Hi

[Chris Armstrong]

Hi guys,

I'm Chris. I'm a student at university studying Systems Engineering. I'm in my last year now, so soon I'm off into the big wide world.
I'm a diver based in the UK - thats the other side of the pond for you guys

I've been a qualified diver since 2004 where I did my PADI OW with scuba west, then in 2005 I did my AOW at the same place. At this point I started diving in the UK. In 2006 I purchased all my own gear - twinset, regs, drysuit, harness & wing.

In May 2009, I did the GUE Fundamentals course and passed, with Clare Gledhill in the UK. Heres a link to my course report on direxplorers (sorry for x-posting) - http://www.direxplorers.com/gue-cour...html#post78856

I've now purchased my own HID light - a Salvo 21W HID with a 9Ah pack thats remarkable burning for 5 hours! Don't ask - I got the light second hand and the battery is 4 years old ....

At the moment, I'm booking Jim Wyatt to do basic/intro thru full cave this august this year. I was wondering if anyone has a full cave course report so I can find out what happens and what its like, so far my google searches are revealing very little??

Look forward to learning from you!!

Best wishes,

Chris

[reiterman]

I have not trained with Jim yet, however i will be in March and April I will be glad to give you a class report at that time. I am really looking forward to the classes, i have heard very good things.

[divindoc]

Chris, you and reiterman should check out the Guestbook on Jims' website cavediveflorida.com. You'll have a great course, and have fun doing it, aside from the usual "Oh S@#% moments common to any cave class. Jim delivers the medicine when needed, but he does it with a smile!

[ltb7733]

i wish you well on your class. try to get in one day of diving at ginnie springs before class to brush up on skills such as trim, valve shut down drills, and running a reel. also wear a dry suit with a pee valve. you will be in the water alot during your days of class. good luck!!

[reiterman]

thanks divindoc i have read his guest book and can not wait til march to start my training. really looking forward to it.

[Chris Armstrong]

i wish you well on your class. try to get in one day of diving at ginnie springs before class to brush up on skills such as trim, valve shut down drills, and running a reel. also wear a dry suit with a pee valve. you will be in the water alot during your days of class. good luck!!

Wear a drysuit in FL! You have got to be joking! I would die of heat stroke - remember, I'm british!

I'll be wearing my 3mm wetsuit (which I'm attaching pockets to hold my spools, spare mask, line arrows and cookies etc) so I'll be peeing away guilt free!

I've done a GUE-Fundamentals course so I think my trim, buoyancy and drills are pretty good, did a bit of reel work during my cavern class but not done any since I went back home to the UK, so I'm going to be giving that a bash over the next few months where I can.

There's a quarry thats local to me (Stoney Cove - only 30 minutes drive away, even with two twinsets in my compact car!) so I'm going to be heading there, I'm also going to be trying to head south to Portland (Dorset - south coast - best diving in the uk is out here) to get a bit of sea diving.

Just wondering, how long do the dives typically last?

Chris

[dive1dennis]

Wear a drysuit in FL! You have got to be joking! I would die of heat stroke - remember, I'm british!

I'll be wearing my 3mm wetsuit ......
Chris

Brrrr. I've never tried it but I get cold just thinking about it.

I'm from Wisconsin

[FW]

Wear a drysuit in FL! You have got to be joking! I would die of heat stroke - remember, I'm british!

I'll be wearing my 3mm wetsuit (which I'm attaching pockets to hold my spools, spare mask, line arrows and cookies etc) so I'll be peeing away guilt free!

I've done a GUE-Fundamentals course so I think my trim, buoyancy and drills are pretty good, did a bit of reel work during my cavern class but not done any since I went back home to the UK, so I'm going to be giving that a bash over the next few months where I can.

There's a quarry thats local to me (Stoney Cove - only 30 minutes drive away, even with two twinsets in my compact car!) so I'm going to be heading there, I'm also going to be trying to head south to Portland (Dorset - south coast - best diving in the uk is out here) to get a bit of sea diving.

Just wondering, how long do the dives typically last?

Chris

2 hours is not uncommon in the shallower systems. 3mm may be to light, even for a Britt
If you have a 7mm vest, you probably should bring it along for the longer dives.

[Chris Armstrong]

Brrrr. I've never tried it but I get cold just thinking about it.

I'm from Wisconsin

You're on a latitude equiavalent to north spain / south france!!!!

I've done hours of RT in florida waters in my 3mm - not a problem! Granted they were 40 min dives each, surface for an hour then jump back in. So not equivalent to a sold 3 hrs RT. I would argue I've done 2 hrs RT in my 3mm in Manatee Springs during my cavern class though!

[Chris Armstrong]

2 hours is not uncommon in the shallower systems. 3mm may be to light, even for a Britt
If you have a 7mm vest, you probably should bring it along for the longer dives.

How long are the dives during the courses?