UTD Tech 2 Crossover - An Attempt

This class, taught by Andy Huber to three past students, was intended to add a stage bottle* to the toolbox of team divers already qualified to plan and execute dives in the Tech 2 range.

We all met at Ocean Adventures at 8:00a on Saturday morning to go over the test and lecture material before strapping on some gear for dry drills. We all know eachother pretty well, so while our focus predictably drifted now and again, we did a pretty good job of getting through the materials (refresher) with minimal bickering. After lunch, the backplates and zipties came out (placing our backgas regs in place without the burden of doubles), and the bottles - one 80 stage and 40 deco per person, and unfortunately NOT simulated - snapped into place. Andy went over the procedure for various gas failures, and we took turns deploying and stowing the various regulators. Out of the shop by about 4:30p (possibly a new record), planning to meet up at the boat the next day (7:00a).


Quick summary:

1) The viz in southern California isn't as good as it's cracked up to be;
2) In bad viz it can be impossible for an instructor to see what's going on during the mess-with-you (or, as Andy likes to say, "things will start happening") phase of training;
3) We didn't finish; and
4) Stowing/cleaning up a stage bottle with a deco bottle stacked on top of it is a PITA the first couple of times you do it (will require practice)

In greater detail:

First dive we planned to run out a square pattern on the reel and practice dropping and retrieving bottles on the line, etc.. Given the bad viz and the surge, Andy stopped us from tying off and instead just attached a leash to the anchor chain. We took turns switching from the stage to back gas, dropping both bottles, retrieving both bottles, and switching back to the stage. At that point my primary light started flipping out for some as yet to be determined reason, and we turned the dive (note to self: communicating with an a-cell backup light in <1 foot of viz is like trying to read a billboard at midnight with a match). When we reached the upline, we all went to backgas and ascended.

Next dive, more of the same. Swim out to the anchor, Tobias passed his stage to Huber, then I passed mine to Tobias, Ari passed his to me, Tobias passed his (well... mine really) to Ari, and Andy gave Tobias his back.

At that point, we decided to move the boat, hoping for better viz. We dropped anchor on the forest moon of Endor (or so it seemed from the endless supply of kelp). Shimmying our way down to 40 feet took a good 10 minutes, at which point we noted the similarly bad (though this time bright rather than dark) viz, and thumbed the dive.

Without the benefit of sight, Huber never got the chance to unholster his beloved air gun to invoke various failures and cluster eff-ery, so in conclusion, see item 3 above.

Points for trying?




*Note that at this level the stage isn't used to extend bottom time but rather to facilitate two dives with one set of doubles while always maintaining rock bottom.