those who have taken tech1

[Jasonmh]

Thanks for all the good info. I have some questions though, if you can explain:
1- can you explain how you are guided to the surface?
and
2- what is a 6 min ascent from 20 feet?
Thanks

Is no one going to help me with this one?

 

[limeyx]

Is no one going to help me with this one?

sure, I must have missed the question.

Ways to guide a maskless diver:

1) you can guide their hand to the line (or a bag) and then can "OK" the line NOT gripping the line, but making an OK sign around it. This allows the maskless diver to sense when they are going up or down.
2) when it's time to ascend, you take their right hand, and point their thumb upward a bit. then they ascend, and you point their thumb to the side for "level off"
3) when you reach a deco stop, I usually give two squeezes to indicate we are leveling off for a while.
4) if you go a bit too shallow, you can point the thumb down to descend a couple of feet.

The important point is to only make really small adjustments as the guiding diver needs time to fix their own buoyancy.

a 6 min ascent from 20 goes

1) level off at 20 feet for 1 minute
2) ascend to 17 feet. once a minute has gone by (including the travel time from 20) ascend to 14 feet

so on until 5 feet.

the travel time is important.

say you are already at 20 feet, and your timer ticks to 14 mins.
I then wait until 15 (ideally just before if you have a timer with seconds) and signal up.

if it takes you less than a minute to get to 17 feet (timer still shows 15 mins) then wait until 16. If timer already shows 16 (or worse) 17, then immediately proceed to the next depth.

The important point is that you ascend 6 mins after starting, not that you sit for a minute at each depth (the stops are partly to help you gauge the speed of ascent)

 

[limeyx]

I know I can't remember all the reasons my instructor gave, but some were:
-To be prepared and build muscle memory for a time when you are either in an overhead or near the bottom,
- Because if you are venting on ascent and have trouble (or start of a runwaway ascent), it is better to be in a slightly head down position as opposed to slightly head up. The head down position being better to be able to kick down slightly if you have to slow or stop your ascent

these are good reasons. I have to go quite a bit head up to vent from the front inflator when there's not much gas in the wing. Noticeably so.

I dont think I go very head up to dump the d/suit.

 

[Jasonmh]

sure, I must have missed the question.

Great, thanks for the excellent description.

 

[limeyx]

Great, thanks for the excellent description.

Welcome. Sadly (from personal experience), easier said than done, but can really help your buoyancy and confidence if you can get them down.

 

[Kevrumbo]

What's up Carlo? You still getting ready for the Tech 1 Class? How's Martin helping you along?

I'm waiting (and am prompting now!) for an eventual report from the North East Underwater Explorers, and a Warm Water perspective on a GUE Tech 1 Class:
http://www.scubaboard.com/showpost.php?p=1743675&postcount=1
Did my Advanced Trimix with Dive Tek Hawaii in Kona, and although the Class was "DIR-compliant", I now readily admit that it was no way near as rigorous & comprehensive as a full-blown GUE or 5thd-X Course Progression. . .

 

[Ben_ca]

So does this mean you'll take Tech 1 with GUE or 5th D?

 

[Kevrumbo]

So does this mean you'll take Tech 1 with GUE or 5th D?

No, I didn't say I was masochistic now either . . . !
Probably just take a few Mini Course & Drill Seminars with AG up in Monterey; and "sit-in" on the next GUE Tech 1 & 2 Course that comes thru here in LA again.