Vol. 23, No. 3 – August 2022 FUNDAMENTALS ON TURBO The GUE DPV Cave course teaches you to cave dive in the fast lane EDUCATION · CONSERVATION · EXPLORATION · COMMUNITY HOW DO YOU PREPARE? The best strategies to get you ready for your Tech 1 class PHOTOGRAPHERPORTFOLIO:STELLADELCURTO PROJECT DIVER Report from the inaugural GUE Project Diver Conference in Dubai 20 BEST WRECK DIVES Subjective nominations for the wreck diver’s ultimate bucket list The Journal of Global Underwater Explorers Quest
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3August 2022 · Quest EDITOR’S LETTER
During WWII, Cousteau’s father-in-law was a board member of Air Liquide, one of Europe’s largest manufacturers of industrial gases. At their laboratory in Paris, they developed cars that could run on anything other than petrol, which was rationed during the war. The head of this project was the engineer Emile Gagnan. Cousteau told him that he was looking for a piece of technology that could deliver air at am bient pressure to a diver on demand. Gagnan listened patiently to Cousteau’s ideas, made a few notes, then pulled something out of a drawer and said the famous words: “Quelque chose comme ça, monsieur?” (Something like this, sir?). The valve Gagnan already developed for cars to run on stove gas was close to what Cousteau was asking for. With some tweaks and modifications, they had the prototype ready three weeks later. Le Scaphan dre Autonome, or the Aqualung, was born.
KjøllerJesper Editor-in-Chief jk@gue.com
The men who taught the world to dive
One early morning on June 6, 1943, Cousteau was standing at the railway station in Bandol, where he lived. He picked up a wooden box con taining the prototype, and, a few hours later, he made the first successful test dive at the beach Plage de Barry in front of his villa. The rest is history. Emile Gag nan lived a more unno ticed life but influencedsignificantly the development of new diving technology. The Aqualung was marketed in France in 1946, but Emile Gagnan emigrated with his family to Mon treal, where he worked for Air Liquide’s Canadi an division. Here he continued to develop a long line of technological advances that were put into production by La Spirotechnique and later by the American subsidiary U.S. Divers. Gagnan was the originator of pretty much all of the regulator designs we use today. He died in relative obscurity in 1979. No doubt it was Cousteau who inspired us to dive. But it is Emile Gagnan we must thank for his invaluable contribution to the technology we use every time we dive. Today there is a memorial plaque in the small bay next to the beach where Cousteau made the world’s first dive on his and Gagnan’s Aqualung.
Dive safe and have fun!
IN the GUE equipment essentials se ries, we have reached the subject of regulators. See page 52 in this issue of Quest. While editing the text, I found myself reminiscing on the historical evolution of mod ern scuba. Not many activities can trace their origin as accurately as diving. We can precisely determine the time and place of the first scuba dive in open water. It took place June 6, 1943, in Bandol, a small Mediterranean village between Toulon and Marseille. Most people probably consider Jacques-Yves Cousteau to be the inventor of the scuba regulator. It is not really true. Cousteau only invented the need for one or the idea of one, if you will.
// Amanda
DPV CAVE // FUNDAMENTALS ON TURBO
The GUE system is derived largely from the DIR system while enhancing these concepts with a range of new techniques and procedures. Greatly simplifying operational procedures reduces confusion within complex expeditions, enhancing safety and team efficiency. Jesper Kjøller panel Michael Menduno White layout Jesper Kjøller
20 BEST WRECKS
4 Quest· August 2022 IN THIS ISSUE
Design and
She has a particular interest in taking pictures in demanding environments and she loves to share her passion and tell stories through her images, allowing everyone to see the amazing creations that Mother Nature has hidden underwater.
//
To contribute in a meaningful way, a project diver must be able to step into many different roles, depending on the nature of the project. All these roles were on the agenda when Deep Dive Dubai hosted the inaugural GUE Project Diver Conference and Workshop in May 2022.
You completed your GUE Fundamentals class and achieved a Tech pass. You’re starting to ask yourself the question that every Tech 1 instructor is asked many times each year: “How do I prepare for GUE Tech 1?” GUE Instructor Evaluator Guy Shockey explains how.
A subjective hitlist based on factors such as historic importance, an interesting narrative surrounding the loss at sea, and maybe a certain X-factor that is hard to quantify. It also matters that the wreck is photogenic, has a certain size, and is in good shape for its age.
REGULATORS
Copy editing // Pat Jablonski // Kady Smith // Nic Haylett Writers // Jesper Kjøller // Daniel Riordan // Fred Devos // Todd Kincaid // Dan Mackay // Chris le Maillot // Brad Beskin // Lauren Fanning // Guy Shockey // Kirill Egorov // Jarrod Jablonski Photographers // Kirill Egorov // Jesper Kjøller // Julian Műhlenhaus // Andreas Hagberg // Stella Del Curto // Bori Bennett // Kees Beemster Leverenz // Andreas Hagberg // Imad Farhat // Alexandra Graziano Vol. 23, No. 3 · August 2022 Quest is published quarterly by Global Underwater Explorers 18487 High Springs Main Street, High Springs, Florida 32643 Followwww.GUE.com Quest on www.facebook.com/QuestJournalFacebook The Journal of Global Underwater Explorers Quest 70
Brad and Lauren completed a DPV Cave course with Kirill Egorov in Florida. They were challenged with a week of intense instruction but they agreed that it was by far the most fun they ever had taking a GUE course.
TECH 1 // HOW TO PREPARE
Different placements, routings, and hose lengths necessitate some sort of standardization to limit confusion. Streamlining, familiarity, and logic are the governing factors in the GUE regulator configuration.
CAVE DIVING METHODS
PORTFOLIO // STELLA DEL CURTO
62524236186Editor-in-chief //
Editorial
GUE PROJECT DIVER CONFERENCE
//
5August 2022 · Quest COVER PHOTO STELLA DEL CURTO 18 6 36 42 70 52 62
GUE CAVE TEXT BRAD BESKIN & LAUREN FANNING PHOTOS KIRILL EGOROV (UNDERWATER) & BORI BENNETT (TOPSIDE)
6 Quest· August 2022
GUE’s DPV Cave course offers seasoned divers the opportunity to refine skills while building foundational skill sets for more novice DPV cave divers. Brad Beskin and Lauren Fanning had the opportunity to team up to complete a DPV Cave course with Kirill Egorov in High Springs, Florida. The program challenged them with a week of intense instruction, detailed dive planning, and managing the ramifications of using multiple DPVs and stages while performing complex dives. After the course, they agreed that it was an incredibly valuable and formative experience—and by far the most fun they ever had taking a GUE course.
GUE Instructor Lauren Fanning geared up and ready to hit the trigger on a DPV dive in one of Florida’s caves.
PHOTO KIRILL EGOROVCAVE DPV 7August 2022 · Quest
—Fundamentals on turbo
Interestingly, while we met at the 2017 GUE Conference and became fast friends, our dy namic duo had never been on a dive together before we took our DPV Cave. But, this is one of the key benefits of GUE’s systematic ap proach, and we had little trouble syncing up as a unified team on our first day of diving togeth er in Bradclass.approached
8 Quest· August 2022
Disparate skillbase Lauren came to the course with a fair amount of experience with a DPV in the overhead.
T here is nothing more fun in the diving universe than riding a scooter. DPVs are fast, agile, and really darn cool. Driving a DPV feels like you’re flying; you can twist and turn easily and move effortlessly through the water. Modern DPVs appear practically turnkey, require minimal maintenance, and provide an impressive amount of runtime and thrust. Each generation seemingly becomes more manage able on the surface and more practical in the water.The allure of adding a DPV to the cave diving kit is seductive, especially for Florida’s cave diving contingent. After years of getting blasted in the face by relentless flow, the idea of engaging turbo and cutting through it sounds delightful. Pass the Keyhole in Ginnie Springs in minutes with plenty of gas? Sign us up! Even where flow is less of a concern, a DPV opens new portions of the cave that are un reachable on fins alone. Swimming three (or more) stages in Mexico seems hardly worth the effort, but towing them looks almost effortless. Team dynamics and experience
“I have been working on cave diving projects in North Florida for the past few years, most of which require the use of and ability to support divers utilizing up to four DPVs each on a sin gle dive. Getting comfortable managing large amounts of equipment has been an ever-evolv ing process, and I’ve been grateful for this ex perience. I always had the question in the back of my head, ‘How is the practical application at this level—what I am doing in real life—different from what is taught in a GUE DPV Cave class?’ I recognize drift can occur from a diver’s original training, so I pursued this class to refine areas needing improvement to make project diving more efficient and enjoyable. I opted to do this training with Kirill because he’s always had an unwavering approach in mentoring me and providing non-stop but usable and actionable feedback to improve my diving.”
the course as a novice over head DPV diver. “I set my sights on completing DPV Cave some time ago. Like many, I took the NSS-CDS DPV Pilot course (which was great) as an in termediary step between Cave 2 and the more robust GUE DPV Cave curriculum. Even after the CDS program, unsurprisingly, my need for continued instruction was obvious. ‘Perfect practice’ is what’s expected, right? So, it made sense for me to seek out additional instruction (as opposed to simply building experience) so that the experience I accrued reflected perfection, and not my novice attempts to emulate it. So, for me, the course predominantly involved skills of first impression. I could manage a DPV, and I could manage stage bottles. But I had no idea how to manage them together. So, Kirill worked with me on building these foundational skill sets for dive planning and equipment management in the same way that I learned basic kicks in Funda mentals or basic line work in Cave 1. We started in the classroom, worked up to the field, and ended up in the cave. In many ways, this gave the course the familiar feel of the other GUE weeklong, intensive courses like Cave 1. Plus, admit tedly, I’ve always had the hankering to train with Kirill, and this seemed like a good starting point.”
DPV Cave students are often a diving duo with a long history of diving together. Most have some trigger time logged—whether in open water or overhead—and while not required, some have taken an overhead DPV course from another agency and accrued some experience therein. Commonly, students are looking for further skill development and/or refinement, as well as controlled exposure to advanced overhead skill sets—namely dive planning and equipment management—necessary to support extended range diving.
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PHOTO KIRILL EGOROV “The allure of adding a DPV to the cave diving kit is seductive, especially for Florida’s cave diving contingent. When diving in caves with flow, or when towing multiple stages, DPVs open up new exploration possibilities but also increase the complexities of the dive. 9August 2022 · Quest
PHOTO BORI BENNETT 10 Quest· August 2022
Kirill and the authors getting ready for yet another long DPV training dive in Ginnie Springs.
“All of this proceeded under the watchful and demanding eye of a prototypical GUE instructor. The course was well-tuned to both macro and micro skill adjustment, both of which lead to excellence.
PHOTO MICHAEL LEWINGTON
Our team’s disparate skill base and experi ence were, at first, somewhat concerning. We had no idea whether the course would accom modate these differences while adding value for both team members. Would one feel over whelmed? Would the other feel under-en gaged?Looking back, we find our lack of faith disturbing, as Kirill handled this disparity deftly. On one hand, Kirill worked with Lau ren to modify her existing skill sets subtly. These micro-refine ments—e.g., clipping the tow leash to a different D-ring—adjusted and built upon skills she had been using regularly. On the other hand, and at the same time, Kirill worked with Brad as he practiced these skills (at least practically) for the first time. All of this proceeded under the watchful and demanding eye of a prototypical GUE instructor. The course was well-tuned to both macro and micro skill adjustment, both of which lead to excellence. In-depth training The addition of a DPV to overhead diving adds an array of new risks. Comparatively, at a swim ming pace, the Cave 2 diver has ample time to take in their surroundings, build a mental map of the cave, check gas, manage the light, and keep track of the team—all while maintaining buoyan cy, trim, stability, and control. However, once you hit the trigger, everything starts happening a lot faster. Brad had a bit of a reckoning with this reality on our team’s first dive. “As we passed a very familiar part of the Ginnie mainline, I felt an old, discomforting sen sation creep upon me. I immediately recognized it as ‘the Eeks,‘ or that feeling of careening dread that usually ends in one conclusion: ‘I don’t want to be in this cave right now.’ It took a second to realize I had the solution in my hand—and I let go of the trigger. We stopped, I signaled my team, and we held. I spent a minute or two walking through some fundamental checks while asking a few logical questions: Is every thing as it should be? Flow check, depth/time, SPG check, situational awareness scan? (yes). Am I having fun? (yes) Do I want to be here? (yes). After a few minutes, we proceeded, and that dread never crept back on any subsequent dive. This course is, liter ally and metaphorically, on turbo. Don’t be afraid to stop, take a beat, and remember the funda mentals of overhead diving.”
While the DPV removes the effort of swim ming, it adds significant complexity and novel challenges to the dive. Dive planning must ac count for an exigent exit—towing a diver, sharing gas, or other less-than-ideal scenarios, includ ing swimming out the way you scootered in. Gas switches become more challenging when there’s a scooter in your hand (and, perhaps one on your tail, as well), and knowing what to do with each item makes the procedures more streamlined and efficient. Light discipline isn’t so easy when you have to switch driving hands and stay on the trigger. Minor differences in pace can lead to large gaps in team formation. And try—just try—to check your SPG while on the trigger without smacking the ceiling, crash ing to the floor, or ramming a teammate. Therefore, proper instruction—land drills, open water drills, a high level of situational awareness, and only then experiential overhead dives—is necessary to prevent significant dam age to the cave, as well as a tragic incident to theWhiledivers.they seem like underwater dirt bikes, a DPV dive requires a lot more than “point, trigger, zoom.”
11August 2022 · Quest
DPV Management
We’ve all heard the familiar refrain: Nothing can kill you faster than a scooter in a cave. Well, nothing makes this more evident than doing the math on paper. Proper dive planning is an essential part of introducing DPVs into your diving. The team must account for gas time, trigger time, and all the likely failures that may try to ruin the dive. The course focuses nearly an entire academic day on the many factors the DPV Cave diver must consider when planning an extended-range dive. Of course, we applied these planning skills in-depth before each expe rience dive in the course.
GUE’s DPV Cave Course
To that end, GUE’s DPV Cave course focuses on three key skill sets: advanced dive planning, DPV management, and stage bottle management. Advanced Dive Planning
Experienced DPV pilots make the task look sim ple. But, managing a DPV is a complex task, requiring practice and patience. Complicate this with a fragile overhead environment, and the task becomes one of precision and finesse—or the en tire team will be exiting in zero visibility. DPVs sing a siren song of thrust and power, and succumbing to it is a quick way to find yourself out of sorts.
Lauren was reminded of this while entering the eye at Ginnie Springs with multiple stages and two DPVs. “I’ve been through this section of the cave entrance countless times. But, with a large amount of equipment, maneuvering through a small area in a head-down/feet-up position, I felt an odd sense of pressure to ‘get out of the way,’ and I didn’t feel as smooth as I usually would. I made the mistake of picking power over technique—I hit the turbo and used the scooter to pull me through a small area quickly. I ultimately resembled a bull in a china shop—not the elegant ballerina I was shooting for. When we surfaced three and a half hours later, Kirill had not forgotten my not-so-graceful entrance and provided some feedback on how to improve, including ways to avoid blasting my teammate with prop-wash and sand. Yikes!”
PHOTO KIRILL EGOROV 12 Quest· August 2022
Ultimately, slow down, be smooth, and don’t feel rushed to get in the entrance faster with people behind you. Lauren demonstrating the correct way to tow a backup scooter.
DPV management skills include not only the detailed mechanics of piloting a DPV with finesse through a fragile environment, but also management of the DPV while off the trigger, managing a reel or spool, switching gas, survey ing, or addressing a problem—in and out of the flow. Just as the Fundamentals student builds muscle memory with repeated S-drills and valve manipulation, so too does the DPV Cave diver with switching off the scooter, stowing it, and retrieving it.
More fodder for Kirill’s debrief.”
Cave diving is very much a mental game, and being able to visualize the plan and the procedures is an essential part of the preparation.
PHOTO BORI BENNETT 13August 2022 · Quest
Stage Bottle Management: GUE Cave 2 instills a familiarity with the use of stage bottles to extend range. The broad con sensus in Florida is that the extra juice from swimming more than two stage bottles—and sometimes even one—in flow simply isn’t worth the squeeze. This changes with a DPV, and DPV Cave divers have the ability to bring as much ex tra gas as they can comfortably carry or fit on a leash. This introduces challenging new skills like switching between stages (using back gas as a transition) while managing the light, scooter, team, and more. The course focuses heavily on bottle placement, rotation, drops, and pickups in coordination with the DPVs. Messy exit This skill set also involves the use of a backup or tow scooter. The task of keeping a tow scooter restrained and controlled through the cave is, at best, difficult. This was a particularly novel chal lenge for Brad. “As we made it back to the Ginnie Gallery, I recognized the tow scooter, which was clipped nose-to-leash to my front crotch D-ring, was towing somewhere behind me but not where it needed to be (which is resting on top of my fin blades). My exit through the lips had been par ticularly messy. The tow needs to be perfectly positioned, and it wasn’t. As promised, the tow promptly floated past me in the flow toward the exit, having ‘mysteriously’ become untethered on account of my mismanagement. We caught it just before we reached our oxygen bottle drop.
PHOTO KIRILL EGOROV 14 Quest· August 2022
“Multiple individual skills appear simple on their own, become overwhelming when first combined, and finally collide into an intricate, smooth progression in the final course dives.
Fundamentals on turbo
The course progression is familiar to GUE divers. Fundamentals students begin their journey awkwardly practicing fin kicks on land; similarly, DPV Cave students begin in open water practicing the most basic skills— switching drive and light hands, adjusting DPV position and ride position, maintaining light discipline, and fine-tuning line-laying and retrieval techniques while on the trigger. Sounds easy? Well, it’s not, and Kirill rightfully spent many hours with us running up and down “the Run” at Ginnie to get it right and dial in all of the details. To that end, the course resembles Funda mentals, but on turbo. Students quickly find themselves advancing from simple steering drills to laying line while scootering, manag ing multiple scooters, and managing multiple stages. The course escalates quickly but intuitively with continuous refinement in the details. Oh no! Lauren recalls one of the things that made this continuous stream of feedback manage able, and even enjoyable at times. “Going into this course with the pure intent of becoming a better diver for specific applications on projects and looking for actionable items to improve, without having the added pressure of performing to a specific level or receiving
15August 2022 · Quest
The course rests on top of GUE’s robust Cave 1 and 2 courses and continues with the week-long, intensive format and late-week crescendo that make those prerequisites so successful and rewarding. Typically, the course requires early mornings and long, ex haustive days with total in-water exposures at the minimum of six hours and maximum around nine hours. Multiple individual skills appear simple on their own, become over whelming when first combined, and finally collide into an intricate but smooth progres sion in the final course dives. To say we were tired at the end of class would be an understatement, but we were left with just enough energy to complete the course-required swim test and breath-hold swim.
The GUE DPV cave course develops the skill set necessary to handle multiple stages and scooters with finesse and attention to detail.
And, not surprisingly, there are failures. Just as a Cave 1 diver becomes intimately comfort able in zero visibility, so too does the DPV Cave diver become intimately comfortable tucked under the tail of their teammate for a seemingly endless tow out of the cave. Any time we heard blasts fire from the wretched air gun, the song “Oh No” by Capone would play in our minds as we managed the endless amount of simulated failure scenarios. The song may as well have been played on repeat for the majority of the exits during our class. Of course, the instruction is somewhat forgiving on newer advanced procedures but relent less vis-a-vis safety and basic skills. Forget to turn on a backup light before you deploy it and it will (as always) promptly go missing. Forget to position the tow scooter properly and it will inev itably detach—ironically, just before you need it.
Left to right: Lauren Fanning, Kirill Egorov, and Brad Beskin.
a pass in the end, ultimately made this course the most fun training experience I’ve ever had in diving. I one hundred percent recognize that this is easier to say than to feel, but I would highly encourage participants in a class to look at constructive critiques as little boosts to help you meet your goals.”
16 Quest· August 2022
Brad Beskin has been diving actively for approximately twenty-eight years. He first became involved with GUE by taking Fundamentals in 2002, and then Cave 1 with Tamara Kendal in 2003. He is now a proud GUE DPV Cave diver and is looking forward to undertaking the GUE Technical curriculum in 2023. He assists GUE with risk management and quality control. Brad lives in Austin, Texas, with his husband, Garrett, and two crazy German Shorthaired Pointers, Duke and Daisy.
Brad Beskin Lauren Fanning Success means practice Proudly, after a long week, our final dive was smooth. We returned to the Gallery after a nearly four-hour runtime with no simulated failures, indicating that—at least in Kirill’s eyes—the dive was executed according to plan. Our final debrief was as expected: “This was good…, that was not so good…, and don’t forget to…” Like any GUE student, neither of us emerged with a flawless record. Kirill identified many aspects of our diving—both specific to DPV piloting and to cave diving generally—that could use improvement. We passed, notwithstanding some areas for improvement and continued refinement. Of course, the outcomes are slightly different: Brad is looking forward to building more experience, practicing the skills he learned, and venturing farther from the door in a controlled and sen sible progression. Lauren is excited to use her new skills and experience as she continues to grow as a diver and WKPP team member.
PHOTOS BORI BENNETT 17August 2022 · Quest
Lauren Fanning is a GUE instructor residing in High Springs, Florida. She spends most of her free time diving in the North Florida caves and particularly enjoys working on exploration projects. She has a wide range of experience working in the dive industry, from training development to equipment manufacturing and marketing. Today she assists GUE with training administration, teaches approximately once a month, and enjoys country living with her husband, Blake Wilson, and their two rescue dogs, Parker and Pepper.
What creates a great wreck? Obviously, personal preferences will cause some divers to choose differently, but my subjective hitlist is based on factors such as historic importance, an interesting narrative surrounding the loss at sea, and maybe a certain X-factor that is hard to quantify. Some of the most exciting wrecks have more than one story to tell. If the wreck has both an interesting history surrounding the initial loss and an equally compelling tale concerning the later discovery, it scores higher on my list. It also matters that the wreck is photogenic, has a certain size, and is in good shape for its age. Interesting artifacts still on board, level of intactness, and the presence of marine life are also factors. I have dived more than a dozen of the wrecks on this top twenty already, and the rest are on my bucket list.
18 Quest· August 2022
BEST 20WRECKS
TEXT JESPER KJØLLER PHOTOS JESPER KJØLLER, KEES BEEMSTER LEVERENZ, AND ARCHIVE
A luxurious ocean liner and an icon of national pride as the largest, fastest, and allegedly safest of all Italian ships of the time. While heading for New York, she collided with MS Stockholm in one of histo ry's most infamous maritime disasters. The top-heavy Andrea Doria started to list severely, which left half of the lifeboats unusable. But she stayed afloat for 11 hours and “only” 46 people lost their lives.
In 1992, the wreck was located by a team led by Robert Ballard (who also found the Titanic and Bismarck). But, because of strong surface currents and the remote location in the Solomons with very poor infrastructure, the wreck has been dived only a few times and very sporadically. The last success ful expedition was carried out by a team of GUE divers.
TYPE Light Cruiser AREA Solomon Islands DEPTH 130 m/427 ft
TYPE Ocean Liner AREA Nantucket Island, North Atlantic DEPTH 82 m/269 ft
SS Andrea Doria
The Doria’s depth was a huge challenge for the first generations of advanced divers. The coveted logoed porcelain lured many divers deep into the wreck and the “china fever” claimed numerous lives. Today, she is decaying rapidly and is believed to be empty of artifacts. However, since she played an important role in the development of deep wreck diving techniques, such as the use of helium, accel erated decompression, and advanced penetration procedures, she still belongs on a top 20 list.
LOST 13 November 1942 19August 2022 · Quest
LOST 25 July 1956 USS Atlanta In her short life, the Atlanta played a pivotal role in the Pacific War theatre, escorting famous air craft carriers like the USS Enterprise and USS Hornet back and forth between Pearl Harbor and Midway before moving on to the Solomon Islands. She was hit by friendly fire during the Battle of Guadalcanal and ended up sinking three miles west of Lunga Point.
Bianca C
Not many ships can brag about being wrecked twice, but the Bianca C can. Construction began in France during WWII, but the unfinished hull was scuttled by German troops. After the war, the 180 m/590 ft long structure was salvaged and completed. In 1961, while at anchor in Grenada, an explosion shook the engine room. The burning ship could have potentially blocked the harbor, so an attempt to tow the Bianca C was made. Thousands of Grenadians watched from the mountains as the tow progressed for six hours, but the Bianca C had only moved 5 km/3 mi when the towline broke, and she sank—again. Today she is the largest wreck in the Caribbean, and several dives are needed to explore the site.
TYPE Ocean Liner AREA Kea Channel, Greece DEPTH 120 m/394 ft LOST 21 November 1916
20 Quest· August 2022
If the Titanic did not rest at 3,800 m/12,467 ft, she would probably be the star of any wreck diver’s wish list. Fortunately, the Titanic’s sister ship is within diveable depths, but only for the most experi enced tech divers, as 120 m/394 ft in the busy Kea Channel outside Athens is a challenging dive by anyAsmeasure.istrueof her ill-fated sister, the Britannic was supposed to enter service as a transatlantic passenger liner and was improved in a number of ways due to lessons learned from the Titanic’s sinking. She never went into service but was operating as a hospital ship during WWI when she hit a mine and foundered in less than an hour. The Britannic has it all: A marvelous pedigree, a mystery concerning the sinking, an exciting nar rative surrounding Cousteau’s discovery, early trimix dives on the wreck in 1975, and a number of high-profile expeditions from 1999 onwards.
TYPE Passenger Ship AREA Granada DEPTH 50 m/164 ft LOST 22 October 1961 HMHS Britannic
Hilma Hooker
The only wreck on the list that can be reached from shore is the Hilma Hooker. Built in 1951 in the Netherlands, she changed hands multiple times, and in the summer of 1984, while having engine trouble at sea, she was towed to the port of Kralendijk, Bonaire. She was already under surveillance by drug enforcement agencies when local authorities boarded the ship for an inspection, discovering a false bulkhead that contained 11,000 kg/25,000 lb of marijuana. While languish ing as evidence, she began to take in water, and it was feared that maritimeandatwouldshesinkthepierdisrupt traffic. On the7,September1984, HookerHilmawas towed to a sandy area between two coral reefs where, five days later, she rolled over on her starboard side and sank in just two minutes. Whether or not the local dive center community arranged her placement is not known, but the location is perfect for divers, and she is among the best shore diving wrecks in the world.
TYPE Freighter AREA Bonaire DEPTH 30 m/100 ft LOST 12 September 1984 HMHS Britannic PHOTO JESPER KJØLLER PHOTOS JESPER KJØLLER 21August 2022 · Quest
Not to be confused with the SMS Hindenburg in Scapa Flow or the ill-fated blimp of the same name, the S/S Hin denburg was a German icebreaker. During WWI she was part of Transport Flotte I of the Sonderverband Ostsee when she hit a mine frozen in the ice. Three men were killed in the explosion. What makes this dive special is the fact that all wrecks wrecks in Åland, an autonomous region of Finland, are protected by law, and artifacts that would be long gone almost anywhere else can be en joyed here.The Hindenburg is extremely well preserved in the cold and fresh water in the Bothnian Sea, and many details like telegraphs, compass housings, and a com plete galley can be appreciated on a dive of the Hindenburg
DEPTH
LOST 9 March
PHOTO JESPER KJØLLER 22 Quest· August 2022
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S/S Hindenburg
TYPE Icebreaker AREA Åland, Bothnian Sea 50 m/164 ft 1918
LOST 21 June 1919
SMS Kronprinz (Wilhelm) The König class battleship SMS Kronprinz was laid down in Kiel in 1911. She participated in the Battle of Jutland, the largest naval battle of World War I, but she remained unharmed and suffered no loss of life. In 1918, she was renamed Kronprinz Wilhelm, and the following year she was part of the interned fleet in Scapa Flow. She was eventually scuttled by Admiral Ludwig von Reuter. The immense size of the wreck can be intimidating, and several dives are required to come away with a greater appreciation for her many details. Many of the 12-inch guns are accessible and visible.
DEPTH
DEPTH
HIJMS Nagato Admiral Yamamoto directed the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, from the bridge of the Nagato. The battleship with the pagoda-style superstructure was later impounded by the Ameri cans and included in Operation Crossroads in Bikini Atoll to gather information on enemy shipbuild ing techniques after an atomic explosion. The Nagato’s best highlights are the four enormous propellers and the twin 16.1-inch guns—the largest in the world at the time. Even if the superstructure is partly squashed under the weight of the overturned hull, it is possible to squeeze into the bridge and pretend to be Admiral Yamamoto listening to the famous radio codeword “Tora! Tora! Tora!”, the signal to commence the attack on Pearl Harbor.
TYPE Battleship AREA Scapa Flow 43 m/141 ft
LOST July 1946 PHOTO
TYPE Battleship AREA Bikini Atoll 54 m/177 ft JESPER KJØLLER
23August 2022 · Quest
TYPE
The oldest ship on the list, and possibly the most significant wreck discovery of the century, is Mars, which was located by Richard Lundgren and his team in 2011 after more than a 20-year search. This Swedish battleship was the largest of its time, but Mars was defeated by a fleet of Danish soldiers and German mercenaries, and when the powder stores on board caught fire, she exploded, causing 800 soldiers to perish.
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Mars the Magnificent
Ongoing scientific research projects on Mars are breaking new ground in digital excavation. The photogrammetry models based on data collected by divers are setting new standards in non-de structive archaeology. Battleship AREA Swedish East Coast, Baltic Sea 72 m/236
ft LOST May 1564 24 Quest· August 2022
PHOTO KEES BEEMSTER LEVERENZ 25August 2022 · Quest
USS Oriskany
TYPE Ocean Liner AREA Vanuatu, Pacific Ocean DEPTH Bow 21 m/69 ft, stern 73 m/240 ft LOST 26 October 1942
President Coolidge Built as an American luxury ocean liner in 1931, the President Coolidge served as a troopship during the beginning of WWII. In October 1942, she was sunk by mines in the New Hebrides (part of current-day Vanuatu). Captain Henry Nelson realized the ship was lost, so he ran her aground and ordered the 5,340 troops to disembark without their belongings, as he thought they would be able to retrieve them later. But, shortly after, the enormous ship slid down the sloping coral reef into the channel.
DEPTH 64 m/210 ft, flight deck 41 m/135 ft SCUTTLED 17 May 2006
TYPE Aircraft Carrier AREA Gulf of Mexico
26 Quest· August 2022
President Coolidge is probably the most accessible large ocean liner wreck, and several dives are necessary to explore the almost 200-meter long ship. It is, however, very easy to exceed dive limits because of the gradual downward slope, so extreme awareness is cautioned.
The only wreck on the list scuttled on purpose, which among some purists disqualifies the Oriskany as a “real” wreck, but the sheer size of the “Mighty O”, for me, is enough to warrant a nomination. Plus, she is one of the very few aircraft carrier wrecks in the world. The USS Oriskany was completed right after WWII and operated in the Pacific into the 1970s. She served during the Korean War and later the Vietnam War. After being decommissioned in 1976, she lay idle for almost 30 years until a decision was made to scuttle her outside Pensacola, Florida. It took a great deal of work to clean the enormous vessel and make her environmentally ready for disposal on the seabed, where she remains the largest artificial reef in the world.
Prinz Eugen
The German heavy cruiser was launched in 1938. She saw extensive action in famous battles during WWII, primarily in the North Sea war theater. After the collapse of the Axis Powers in 1945, the Prinz Eugen was transferred to the US Navy as a war prize. The Navy assigned her to Operation Crossroads to evaluate the effect of a nuclear bomb on a German-built bat tleship. The Prinz Eugen survived both atomic blasts and was later towed to Kwajalein Atoll, 400 miles away. She began to take in water, but the leak could not be fixed because of damage from radiation. In December 1946, she capsized and sank in shallow water. Today the enormous wreck can easily be dived, as the propeller is visible out of the water.
TYPE Heavy Cruiser AREA Kwajalein Atoll DEPTH 34 m/112 ft 1946
LOST 22 December
President Coolidge
PHOTO JESPER KJØLLER 27August 2022 · Quest
SS Numidia
80 m/262
The Numidia was built in Scotland and embarked on her maiden voyage in February 1901. However, the ship's second journey would be her last. After a smooth passage of the Suez Canal, the ship hit the Big Brother Lighthouse, and the bow was seriously damaged. The captain ordered the crew into the lifeboats. He stayed for seven weeks on the island to supervise the salvage of the Numid ia's cargo before the hull finally slid into the depths of the reef's northern tip. The marine life and especially the soft corals on the Numidia are splendid, and the setting, with the impressive stern at ft, and the reef in the background is a spectacular sight.
TYPE Steam Cargo Ship AREA Brothers Islands, Northern Red Sea DEPTH Stern 80 m/262 ft, bow 10 m/33 ft LOST 6 July 1901 28 Quest· August 2022
PHOTO JESPER KJØLLER 29August 2022 · Quest
San Francisco Maru In 1944, Operation Hail stone wiped out most of the Japanese Pacific fleet and 275 aircraft in Truk Lagoon in just two days. With 60 wrecks to choose from, it is hard to single out just one, and at least five other Truk wrecks could easily have been on the list. But, there is a reason why the San Fran cisco Maru is one of the most famous wrecks in the lagoon. She is loaded to the brim with war mate rials, such as the small Japanese HA-GO tanks, trucks, various types of ammunition, mines and aircraft parts. And she is in good shape, as she is one of the deeper wrecks. TYPE Passenger Cargo ship AREA Truk Lagoon, Micronesia DEPTH 62 m/203 ft LOST 17 February 1944 PHOTO JESPER KJØLLER PHOTO JESPER KJØLLER 30 Quest· August 2022
Thistlegorm
One thing is certain: no diving career is complete without this wreck in the logbook. In September 1941, she was part of a convoy up through the Red Sea. While at anchor waiting for the Suez Canal to open, her ammunition stores in Hold 4 were struck by a 2.5 ton bomb from a German Heinkel He 111, and she sank immediately. The Thistlegorm owes her stardom to the amazing cargo of military vehicles, motorbikes, airplane spare parts, weapons, and ammunition. But her legacy is even more impressive, as she was found and explored (looted) by Cousteau in the early 1950s. And then she was lost again until an Israeli liveaboard rediscovered her in the early 1990s. Since then, the huge number of divers everyday has taken its toll, and parts have collapsed, but she is still an epic dive.
In 1946, the United States conducted Operation Crossroads in Bikini Atoll to test the impact of atomic explosions on military vessels. The 270 m/886 ft-long aircraft carrier USS Saratoga had an impressive track record and was involved in many major conflicts and campaigns during WWII, but after the war she became a sitting duck in Bikini Atoll. She survived the first blast but succumbed to the second three weeks later. “Sara” is most likely the largest diveable wreck in the world and, with so many penetration possi bilities and an abundance of details inside and outside, one could easily go to Bikini and only dive The USS Saratoga for a week. In fact, if the aircraft carrier was the only wreck there, it would still be worth the long travel.
PHOTO JESPER KJØLLER 31August 2022 · Quest
TYPE Aircraft carrier AREA Bikini Atoll DEPTH 52 m/170 ft LOST 25 July 1946
USS Saratoga
TYPE Cargo ship AREA Straight of Gubal, Egyptian Red Sea DEPTH 32 m/105 ft LOST 6 October 1941
Umbria Italy had not officially joined WWII on the German side when the Umbria, fully loaded with ammuni tion and war supplies, was anchored outside Port Sudan. The British had a suspicion and detained the Italian ship and its crew. The Umbria’s captain heard Italy’s declaration of war on the radio and realized the Brits would impound the cargo, so he managed to scuttle the 155 m/509 ft long ship under the pretense of doing a muster drill. The Umbria lies on the port side with the davits still visi ble above the water. She has enough explosives in her hulls to blow Port Sudan to kingdom come. Cargo and passenger ship AREA Wingate Reef, Port Sudan 35 m/115
ft LOST 9 June 1941 PHOTO JESPER KJØLLER 32 Quest· August 2022
TYPE
DEPTH
SS Maidan
TYPE Steam cargo ship AREA Rocky Island, Southern Egyptian Red Sea DEPTH 120 m/394 ft LOST 9 June 1923
The SS Maidan hit Rocky Island on her way back to Europe after visiting India. She disappeared in deep water with her cargo of colonial imports, including elephant tusks, but not until the crew and the passengers managed to get to the island where they were rescued the same day. Because of the depth and the inaccessible position, not many dives have been conducted there since her discovery in 2003, so the 152 m/500 ft long wreck is still in very good condition with nice penetration options, including the engine room and cargo holds. During decompression stops along the spectacular walls of Rocky Island, it is not uncommon to be accompanied by tiger sharks or curious C. longimanus
PHOTO JESPER KJØLLER 33August 2022 · Quest
TYPE Passenger ship AREA Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, Australia DEPTH 33 m/108 ft LOST 23 March 1903
SS Yongala
The SS Yongala steamed into a tropical cyclone, and 122 crew and passengers died in the disaster. The wreck was not located until 1958 and has since become a major tourist attraction. Due to the many fatalities, divers are not allowed to penetrate the wreck, but the marine life surrounding the Yongala is amazing, as the structure provides an oasis in the barren underwater landscape. Majes tic fan corals, as well as soft and hard corals, decorate the reef. Giant groupers, eagle rays, mantas, and various sharks are spotted frequently, and the site is also visited by minke or humpback whales between June and November.
DEPTH 42 m/138 ft LOST 7 June 1980 PHOTO JESPER KJØLLER 34 Quest· August 2022
TYPE
AREA
Zenobia
The Swedish RO-RO ferry was on her maiden voyage from Malmö, Sweden, bound for Syria. During a stop on Cyprus, the ship began listing to port and it was discovered that excess water was being pumped into the ballast tanks due to a computer malfunction. She was towed out of the harbor in Larnaca to prevent her from becoming an obstruction, and a few days later, on June 7, 1980, the captain gave up and ordered everybody to leave the sinking ship with its cargo of trucks estimated to be worth £200 million. The enormous wreck has been hugely important for the diving industry in Cyprus, and the Zeno bia is a giant playground for divers on all levels. Roll-on/roll-off ferry Larnaca, Cyprus
GUE TECH 1 A GIANT LEAP FORWARD THE GUE TECHNICAL DIVER LEVEL 1 COURSE • Cultivates, integrates, and expands essential skills required for safe technical diving • Teaches you how to prevent, identify, and resolve problems • Addresses the potential failures associated with twinsets • Introduces accelerated decompression strategies, single stage diving, and the use of helium to minimize narcosis Read more aboutthe GUE Tech 1 courseand see www.gue.comclassesscheduledon
36 Quest· August 2022 Stella was born in Locarno, Swit zerland, in 1983. As a child, she always loved being near the ocean during the long, hot summers spent in Abruzzo, Italy, with her grandparents. She learned to swim and snorkel on her own, and even if the underwater environment of the Adriatic was composed only of sand and a few tiny fish and crabs, in her imagination she was able to turn them into in teresting fantasies, dreaming that one day they would come Photographytrue.became a big part of her life in 2005 when she bought her first DSLR camera. Two years later, she began her diving experience in the cold waters of Lake Maggiore. Merging these two great passions has been a natural evolution, and she has always worked hard to become both a better diver and as well as a more skilled photographer, refining her abilities, and then also becoming a diving instructor. Through the years, Stella developed a par ticular interest in taking pictures in demanding environments such as underwater caves, deep wrecks, deep reefs, or steep walls. She loves to share her passion and tell stories through her images, allowing everyone to see the amazing creations that Mother Nature has hidden under water and sometimes even underground. With this goal in mind, she loves to explore under the surface, no matter where. If there is water, Stella is there. PASSIONATE PHOTOGRAPHER Stella Del Curto www.stellastyles.com TITLE Wonderland LOCATION Tux Ku Paxa cave system, CAMERAMexicoNikon D7500 LENS Nikkor Fisheye 10.5 mm EXPOSURE 1/50, f/3.2 FLASH 2 x Inon Z330, 2 x Inon Z240 COMMENTS Tux Ku Paxa is a well-known cave system in Mexico with superb speleothems and decorations all over the place. The farther you go in, the better it gets.
37August 2022 · Quest TITLE Mirrors of light LOCATION Maggia River, Tegna, Switzerland CAMERA Nikon D7100 LENS Nikkor Fisheye 10.5 mm EXPOSURE 1/100, f/9 FLASH 2 x Inon Z240 COMMENTS Carved rocks, smoothed by time and water, make for a really inspiring environment. On a sunny day, the marvelous reflections and different shades of color make for very inspiring photography. TITLE Flabellina affinis LOCATION Portofino, Italy CAMERA Nikon D7100 LENS Nikkor Fisheye 10.5 mm EXPOSURE 1/250, f11 FLASH 2 x Inon Z240 COMMENTS This marvelous species of nudibranch with beautiful violet shades lives at around 50 m/165 ft and is widespread in Mediterranean.the
38 Quest· August 2022 TITLE Dancing in the darkness LOCATION Cala dei Santi, Italy CAMERA Nikon D7500 LENS Nikkor Fisheye 10.5 mm EXPOSURE f7.1, 1/100 FLASH 2 x Inon Z330 COMMENTS At night, you can always see different sea life than you can during the day—like octopus. Their swimming movements always remind me of a dancer, and they are mysterious and fascinatingTITLEanimals.KT12 Gun LOCATION Orosei Gulf, Sardinia, Italy CAMERA Nikon D7100 LENS Nikkor Fisheye 10.5 mm EXPOSURE 1/160, f7.1 FLASH 2 x Inon Z240 COMMENTS The KT12 was built in Livorno and sank June 10, 1943, after being torpedoed by a British U-boat. Today, it lies at about 34 m/110 ft.
39August 2022 · Quest TITLE La LOCATIONCattedralePuntaGranelli, Lake Maggiore, Lombardia, Italy CAMERA Nikon D7500 LENS Nikkor Fisheye 10.5 mm EXPOSURE 1/160, f/3.5 FLASH 2 x Inon Z330, 1x Inon Z240 COMMENTS Picture taken on a deep wall (around 80 m/265 ft) twenty minutes on DPV from Castelveccana, one of the most famous dive spots in Lake Maggiore. The white rocks are just stunning and really beautiful to photograph.
TITLE La Grande Signora LOCATION Haven Wreck, Arenzano, Liguria, CAMERAItalyNikon D7100 LENS Nikkor Fisheye 10.5 mm EXPOSURE 1/50, f7.1 FLASH 2 x Inon Z240 COMMENTS The Amoco Milford Haven wreck, an oil tanker, is the biggest diveable wreck in the Mediterranean, and it is very well known by almost all European divers. It sank in 1991 after a fire and explosion. It begins at 30 m/100 ft and ends at 80 m/265 ft. 40 Quest August 2022
41August 2022 · Quest 2022 · TITLE Dracula’s castle LOCATION Jailhouse Cave, Mexico CAMERA Nikon D7100 LENS Nikkor Fisheye 10.5 mm EXPOSURE 1/13, f/3.2 FLASH: 2 x Inon Z240, 1 x Inon Z330, 6 x Bigblue 30000 lumen, 2 x BigBlue 15000 lumen COMMENTS The first section of Jailhouse cave is really big and dark, and one day with a couple of friends we decided to try to light it as bright as we could. This is the result: a really beautiful environment that often can’t be enjoyed as it deserves. TITLE Enchanted Garden LOCATION Secca di PuntaTuscany,Pennello,Italy CAMERA Nikon D7500 LENS Nikkor Fisheye 10.5 mm EXPOSURE 1/50, f5 FLASH 2 x Inon Z330 COMMENTS At Giannutri Island, this deep reef begins at around 70 m/230 ft. Stunning enchanted gardens of red and yellow gorgonians make it an overall perfect photography set.
TEXT & PHOTOS JESPER KJØLLER GUE PROJECT DIVER The project diver candidates are getting ready for a full-face mask test session dive in Deep Dive Dubai. CONFERENCE 42 Quest· August 2022
DIVER Project-based technical diving is an advanced and demanding multidisciplinary activity requiring participants to master many aspects of diving. To contribute in a meaningful way, a project diver must be able to step into many different roles, depending on the nature of the project. Skilled project divers can assume the responsibility for logistics, gas blending, field repair, fundraising, planning, subjectsmanyincidentscientificmanagement,decompressionphotoandvideodocumentation,datacollection,management,andmorefunctions.And,ofcourse,theymustalsobeskilleddivers.AllthesewereontheagendawhenDeepDiveDubaihostedtheinauguralGUE Project Diver Conference and Workshop in May 2022. CONFERENCE 43August 2022 · Quest
44 Quest· August 2022
If only a place existed that contained a modern conference space, an indoor diving facility with excellent technical support from a full-service dive center with the ability to deliver gases, equip ment, and safety supervision. And, if we wanted to dream really big, maybe we could add a decompression chamber and a gourmet restaurant to the mix? How about if we asked for everything to be under the same roof, so that very little time was wasted on logistics and transportation? Nah, all this had to be too much to hope for. But wait a minute! Such a place exist! Deep Dive Dubai was the ideal venue for the first GUE Project Diver Conference held in MayEssentially,2022.
I
The program is still in the pilot phase and is a work in progress. The Project Diver Con ference had a two-part structure. The first two days were filled with informative lectures— something for everyone—on specific topics of interest. The next three days saw more of a hands-on approach with dynamic workshops specifically intended for Project Diver certifica tion candidates. The final link in the chain, still under development, will be practical apprentice projects. Weekend talks An impressive line-up of dive industry experts, seasoned GUE instructors, and other notables from all over the world arrived in Dubai to kick off the conference during the weekend. First on the agenda was Dr. Alessandro Marroni from DAN Europe with a presentation on individu al DCS susceptibility. Wearables have been a mega trend in the fitness and health space for quite some time. Modern smart watches, wrist bands, or even fingerings can track and measure biological data such as heart rate, sleep, steps, blood oxygen levels, and other bio parameters on land. Dr. Marroni made the point that the next big step in understanding individual variances of DCS occurrence will be the ability to measure and record biological data both during as well as after the dive. Dr. Marroni is an entertaining presenter, and he surprised the audience by un buttoning his shirt to reveal that he was wearing a prototype of the measuring vest during his presentation. At the same time, a team member monitored his vital stats in real time on a wire less connection. By lying flat on the floor in a prone position, he even demonstrated that the system could detect the physical orientation of theThediver.next step is developing a vest that can be worn under a wetsuit and then rolling out the technology to get as many data points as possible.GUEInstructor and Ph.D. Sergio Schirato’s presentation was a fascinating insight into the ongoing research in the usefulness of heart rate variability (HRV) as a reliable proxy for decom pression stress. HRV is easy to measure and can be monitored during dives with a wearable DAN Europe’s Dr. Marroni revealed that he was wearing the measuring vest during his presentation.
GUE was founded to support div ing projects, and the goal was always to develop well-rounded and capable divers to support various projects and missions. In a way, every single GUE course is a building block designed to shape competent project divers. Still, an actual project diver certification did not exist— until now.
“Dr. Marroni made the point that the next big step in asdataandtheDCSindividualunderstandingvariancesofoccurrencewillbeabilitytomeasurerecordbiologicalbothduringaswellafterthedive.
45August 2022 · Quest
Sergio Schirato tested DAN’s diver data recording system by sending realtime physiological data to the surface transmitter.
device. More research and data are needed to establish a clear correlation between inflam matory and immune system activation markers indicated by HRV changes and markers of phys iological stress associated with diving. But the research seems promising and can potentially be a game changer if HRV data can replace or supplement the traditional Doppler flow meter measurements.
46 Quest· August 2022
Peter Brandt’s presentation on 3D cave repre sentations, and Luca Palezza’s 360-degree talk were impressive demonstrations of the applica tions of real-time 360-models that allow the end user to explore an underwater space on their own, either on screen or with a virtual reality headset.
Advanced imagery
While underwater photography is certainly a challenging discipline, cutting-edge visualization techniques such as 3D models of wrecks and caves or even 360-degree imagery will take it to the next level when presenting underwater scen ery such as caves, shipwrecks, and archaeolog ical sites. John Kendall’s presentation on pho togrammetry proposed that since the novelty of creating 3D models has worn off some, it will be necessary to approach photogrammetry projects with more extensive planning and strategy, depending on the desired outcome and purpose the model serves.
CCR is here to stay With a morning consisting of trailblazing dive medicine and cutting-edge media technology, the afternoon was dedicated to more practical aspects of project diving. Kirill Egorov gave an exciting presentation about habitats that allow cave divers to endure longer decompressions in greater comfort. Sergio Schirato returned with an interesting discussion on cave explora tion logistics, and Erik Wurz bookended the day Candidates are getting ready to dive while enjoying Deep Dive Dubai’s optimal logistics and support.
with a presentation on how to build a scientific report. This is an extremely relevant subject, as extensive crucial information is easily lost if the data is not gathered in a way that makes it suitable for the scientific community. The second day of the conference weekend was again filled with a series of talks in the morning on various subjects such as DPVs (Suex), wreck exploration logistics (Mario Are na), Underwater Cave Archaeology (Beto Nava), and Liability in Extreme Expeditions (DAN Eu rope). The always entertaining Faisal Khalaf from Red Sea Explorers presented on wreck exploration in the Suez Gulf, where a fruitful col laboration with local fishermen and deep CCR divers has led to the discovery of half a dozen wrecks over the last few years. The rest of the day was dedicated to CCR technology. More and more projects and expeditions are executed on CCR, so that topic is greatly relevant at a project diver conference. Kirill Egorov shared his experience with different rebreather configurations, and Richard Lundgren discussed the challenges of managing mixed rebreather teams. A discussion on the subject of bailout rebreathers featured the Kiss Sidewinder (Kirill Egorov), Halcyon RBK (Mark Messersmith), and Liberty eCCR Sidemount (Jakub Šimánek). The day ended with a review and panel discussion on these systems, including the JJ-CCR. Second part After the weekend, the second part of the event began. It was then time for the more practical hands-on sessions and workshops. Richard Lundgren led a session on full-face mask use and surface communication, and the partic ipants all got a chance to dive and test the full-face masks. Meanwhile, DAN Europe ran a series of tests on the data recording system pre sented on the first day of the conference. The Richard Lundgren briefed the candidates on the pros and cons of full-face masks before the test session.
47August 2022 · Quest
The rescue scenario involved recovering an unconscious diver (a doll) from Deep Dive Dubai’s 30 m/100 ft deep underwater apartment. afternoon was dedicated to rescue training and incident management. During a full-scale rescue exercise, the candidates recovered a victim from 30 me ters. After bringing the victim (a doll) to the surface, the rescue team admin istered CPR, and the scenarios were moni tored by
Divetitle—byconferencepresentationapplicableofthewasdeliveredGrahamBlackmore.TheRunningaSuccessfulProject—saysitall.
supportTraining.nizationDubai-basedinstructorsvancedparamedicsprofessionalandadlifesupportfromtheorgaBlueGuardThelifetrainersprovided valuable feedback to the candidates after the extremely realistic scenario practice. The next day featured more lectures and workshops. In the morning, Deep Dive Dubai’s hyperbaric facility hosted talks on decompression chamber operation, including a chance to experience a real chamber ride. The afternoon was an exciting assortment of presentations and lectures, including Advanced Underwa ter Navigation (Andrea Cap pa), Videography (Dimitrios Fifis), and Field Repairs (Dim itrios Fifis, Graham Black more, and Richard Lundgren). Perhaps the most practical and directly applicable presen tation of the conference was delivered by Graham Blackmore. The title—Running a Successful Dive Project—says it all. The presentation was a veritable and not-to-be missed checklist of a dive project’s practical components.
48 Quest· August 2022
Superstar The superstar of decompression knowledge, New Zealand’s Dr. Simon Mitchell, who spe
“Perhaps the most practical and directly
49August 2022 · Quest
Professional life support trainers provided valuable feedback to the candidates after the realistic rescue scenario practice.
• Graham Blackmore
The conference ended with a group dis cussion, including important feedback to the organizers on elements that worked, as well as those that could be improved upon for the next installment of the Project Diver Conference to be conducted in conjunction with the GUE Conference in October 2022 in High Springs, Florida, USA.
•
• Jakub Šimánek
cializes in occupational medicine and anes thesiology, and who topped off the last day of the conference. Dr. Mitchell is one of the most published hyperbaric medicine scientists, an avid technical diver, and a wreck explorer. He is an engaging and humorous presenter and one of the few persons who could entertain an audience for an entire day at the end of a long conference. His contribution was divided into subjects such as Deco Troubles, What it Means to be Conservative in Decompression, Extreme Rebreather Diving Parameters, and Diving Inju ries and Emergency Management. Simon flew in for the day and began his series of presen tations by saying: “I am one of you. I am not an ivory tower academic who does not understand technical diving. I do what you do, and I’m as pas sionate about it as you.”
• Faisal Khalaf
•
•
• Simon Mitchell Simon Mitchell entertained the audience for the entire day. Not easy to do at the end of a long conference.
• Dr. Alessandro Marroni Sergio Schirato John Kendall Peter Brandt Luca Palezza Mario Arena Erik Wurst
• Mark Messersmith
FACT FILE – SPEAKER LINE-UP
• Kirill Egorov Richard Lundgren
•
•
•
•
• Dimitrios Fifis
50 Quest· August 2022
The candidates are now ready for the Apprentice Projects, which forms the second part of the Project Diver certification. Graham presentationBlackmore’s Running a Successful Project was one of the most directly applicable of the conference. 51August 2022 · Quest
THIS ARTICLE SERIES IS BASED ON THE GUE PUBLICATION DRESS FOR SUCCESS BY DAN MACKAY
Roll-on/roll-off
When traveling through an overhead environment, any contact between divers and the top of the
istorically, the long hose was criticized by many div ers that did not fully under stand the benefits. Interest ingly, back in the day, many technical divers were using long hoses in their own per sonal diving, but it was typically attached to the alternate air source and the excess was com monly stuffed under rubber retainers attached to the tanks. In another variation, the long hose was stowed behind the head, wrapped around the tank valves. These locations made it very difficult to de ploy the long hose and nearly impossible to put it away once the situation had been managed and the divers arrived at a gas switch and the long hose was no longer needed. Other objections to the GUE system ranged from “I don’t like having that hose in front of me—it may get caught on something,” to the inevitable “If it does get caught, I could get strangled.”
52 Quest· August 2022
TEXT ANNIKA ANDRESEN PHOTOS ANNIKA ANDRESEN, ANDY WHEELER, SEACOLOGY NZ & MICHAEL LEWINGTON
REGULATORS
– Essentials of the GUE equipment configuration
Without regulators there would be no scuba diving. The demand valve and the double-hose scuba regulator were introduced in 1943, and all regulators were more or less configured the same way until the 1960s, when singlehose systems hit the market and more variants became the norm. Different placements, routings, and lengths of hoses as well as additions of alternate air sources, inflation hoses, and SPGs necessitated some sort of standardization to limit confusion. Streamlining, familiarity, and logic are the governing factors in the GUE regulator configuration.
H
ADDITIONAL TEXT BY JESPER KJØLLER PHOTOS ANDREAS HAGBERG & JESPER KJØLLER
Many divers who raised this objec tion employed such convoluted configurations that having another hose in front of them really wouldn’t have been noticeable anyway. This de tail, apparently, was of no importance to them. The obvious simplicity and benefits of this system have proven to far outweigh any possi ble detraction. The tests of time and use have shown this simple and elegant solution to be the best configuration for any diving environment.
Donating the primary regulator on a long hose is a principlefundamentalintheGUE configuration.
PHOTO ANDREAS HAGBERG 53August 2022 · Quest
cave can cause a roll-off, which is where a cylin der valve is turned off by contact with the ceiling. If divers are traveling forward, then the left post is liable to be rolled off. The amount of contact needed to cause this is only about 30 cm/12 in. For this reason, the shareable regulator—the primary—goes on the right post (which cannot roll off), and the backup regulator is attached to the left post. If sharing gas and exiting under the overhead, the donating diver will notice a roll-off occurring and can reach back and re-open the valve. If the regulators were the other way around, out-of-gas divers could roll-off without the means to rectify this themselves. Breathing gas failure is one of the most serious and immediately life-threatening situations divers can encounter. When a diver donates a breathable source to an out-of-gas diver, it should be the regulator they are currently breathing from (the primary, long hose regulator). This guarantees that the person most in need of a fully functioning regulator is going to get it. Any other regulator passed to an out-of-gas diver may contain sand or other debris and may not function properly. In many out-of-gas situations, air-starved divers will simply pull the regulator from the donor’s mouth; this means that divers who are practiced and prepared for this eventual ity will likely respond more comfortably. The GUE system focuses on helping the diver in trouble by assuming that any competent diver will want to facilitate a safe rescue. Even if the out-of-gas div er remains calm and requests air with the proper signal, under the GUE system, the first breath is guaranteed to be an effective one, as it comes from the regulator a diver was just breathing.
The choice of regulators is fairly simple; there are many excellent selections of high perfor mance first and second stage combinations available. Considering that divers rely on regu lators to perform flawlessly under somewhat severe conditions, it behooves them to make the best choice possible for their life support equip ment. It was once argued that for a double-tank configuration, the first-stage regulators should be of different design. The primary first stage should have been a high-performance piston design and the alternate a detuned, or a lesser performing, diaphragm design. The notion was that if the conditions existed that would cause one to fail, it was unlikely they would cause the other (of a totally different design) to fail. The thought process was valid at the time, given the lack of regulator reliability. Since that time, regulator design and perfor mance have vastly improved. Thus, the need for two different regulator types is no longer a valid concern. You should base your decision strictly on performance and reliability. When selecting a regulator, the main concerns are to ensure that it not be an unbalanced first stage and that it can be easily configured. An unbalanced first stage means that as the intermediate pressure drops, so does the performance of the second stage, as less gas is delivered downstream. Regulators such as the Scubapro MK25/G260 or Halcyon H-75P are excellent high-performance choices with proven track records. You should select sec ond stages that are designed to allow easy access to the diaphragm so that they can be disassembled without tools to clear debris, if necessary. As for the method of attachment to the tank, you have the choice of Deutsches Institut für Normung (DIN) or Yoke fittings. The DIN fitting is preferred for technical applications, as it is a more secure method of attachment that circumvents O-ring extrusion by utilizing a captured O-ring design. The other benefits of a DIN fitting include being low profile and, in general, easier to configure. When striving for consistency, you should ensure that all of your regulators have DIN fittings as well as your tank valves. Having a mix of DIN and Yoke regulators and valves reduces interchangeability and severely compro mises team integrity.
Regulator choice
54 Quest· August 2022
The next part of our regulator configuration is the direct feed to the wing inflator. This hose should be an appropriate length to match the corrugated hose on the wing itself. In a dou ble-cylinder configuration, the hose is fed from the right-post first stage. In the event of a leaking or free-flowing inflator, divers can shut down that valve with their right hand, and since both the corrugated hose and the rear wing dump are on the left, divers can use their left hand to dumpThegas.drysuit will also need a direct feed. This comes from the left-post regulator and runs un der the left arm and across to the drysuit infla tion valve. When conducting dives with helium in the back gas or dives in cold water, divers use a dedicated drysuit inflation bottle with its own separate first stage to feed the drysuit inflator. Given the lack of a second stage on this drysuit bottle, the first stage requires an over-pressure valve. If the pressure builds in the first stage, this allows the pressure to be vented safely. Nothing else is required on that regulator.
“Considering that divers rely on regulators to perform flawlessly under somewhat severe conditions, it behooves them to make the best choice possible for their life support equipment.
Right post first stage Left post first stage necklacebungeewithreguatorBackupPrimaryreguator on long hose with clip withSPG clip Wing inflation Suit inflation THE GUE REGULATOR CONFIGURATION – DOUBLES 55August 2022 · Quest
PHOTOS JESPER KJØLLER 56 Quest· August 2022
In front, the hose routing and configuration are the same regardless if the diver is using single or double cylinders.
“In open water, a long primary hose should allow for some separation of divers in a gassharing situation.
Hose Selection
• One 55-60 cm/22-24 in LP regulator hose for the backup regulator
After selecting your reg ulator, you must configure it properly with five hoses: hose for the primary regulator
• If required, one drysuit inflation hose
The length of the alternate air source hose also depends on the height of the diver. It needs to be long enough to sit under the chin when not in use and allow the diver enough freedom to look fully to the left when it is in use. If it is too long, it will cover the right shoulder D-ring. This situation makes equipment more difficult to attach because the hose is in the way and may cause trapping of the hose by attaching equipment over it. The last considerations are the high pres sure and the suit inflation hoses. Once again, these will be somewhat dependent on the diver’s body size. You need an HP hose long enough to allow the SPG to sit over the left hip D-ring. The suit inflation hose should be long enough to comfortably and snugly fit to your drysuit inflator. A careful selection of hose lengths is critical in a streamlined configuration.
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• One 55 cm/22 in LP accessory hose for wing inflation
Length will vary according to the height of the diver and what source of inflation is being used—either suit inflation bottle or back gas. The indicated lengths for these hoses are sug gested starting points. In open water, a long primary hose should allow for some separation of divers in a gas sharing situation. For most people, the 210 cm/7 ft hose is a good choice, being neither inconveniently long for correct stowage nor uncomfortably short in use. However, a shorter per son may require a shorter hose. When purchasing the hose, perform a “dry fit” at your local dive shop to check for the correct length and adjust accordingly.
• One 60 cm/24 in HP hose for the SPG
nothingregulatorStage bungeeregulatorBackup boltregulatorPrimarysnap 58 Quest· August 2022
On a technical dive, where divers breathe different gases at different phases during the dive, it is of utmost importance that everyone in the team is aware of what everyone else is breathing. In an emer gency, it is easy to lose track. The beauty of a standardized regulator configuration is that it is very easy to look at another diver and immediately identify what gas source they are breathing. If the back gas is breathed through the long hose, the diver will have a small bolt snap dangling from the hose next to the second stage. If the back gas is breathed from the backup regulator, the necklace bungee will be visible on both sides of the diver’s cheek. And if a diver is breathing from a stage regulator, there will be neither a bolt snap nor a bungee. This illustrates one of the many benefits of standardization and also emphasizes why you should not try to out smart the system by making individual regulator configurations that deviate from the standard, causing the system to break down and severely disrupting situational awareness within the team.
What are you breathing from?
Regulator assembly
Now it is time to assemble the system. Due to the fact that a single-cylinder system’s reg ulator gets a little crowded, you may wish to decide prior to purchase how the hoses will be configured on your regulator. At a minimum, you will require one HP port and four LP ports.
Configuring the regulator needs to be done in such a manner that the primary and alter nate second stage regulators attach to the right side of the first stage, and the HP hose, the LP BCD hose, and the LP suit inflation hose come off of the left side. Left and right are determined by attaching the regulator to the tank and standing behind the tank with the regulator facing away from you. The other way of thinking about this is that if you were wear ing the system, the right side of the regula tor—which is now behind your head—is to your right side and the left is on your left. All fittings and attachments should be se cure and not just finger tight. A half-inch stain less steel bolt snap should be attached to the primary hose. A 3/4 inch bolt snap is used to secure the SPG, allowing secure storage when not in use.
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The backup regulator is on a bungee and is thecomfortablypositionedunderchin.
The long hose, starting at the regulator, is routed behind the wing (or alongside) and underneath the light canister or tucked in the belt.
The BCD inflator hose is captured by retainers on the corrugated hose and held in place by a small loop of bungee on the D-ring.left-chestTheSPGroutesnaturallydowntheleftsideandclipstotheleft-hipD-ring.
LONG HOSE CONFIGURATION
The long hose goes behind the neck, from left to right. The long hose is clipped off to inD-ringright-shoulderthewhennotuse.
The long tothediagonallycontinueshoseacrossbody,fromrightleft.
Submersible Pressure Gauge (SPG) The SPG is the secondary gas management tool, the primary being the diver who turns on their brain underwater. The gauge provides an accurate confirmation of remaining gas volume. The design should be rugged, easy to read, and have a luminous dial. It must be an oil-filled brassWhenconstruction.preparingthe
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SPG, remove the gauge from the hose it shipped with, as it will almost invariably be 1 m/3 ft—entirely too long for the GUE configuration. Remove any protective boot and attach the gauge to a 56-62 cm/22-24 in HPThehose.SPG that is attached to the primary system should be large, sturdy, and easy to read. Plastic gauges are somewhat fragile and suitable for use only in an effort to keep weight down on stage/deco bottles, since large brass gauges are heavy. In recent years, smaller brass mini-gauges—such as those offered by Dive Rite, Halcyon, or Scubapro, as well as oth er manufacturers—have proven excellent, high performance alternatives to plastic gauges for use with stages. The SPG comes from the left-post regula tor and is clipped to the left-hip D-ring with a medium-sized bolt snap. The bolt snap is tied to the hose near to the SPG. The SPG is fed from the left post to enable divers to gain some information about the status of their valves. If divers check their SPG approximately every five minutes and they see that the pressure has not dropped, this indicates that either the left post or manifold valve is closed. This may be due to a left-post roll-off. Upon noticing this, divers should perform a flow check (making sure that each valve is open in turn), and remedy the issue. Next time: ancillary equipment Checking the SPG while still gripping the bolt snap makes it easy to quickly reattach it to the D-ring after reading.
Lectures on Saturday will take place at our favorite conference center, the Gainesville Hilton, and we’ll wrap up the day with appetizers and cocktail hour.
29-30 2022 GUE Conference
Sunday provides you a chance to go diving with your teammates or GUE instructors, or join us for more presentations at a new venue in High Springs. Afterwards, we’ll close out the conference with a Halloween party and bonfire. More information and registration here
GLOBALUNDERWATEREXPLORERS
Gainesville & High Springs, Florida
OCTOBER
Get an insider’s view of GUE’s new Project Diver program, with a unique opportunity to join some of the Core Module presentations from leading educators, scientists, and explorers.
Even if a Fundamentals Tech pass essentially means you are ready for Tech 1, you will benefit from focused training before the course. TEXT GUY SHOCKEY PHOTOS ANDREAS HAGBERG, IMAD FARHAT, JULIAN MÜHLENHAUS & ALEXANDRA GRAZIANO PHOTO IMAD FARHAT “If Fundamentals is like sipping from a water fountain, then Tech 1 is drinking from a fire hose. 62 Quest· August 2022
PREPARINGFORGUETECH1
—Get ready for the next step You completed your GUE Fundamentals class and achieved a Tech pass. You started your GUE journey with the dream of diving some amazing wrecks or reefs in the 50 m/165 ft range, and now you’re turning your attention to the next stage of your journey. And, you’re starting to ask yourself the question that every Tech 1 instructor is asked many times each year: “How do I prepare for GUE Tech 1?” GUE Instructor Evaluator Guy Shockey explains how.
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ou might assume you have a reasonable chance of suc cess if you enroll in a GUE Tech 1 class the day after you receive your GUE Fundamen tals Tech pass; however, most Tech 1 candidates take some time to consolidate their previous gains before moving forward. It’s important to note that this training hiatus is not a requirement. Moving from Fundamentals to Tech 1 isn’t like the transition between Tech 1 and CCR 1 (or Tech 2) where you are required to do a particular number of experience dives. At the same time, it’s not a bad idea to ensure that you can consistently meet the buoyancy and trim requirements before choos ing to do the GUE Tech 1 course. As a friend of mine said, “If Fundamentals is like sipping from a water fountain, then Tech 1 is drinking from a fire hose.” Tech 1 is not the place to find out your Fundamentals Tech-pass skills are inconsistent. The course is very busy, and if you fall be hind on the first or second day, you’re unlikely to catch up.
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Buoyancy and trim Tech 1 is all about midwater buoyancy and trim. You must be able to build a secure and non-moving platform at any depth. Tech divers are crea tures of the blue water, and we must be at home wherever we are, regardless of where the bottom is. We seldom have anything but our teammates, our instruments, and a line to keep ourselves where we want to stay. Exemplary positioning—keeping in three dimensions—is a necessary part of “building our platform,” which is where we can communicate, manage issues, and make decisions. Think of this platform as
Decompression diving means spending a lot of time in the blue, so getting comfortable in the water column is essential.
Y
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PHOTO JULIAN MÜHLENHAUS
“Even if you just finished your Fundamentals Tech pass the day before, there is likely still room for improvement, and this is your chance to make “very good” even better.
Propulsion
the floor of an elevator where you and your teammates are lying and facing each other. The elevator moves up and down, but the teammates do not move relative to each other. Your team moves up the line in forma tion and levels off at the new stop, but they don’t really change position relative to one another. We also build this platform to bring our team back up to the surface.
Part of your Tech 1 class is skill refinement, so you should expect to polish your existing kicks. Even if you just finished your Fundamentals Tech pass the day before, there is likely still room for improvement, and this is your chance to make “very good” even better. Expect the same for your maneuvering kicks—back kick ing and helicopter turns. You will find that your back kick is your most useful physical skill in building your platform, and you will use it all the time. Having a weak or ineffectual back kick will make platform-building that much more difficult. Valve drills and S-drills
Your first dive in your Tech 1 class will likely be very similar to your last dive in your Funda mentals class. In my classes, you will swim to 10 m/30 ft, deploy an SMB, then move up to 6 m/20 ft and do a round of valve drills and S-drills while maintaining your platform on the line. You won’t move around and travel in the S-drills: This is an exercise in buoyancy control and precision positioning while being task-loaded. This is basically a “show me” dive so that I know where the baseline is on your fundamental skills. Based on your performance in this series, we can adjust our immediate timeline for moving ahead.
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Situational awareness
One of the best drills you can do is swim out to 10 m/30 ft, deploy an SMB, then move up to 6 m/20 ft and do a round of valve drills and S-drills. This sounds simple enough, but, as always, the devil is in the details; it isn’t so much “that” you do it, it’s “how” you do it. You should expect to be held to the same standard as your Fundamentals Tech pass with respect to buoyancy and trim: a 1 m/3 ft buoy ancy window and 20 degrees of trim. I have watched students practice and practice with the “this is good enough” mentality, but if it isn’t inside the standards listed above, then it isn’t good enough.
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Throughout years of teaching technical diving, I’ve become more and more convinced that the single biggest strength a technical diver can have is strong situational awareness. This capacity bolsters everything else and can make or break a dive. You began learning how to develop this in your Fundamentals class when your instructor task loaded you with maintaining team positioning while also swimming around a circuit and performing various skills and drills. It likely seemed difficult to juggle everything at the beginning, but the skill develops quickly, and in Tech 1 we make this a bigger priority. Consider doing a bench press in a universal gym. You can apply all your strength to pushing the bar upwards, and if you do so unevenly, it doesn’t really matter: You are able to transfer all your strength into upward mo tion to make the bar move upward. Now do the same thing with dumbbells. You will find that you need to use many “helper” mus cles to stabilize the dumbbell, and that you need to focus and manage these muscles in addition to the actual primary work of pressing the dumbbell up. This is what we do in Tech 1: We create scenarios where you will do something like manage a valve failure but, while doing so, you will be required to use your “helper muscles” to monitor depth, time, current, team position, and your equipment. You can’t simply put your head down and follow a scripted sequence of events to resolve a valve failure. There is much more going on, and you will learn to increase your situational awareness capacity by stretching it and using it. Skill development We’ve identified which skills to hone and what we will focus on in Tech 1. So, the question becomes, “How do I practice them?”
“We’ve identified which skills to hone and what we will focus on in Tech 1. So, the question becomes, “How do I practice them?”
Debrief the training dives. Ask your teammates for honest feedback, and provide the same. Hold each other accountable for the performance and offer tips for improvement. PHOTO ALEXANDRA GRAZIANO 67August 2022 · Quest
GUE’s Technical Diver Level 1 course is designed to prepare divers for the rigors of technical diving and to familiarize them with the use of different breathing and decompression mixtures.
• Have earned a GUE Fundamentals - Technical certification.
• Be physically and mentally fit.
• Be a non-smoker.
• Have a minimum of 100 logged dives beyond autonomous entry-level scuba diver.
• Be a minimum of 18 years of age.
• Obtain a physician’s prior written authorization for use of prescription drugs, except for birth control, or for any medical condition that may pose a risk while diving.
You need to be honest with yourself about your performance from these two perspectives because—rest assured—your instructor will be honest with you! This is probably the most common thing that I see: Students practice a lot, but they don’t practice well. “Practice per fectly to perform perfectly.” If you don’t hold yourself to a high standard, and “good enough” is okay, then you will spend the first day or so in Tech 1 class doing remedial trim and buoy ancy work. This can mean that you run out of time and don’t complete your class. Deploy your SMB, move up, clip a double-ender at the 6 m/20 ft mark, and challenge yourself to keep that double-ender right in front of you. Then get to the point where you remove the double-ender. Rewarding Make a pact with your teammates to hold each other accountable for your performance. Agree to be totally honest with each other. Ask for— and expect—feedback from your teammates, and provide the same. If you do this, then you will breeze through your first dive on Tech 1, and you will have the foundation you need to move on to gas switches and valve failure reso lution. You won’t be chasing the skills, and you will have to absorb only the new material. You won’t have to play catch-up, and your days will be challenging, but rewarding—and even fun! Tech 1 is a very rewarding class to teach. Here, the students’ lights start to go on, and they understand the “why” for many of the things we did in Fundamentals. It often isn’t enough to just have something explained to you; having a visceral experience that demon strates the “why” and the “this is what can happen when you don’t do it” is much more persuasive, and this happens frequently in Tech 1. There is also a lot of new classroom material, so being squared away in your diving will free up some mental capacity to learn and understand the new theory.
Applicants for a GUE Technical Diver Level 1 program must:
Additional course outcomes include cultivating, integrating, and expanding the essential skills required for safe technical diving; problem identification and resolution; the use of a double tanks configuration and the potential failures associated with it; the use of nitrox for accelerated and general decompression strategies; the use of helium to minimize narcosis; and the applications of single decompression stage diving with respect to decompression procedures.
The Technical Diver Level 1 course is normally conducted over six days. It requires a minimum of seven dives (including three trimix experience dives) and at least 48 hours of instruction, encompassing classroom lectures, land drills, and in-water work.
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FACT FILE – TECH 1 PREREQUISITES
Tech 1 can be one of the most rewarding classes you will ever take. You will come away with confidence, increased capacity and skill, and a whole new world of diving experiences will be open to you. Have fun, and enjoy the journey! Refining your communication skills with clear hand and light signals will prepare you for Tech 1. PHOTO
Guy
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Guy Shockey lives on Vancouver Island, Canada, about two minutes from the ocean. Guy is an ex-military officer, holds a graduate degree in political science, and played competitive rugby for several years. Guy travels and dives extensively and is involved with several wreck exploration projects. He is also a GUE instructor, teaching the recreational and technical curricula. Shockey JULIAN MÜHLENHAUS
CAVE METHODOLOGYEQUIPMENTDIVING
GUE utilizes a system of diving that provides divers—both and experienced—with a clear alternative to inefficient complicated diving systems. This system is holistic, a procedural emphasis with a carefully developed configuration. The GUE system is derived largely from Right (DIR) system of diving while enhancing these range of new techniques and procedures. GUE principals major architects of the DIR system, which is globally for its role in reducing complexity while enabling divers most out of their diving activity. Greatly simplifying procedures reduces confusion among new divers complex expeditions, enhancing safety and team efficiency.
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TEXT FROM THE GUE PUBLICATION DEEP INTO CAVE DIVING WITH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM KIRILL EGOROV, JARROD JABLONSKI, DANIEL RIORDAN, FRED DEVOS, TODD KINCAID & CHRIS LE MAILLOT PHOTOS KIRILL EGOROV & JESPER KJØLLER
DIVING
& METHODOLOGYEQUIPMENT divers—both beginner inefficient and overly holistic,fromequipmentblendingtheDoing It these concepts with a principals were the globally simplifyingdiversrecognizedtogettheoperationaland/orwithinefficiency. 71August 2022 · Quest
I
t is unwise to view the GUE equipment configuration without deferring to the broader context in which these details are outlined. This is because GUE’s methodology is a complete system that seeks to intensify diving enjoy ment by enhancing efficiency and safe ty. This philosophy promotes rational choices with respect to dive teams, dive preparation, and equipment configuration as a means of ensuring safety, efficiency, and enjoyment. The following discussion highlights common GUE principles as they relate to cave diving activity.
Underwater cave environments can be very unforgiving to those who are ill-prepared. Here, the time constraints linked to a finite gas supply require divers not only to be aware of the risks posed by silting, entrapment, entanglement, loss of direction, loss of ambient light, and equipment failure, but also to be able to manage them quickly and efficiently. Beyond training, manag ing risk takes many forms (e.g., good technique, self-awareness, good character, a sound equip ment configuration, good buoyancy and trim, experience, and team diving). Team diving is one of the cornerstones of GUE and is critical to sound cave diving prac tice. In a cave environment, team diving not only reduces risk by multiplying abilities and perspectives, but it also augments divers’ enjoy ment by having others with whom to share the experience. Cave divers functioning together as a team are less likely to experience problems and are substantially better prepared to manage unforeseen difficulties. However, to truly opti mize the team, cave diving should not be at tempted with a haphazard collection of individ uals; it must be a coherent group that acts with the interests of the entire team in mind. Such a group requires that all of its members are sepa rately capable. If they are not, weaker members stand to undermine the overall productivity of the group and compromise its safety. Dive teams should choose their members carefully, particularly in demanding environments, and should adjust dive difficulty with the abilities of the weakest member in mind. As the old adage goes, “A chain is only as strong as the weakest link.” Adjusting dives for weaker but capable members does not prevent safe enjoyment; it merely facilitates the safe pursuit of dives within the constraints of the team’s collective abilities. When weaker or less experienced divers find themselves on a team that is considering a dive that exceeds either their ability or their level of comfort, it behooves them to communicate this to the remaining team members. Diving-related problems often result from the accumulation of several poorly managed problems, often the result of poor dive buddy skills and/or irrespon sible team members. In cases where there are weaker or less experienced team members, and the team is aware of them, dive plans should always be catered to them. As in all other forms of team diving, exploring a cave requires that divers stay together, regular ly reference each other, and are always prepared to assist each other with difficulties before they become problems. Members of a dive team can easily stay together by remaining attentive to each other’s position throughout the dive and frequently referencing each other’s location. Team separation, a common component of div ing emergencies and diver fatalities, is almost always the result of carelessness. Astute cave divers will rarely, if ever, become separated from other team members. This is an important skill to cultivate because, unlike in the open water where divers can go to the surface to look for a team member, in a cave they cannot do so, forc ing them to shoulder all the associated risks and stresses of unwillingly diving solo. Good diver awareness and proper diving procedures should prevent this from occurring. In cave environments, the use of powerful underwater lights promotes team unity and communication. These lights make it much easier for team members to stay together and to communicate with each other. Divers can move through the water referencing one another on a regular basis, and passing the light across another team member’s visual field (not directly in their face) can provide them with a constant source of reference. Divers who make it easy for others to stay with them will enjoy much greater team support and comfort. Alternatively, divers
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Team unity
PHOTO KIRILL EGOROV “As in all other forms of team diving, exploring a cave requires that divers stay together, regularly reference each other, and are always prepared to assist each other with difficulties before they become problems. Advanced cave diving techniques involve the use of scooters and stages. 73August 2022 · Quest
PHOTO KIRILL EGOROV 74 Quest· August 2022
who are not careful to encourage unity by promoting easy—and therefore regular—communi cation develop bad diving habits and endanger their entire team. Of course, it is always possible to dive alone; however, team diving with competent compan ions is safer and far more rewarding. Dive teams can relay important information to each other regarding individual diving technique, point out features that others may miss, prevent trouble before it occurs, and assist in emergency sit uations. Individuals who view team diving in a negative light have likely never enjoyed the ben efits of a good dive partner. Furthermore, these individuals artificially limit diving fun and safety.
Streamlining Streamlining is a key component of GUE diving procedures and an integral part of safe and en joyable cave diving. Streamlining helps minimize divers’ overall surface area and their associated in-water drag. In the case of a gear-intensive activity like cave diving—one that also requires in-water precision and efficiency—streamlining not only promotes ease of movement through the water but also reduces effort and stress, thereby contributing to safe, skillful, and com fortable cave diving. By reducing a diver’s pro file in the water, streamlining techniques also reduce the risk of entrapment or entanglement. Divers can rethink equipment options—not only from the vantage point of redundancy and safety but also from that of decreased drag—in a variety of ways, including the elimination of the following: waist and cylinder-mounted reels, bulky buoyancy compensators (BCs), consoles, dangling waist and chest pouches, errant hose routings, as well as other cumbersome equip ment choices. This line of reasoning presents cave divers with two alternatives; they can either streamline their equipment, reduce what drag it produces, and move safely and comfortably through the cave environment, or they can maintain a set of equipment choices that will force them to expend enormous amounts of energy to move through the water. These poor choices
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The Fundamentals of Better Diving delineates the key elements that contribute to a safe and enjoy able dive. The book discusses how GUE equip ment configurations are almost identical across a wide range of diving environments and that to adjust for specific applications, GUE divers merely need to add appropriate safety equipment to their GUE equipment foundation. There is no reason to rehash the entire discussion here, but it is important to re-examine some of these issues from the specific perspective of cave diving. In what follows, specific equipment issues raised by the cave environment are discussed.
also subject these divers to unnecessary stress, putting them at greater risk than necessary.
GUE EQUIPMENT
Valves For cave diving, Deutsches Institut für Normung (DIN) dual-valve manifolds with isolators are the valves of choice. Isolator manifold systems not only allow cave divers to access their entire gas supply from either regulator, thereby greatly facilitating gas management, but also allow them in emergencies to isolate the flow of gas between the two cylinders while still maintaining independent access to the gas in each cylin der. The value of having an isolator is clear. If, following contact with the cave ceiling, divers manage to shear off a knob while simultaneous ly experiencing a leak from either an O-ring or a burst disk, only an isolator will prevent losing the entire gas supply. In such an event, closing the isolator valve will allow divers to isolate their supply and ensure that no more than half of their supply will be lost. In cave diving, DIN valves are generally pre ferred, particularly in the case of back gas reg ulators that are more likely to be damaged by inadvertent contact with the ceiling. In contrast to Yoke systems that are “compressed” O-ring systems, DIN valve systems are “captured” O-ring systems. As such, they provide a better seal and a more robust connection (contact with an over head may release compressed O-rings). Selecting equipment with low drag combined with proper diving techniques promotes a streamlined profile.
Masks and fins
This exercise simulates a complete light failure or total silt-out, forcing the team to exit the cave without visual references.
GUE harness, backplate, and BCs See Quest 23.2 for a thorough discussion on har ness, backplate, and buoyancy compensators.
For cave diving, a low-volume mask is ideal, and though split fins are gaining in popularity with the public, they are not good cave diving fins. A rigid, non-split fin, such as the classic Jet Fin, is a much better cave diving fin because it gives the diver better control over the fin blast, facili tates a greater variety of propulsion techniques, and creates a more powerful thrust.
Regulators
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Cave diving requires the use of reliable, high-per formance regulators. In all cases, DIN valves are recommended, especially for back gas systems. Additionally, divers should be aware of the need for streamlined hose routing, for using down stream rather than upstream regulators, and for a backup regulator that will not easily free-flow. Backup regulators should be held in place below the chin by a neck lanyard. Divers should also be conscious of the connections used to secure stage stainless steel clips to second stage regula tors. Cave line is the preferred connection to hold second stage clips used with divers’ long hoses. Stage bottle second stages do not require a clip, provided at least two retaining bands are in place around the tank. This ensures the second stage can be secured to the bottle when not in use. Unlike other applications (e.g., recreational open water), cave diving requires the use of a 2 m/7 ft hose. Such hoses facilitate gas sharing through restricted passages—ones that require divers to proceed single file. With a 2 m/7 ft hose, divers can easily supply an out-of-gas div er with gas while either proceeding down a re strictive passage or while scooter diving. Divers should avoid 1.5 m/5 ft and 3 m/9 ft hoses in these settings—the former are too short for truly confined areas or scooter towing, and the latter are too long to be comfortably managed while not deployed. Read much more about regulators on page 52 in this issue of Quest.
PHOTO KIRILL EGOROV
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“Arrows are typically used where directional marking is appropriate, such as at a jump where there is no preexisting line arrow or during an emergency exit from a cave system.
Reels and spools
Line arrows and cookies are essential compo nents of cave divers’ equipment and should be clipped off on a piece of bungee and carried in their pockets. Line arrows are navigational markers intended to mark the direction to the nearest exit. Arrows are typically used where directional marking is appropriate, such as at a jump where there is no pre-existing line arrow or during an emergency exit from a cave system. Use of line arrows in pre-marked cave systems should be done cautiously so as not to confuse other divers with inappropriate marking. This is because it can erroneously communicate to divers, who may have entered the cave system from another site, that the direction marked is the nearest exit (which, for them, may not be true). This potential for directional error should also encourage divers to avoid trusting currently placed markers. To avoid this con fusion, divers can use cookies as line markers. Being non-directional, they can help note position in a cave, set up a traverse or circuit, mark the exit side of a jump or gap, and in some cases, simply provide psychological support without reference to the nearest exit.
Arrows and cookies
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Each cave diving team requires one primary reel that will enable installation of a guideline from the open water to the permanent line. Primary reels should be of rugged construction and carry 91-152 m/300-500 ft of line, usually #36 due to
Lights In an underwater environment where there is no ambient light, lights are vital pieces of equip ment that enable cave divers to orient them selves in the cave, reference guidelines, and communicate with each other. As essential to diving fun and efficiency as reliable lights are, divers must be prepared for the eventuality of failure. A variety of problems, ranging from bro ken bulbs, switches, and connections to flooded canisters and tired batteries, could leave divers with insufficient lighting. Unless divers are pre pared, they might find themselves literally in the dark and far removed from the entrance. For this reason, cave divers should carry three lights: one primary light and two backups. Typically, primary lights are waist-mounted canister lights with sufficient burn time to last throughout an intended dive (though cordless handheld lights are currently becoming popular), with some margin for delays. Canisters should also be made of break-resistant material. The lighthead should be mounted on a Goodman handle, freeing the hand for other uses (e.g., running the reel). The size and bright ness of divers’ canister lights will, of course, depend on the kinds of cave dives they intend on doing. Before the advent of high-inten sity discharge (HID) lights, the typical cave diving primary light combined a 14 amp battery pack with a 50-watt halogen bulb for a burn time of rough ly 150 minutes. More modern HID lights offer superior burn time, higher quality lighting, and— for the equivalent amount of burn time and brightness—less weight and volume (in and out of the water) than their halogen analogs. Now, LED technology combined with lithium-based rechargeable batteries is replacing HID, much like halogen was replaced a few short years before. The wide range of HID and LED choices and contingencies provides a variety of options appropriate for cave diving. In addition to their primary lights, cave divers should carry two backups. Backup lights should be powered by non-rechargeable batteries, should be sufficiently bright to communicate with team members, and should be durable, reliable, and have adequate burn time to exit the cave system in the event of a primary light failure.
repeated wear from multiple uses. These should also facilitate one-handed operation while hold ing a Goodman-style lighthead.
For short distances or frequent use, spools are more efficient and potentially safer than tra ditional reels because they cannot jam. This not only makes running a gap or a jump easier but also substantially increases a diver’s chances of finding a lost line or buddy. Long distances are best traveled with a reel that carries sufficient line and facilitates easier retrieval.
For jumps and gaps, cave divers should carry spools of rugged material and solid construc tion (e.g., machined Delrin). These should carry between 24-30 m/80-100 ft of line, usually #24.
Stage/decompression bottles
Additionally, all cave divers should carry a safety spool made of a solid piece of Delrin with 3045 m/100-150 ft of line, also usually #24.
The terms stage and decompression bottles are often used interchangeably; technically, they rep resent cylinders used for either decompression or increased bottom time/overhead penetration. These bottles are practically the same yet dis play appropriate depth use markings and contain specific mixtures relevant to the desired applica tion. In cave diving, where oxygen decompression bottles are left behind in the spring basin, steel bottles are appropriate. Cave divers with long de compression obligations usually opt for steel bot tles because their lower working pressure gives them a greater volume of oxygen for the given pressure. Lighter aluminum bottles are preferred for stages or for use with short deco dives. All stage and decompression bottles should be rigged with stainless steel bolt snaps. Stain less bolt snaps are attached by a piece of onequarter-inch line run under a hose clamp placed halfway down the tank. Divers should always be able to cut jammed or broken clips from their equipment. Therefore, divers should never have metal-to-metal connections on any part of their equipment. All bottles should be permanently marked to reflect their maximum operating depth (MOD), using 3-inch-high letters placed horizontally in the orientation of the tank. A decompression or stage bottle regulator is fitted with a pressure gauge on a 6-inch hose that is bent back on itself to face the diver; it is held in place at the first stage by bungee cord or cave line. The second stage hose must be oc topus length, or 90-100 cm/38-40 inches. When not in use, regulators should be tucked away in an elastic band on the bottle, and the bottle valve closed. DPVs For experienced cave divers, DPVs can be remarkable assets. By enabling them to cover great distances while re ducing effort and gas con sumption, scooters provide divers with incredible tools to facilitate underwater work or play. The most versatile form of propulsion vehicle is the tow-behind scooter because, unlike its competitors, 1) it breaks the water in front of div ers so that they and their gear are somewhat in the slipstream of the scoot er, 2) the props are in front of divers where they can be seen, 3) they are very maneu verable, and 4) they facilitate the ability to tow reserve scooters or other equipment.
78 Quest· August 2022
PHOTO KIRILL EGOROV 79August 2022 · Quest
When scooter diving, divers must reconcile their scooter’s speed and power with their ability to return to safety without it, should it fail. In fact, not only can too much speed sabotage gas planning, it can also undermine divers’ ability to accurately plan for a towing emergency. Furthermore, too much speed over distance causes comfort and thermal prob lems for divers, navigation problems for cave diving, and breathing discomfort/free-flowing regulators. Last, since power required for speed rises expo nentially and drag rises exponentially with speed, there is a point of diminish ing returns where the battery capacity required to burn a short time is prohibitive.Thebest method of attaching a scooter is by a tow cord that runs from the scooter han dles to the front D-ring on the diver’s crotch strap. This allows divers to be pulled by the front D-ring attachment and not by their arms, which further allows divers’ hands to remain relaxed, with only wrist action required to guide the scooter and a finger on the trigger.
The best position for the scooter is where the propeller wash will not hit divers at all. The best handle position is riding with the scooter out in front, the arm extended but relaxed, the hand resting on the handle. Cave divers will encounter areas that do not allow for continued use of a DPV. This requires that scooters be left behind. Pro tocol for leaving scooters in the water includes deacti vating the scooter by using a mechanical switch or pinning the trigger. Observ ing this protocol will reduce the likelihood that a scooter will accidentally activate itself and ruin the vis ibility and/or damage the guideline. This also holds true when towing a second scooter.
“The best handle position is riding with the scooter out in front, the arm extended but relaxed, the hand resting on the handle. Stage and decompression bottles are terminologies.interchangeableTheyareeitherusedfordecompressionortoincreasethebottomtime.
A full complement of cave equipment will also include:Mandatory: a wrist compass, a diver’s note book with waterproof paper and appropriate writing utensil (right suit pocket), a set of de compression tables (right suit pocket), a bot tom timer, a watch, appropriate exposure suit undergarments (if required), and pockets on the exposure suit.
Dive- or exposure-dependent: a V-weight (if empty bottles or aluminum back gas cylinders will make them excessively buoyant at the end of the dive), a P-valve (for long exposures), double-enders and a tow leash (multiple bottles and/or scooters), a spare mask (at least one per team on long penetrations), knotted line and survey notes (if exploring), and food and hydration (for long decompressions).
Fully kitted GUE cave divers ready to explore.
PHOTO KIRILL EGOROV 80 Quest· August 2022
Miscellaneous equipment
A holistic system GUE promotes a holistic diving system that, once embraced, is unrivaled in its ability to promote diver safety and enjoyment. Though minor equipment modifications may exist from one environment to the next, the basic tenets of the system remain identical across all diving applications. Team diving, reliable and good-quality equipment, a streamlined and rationally conceived equipment configuration, as well as sound nutritional and exercise habits all contribute to ensuring safer and more plea surable dives. Last, by promoting matching gear configurations across dive team members, GUE facilitates efficient problem recognition and resolution. Next time: Line fundamentals
GUE PREMIUM DIVE CENTERS Deep Dive Dubai – Dubai, UAE Deepstopwww.deepdivedubai.com–Schwetzingen, Germany Divewww.deepstop.deCentreBondi – Bondi, NSW, Australia Duikcentrumwww.divebondi.com.audeAalscholvers – Tilburg, Netherlands Eightwww.aalscholvers.nlDiving–Des Moines, WA, USA Extremewww.8diving.comExposure – High Springs, FL, USA Livingwww.extreme-exposure.comOceans–Singapore Livingwww.livingoceans.com.sgOceansMalaysia – Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Plongéewww.livingoceans.com.myNautilus–Quebec City, QC, Canada www.plongeenautilus.com Portofino Divers – Portofino, Italy Qiandaohuwww.plongeenautilus.comDivingCenter – Hangzhou, China www.facebook.com/qiandaolake 82 Quest· August 2022
Scuba Academie – Vinkeveen, Netherlands Silentwww.scuba-academie.nlBubbles–Stockholm, Sweden Tecwwww.silentbubbles.seDiving–Luzern, Switzerland Techwww.tecdiving.chKorea–Incheon, South Korea Thirdwww.divetechkorea.comDimensionDiving – Tulum, Q. Roo, Mexico www.thirddimensiondiving.com T H I R D DIME N S IONDIV I N G TULUM MÉXICO Third Dimension Diving SEA – Kwun Tong, Hong Kong Zerowww.thirddimensiondivingsea.comGravity–QuintanaRoo,Mexico www.zerogravity.com.mx DIVEPREMIUMCENTER 2022 83August 2022 · Quest
GUE DIVE CENTERS Acuatic Tulum Dive Center – Tulum, Mexico Buddywww.acuatictulum.comDiveResort– Bonaire Divewww.buddydive.comAlaska–Anchorage, AK, USA Diveolutionwww.divealaska.net–Kessl-Lo, Belgium Faszination-Tauchsportwww.diveolution.com – Sauerlach, Germany Freestylewww.faszination-tauchsport.deDivers–Fujairah, United Arab Emirates Hollywoodwww.freestyledivers.meDivers–Los Angeles, CA, USA Islaswww.hollywooddivers.comHormigas–Cabo de Palos, Spain Kasaiwww.islashormigas.comVillageDiveAcademy – Cebu, Philippines KrakenDivewww.scubadivingphilippines.com–TossadeMar,Spain Krnicadivewww.krakendive.com–Krnica, Croatia www.krnicadive.com 84 Quest· August 2022
Moby Tek Dive Centre – Pahang, Malaysia Oceanwww.moby-tek.comBlueWave – Bangkok, Thailand Redwww.ocean-bluewave.comSeaExplorers–Hurghada, Egypt Scubawww.redseaexplorers.comAdventures–Plano, TX, USA Scubawww.scubaadventures.comSeekers–Dahab, Egypt Tauchenwww.scubaseekers.comundFreizeit – Wuppertal, Germany Tauchservicewww.tauchenundfreizeit.deMünster– Münster, Germany Techwww.tauchservice.infoAsia–PuertoGalera, Philippines Wernerwww.techasia.phLauSinai Divers Tek – Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt www.wernerlautek.com DIVE2022CENTER 85August 2022 · Quest
