DIR- GUE Structure of doubles primer

[jborg]

On the contrary, it's good for you to carry around your doubles now and then, caveman style, keeping the body in shape.

 

[MoorishK]

On the contrary, it's good for you to carry around your doubles now and then, caveman style, keeping the body in shape.

hahaha

 

[tmassey]

I hope that you all realise that every time you manhandle manifolded tanks to a pool or for a two dive primer
that means that inversely you are sacrificing your ability over your lifetime to conduct those dives in the wilds
as you will have unnecessarily worn yourself out not diving

OK, you got a tremendous LOL from me on that one.

That reminds me of the old joke about GUE divers. If you see a group of divers on a dive boat with GUE hats and T-shirts, they can’t actually be GUE divers, because”real” GUE divers only do skills dives in quarries, not actual dives… (Actual GUE divers love that joke and will think it clever and original: trust me… Oh, and if you’re looking for more GUE jokes just find vegan or CrossFit jokes and substitute GUE: it usually works just fine. )

But there is always that tension between training and doing. If you spend all of your time training, what’s the point? I doubt many of us got into this hobby to spend time looking at the bottom of a pool or a platform at a quarry. But conversely, if you spend all of your time doing, it will likely impact your ability to actually make progress.

It’s no different than most other pursuits: even professional athletes practice regularly to keep expanding and refining their skills. Why would we be any different? But if you find most of your time is spent merely on practice, you may want to rethink your priorities.

ETA: Personally, I find it effective to combine the two. I try not to schedule exclusively practice dives wherever possible. I’d rather take 10 minutes or so and work on something for a bit, then go finish with a fun dive. Obviously, if there’s a great deal to learn, entire practice dives, even practice days may make sense. But most of the time, I find that 10-15 minutes of focused effort on a particular task gives you much of the benefit, yet still leaves lots of time for actually doing the things that probably got us into the hobby in the first place. It’s usually not too hard to find a way to practice a skill we want to get better at somewhere within a fun dive.

 

[Badger7]

Isn't doubles a specialty equipment that requires special training?

Yes, but not in the way you're thinking. Two tanks is not only extra mass on your back, but also another first stage regulator, a larger wider wing, and a couple more valves to manage. There's no special card or handshake to get doubles filled, but you owe it to yourself and your dive buddies to arrive at a level of comfort with that configuration before you just go off diving a doubles configuration. There's also no Scuba Warden asking you for your doubles card before pulling back the velvet rope at your local dive spot.

In reality it actually works the opposite of what you're thinking. When I pop into a random dive shop I've never been in before asking for an air fill on a single tank, they almost always ask for all my info and my c-card. When I wheel in a set of doubles asking for a 32% fill and a wink wink nod nod that a slight overfill wouldn't go unappreciated, they almost never ask for my c-card.

 

[dray_gnv]

I took a doubles primer this fall from a GUE instructor, and a few weeks later did a drysuit primer, since I’m aiming for tech pass on Fundamentals. Both primers were done in open water in a rather controlled environment— a freshwater Florida spring with a bottom at 30 feet.

We got in the water after about an hour of going over the doubles equipment. We did three dives, about an hour each. After getting comfortable with moving around and some buoyancy work, we practiced valve drills. At that point I felt comfortable with them. Wrapped it up in a single day.

I also spent some time at a LDS getting help on assembling a doubles set. I now have about 30 dives in doubles and haven't back on a single rig.

 

[happy-diver]

But conversely, if you spend all of your time doing, it will likely impact your ability to actually make progress.

I get it man so when you are at depth everything flows along far more smoothely you just have to swim
It's the surfacing that is troublesome for some so maintaining depth and fiddling around is for going up

So when diving as I'm sure you'll agree, you really should do as many goings up as you do goings down

And from all that the learning comes, it is just that it doesn't feel like learning, which is the best learning

As you will have learnt!