Posted on YD and DIRX
Firstly, I'm not going to give a blow-by-blow account, because anyone interested in Tech 1 will have done it or know what it involves.
Mine was a bit odd for a couple of reasons.
Firstly the speed, last Tuesday, Brian was skippering Aquanaut for Moz, Neil and the Badger's Final dive and he rang me to ask when my GUE Cave 1 was, who it was with etc., we'd spoken about it in the past and although he'd been interested in the course dates were never really of much interest (oddly
).
Tues evening, we'd finished a Seasearch dive and he texted to say that the was a place on a Tech 1 being run by Rich Walker for the shop starting Friday as a student had dropped out and it would be nice if the remaing student had a buddy.
"Err, well Bri, you've seen me in the water (Monday night) and we both agreed there's a bit of work to be done to get ready for that type of thing, like me at least sitting in on a Fundies course. Also the dosh, I'd planned on considering, possibly, maybe taking Tech 1 around August/September if it was available.
Then there's work, I'm due to be starting an OW course this Sat., in the shop Sunday, then working Tues and Weds."
"Ok, I'll sort something with Rich and Noeleen (His sister, my boss)."
Yeah ok then.
So Thursday, at about middayish, it was all firmed up, I'd be starting at 9:00 the following day.
No need to do fundies as I have an expired Cave 1 from 2000 (pre-fundies) and there is a certain amount of instructor discression in these matters.
Brian would work my stint in the shop Friday and Sunday, I teach PADI Saturday and the rest would count as my days off that (this) week.
Sedcondly, now to Rich, he'd been a support diver for a group I was diving with just after I'd passed my trimix qual. - had we made him deploy one too many trapeses?
Well, Rich was cool about all of this and the boy's done good, he must have done to get to become the UK's only Tech 1 instructor, as I know what the other three GUE instructors have done to become GUE Fundamentals instructors.
So with Brian, Rich and, of course, Kirstie all telling me that I was ready for the course (no pressure there then), off I toddle to work with my pen and pencil set last Friday morning.
[Insert typical tech 1 course here
]
I'll outline what was new to me compared to cave.
Documentation - there is some
Valve drills have changed since 2000
Positioning in the water is, by necessity different to cave (most of the time).
Add to that basic trimix (cave 1 is nitrox), a stage, and deco on the fly/ratio deco.
So yeah, I've done TDI trimix (1997ish) and more recently RB training that on paper qualifies me to dive deeper that Tech 1, did I learn anything?
Well it seems to me (and I'll include my RB training with Martin Robson) that now there is a lot more emphasis on understanding the kit and dealing with problems than there used to be.
Then it was a matter of can you reach the valves do do a shutdown, whereas now there is a lot of emphasis on problem isolation and solving.
Is this because I've fogotten a lot? I'm not sure, I just get a feeling that things have moved on and training is aimed at a developing diver rather than one that has survived deep air excursions and has decided they'd like to remember the dive as well as the deco.
So was I ready for the course, well yes, I fell that I was ready to start, however nothing is certain, fortunately Rich managed to plumb the depth and produce a diver who feels confident to go and consolodate the skills learnt on the course.
So in summary, I think that I'd like to say that it'd be easy to sit in a self-perceived ivory tower thinking that the training I did 8-10 years ago would keep me in good stead, however the course challanged me physically and mentally, certainly pointing out a few home truths.
r
P
ps I have avoided mentioning the excellent facilities, boat and gas blending provided by Aquanauts for obvious reasons
