those who have taken tech1

[Vie]

how about tranferring the deployed light to the right hand while performing skills?

You can use the right hand to grab the ballast and slide the light head off the left hand and hold it temporarily (say when you are dealing with the left post) but you always need the right hand free in order to donate in an OOG situation - during the training dives, a good time for one of your team mates to suddenly go "OOG" is when the instructors sees that you are fiddling with the light. If you need both hands, always clip off the light head and stow the light cord. Keep in mind also that during some Tech 1 dives you will be holding with a reel AND the light head in your left hand; you need your right hand to clear any snags, perform tie offs, lock the reel and deal with any "OOG" or team mates' manifold "failure(s)."

 

[MonkSeal]

how about tranferring the deployed light to the right hand while performing skills?

Only temporarily and only if skill or situation requires (e.g. V-drill left hand actions).

 

[mer]

I'm afraid not. Descend, V-drill, S-drill, reeling, etc. with light deployed; ascend, gas switch, SMB deployment with stowed light.

We've been doing everything here (low vis waters) with light deployed (except gas switch).

Yes ,blowing a bag with light deployed is fun!

 

[Kevrumbo]

Spoon,
I just finished a week of incredible deep wreck diving on M/V Empress in the South China Sea. Two of my teammates were Aussies who completed GUE Tech 1 and 2 previously, and they taught me a valuable "mnemonic/mantra" for situational awareness and pre-emptive/prevention of CF's, to be used on any type of dive & forms a basic framework for DIR Problem Solving:
"Team, Environment, Equipment --Look at the Wreck; Team, Environment, Equipment --Enjoy the Marine Life; Team, Environment, Equipment --Look at the Soft Coral; Team, Environment, Equipment --Lets start the ascent to Deco; Team, Environment, Equipment --etc. and so on. . ."
(Thanks Parky!)

 

[Kevrumbo]

Carlo,
In addition to the many fine suggestions above, there is one new skill that you will learn in Tech 1 that I recommend trying to get a headstart on now: the Toxing Diver Rescue. I'm sitting in on Gideon's Class here in LA, and Andy, Pete & Nick (Limeyx) had a tough time with it today. Start practicing it if you can. . .

 

[Vie]

The toxing diver rescue is fun! The trick is to figure out a way of smoothly/quickly removing the "toxing" diver's corrugated/inflator hose from the bungy loop on the left D-ring so you can really stretch the hose out with your left hand. If the hose is left in the loop, you may not be able to dump sufficient amount of gas from the "toxing" diver's wing to make a controlled ascent when you are nearing the surface due to the bend in the hose "trapping" gas.

Kevrumbo, please say hi to Gid for me.

Vie

 

[lamont]

The toxing diver rescue is fun! The trick is to figure out a way of smoothly/quickly removing the "toxing" diver's corrugated/inflator hose from the bungy loop on the left D-ring so you can really stretch the hose out with your left hand. If the hose is left in the loop, you may not be able to dump sufficient amount of gas from the "toxing" diver's wing to make a controlled ascent when you are nearing the surface due to the bend in the hose "trapping" gas.

Kevrumbo, please say hi to Gid for me.

Vie

The way we did toxing/unconscious diver last year was to have the right hand on the divers reg (or your long hose reg in their mouth), right arm hooked around their manifold and supporting that point, and left arm down around the bottom of their plate near their dump valve. You get control over the divers side-to-side axis and back-to-front axis that way and you can dump out the rear of the wing.

 

[Vie]

...left arm down around the bottom of their plate near their dump valve. You get control over the divers side-to-side axis and back-to-front axis that way and you can dump out the rear of the wing.

Thanks for the suggestion, lamont. Not the way I was taught but I'll have to try that. To be honest though, I'm not sure if I'll be able to reach the "toxing" diver's rear dump - I'll have to give it a go in the pool. I'm thinking that when I reach for the "toxing" diver's rear dump (taking my left hand/arm away from the bottom of the "toxing" diver's backplate), his feet would be hanging down and positioning his body so the rear dump is out of reach of my short arm? And if both of us are carrying deco bottles?

 

[globaldiver]

Spoon,

Like some divers have mentioned previously, I think the best preparation for Tech 1 is to really have your fundamentals skills down. The rest you will learn in class. It seems to me that part of GUEs teaching strategy includes that you make misstakes in the class and learn from them. It is painful for the ego (if you have one, and most divers do), but in my opinion and experience it is a very effective way to learn...

The problem you have by practicing things without proper demonstration and supervision is that you risk ingraning the wrong method in your muscle memory, which makes it even harder to unlearn. When a person get stressed, and you will get stressed in Tech 1, we tend to revert back to basic responses that have been learned by a lot of repetition, even if they are wrong.

From personal experience (myself initially having stressed over passing), I would recommend you to take the Tech 1 class more from a perspective of really learning a great way of diving, instead of solely on passing. That may keep you more "open" to learning, and maybe even reduce the stress level a bit. .

It is after all what you properly learn that will keep you alive under water.

Anders

 

[Kevrumbo]

Spoon,

Like some divers have mentioned previously, I think the best preparation for Tech 1 is to really have your fundamentals skills down. The rest you will learn in class. It seems that part of GUEs teaching strategy includes that you make misstakes in the class and learn fro them. It is painful for the ego (if you have one, and most do), but in my opinion and experience it is a very effective way to learn...

The risk you have by practicing things without proper demonstration and supervision is that you risk ingraning the wrong method in your muscle memory, which makes it even harder to unlearn. When a person get stressed, and you will get stressed in Tech 1, we tend to revert back to basic responses that have been learned by a lot of repetition, even if they are wrong.

From personal experience (myself initially having stressed over passing), I would recommend you to take the Tech 1 class more from a perpective of really learning a great way of diving, instead of solely on passing. That may keep you more "open" to learning, and maybe even reduce the stress level a bit. .

It is after all what you properly learn that will keep you alive under water.

Anders

Hi Anders!
Gid and the Crew had a tough day today ('nuff said). I totally agree about practicing without proper supervision & demonstration may lead to incorrectly learning/performing the skill. But it's always good to be prepared ahead of time and at least know what to expect. . .
Carlo, if you can, ask Martin Lorenzo as a professional & personal favor to show you how to perform this difficult skill. . .
Kevin.