MartyC(Offline)

I've posted this on YD as well but not everyone visits that hallowed place so I thought I would post it here too.

Ok here goes - GUE Fundamentals Oct 25th to 28th 2007, Venue Capenwray
Instructor: Clare Gledhill
Video/Safety Diver: Garf

Brief Synopsis of why I wanted to do the course - I started off Diving with Padi and continued with Padi - I now have my
MSD qualification and I have enjoyed my experience with Padi - so no agency bashing in this thread!
I decided I wanted to move onto twins for increased safety and bottom times and I attended a couple of Mark Powells workshops
which I thoroughly enjoyed, I met Garf at these workshops and I was impressed with the way he dived (and Mark!),
I knew about DIR but not much about GUE, I liked the idea of a simple standardized kit configuration as I've always hated
having a cluttered chest area....so... I got curious and started looking for information, I found lots of info about DIR & GUE,
some of it I didn't like, such as George's attitude - that was the early days of DIR and I'm glad I persevered.

I was looking for a challenge, I wanted to feel more comfotable in my diving and wanted to enhance my skills levels, so I
put out a tentantive enquiry to Clare, I learned about Clare on YD, DIRX and talking to people I had met who were into DIR.

We arranged dates, I registered with GUE, paid my fee's and downloaded the course material - I was set and nervous as hell.
Finished work on the Wednesday night, sorted my kit out and headed off to Capenwray House, our digs for the 4 days and the
venue we were using for lectures, nice spot, I was in bed before the others arrived.
Morning dawns - day 1, I meet Clare, Garf and Rob Sewell my buddy for the course, for breakfast, we have an informal chat over
breakfast and get started around 9ish.

I'm not going to give you a blow by blow content of the lectures, do the course and you'll see why, but I'll give you a taster.
So we talk about GUE, where it came from, the early days on the WKPP, the people involved and how the systems developed, we sort
our paper work, sign off the correct boxes and then we head into the course objectives, discuss what we want to get out of the
course, what we will learn...and why, what the course and skill requirements are etc. This takes up a good few hours, then after
a light lunch we start looking at our kit and Clare goes to work sorting us out, there's bits coming off everywhere :-) the
Backplates and Harnesses are sorted out, dry suits are fettled, pockets sorted out and we then kit up with lights, BP/harness in
the car park to go through the dry runs of the S Drill, we practice this for a while and things start to gell, other equipment
is looked at, adjusted and fettled as required, once Clare's happy we head off to Lancaster Univercity Swimming pool for the
fitness tests..............275m in 14 minutes and a 15m breath hold swim.........be advised these are guidlines for the
Instructor, you may need to do more, or less.

We get sorted, into the pool and we do the under water swim, Rob goes first and breazes it, full length of the baths, nice one,
then its me, I start off and immediately I'm worried, my technique that I've spent all this time perfecting in my local pool, has
gone to rat sh#t but I keep going, "I will not fail" I'd the fraze running through in my head...never have I been so happy to see
Garf's legs appear into my visual range and I know I'm going to do it! YES, big breath of air, then nearly choke..the water
deeper here! (muppet), that's over and we set off doing the distance swim, Rob's doing front crawl and I'm stroking breasts
(sorry couldn't resist), long story short we both pass, hand shakes alround, lots of relief, we then try out back kicks and
helicopter turns, its quite easy in the pool! but a lot different with fins on! (more later) then we head off to the Pub for our
evening meal (its about 8pm ish), the long way round, eventually we get to the pub at Over Kellett and have dinner, nice meal
nice banter and we turn in.........I don't get much sleep, there's too much stuff going round in my head, but wake refreshed so
I must have slept at some stage.

Day 2 - Breakfast followed by lectures till 11ish then its off to Capenwray, we have some lunch and its briefing time for dive 1,
we run through what we are going to be doing, who's doing what and the objectives of the dive. We're mainly going to concentrate
on Buoyancy/trim and different propulsion tecniques, we go through GUE EDGE, which is the basic preparation that should be done
at the begining of each dive - Goal, Unified Team, Equipment, Exposure, Decompression, Gas and Environment. The equipment check is
a full head to toe run through of who's got what and where, check that everything working and that the long hose can be cleanly
deployed, we do a bubble check to make sure that there are no little unplanned suprises, the Modified Valve drill and S drill.
We're off, Clare has briefed us fully on whats going to happen, she demonstrates the skills and then its out turn, we're in the
water for about 50 minutes running through Frog kicks, modified Frog kicks, Flutter kick and mod flutter kick...then Clare
thumbs the dive and we ascend....we're supposed to go up to 3m then stop for 30 seconds and then continue the ascent..together,
Hmmmm, I wrote in my notes "A right balls up" and I think that sums it up....room for improvement!

Back to the cafe for a full debrief, we go through all the skills, how we've performed and what we need to do to get better..off
we go for dive 2, we practice the previous dives skills and try to do the back kick, translating from the pool to diving with fins
was much harder than I expected, from trying to keep your fins up all the time you have to lower them and scoop down before the
back kick, I'm pants at this, then we're onto the "basic 5", basic skills that we need to master and be comfortable with, primary
reg removal and replace, swap to backup reg and clip off primary, long hose deployment and the two I personnally was not looking
forward to, Mask flood and clear and mask removal - like I said basic stuff, but I have struggled in cold water in the past and
I was dreading it, what a plonker, the key to my success was remaining calm, breathing steadily and having confindence in those
around me and I did it no problems. Clare thumbs the dive, again we know the drill and this time its better, no great but better.
Then its back to Capenwray house for the Video debrief and more lectures, the video is a great tool, it makes you cringe and be
very self critical but its a great way to see for yourself what you need to do....once finished we head off for dinner.

Day 3 - As before we have brekky then lectures and head off to capers for Dive 3, should mention that we do GUE EDGE before every
dive, with Bubble checks, Mod Valve drill & S drill, then we do the dive, dive 3 is Descent with a stop at 3m then on down,
practice previous skills then we're doing S drills for real and they don't go too badly, then its valve drills - I can't get
anywhere near, or so it feels, as it happens I'm not that far away, but just can't get them, very frustrating and tiring,
Rob's not too shabby at his drill.

We then look at deploying our backup lights, prior to this drill, Clare unnoticed has removed my mini rat light, I haven't stowed
it correctly at the beginning of the dive and it's been hanging there, Clare's hoping I go for the left light (which is missing)
but I go for the right side and deploy, we move onto the no mask swim, each diver removes his mask inturn and his buddy swims him
round then the mask is replaced, its a measure of your in water comfort and I'm happy as a pig in sh#t, no drama, last but not
least we each get to do an OOG ascent with each diver donating to their buddy and running a controlled ascent, we don't do too
badly and its actually quite fun, again its also about building confidence in your team, we finish off then surface swim back to
the shore, it's a this point that Clare asks me if I want my light back, bugger, back to the cafe for a spot of lunch and a debrief.

During the break Clare tightens my harness dramatically (or so it feels at the time) as an experiment to see if it will help me.

Dive 4 - GUE EDGE and all checks / drills, we drop down and do Valve drills, Rob is part way through his right post and notices
something shiny on the bottom and he stops to inspect it, I signal him to keep going, he shuts the post, changes regs and clips off
then opens the post again, unclips his primary and swaps regs, he's into the manifold valve shut down when I notice a valve knob on
the bottom underneath him, sure enough the right post knob has come off! that shiny thing was the nut holding it on, he resets the
isolator and Rob ascends with Garf to sort things out, Clare and I meanwhile carry on, its my turn,Right post off, reg swap and
Right post almost back on, I'm tiring but Clare resets my valve and signals to carry on, Isolator...no problem... Left post, I get
a good grip some how and do the business, Clare agian checks my valves are reset..........YEEEEAAAHHH, so much better, I'm almnost
there, 3 dives ago I was no where, brilliant. Clare and I then do an S Drill, after which Rob & Garf return, Rob does his Valve drill
again this time with knobs intact (ooh er) and S drill, we then go for a swim! practice those Frog kicks!

Its bagging off time, DSMB deployment, this I must admit is my other area of concern, I have only once sent a bag up successfully,
there's just something about the process that screws me up! RObs using my small oral inflate Frog smb and I have athe bigger version,
both with spools (of course), Rob goes first and has trouble getting air into the bag, to be fair its the first time he's used on
like this, Clare winds it back down and he has another go, more successfully this time and then its me, I put the bag and spool
together, disconnect me dry suit hose and go for it, I can't get the hose to operate the valve, Clare has a go, struggles as well
and puts air into it orally, up it goes, I reconnect the dry suit hose and we ascend with the bags, winding in, I'm ok for the first
half but lose my bouyancy control in the latter 3m, I'm concentrating too much on winding in.

We move to the 2m platform and we drop down for Clare to demonstrate an "unconcious diver lift / swim and ascent, you don't have to
master this for the course, it's in there to give you an idea of how difficult it can be, Rob gives it a go and is struggling,
he can't get any air into Garf's wing (our victim for this exercise), we then notice that his inflator is knackered so Clare
comes in and assists, we wrap it up there.

We dekit, I get a mild but firm bollocking for taking a bit of kit into the water that I haven't tested out first, it's a fair
point, I just assumed that it would push on like the H ones, as a matter of interest I figure it out the next day!

Back to the digs for the last lecture and video debrief, then out for dinner and bed, my notes say..." BED...TIRED...Aching"

Day 4 - "Hump Day", Clare in an earlier brief has told us that by the last day we will know how we've done and whether we are
going to pass or not, I'm pretty sure at this stage I am going to fail, the Valve drill is a critical skill and I'm not quite
there yet...I don't mind that much I feel that I had improve so much in all areas of my diving, If I fail it's still been worth
the effort and I'm pretty sure Rob is going to pass.

So We go to Capenwray earlier today, we finished late last night so we need fills, Rob and I have the exam to do, its an open book
Team exercise, it takes us quite a while but all the answers are in the course material...it's a measure of how well you have
taken the information on board and how well you can work together to get it done, once complete its time to hit the water again.
Technically on this course there are 5 dives, as we are ok for time we get another dive in, I didn't make any notes, but our next is
essentially an extra chance to recap of all we have done before, Clare has given us this extra time because she so wants us to
succeed.

We have a debrief and then we are informed that we have to plan the last dive, Fiona joins us for this, we are given a set of
parameters and we have to work out max bottom time, the ascent profile, Team order - who's doing what, CNS & OTU values etc.
For the official Dive 5 Fiona is going to join us in the water, Fi has been doing surface cover for us on the dives (thank you Fi!),
it adds another dynamic to the dive its the first time we have dived in a "3".

We're running this dive, I'm No. 1 with Rob as 2 and Fi as 3, we drop down and carry out Valve drills and S drills, once complete we
go for a swim, with the ambient light it's hard to make out the torches, your torch is your voice underwater, so when Robs disappears
I turn round as Rob is signalling me, Fiona has vanished, we head off to look for her and she reappears, we form up and head off again.
Rob has a primary light failure, deploys his back up and signals, we form up and my light fails - I did not even notice Clare glide in
and turn it off! its then I make what could be a fatal error for my Team mates, I stow my main light but trap my long hose in the
process, I lost count of the amount of time Clare has told us to be carefull we stowing the light cord, so guess what happens next?
That's right Rob goes out of air, I have to donate but its very messy and a good illustration of what could happen.

We reset and I go OOA, Fiona donates, we reset and clare asks for my mask, my team comes in close and stears me in close contact, I
get my mask back and start to rise in the process of clearing it, Clare is on hand to sort me out.
I go OOA again, Fiona donates and Clare thumbs the dive, Rob baggs up and we ascend, its not pretty but I don't drown and we don't
get bent, result!

That's it were done, out of the water, dekit and pack things away, get warm and head up to the cafe for a Hot Chocolate and a thorough
debrief (+ a piece of cake!). Once the team debrief is done, we each have a private debrief where we learn if we've made it or not.

Rob goes first and Fiona and I have a mooch around the shop, Rob comes back in, we shake hands and he heads off - he doesn't tell me
his result, I'm sure he passed but at what level I don't now, then its me........we go through everything, how I feel, what I've learnt,
what my Instructor feels I have achieved and where I need to improved (valve drills for one!)..................in the end, I have done
enough to get a "provisional", more than I was expecting and it felt soooooooooooooo goooooooood, BIG smiles, I now have 6 months to
continue working on stretching for those valves, practicing and trying to get that back kick sorted - I want a Tech pass!.

To put the icing on the cake Fiona, got her upgrade to Tech pass on the last dive as well, I was well made up for her.

To cap it all up, excellent course, First rate instuctor, First rate support diver, the course is hard work, there's a lot of information
to take in and (excuse the pun) assimilate and a lot of effort needed to get the skills right, when you see the amount of effort that goes
into presenting one of these course and the time spent you won't question the value for money, for me it was worth every penny.

I may not have captures everything in the exact order or remembered everything but I hope I've got the essence across, I hope I haven't
bored you rigid! and I hope I might have inspired you to look at taking the course.

You are NEVER at any point taken outside of your individual limits, they're stretched and expanded to help you get the best out of it,
but no "beasting" occurs at all.

To close...Clare, thank you very much for a hard but very enjoyable course, you've helped me develope as a diver and I hope to see you soon
for the re-evaluation!
Garf, thanks mate, the advice and encouragement was well given and recieved and you didn't make me look tooooo bad on the video!
Marty.

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IF only I could think of something witty to say!

neilh (Online)

Nice one Marty - give me a shout if you want a dip at the Blue Lagoon to work on those skills

MartyC(Offline)

Cheers Neil

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IF only I could think of something witty to say!

Marijn(Offline)

Nice write up Marty!

No I know a wee bit what to expect in april


Can't wait!!!!!!!!

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MartyC(Offline)

Glad you've found it useful , nice place to live by the way, I've been to Assen a few times for the bike racing in the past.
Good luck

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IF only I could think of something witty to say!

Marijn(Offline)

Should you even come by again, bring your gear and drop me a PM
I'm sure we could squeeze in a dive before the drinking starts

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MartyC(Offline)

Sounds like a plan

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IF only I could think of something witty to say!

MartyC(Offline)

Just a quick update, cos I'm feeling really good
Got my self a new twin set on Friday (Euro 12's) and went to Stoney Cove in the UK (inland site) for a discover GUE day, run by our own Mal Bridgeman (nice one Mal - good day).
Fiona and I dropped in with Clare & Al on their RB80's and after watching Clare & Al do their drills we headed off to the Stanegarth for a bibble about, Fi called the dive after around 35 mins (6 degrees) as she was getting cold (me as well) so we left Clare & Al and headed back to the 6m shelf, wher I attempted a SUCCESSFUL shutdown - yeeeaaahhhhhhh There's 40mm difference in width between my new set & the old fabers and boy does that make it so much easier - sounds insignificant, 20mm either side but it makes all the difference - any one want to buy some fabers
Marty

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IF only I could think of something witty to say!

Fiona(Offline)

Well done Marty, now you know you can do it there is no excuse in 3 weeks time, see you then

It was an interesting dive watching Al and Clare go through their skills although it was have been even better had the viz been better.

I to had a much better day as well, those pesky fabers had got the better of me to

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Fiona


Resistance was Futile

Move Along YD

neilh (Online)

Fantastic stuff both!

Was good to see you both and catch up a bit, glad you ended up having a cracking day