GUE Fundies Class report... Day 3 and 4 delayed

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mruseless

Contributor
Messages
305
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35
Location
Denver, Colorado, USA
# of dives
500 - 999
Ok, so last weekend we were supposed to do Day 3 and 4 of our GUE Fundies class.

We went to Aurora Reservoir here in Colorado, hoping the visibility would be sufficient to get decent video and be able to complete the 4 remaining open water dives. However, vis was poor at least partly due to the fact that it had rained much of the previous day. The water was also pretty cold for diving wet (65 degrees). But we decided to give it a try anyway.

It was a disaster.

Aurora Reservoir was down some this year, so the scuba area was only 23 feet deep. The vis was also very low (a very murky 8 feet or so). Quite disorienting for us. We were wearing 5mm wetsuits with 5mm shortjohns underneath. This required nearly double the lead we had practiced with in the pool (5mm wetsuits only). You probably know where I'm going with this. More weight to compensate for more neoprene, more air in the wing at 20 feet. Combine that with being a 3 person team, trying to keep the other in sight with only 8 feet of vis (it felt like less than that!). Only a small ascent error during a drill and suddenly we were corking. The extra buoyancy struggles and low vis proved to be too much extra task loading at this point. After a couple attempts at S-drills, Shelley thumbed the dive. After talking about it on the surface, we decided to end diving for the day and regroup to talk about options.

By GUE policy, we have 6 months to finish the class. We are interested in learning to dive dry as well, so we decided do the following:
--we have a trip to Cayman coming up, so we'll continue to practice propulsion, Basic 5, S-Drills, and SMB there
--we will take the class/pool part of Drysuit Primer later in October/early November, then practice dry locally
-- Then finish both Drysuit Primer and Fundies at the Rock Lake in New Mexico in either November or December. Rob's shop makes a trip to Rock Lake once a month. The water is cold but vis is usually quite good.

So, I guess that's a very long-winded way of saying that we didn't finish Fundies--yet. I'll post again after the whole thing is completed!
 
Good learning experience. Sounds like the combination of dealing with unfamiliar setups AND the challenge of keeping a team together was just more than you were ready to handle. I like the program you've set out for yourself. After all, the important thing about Fundamentals is not getting it behind you -- it's acquiring the skills. And it sounds like you'll have fun doing it, too.
 
You'll like Rock Lake much better :) Granted, viz last weekend was pretty bad, but generally it's good there, and best in the winter. And the water is a "balmy" 65° year round :wink:

Good luck with the practice and second round of class.
 
You'll like Rock Lake much better :) Granted, viz last weekend was pretty bad, but generally it's good there, and best in the winter. And the water is a "balmy" 65° year round :wink:

Good luck with the practice and second round of class.

Just curious, what kind of vis is considered bad in Rock Lake?
 
Just curious, what kind of vis is considered bad in Rock Lake?

I heard that it was some of the worst viz this weekend - I believe ~10' in the first 100'. Usually it's 20-30' and up.
 
Ok, so last weekend we were supposed to do Day 3 and 4 of our GUE Fundies class.

We went to Aurora Reservoir here in Colorado, hoping the visibility would be sufficient to get decent video and be able to complete the 4 remaining open water dives. However, vis was poor at least partly due to the fact that it had rained much of the previous day. The water was also pretty cold for diving wet (65 degrees). But we decided to give it a try anyway.

It was a disaster.

Aurora Reservoir was down some this year, so the scuba area was only 23 feet deep. The vis was also very low (a very murky 8 feet or so). Quite disorienting for us. We were wearing 5mm wetsuits with 5mm shortjohns underneath. This required nearly double the lead we had practiced with in the pool (5mm wetsuits only). You probably know where I'm going with this. More weight to compensate for more neoprene, more air in the wing at 20 feet. Combine that with being a 3 person team, trying to keep the other in sight with only 8 feet of vis (it felt like less than that!). Only a small ascent error during a drill and suddenly we were corking. The extra buoyancy struggles and low vis proved to be too much extra task loading at this point. After a couple attempts at S-drills, Shelley thumbed the dive. After talking about it on the surface, we decided to end diving for the day and regroup to talk about options.

By GUE policy, we have 6 months to finish the class. We are interested in learning to dive dry as well, so we decided do the following:
--we have a trip to Cayman coming up, so we'll continue to practice propulsion, Basic 5, S-Drills, and SMB there
--we will take the class/pool part of Drysuit Primer later in October/early November, then practice dry locally
-- Then finish both Drysuit Primer and Fundies at the Rock Lake in New Mexico in either November or December. Rob's shop makes a trip to Rock Lake once a month. The water is cold but vis is usually quite good.

So, I guess that's a very long-winded way of saying that we didn't finish Fundies--yet. I'll post again after the whole thing is completed!

So, I just wanted to post a quick update.

Shelley and I had a wonderful trip on Cayman Aggressor. We had 25 dives to practice skills, but were a little lazy and only did Basic 5 a few times, S-drills 3 or 4 times, and shot a bag a couple times. Got some funny looks and a comment from another diver about using a crotch strap and long hose. They weren't rude or anything, just wondering what was up with it. I told them if they ever had to shoot a bag while sharing air, they'd be very happy to have a long hose :)

Last weekend we completed classroom and pool for the Drysuit class. That was fun, but I've got more work to do in figuring out how to keep my, er, nether regions from getting too squeezed. We did Basic 5, S-drills, and SMB deploy in the pool while managing the drysuits. Did pretty well. I should note that the skills are really starting to become muscle memory now.

Next weekend is a trip to Rock Lake, in Santa Rose, NM for at least 6 dives to finish up both Drysuit and Fundies!
 
Good luck! I look forward to your report. :)
 
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