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It's not juist that GUE instructor but all of them who have to do it that way. I know personally of one TDI instructor who got his cert that way and anecdotally of at least 4 more who have got theirs the same way. The fact that the instructor I know is by far the best non-GUE instructor I...

The GUE instructor I know who teaches Tech 1 went to an ITC (instructor training course), interned on 2 courses, led a course whilst being assessed, has to demonstrate thet he is diving regularly to the standard that he is teaching and is reassessed every three years. The TDI instructor I...

You really need to get out on the Weymouth boats. Competition there is so fierce that lunch is included on all the boats that I have been on and they have tail lifts, too... Old Harbour are pretty good, have used them before and a buddy of mine uses them a lot. For proof that the P555...

I dived the P555 a few years back. It's a nice wreck, intact, with lots of conger eels on it. I has a reputation for being very dark (somehting to do with it's position) and quite silty. I did it with Dougie Lanfear on the Blue Turtle out of Lyme Regis. Good boat, though the lunches he does tend...

Any good pharmacist can give you a lotion for those... ;) Chris

Hey all, Long time no speak! I'm down in Portland on Friday (Tomorrow) and Sunday, as one of my buddies is doing DIR-F with JJ, and I want to go and offer some moral support to what may be a traumatic event... We're doing some pre-course diving on the Hood and the Countess. Not sure if...

If they do it like they did on the Britannic trip, they work out The number of Oxygen cycles (12 on 6 off) they have to do as a factor of bottom time and work backwards from there. I saw a presentation that Andrew Georgitsis and Panos Alexakos did about it earlier this year. George wasn't on...

Pheonix, There's no difficulty getting Ali cylinders. You just need to ask for them! Steel stage/deco bottles are simply vile and a nightmare to handle in the water. I've seen a diver safely using a 40lb wing with twin 12s, 3 stages (Ali of course) and 2 scooters, so a 55lb wing will be more...

The Scubapro X-Tec is the old Transpac design. They bought it off DiveRite when they changed to the design to the (inferior) Transpac II. Having dived both, I can sat the Scubapro one is better, but neither are a patch on a Backplate and wings. The TPII had a tendency to come unclipped on me...

IF you want to know about this stuff I have to recommend 'Lost Patrols' by Innes McCartney. It's very good, and even includes GPS marks so you can dive them yourself! He has a website: Periscope Publishing and there's a awful lot of books about U-Boats. HTH, Chris

I dived the Thistlegorm 4 times in two days, and whilst it was quite good, it certainly didn't match the Rosalie Moller, which we did a couple of times.The Thistlegorm has been well and truly plundered and it looks a mess. Neither of these wrecks come close to those up in Scapa Flow. The...

Thanks for the info. Gratefully received! Not sure I'm about to call Andrew a stroke - he may be even harsher than I'm sure he will be anyway! I'm dreading the video portion - I'm sure I'm going to look like a right Muppet. Especially since my crotch strap is yellow and I have a black drysuit...

I think part of it is to do with the small number of GUE instructors. I've sat on my hands for nearly two years waiting for a GUE course came my way. Luckily for me I managed to get on the first one to be held in my area (UK) next week. Just looking forward to being beasted for a week by Mr...

I have extreme views on the TPII, mainly because it conspired to ruin an expensive dive weekend for me. There is no comparison in comfort between the Backplate and the Transpac. Whatever happens, DO NOT compare them in a shop/out of the water/in street clothes. The Backplate will lose every...

From what I've heard, it only really applies when being tested. So, for me it's going to be a case of take cylinders to place of testing, take cylinders out of car, put boots on, get them tested. Retrieve cylinders, remove boots, go diving. If they're HSE regs, they don't apply to amateur...

To quote Brian Chapman in Monty Python and the Holy Grail 'Run Away, Run Away, Run Away!' I had the misfortune to own a Transpac II, and even though I have an amazing history of owning rubbish kit I have to rate the Transpac as my second worst mistake. It's a pain to adjust, pain to put on...

You need to be careful with importing stuff - you can be really hit hard. You need to add 10% for import duty and the 17.5% on top of that for VAT from any country not in the EU. Within the EU there is no extra to pay. The other way to do is to it is to find someone who's going over there and...

Good point Budgy - meant to mention that! I was quite lucky in my novice days as I was involved with 2 clubs, and I knew another instructor as well, which meant I could push in on three lots of instructors! Outwith that, I think I would recommend that people get qualified with a school, and...

Salisbury does have a couple of BSAC Clubs, and they can be found on this page: BSAC Clubs Alternatively, the SAA may have one near you: SAA Website If you have any questions or anything, don't be afraid to ask - we're a pretty friendly bunch around here! Chris (Based in...

Apologies for the delay in replying - been too busy to keep up with the group. The reason I don't like Custom Divers bands is pretty simple - I had some on my twinset and they were very disappointing. If you look at the bands you can see where the spot welds are on the flat portions of...