When were you ready?

[Marie13]

Cavern/intro to cave made a huge difference for me. Not only that I did it, but also the skills.

 

[Alaskan Scuba Dude]

On day one.

 

[Brett Hatch]

Like many rec divers on here, I've been flirting with the idea of doing tech training for a couple of years. I dive a backplate with a longhose and a drysuit, so am comfortable with some of the gear and procedures. I have also picked up a set of doubles, which I have practiced with some, but not as often as I'd like to.

Last week I did my first cavern dives -- single-tank config in the cenotes near Tulum MX with a cave instructor guide. I really, really enjoyed it... and may have just been bitten by the cave bug, we'll see what happens. I'm not quite in the right place to do continued dive education at the moment, but I think GUE fundies is the next logical course. Whether I continue on to cave/tech from there or not, I have heard from exactly 0 people that fundies was a poor use of their time, and many people have had a positive experience with it.

So, when was I ready? Not yet, but I guess I'm another inch in the direction of being ready.

 

[kensuf]

I GOOFED hard one day and left my lp120 rack turned in the back of my truck post-dive. The backup reg bounced juuuuust right and proceeded to drain 324 cubic feed of 10/85 over the course of a 2hr drive from Tallahassee to Gainesville.

If you’re gunna be dumb, you’ve gotta be tough.

Ouch.

 

[lostsheep]

I don’t know when or if I’m “ready” that seems highly subjective. I’ll say I got bit by the bug when I started seeing deep dark places and I realized I couldn’t go there. That lit the fire under my ass to learn more and to work towards getting to them.

 

[Trace Malinowski]

I was recreational instructor and a freediving instructor 20+ years ago when I impressed a German guy with my freediving. He offered me a job that required learning to tech dive. He sent me to GUE-F with Andrew Georgitsis in the days when it was a workshop before it was a C-card course. I took the GUE-F course 3 times. I still never passed GUE-F and received a C-card even though I'm a GUE Tech 2 diver. I became a cave diver after my first GUE-F course.

 

[Pat85]

I'll will have a intro dive with tec-config soon, to see if we want to go the technical route and 'feel' the difference with a recreational set-up (we already dive drysuit and BP/W most of the time). Looking forward to upgrading skills, more dive time (double vs. single) and then slowly sliding down the pathways to more advance dives, burning the aformentioned piles of money.

Last sunday we had the intro at my LDS. Extended introduction of all the gear (doubles, longhose, BP/W for the ones not familiar with it, Lights, etc.) and a introduction dive in this gear.

The dive was nice. The set up is way more heavy, and of course not fully custom to the diver, since it was not our own. Balance/trim was off more than it should be because of that.

The scary part will be the shopping list for making that upgrade from rec to tec-gear...again,burning those piles of money.

 

[Wibble]

Last sunday we had the intro at my LDS. Extended introduction of all the gear (doubles, longhose, BP/W for the ones not familiar with it, Lights, etc.) and a introduction dive in this gear.

The dive was nice. The set up is way more heavy, and of course not fully custom to the diver, since it was not our own. Balance/trim was off more than it should be because of that.

The scary part will be the shopping list for making that upgrade from rec to tec-gear...again,burning those piles of money.

The main tip is to buy wisely. Avoid new kit, buy second hand for most of the kit. Of course as soon as you enter the market then none of that kit is available!

Most good technical kit isn’t that expensive. Ok, torches are if you go for the top-end shiny stuff. A backplate and harness shouldn’t be expensive. A good second hand wing too. Cylinders are good second hand but must come with a money back guarantee that they’ll pass a test — a reasonable request.

The big investment is a drysuit which must fit, normally they are bought new. A computer— Shearwater Perdix— is a fair expense but occasionally available second hand.

It’s all about how urgent you want to acquire the kit. New will cost a lot more than second hand.

 

[Pat85]

The main tip is to buy wisely. Avoid new kit, buy second hand for most of the kit. Of course as soon as you enter the market then none of that kit is available!

Most good technical kit isn’t that expensive. Ok, torches are if you go for the top-end shiny stuff. A backplate and harness shouldn’t be expensive. A good second hand wing too. Cylinders are good second hand but must come with a money back guarantee that they’ll pass a test — a reasonable request.

The big investment is a drysuit which must fit, normally they are bought new. A computer— Shearwater Perdix— is a fair expense but occasionally available second hand.

It’s all about how urgent you want to acquire the kit. New will cost a lot more than second hand.

Good tip @Wibble. You are right...when you don't need any...you'll see plenty...when up for buying...nothing to be seen!

At least, I've got the drysuit and undergarments covered. Backplate could be reused, but thinking I want to keep current BP/W intact for rec with a single steel 12L.

Expenses will be the doubles, first and second stages, probably the light and for sure the computer. Really thinking about buy once, cry once for that one...not seeing a lot of Shearwater here, but thinking going that route.

 

[Wibble]

Good tip @Wibble. You are right...when you don't need any...you'll see plenty...when up for buying...nothing to be seen!

At least, I've got the drysuit and undergarments covered. Backplate could be reused, but thinking I want to keep current BP/W intact for rec with a single steel 12L.

Expenses will be the doubles, first and second stages, probably the light and for sure the computer. Really thinking about buy once, cry once for that one...not seeing a lot of Shearwater here, but thinking going that route.

Regulators -- choose the old trusty ones such as Apeks DS4s and ATX first stages. Can buy them new for a fraction of the shiny shiny yet another pointless upgrade stuff. Even know of Tec3's at a decent price (link) -- they make superb stage cylinder regulators as well as twinset regs.

Cylinders are always a pain. My three flat-bottomed-Euro 12 litre twinsets (now used as my rebreather gas bank) were all obtained over years; only one was new and that was a special discounted price!

I'd recommend that you either take what's around -- even Fabers -- for now, then replace them with a flat-bottomed Euro as soon as one comes up -- then sell the old ones.

There's some Czech company selling cheap cylinders -- or used to. Might be worth looking at?


The thing with tech diving is you do end up with loads of spare stuff over the years. Manifolds, bands, valves...