Trimix Deep Dive Prerequisite

[bipolarbear]

Awww I'm sorry you feel rushed. There is no shame at all in diving a "personal limit" which is less than your card says. My personal "fun zone" ends at around 65m. Below that the money and stress levels are out of wack with the "fun factor". There has to something super special for me to want to hit 75m+ and enjoy it.

I agree. My 'fun zone' ends around the 60m mark as well. After that I'm just watching the TTS rocket up and thinking of all the niggles (maybe a leaky mask, maybe just not feeling great) that I'll have to deal with on deco.

 

[Pavao]

Well, 'back to basics' for me is starting my rebreather training. GUE JJ. I figure you have to start from scratch on closed circuit so it's as good a path as any...

You could say you’ll have your OC start over from scratch too, pretty sure you’ll have to go through fundies tech pass, tech 1 and tech 2 before you can go for the JJ, could be wrong on that path though, but anyway, that’d be an excellent path.

 

[bipolarbear]

You could say you’ll have your OC start over from scratch too, pretty sure you’ll have to go through fundies tech pass, tech 1 and tech 2 before you can go for the JJ, could be wrong on that path though, but anyway, that’d be an excellent path.

I'm doing TDI route on the JJ, so will go straight to helitrox CCR in default JJ config, then at some point once I'm more qualified and comfortable with the box I'll switch over to GUE config.

 

[Pavao]

I'm doing TDI route on the JJ, so will go straight to helitrox CCR in default JJ config, then at some point once I'm more qualified and comfortable with the box I'll switch over to GUE config.

Ah, ok, understood.

bipolarbear, I would strongly recommend you do go for GUE fundies, do your CCR with TDI after that.
Don't be concerned whether you'd earn the pass or not, I see it being said often here on the board people don't feel they're ready for fundies and don't take the class or wanna practice first before the class because they don't think they're at the level of GUE yet.
Those are the divers that would benefit the most from such classes.

GUE courses are so good because their teaching are so good, let the instructor do their magic and get you to that level of diving, that's what they do best.

I had over 2500 dives when I took fundies about 15 years ago, was already a tech diver and a firmly planted on-the-knees PADI instructor for about 3-4 years, took class on a drysuit which I had just gotten for the first time less than a month prior (I was diving it completely wrong), first time ever using a cannister light and I butted head with the instructors a lot too, had an instructor trainer evaluating a new instructor, which I assume would make things just a tad harder, I had a clash of personality specially with the evaluator, we did not get along, a lot to do with my part being a-hole and thick headed about adopting some of their recommendations, like choice of tanks for example, which I switched from steels to AL halfway through the class, but not AL80s, I used double Al63s, I mean, my class wasn't pleasant, my buddy and I looked at each other after the first day and nearly simultaneously said "F this, I'm done, you can keep the money".
To add another level of difficulty, my buddy was going for a rec pass since he had not yet entered into tech diving and I was going for a tech pass, because the buoyancy shift tolerance is slightly different between the 2 modes, at times my buddy would ascend slightly higher than me, this would cause me to get out of trim since I needed to maintain the team "contact" and was forced to do it in order to maintain visual with my buddy, it was however the attentive eyes of the instructors who caught that detail.
This is all to say that I didn't go into the class thinking I was prepared to pass, I had a lot that needed work on and the instructors did just that, that's what they were there to do in the first place.

Cave and CCR classes came after that, and even though I took those classes from recognized (from their peers) good non-GUE instructors from cave country region, those classes were certainly made easier because my prior fundies training.

 

[AJ]

I'm doing TDI route on the JJ, so will go straight to helitrox CCR in default JJ config, then at some point once I'm more qualified and comfortable with the box I'll switch over to GUE config.

Maybe it's better to hold off the decision to go for the GUE JJ config until you gain some more experience. There are not many benefits with the GUE config unless you dive in a GUE mixed team regularly.

With experience will come knowledge that will guide you to the right descision for you. I'am not saying you should not go for the GUE JJ config, just saying there's not much benefit unless you're totally integrated with the GUE diving style.

 

[bipolarbear]

Maybe it's better to hold off the decision to go for the GUE JJ config until you gain some more experience. There are not many benefits with the GUE config unless you dive in a GUE mixed team regularly.

With experience will come knowledge that will guide you to the right descision for you. I'am not saying you should not go for the GUE JJ config, just saying there's not much benefit unless you're totally integrated with the GUE diving style.

I am not at all experienced in rebreathers and haven't even got my JJ yet so am an absolute novice with this stuff.

I suppose the GUE config appeals to me as it is a little more 'familiar' and I like the idea of having a ton of dil / bailout back mounted. But I appreciate there are drawbacks.

I will be taking my course with the standard config and I'm guessing will learn a lot about what does/doesn't work for me.

Will also look at taking fundies. Even if I'm now moving to CC it seems like now might be the right time.

 

[Sebs]

I am not at all experienced in rebreathers and haven't even got my JJ yet so am an absolute novice with this stuff.

I suppose the GUE config appeals to me as it is a little more 'familiar' and I like the idea of having a ton of dil / bailout back mounted. But I appreciate there are drawbacks.

I will be taking my course with the standard config and I'm guessing will learn a lot about what does/doesn't work for me.

Will also look at taking fundies. Even if I'm now moving to CC it seems like now might be the right time.

If you like the back mounted bail out, is there a reason you're not looking at a chest mounted unit?

 

[AJ]

I am not at all experienced in rebreathers and haven't even got my JJ yet so am an absolute novice with this stuff.

I suppose the GUE config appeals to me as it is a little more 'familiar' and I like the idea of having a ton of dil / bailout back mounted. But I appreciate there are drawbacks.

I will be taking my course with the standard config and I'm guessing will learn a lot about what does/doesn't work for me.

Will also look at taking fundies. Even if I'm now moving to CC it seems like now might be the right time.

Going to rebreather meant a steep learning curve for me. I suppose that goes for almost everyone. Having Fundies experience is always good. For now I would suggest to become a very competent diver feeling very very at ease under water. You will appreciate that experience once going for a rebreather, because you will start learning to dive with the ccr all over again

About the GUE JJ, you need to pass Tech 1 to do GUE CCR. That means still another course (good one btw) and a lot of extra expenses (training tech 1, OC helium deco dives and maybe travel to do the required deco dives on OC) just to be able to dive a config that's only optimal in a GUE team (in my opnion at least).

You will understand that diving a ccr is very different to OC once you start your ccr training. What seems logical now may not seem logical by then anymore.

 

[bipolarbear]

If you like the back mounted bail out, is there a reason you're not looking at a chest mounted unit?

Choptima is massively appealing, however almost all the people I dive with (and the instructors I have trained with) dive a JJ. I figure commonality of units would be an advantage.

 

[bipolarbear]

Going to rebreather meant a steep learning curve for me. I suppose that goes for almost everyone. Having Fundies experience is always good. For now I would suggest to become a very competent diver feeling very very at ease under water. You will appreciate that experience once going for a rebreather, because you will start learning to dive with the ccr all over again

About the GUE JJ, you need to pass Tech 1 to do GUE CCR. That means still another course (good one btw) and a lot of extra expenses (training tech 1, OC helium deco dives and maybe travel to do the required deco dives on OC) just to be able to dive a config that's only optimal in a GUE team (in my opnion at least).

You will understand that diving a ccr is very different to OC once you start your ccr training. What seems logical now may not seem logical by then anymore.

Thanks for the insight. I'm expecting a massive learning curve, and I'm expecting it to be difficult.

Re GUE JJ, I had kind of assumed I would start with TDI Helitrox CCR on the standard JJ, log a ton of hours/dives (I'm about to be on leave for 6 months so planning on diving everyday), move up through TDI Trimix etc, then 'reconfigure' the unit with help and ad hoc training from my TDI instructor (who is also a GUE instructor).

On reflection perhaps that is either (i) not possible; or (ii) not sensible.

In any event, a bridge to be crossed later as I have a few hundred CCR dives to get under my belt before it will become an issue!