick and helicopter turn. We three students again attempted to replicate; all on film of course.





The basic 5 followed. I was number one, so lined myself up, built my stable platform and started the sequence.



It didn't go too badly. The reg out stuff I found pretty straight forward, until I tried to clip off my main reg. (Remember the moved D-rings?)

Well, I kinda found the rings but my light cord also found them. Rich explained later he has only seen a diver clip to a light cord 3 times; 2 of which were me, as I repeatedly clipped the bolt snap to the cable: twice in a row.

By the second effort I got bit pissed and really threw the light head forward out of my way. The cable was clear and I found the d ring.

stupid light cord

The mask off stuff was as unpleasant as expected, but I struggled through it regardless.


By the time Shelley had made her effort, the water temp had dropped further and Rich ended the session.



Poor Kerri had to wait for her basic 5.





Diving for the day was completed and we headed back to the ranch for debrief and dinner.

MORE VIDEO

This time the video was plumbed into the TV and we got a really good look at ourselves. My frog kick was still dropping slightly, but rich explained it wasn’t a show stopper and was actually very good; he just felt with a little extra work I could really make it awesome.

I thought I was just about getting it right, but there did appear to be dramatic improvements from the morning session, so I made a mental note to really keep my fin tips up from then on.

I shall kick like Kermit!

My basic 5 was better than expected. Watching the light cord disaster was kinda funny, it looks so obvious on video;

"You're gonna clip that onto your cord mate ... told you"

Amazingly my buoyancy held quite well during the mask off drill, dropping only about 30cm or so, and face planting the platform. It needed a little polishing, but again nothing to worry about.




The video continued and we got to witness Kerri attempting to clip off a bolt snap to a D-ring. She had managed to clip bolt snap to bolt snap. Any tech diver can tell you; that's a disaster to get sorted in water, usually requiring a buddy to help out.

Wifebuddy, on the other hand, needed no such help and appeared determined to solve the problem alone, through persistence, brute force, bad temper, and finally pure aggression.

The snap hadn't a chance.

Rich explained Kerri had become a little task fixated and perhaps it was a touch of "Misdirected Aggression."


I could tell he was afraid, and quickly moved on...

DINNER

The camera was put to bed and Rich kindly treated us to fantastic spaghetti bolognaise. It was a great meal, and I did my best to finish the enormous helping I was issued.

The boss could eat.

LECTURES

Dinner was done by 9pm, and we moved to the comfortable part of the house for the gas planning lecture.

We covered: 

• Minimum gas and how to calculate bar needed for a shared ascent. 
• Turn pressure, based on minimum gas. 
• Usable gas, and the various equations; all, halves and thirds 
• Surface consumption rate; GUE version of sac rate.

evening lecture

The gas planning was brilliant. It really simplified how to plan a dive, and work out exactly how much gas was needed, rather than just defaulting to the "thirds" rule we usually used.



By 11pm I was a bit frazzled and class was adjourned.


Kerri skipped off to bed, but I allowed my brain to unwind a little with the aid of a Carlsberg. Rich and I chatted on for bit then finally called it quits.

It had been a really long day, I was exhausted, but satisfied; and waddled off to bed calculating the turn pressure for our local dive site in my head...




What would DAY 3 bring?


DAY 1