Technical Diver Level 1

PURPOSE

The Technical Diver Level 1 (Tech 1) course is structured to prepare divers for the rigors of technical diving and to familiarize them with the use of different breathing and decompression mixtures. Tech 1 training focuses on expanding the fundamental skills learned in the GUE Fundamentals course (or elsewhere), and is designed to cultivate, integrate, and expand the essential skills required for safe technical diving. This will include problem identification and resolution, and building the capacity for progressively more challenging diving. In this class, students will be trained in:

• the use of double tanks/cylinders and in the potential failure problems associated with them
• the use of Nitrox for accelerated and general decompression strategies
• the use of Helium to minimize narcosis
• the applications of single decompression stage diving with respect to decompression procedures.

The class will focus on enriched air and Trimix as flexible and beneficial breathing gases for dives down to 160 foot/48 meters, and provides an excellent foundation on which divers can build their technical diving experience and prepare for GUE's Technical Diver 2 course (Tech 2).

PREREQUISITES

• Must meet GUE General Course Prerequisites as outlined in Section 1.6
• Must be a minimum of 18 years of age
• Must be GUE DIR Fundamentals qualified
• Must have a minimum of 100 dives beyond open water qualification
• Must be able to swim a distance of at least 50 feet/15 meters on a breath hold
•Must be able to swim at least 400 yards/366 meters in less than 14 minutes without stopping. This test should be conducted in a swimsuit and, where necessary, appropriate thermal protection.

COURSE CONTENT

The GUE Tech 1 course is normally conducted over a 5-day period, and cumulatively involves a minimum of forty (40) hours of instruction designed to provide a working knowledge of enriched air diving, normoxic and hyperoxic Trimix and decompression mixtures, including history, physics, physiology, tables, and operational considerations.

Course requirements include ten (10) hours of academics and eight (8) dives, six (6) of which will be critical skill dives and two (2) will be experience dives. Initial dives will be conducted in shallow water to test diver ability and to fill in any deficits in skill levels. The last two (2) dives are to be Trimix dives at depth for experience.