GUE Tech 1

[Amphibious]

I am in the process of researching the GUE Tech 1 Class. Seems to be the winner out of all the agencies. This being said I haven't had a chance to talk DIRECTLY to anyone who has taken this course.

I already dive a DIR/hogarthian config, and am familair with doubles/stages.

Anyone care to review the Tech 1 class? Pro/con ?

Thanks, Will.

 

[Jon]

Given where you live I am going to assume that you wil take it with Andrew G. in the Seattle area.

A good friend of mine just flew him into Milwaukee a few weeks ago to run the DIR-F class for his store. He had done the tec 1 and 2 classes with Andrew, and I think Tamara, a few years earlier. I have never heard anybody speak more highly of a class, except for Kirk's freediving clinics.

I have also done mix dives with people who have done the GUE classes and they were ALL great divers. I would highly recommend the class from what I have seen and know about it.

Jon

 

[Amphibious]

Thanks Jon.

You're Right, the closest instructor/facility to me is Fifth Dimension in Washington.

There is a GUE instructor in B.C., but I'm having trouble tracking him down.

Thanks, Will

 

[oze_scuba]

review in the uk

check out this review...
http://www.divernet.com/technol/0603dir.shtml
can't wait to do mine

 

[Amphibious]

nice article - thanks!

The Instructor in the article is the same fella that teaching down in Washington. Slowly getting my equipment lined out - hardest part is finding some one to practice with! no GUE trained people where I live.

Hooking up with a DIR crew in Calgary this winter - looking forward to it.

So far all good reports on the GUE classes. Exect for the cowardly person who gave me unsigned Neg. Karma for this thread. :naughty

Meh - maybe just another person that couldn't Hack a GUE Course?

 

[JMD]

What! Someone gave you negative karma for asking a reasonable question? Well I'll just give it right back to you!!!

Going to try to do my DIR-F next spring but so far I'm having great luck picking up skills from Greg and the Crew here in Calgary... Hope to see you out here this winter some of these guys have got some mad skills...

 

[Erik]

Will, I worked for Mike Lever on the West Coast (Nautilus VII). Most of our customers were Americans from the Northwest. We occasionally had groups come on board that were DIR, and they were all exceptional divers. Especially when compared to many of the non- GUE divers
Ihave a friend in Edmonton called Brian Nadwidny, and he dives with Greg Mossfeldt all the time....is that who you're hooking up with?
Cheers amigo,
Erik Y.

 

[JMD]

Yep,

I'm diving with Greg as often as possible, and I know Brian by name at least from Greg's forums at www.mossmanscubaventures.com . He seems to be quite knowledgeable as well as being a pretty nice guy. Is Brian out in Halifax with the crew right now?

 

[Amphibious]

The Mossman! I've been bouncing around his forums since spring but still haven't had the chance to get out to dive with them. In-shalla, quite soon. good group of divers - very helpfull.

James - when are you looking to do the DIR-F? Any dates? I'm still trying to find out if it's a prereq. for Tech-1. If it is I'll need ot do the course.

Spearfishing La Paz might take over my xmas break plans....

 

[JMD]

I'm thinking next spring. I still need to add a set of doubles to my rig and want to take some time to get my trim right. I'd also like to get in 100 or so dives before I do it so that I can get the most out of it. I'm hoping that diving with Greg every once in awhile I won't develope many bad habits while I add up some dive time.

Last I heard it was now a prereq to the tech 1 / cave 1 courses as instructors were finding that it took too much time out of the advanced courses trying to get people to figure out how to master the basic skills. This way they know people coming in will have some base level of knowledge.

Another set of forums thats really useful for friendly, helpful (non-judgemental) DIR advice is thedecostop.com . Lots of nice folks including a couple from the mossmans site.

 

[Amphibious]

Ah the tanks! my last piece or required kit - have been working on a set of E8-130's. part of the gear grab in Calgary.

I dive a halcyon BP & Wings over here and no one has any idea what it is - spent a good hour and a half playing show-and-tell on the dive charter last week.

Will be nice to start diving with folks that know what their doing...

I keep watching Greg's Vids - those guys do some pretty cool trips...

 

[JMD]

Yeah the pictures from Halifax look amaaaaazing. I'm in total awe. Thats a 3 year goal for me, to get good enough to make the team for one of those trips.

The E-130's are also on my list, but sadly they are not approved for sale in Canada as of yet, and Char has indicated the wait might be rediculous even when they are. I'm heading down to the shop this morning (DUI TLS 350 ) and will ask darren what the status is.

 

[Amphibious]

Right on - New drysuits always make your day!

if you could give me a heads-up on the E8's (whatever the shop boys say) it would be a great help - might have to do a washington run if they're not kosher in Canada. My last AL80 failed hydro (not bad for 32yrs old) so now I'm tankless! :waterwork

Greg seems to put together some great teams. I've done some deco/mix dives in the past, but after reading/talking with his crew I'm now starting from scratch and going GUE - those guys (gregs)are all pro.

 

[JMD]

Yep they dive to a pretty high standard.

We had quite the discussion as to what the effects would be of bringing an american e8-130 up to canada. Seems like without the canadian dot stamp the local shops could refuse fills, the ferry's could potentially make you remove it from your car and if for some reason you were ever stopped by a DOT guy you could get a fine (although most of those seem unlikely to me)...

 

[Amphibious]

Hmmm... This is not good! Maybe thing will change soon. The original outlook was to have the E-tanks in Canada by mid july. so much for that! Really keen to get some diving in - I part of my job here is to teach Scuba and in the last 6 weeks I haven't run one class! Need water soon or I will die!

at least the freediving is plentiful!

at least I'll still have a Moose tag to keep me busy!

Any word on who's unloading their 104's?

 

[JMD]

Haven't heard of anyone whose unloading 104's. But if I do, I promise I'll let you know.... right after I buy them!!!

Yeah life without water is harsh... we try to keep our skin from shriveling in the winter by doing dynamics in the pool, but you just can't simulate depth.

MMMMMM moose sausage... arghghghghgh (drowning in pool of own drool)

 

[Jon]

The E8's have been in the shops around here for a little while now, it helps that the tanks are made at a factory only 70 miles from here.

I wouldn't understand why a diveshop wouldn't fill them. I know that they might have an issue filling them all the way up to 130cuft. level, but they should at least fill them to the 104 point (2640psi) that they have been certified to for years now. It's basically the same tank put through a higher pressure test to get the higher rating.

The whole DIR / GUE thing is starting to gain momentum around here. We have a club, called D.E.E.P. midwest that uses all DIR gasses and gear setups. We have members from 4 states that come to participate in wreck divig projects, and some of them are also involved in some cave diving stuff as well. A few freinds of mine just got back form diving the Gunilda and the Judge Hart, both up in Canada. I was invited but couldn't come up with the cash, and I have been selling off all of my tech stuff to pursue freediving more seriously.

There are still a few die hards around who bad mouth it every chance they get, but I stopped diving with them a while ago because they kept running out of gas on deep dives- it's not DIR to know what your SAC rate is.:duh These are also the guys getting bent because they can't seem to follow a table or read their computers through the fog of narcosis.:head

I have had a chance to dive with GUE trained divers, that I had never met before, and had wonderful dives. All of our gear, gasses, deco tables, and attitudes matched up at the dock. On the bottom, even with less than 3' of vis and 3- degree temps, we worked like a team who had been diving together for years. There really is some beauty to the simplicity of the whole system.

A buddy of mine is bringing Andrew and Michael back out this fall for another DIR-F class. The one held last spring was a sell out and there are already people signed up for the next one.

We even have a mulit-county dive rescue team forming to do mixed gas, DIR style, recovery work that the other teams can't handle safely.

Jon

 

[JMD]

Jon,

There is absolutely no issue in the US with these tanks as they have been approved by the department of transit in the states. In Canada they have not, as of today, received approval and therefor they cannot be stamped with the canadian DOT approval. Canadian diveshops will not receive tanks for sale until the approval process is finished. Some shops, but not all, have indicated they will decline to fill tanks that don't have canadian DOT approval. As I understand it, they are not the same tanks there is a new dipping process (insert technical mumbo jumbo here) which is why they are able to apply to have the tanks certified at a higher fill pressure. If the tanks were the same tanks no new DOT stamp would be needed and no higher fill pressure would be allowed.

Good to here about the DIR group down south, they're springing up all over. There are hotheads on both sides of the DIR issue, definately some DIR posters on the scuba list I wouldn't want to have anything to do with.

In the end to me it's all about diving. I totally agree that it's refreshing to show up and know exactly where my buddies alternate air is going to be, as well as all the other pertinent gear, instead of finding it lodged underneath his tank when I desperately need it!

 

[oze_scuba]

GUE is really starting to take off down here in Australia, we already have a DIR team here in Sydney, and JJ and AG are here in Sept to run several GUE courses... it is great to turn up at the dock and know your buddies gear just as well as your own, the GUE gas profiles are really so easy to master and remember, and in Oct. I'm off to dive a luxury liner that sank in NZ with a DIR team over there.

 

[Amphibious]

The Gunilda????!!!! I would kill for a chance to dive that wreck!

The Standardization of equipment is one of the main reasons i'm sold on the DIR/GUE courses. seems to make a lot of sense to me. everyone having the same gear just makes safety and accident management so much smoother.

Did you say Moose Sausage? I'll have to bring some if I come down for an Ice Dive on Minnie. Makes for a great apres-scuba snack! Just pray that I get my bull this fall! I have a new .450 Marlin that's just itch'n to get used!