GUE T1
Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2012 12:32 am
Just signed up for GUE T1 in Mexico for this March!! I will be taking it with instructor Guy Shockey and teammate/fellow board member dewmercer
Mexico was chosen out of necessity. It was the only time it fit into my schedule, and I'll be damned if I wait another year for tech. During the summer I plan to be working, and I was planning on taking C1 next November-ish time. The holidays are when a lot of people are going to either FL or MX, so I was thinking about trying to tag along on one of those trips and do my C1 training then. I didnt want to have to take that time frame up with T1LCF wrote:Smart guys, doing it in Mexico. You'll be able to get much more in-water time without thermal stress.
I'm curious about what you meant by this. Like, if you plan on tech diving in cold water, you should take your tech training in cold water?CaptnJack wrote:Personally I'm a big fan of training like you fight, but to each his own.
Yes, thats what he was getting at. I am a huge fan of that too, as is DAve, as is Guy Shockey. These are the only dates and locations that work for everyone though. We still opted to use drysuits (we were given the choice). We tried pretty damn hard to schedule it up here before resorting to MX. I have the feeling we will be fine though. I have heard Guy is a great instructorJoshua Smith wrote:I'm curious about what you meant by this. Like, if you plan on tech diving in cold water, you should take your tech training in cold water?CaptnJack wrote:Personally I'm a big fan of training like you fight, but to each his own.
I wouldn't worry about it much. You're already a cold water diver. Where people get into trouble is usually where they have a lot of warm water experience and try to do a big cold water dive. A guy died on the Doria that way a few years ago. He had some tech experience, but it was his second or third drysuit dive.....Mortuus wrote:Yes, thats what he was getting at. I am a huge fan of that too, as is DAve, as is Guy Shockey. These are the only dates and locations that work for everyone though. We still opted to use drysuits (we were given the choice). We tried pretty damn hard to schedule it up here before resorting to MX. I have the feeling we will be fine though. I have heard Guy is a great instructorJoshua Smith wrote:I'm curious about what you meant by this. Like, if you plan on tech diving in cold water, you should take your tech training in cold water?CaptnJack wrote:Personally I'm a big fan of training like you fight, but to each his own.
The big difference I'd see is between the dexterity of a bare hand, and a rubber glove with thick liner. Things like manipulating (and finding!) valves is going to be a bit different when you're back in cold water.Joshua Smith wrote:I wouldn't worry about it much. You're already a cold water diver. Where people get into trouble is usually where they have a lot of warm water experience and try to do a big cold water dive. A guy died on the Doria that way a few years ago. He had some tech experience, but it was his second or third drysuit dive.....Mortuus wrote:Yes, thats what he was getting at. I am a huge fan of that too, as is DAve, as is Guy Shockey. These are the only dates and locations that work for everyone though. We still opted to use drysuits (we were given the choice). We tried pretty damn hard to schedule it up here before resorting to MX. I have the feeling we will be fine though. I have heard Guy is a great instructorJoshua Smith wrote:I'm curious about what you meant by this. Like, if you plan on tech diving in cold water, you should take your tech training in cold water?CaptnJack wrote:Personally I'm a big fan of training like you fight, but to each his own.
Kinda. I mean having ambient light on a wall at 150ft in Coz (on 21/35 even) with bare hands is really nothing like using a reel with dry gloves at 148ft to find the Bomber from the shotline just 10ft away. They are completely different experiences. If someone just wants to dive warm water the former is ideal. If you want to come home and 'dive into' local technical diving I dont think the wall in Coz kind of experiences are going to relate very well. For open water divers, the typical recommendation is for resort course divers to go with a local instructor and generally have a "refresher" type experience before diving in the PNW. Seems to be even more valid for technical divers, especially since after a 5 or 6 day intro deco course you'll have at most 3 or 4 supervised decompression dives. YMMVJoshua Smith wrote:I'm curious about what you meant by this. Like, if you plan on tech diving in cold water, you should take your tech training in cold water?CaptnJack wrote:Personally I'm a big fan of training like you fight, but to each his own.
I'm sure you'll be fine. Its my nature to be leery even though you're not my typeMortuus wrote:Assuming I pass (DAve is already NAUI tech through Scott Christopher), I will definitely be taking the tech dives slowly upon getting back for those reasons. Maybe do some walls in the sound first before heading over to the lake. With my existing Puget Sound/Lake Washington experience though, I dont think it will be entirely more difficult upon my return. We shall see though!
As long as your treat your first few tech dives in the PNW as continued training dives, you'll be fine. Also, you could dive dry in MX with your gloves attached to get the feel of it there before coming back here.Mortuus wrote:Assuming I pass (DAve is already NAUI tech through Scott Christopher), I will definitely be taking the tech dives slowly upon getting back for those reasons. Maybe do some walls in the sound first before heading over to the lake. With my existing Puget Sound/Lake Washington experience though, I dont think it will be entirely more difficult upon my return. We shall see though!
We are diving dry. That includes gloves. I am only using wetgloves temporarily right now while I get a new ring system. Taking out a ring system and subsequently putting it back in (assuming we wanted to dive wetgloves in MX) would be an unnecessary hassle. And based on my extremely limited experience, the removal/replacement of ring systems puts unnecessary strain on the seals. Thats how I tore my second to last one. All I did was remove the ring, and when I stretched the latex back over the ring to replace it, it tore. I prefer to just leave the ring system in once it's therespatman wrote:As long as your treat your first few tech dives in the PNW as continued training dives, you'll be fine. Also, you could dive dry in MX with your gloves attached to get the feel of it there before coming back here.Mortuus wrote:Assuming I pass (DAve is already NAUI tech through Scott Christopher), I will definitely be taking the tech dives slowly upon getting back for those reasons. Maybe do some walls in the sound first before heading over to the lake. With my existing Puget Sound/Lake Washington experience though, I dont think it will be entirely more difficult upon my return. We shall see though!