[boltsnaps included]
Take a look in the expeditions section for this years big trip. We’re off to some of the most fabulous diving around the UK and Ireland - the waters around Rathlin Island and Malin Head. Wrecks, walls, and reefs. And it’s all on board top technical dive boat Loyal Watcher.
Take a look for more details, and get in contact to book your place!
I go through boltsnaps so quickly. I lend them to people and they never come back. People don’t deliberately steal them, but when all your gear is the same within a group, then some “migration” is inevitable!
People put insulating tape on them, scratch their names into them, or cut notches out of them, which all work of course, but I had an idea to do something a bit more distinctive. I came up with laser etching. This permanently marks the boltsnap surface with your name. It won’t rub off, fade or otherwise disappear. And it looks superb! 
Imagine all your double enders being marked up like this. You’ll never loose another one, unless you drop it! I’ll have to get these made to order, so the turnaround will be a week or so.
These will retail at £12 each (minimum order 5), with the writing on one side only. I can get double sided done, but the cost does increase. If you want some, and you know you do, drop me a line with your choice of lettering and I’ll have them on their way back to you as quick as I can.
OK, one of the most frequent skills I get asked about is line laying. It’s seen to be a difficult skill, and can indeed cause more problems than it solves if done badly. So, I thought I’d set up a weekend of skills training at “The Rez” in Staffordshire.
This dive site is an old covered reservoir, filled up with water. It’s a perfect venue to do some line laying skills and “dark water” diving. If you were interested in the overhead environment, be that cave or wreck, then this would be a great place to go and try some skills out in a very benign way. The nice thing is that there is a 50cm airspace above the water level, so it isn’t a true overhead, although having dived in it, it certainly feels like one. It’s dark, there are walls, and you can’t see the exit.
The schedule will look like this:
Day 1
Dry run skills of line laying
Demo and practice of line laying
Lunch
Field drills of backup light deployment, touch contact, gas sharing
Practice critical skills
Debrief and dinner
Day 2
Lecture on survey tools and techniques (applicable to wrecks and caves)
In water line laying skill refinement and objectives
Lunch
In water survey task (wreck or cave focussed, as appropriate to students)
Debrief and close
This would be open to all levels of diver with an OW certification.
Minimum equipment needed would be:
Twinset and wing
Long hose regulator
Primary light
Two backup lights
Line reel
Safety spool
NO CERTIFICATION would be available from this class. It’s teaching only!
The fee would be £250, which would include your entrance to the Rez. Instructor : student ratio would be a maximum of 1:3. Contact me if you want to polish up your skills.
So, you’ve been diving in the Tech 1 range (30-50m) now for a while and you’re pretty comfortable there. The trouble is there are wrecks and dive sites just beyond, just waiting to be explored…
I’m very please to say that I can now offer GUE Tech 2 courses. The Tech 2 course is a lot of fun. It’s far more of an interactive class than a Tech 1 where you are shown how and why to do things. In the Tech 2 course, experience is recognised and the teaching process is far more of a discussion-based approach to the theoretical side of things. In water, we work on practical skills like multiple stage and decompression cylinder handling, precise ascent work, and the advanced gas and decompression management strategies.
The course, if you are successful, qualifies you to use trimix to a depth of 75m, two decompression gasses, and to accumulate no more than 1 hour of decompression. Which is enough for most people!
If you want to know more about the course, then feel free to get in contact, or look at the more detailed course description on this website, or at www.gue.com.
Below is a list of my upcoming GUE classes.
24th - 28th May, 2010. Tech 1. Underwater Explorers, Portland, UK. FULL
29th - 31st May, 2010. DPV 1. Underwater Explorers, Portland, UK. SPACES
1st - 5th June, 2010. Tech 1. Sardinia, Italy. FULL
20th - 24th June, 2010. Tech 1. Underwater Explorers, Portland, UK. SPACES
8th - 11th July, 2010. GUE Fundamentals. Vobster Quay, Somerset. SPACES
15th - 18th July, 2010. GUE Fundmentals, Underwater Explorers, Portland, UK. SPACES
18th - 22nd August, 2010. Tech 1. ScubaDiveWest, Galway, Ireland. SPACES
If you want to know more, just give me a shout!
Rich
