gwilson
01-08-07, 00:01
As some of you know I've been planning on doing GUE Fundies for a few months, it was meant to be in October however due to various reasons I have just spent the last four days in Vobster and then Swanage with Clare Gledhill.
This is a four day course, the first day is lectures which are quite intense and lengthy, followed by a fitness test in the swimming pool which is minimum of 275 metres in less than 14 mins and at least 15 metres underwater on one breath, then followed by practising frog kicks, backwards kicks and helicopter turns. Then more lectures and kit checks and adjustments.
Day 2 is started off with drills, valve drills and sharing drills, analysing gas and going through the pre dive plan and checks. First dive consisted of bouyancy and trim checks, finning techniques, and ascent drills. Followed by a de-brief then back in for more finning, the basic 5 which comprise of regs in and out, swapping regs, mask clearing, mask removal and deploying long hose. Back out for more lectures.
Day 3 is again lectures and drills on the surface, with dive 3 doing valve drills, sharing or deploying the long hose, holding station as a 3 (easier said than done) no mask swim, out of air ascents, debrief then in for dive 4 more valve drills, more sharing drills, deploying back up torch, attaching smb to a spool then deploying smb and OOG drills. Then back to 3 or 4 metres and carrying out a rescue ascent. More lectures and one to one de-briefs.
Day 4 is a put it all together dive, Plan the dive including depth and time to remain within minimum deco times, plan ascents and stops, then get in the water and put it all into practice. We ended up out in Swanage bay on the Fleur de Lys, descend the shot as a team carry out bubble checks and take up station to carry out valve drills and sharing drills. Once that is out the way its your dive or at least kind of your dive. We had a pretty strong current to deal with, along with various torch failures, OOG situations, low viz, swapping team about due to kit failures finally followed by ascent on one smb whilst one is OOG. Maintaining team awareness and positioning whilst on long hose and in a strong current dragging the smb. However we all surfaced together and pretty much within the time we had planned on.
I came away with rec pass with a couple of things to nail to get a tech pass which i will get before the end of this year. All in all in was a worthwhile 4 days training, which may not be to everyones taste or style of diving, however if you are interested in GUE training i cannot recommend Clare enough she is very good at both the surface lectures and in water skills. Which she backs up with some pretty damn good diving.
At the moment I think im the only GUE trained diver in our neck of the woods at least until October which i think is bit of a shame, it isnt all black suits and scooters, as i have found out it is an enjoyable and safe way to dive which may open up other avenues of diving worldwide.
This is a four day course, the first day is lectures which are quite intense and lengthy, followed by a fitness test in the swimming pool which is minimum of 275 metres in less than 14 mins and at least 15 metres underwater on one breath, then followed by practising frog kicks, backwards kicks and helicopter turns. Then more lectures and kit checks and adjustments.
Day 2 is started off with drills, valve drills and sharing drills, analysing gas and going through the pre dive plan and checks. First dive consisted of bouyancy and trim checks, finning techniques, and ascent drills. Followed by a de-brief then back in for more finning, the basic 5 which comprise of regs in and out, swapping regs, mask clearing, mask removal and deploying long hose. Back out for more lectures.
Day 3 is again lectures and drills on the surface, with dive 3 doing valve drills, sharing or deploying the long hose, holding station as a 3 (easier said than done) no mask swim, out of air ascents, debrief then in for dive 4 more valve drills, more sharing drills, deploying back up torch, attaching smb to a spool then deploying smb and OOG drills. Then back to 3 or 4 metres and carrying out a rescue ascent. More lectures and one to one de-briefs.
Day 4 is a put it all together dive, Plan the dive including depth and time to remain within minimum deco times, plan ascents and stops, then get in the water and put it all into practice. We ended up out in Swanage bay on the Fleur de Lys, descend the shot as a team carry out bubble checks and take up station to carry out valve drills and sharing drills. Once that is out the way its your dive or at least kind of your dive. We had a pretty strong current to deal with, along with various torch failures, OOG situations, low viz, swapping team about due to kit failures finally followed by ascent on one smb whilst one is OOG. Maintaining team awareness and positioning whilst on long hose and in a strong current dragging the smb. However we all surfaced together and pretty much within the time we had planned on.
I came away with rec pass with a couple of things to nail to get a tech pass which i will get before the end of this year. All in all in was a worthwhile 4 days training, which may not be to everyones taste or style of diving, however if you are interested in GUE training i cannot recommend Clare enough she is very good at both the surface lectures and in water skills. Which she backs up with some pretty damn good diving.
At the moment I think im the only GUE trained diver in our neck of the woods at least until October which i think is bit of a shame, it isnt all black suits and scooters, as i have found out it is an enjoyable and safe way to dive which may open up other avenues of diving worldwide.