My Journey into UTD Ratio Deco

[_Ralph]

Please stop. Maybe UTD is, but definitely not the SOP for a S drill in the GUE world.


_R

 

[Kevrumbo]

My bad for the comment above.

I didn't see you say overhead, following a line on an exit.


Wait you didn't.

_R

View attachment 484339 View attachment 484340


Please stop. Maybe UTD is, but definitely not the SOP for a S drill in the GUE world.


_R

That's good & fine from a fundamental and beginning open water level & codified in a SOP.

But not applicable or advisable in an advanced overhead scenario where you happen to be the lead teammate with your left hand occupied with holding a primary reel & torch . . .is it now @_Ralph ?

 

[_Ralph]

Straight outta my C2.

No third teammate?

_R

 

[Kevrumbo]

Straight outta my C2.

No third teammate?

_R

One handed gas switch stuff is a cute trick. Great for the pool and staged drills where no one is actually in danger.

Real life? Get your teammate gas.

No one here is discounting your Cave 2 course or actual cave diving experience @_Ralph , but from a wreck overhead & technical penetration pespective, you always anticipate having your left hand occupied with the reel and primary light, therefore always performing the S-drill (or God forbid a real OOG scenario) one-handed with the right (The third in line teammate if one is present and who is not the OOG donor, references the line and relative depth, and assists with troubleshooting as necessary). In technical wreck diving, you do not always have a permanently maintained mainline to follow or jump reel off of -essentially every deep wreck penetration is exploratory where you have to lay line. . .

That's why UTD -and GUE- promote "thinking" divers, able to adapt and accommodate on-the-fly as necessary . . .and not just only to rote recite book SOP chapter & verse. You savvy @_Ralph ?

 

[PfcAJ]

One handed gas switch stuff is a cute trick. Great for the pool and staged drills where no one is actually in danger.

Real life? Get your teammate gas.

 

[kensuf]

That's good & fine from a fundamental and beginning open water level & codified in a SOP.

But not applicable or advisable in an advanced overhead scenario where you happen to be the lead teammate with your left hand occupied with holding a primary reel & torch . . .is it now @_Ralph ?

Generally speaking, while cave diving, the majority of your time is spent following an existing guideline and the only times you have a reel in your hand is either at the very beginning of the dive, installing a jump, or if you're exploring virgin passage.

Having said that, I can manage a reel and pop a regulator in my mouth with my left hand. It's easier to do that than it is to try to manhandle two regs with the right hand. The one handed reg-pass strikes me as making it too easy to drop the long hose during a gas pass.

 

[CptTightPants21]

In terms of getting the backup reg in your mouth using your left hand while it is occupied with a reel and primary light, it has been my experience that it 'just gets done'. Either you have some fingers free from the reel that allow you to grab the bungeed reg and put it in your mouth or your hand/reel elevate the bungeed reg enough so your mouth can grab it - it tends to get done without much conscious thought about it.

 

[Compressor]

Loved the video of Bill Philips. Lots can be learned from it.

 

[rjack321]

Loved the video of Bill Philips. Lots can be learned from it.

Its especially good at showing "speed"

 

[lv2dive]

To clarify, GUE is not one handed for s-drills (unless it has changed in the past couple of years).

Train the way you intend to dive. UTD and GUE are predominantly cave and overhead focused. That’s why all drills are done one handed so faulty muscle memory won’t let you down at the worst time.

Also handy when hanging on a line in a string current with no overhead.