iamyourgasman
15-02-2013, 08:59 PM
Originally posted on the "other place":
Part 1
It all started on YD when Simon TW planned the road-trip with the Van of Dreams last year.
I have already read a bit about rebreathers and from what I gathered, I quite fancied the rEvo. So I booked a day at NDAC and I was pretty much sold to the idea on the second dive, when for a brief moment I managed to hover midwater, motionless, breathing in and out in complete silence (apart from the reassuring clicks of the mushroom valves). The price of the rEvo was however prohibitive and we just had a little baby…So I plodded on with OC learning valuable lessons from Garf and doing my trimix course. Fast forward to November, when we had a sadly eventful trip to Scapa, where Simon TW and his gang was moored next to us. We had a brief chat and he mentioned that he might be able to do a deal on a unit…I managed to sell my flat back home which provided me some free cash, so when Simon pm-ed me about the potential of buying the rEVO III mini hCCR I have done the try-dive on, I jumped.
We set out dates and I did my MOD1 with him over two weeks. Simon and Sharon was kind enough to put me up in their home, I think it is not very common that you have this opportunity and friendliness.
I won’t bore you with all the skills and drills we have covered during the course (you can read all of them here http://www.revo-rebreathers.com/uplo..._270411_EN.pdf ) but give you some highlights sticking points.
Day 1 was on theory and building up the unit from scratch. The theory was very enjoyable, as I got a relatively strong background in physiology and physics we have covered most of the topics swiftly and I even managed to explain a few things to Simon . We spent better part of the afternoon putting the unit together and although it took a good couple of hours it was evident that the day-to-day maintenance of the rEvo is a doodle. Some more theory and a thai curry prepared by Simon and we retired to sleep.
Day 2 and 3 were spent at Capernwray, where I have never been before. Being weekdays, the site was not particularly crowded (in fact there were only 4-5 other divers around.) During the first 6 dives we used the ‘breather in MCCR mode, setting the setpoint manually at 1.0, with a parachute of the solenoid at 0.7. On the first day we did the two “confined water” dives, so we didn’t venture deeper than 8m. The first dive was spent on getting used to the unit, practicing bailouts and getting the feel for buoyancy. I used to use my wing as my primary buoyancy source, but Simon wanted me to use the suit and although a bit reluctantly I followed the advice. It was actually easier than I thought, as the rEvo was a much lighter setup than my twinset!
During the dive I started to feel comfortable and somewhat in control after about 10 minutes and I thought I managed to get a reasonable control over everything.
On the way out where it gets shallow over the slipway I lost the buoyancy at 4.5m and popped to the surface, much to my annoyance, but fortunately I didn’t forget to add O2 on the way up… After the first dive we headed to the cafeteria for a healthy lunch and de-brief. Apparently I wasn’t half bad, so we pressed on to the second dive. This is where the fun begun: no-mask swims, BOOM-drill, barrel rolls and some more bailouts for hypoxia, hyperoxia and hypercapnia. The “tour” around the container without mask was particularly interesting. It wasn’t really for the 6C water, I could cope with that or the reduced visibility (I used to swim in my early teens and never wore goggles so this wasn’t new), but for the fact that I discovered I inadvertently inhaled via my nose, not just via my mouth. I pinched my nose, but then it blocked the view of the HUD, so it was a bit of a faff. The barrel rolls were the fun part and generally I felt better with my buoyancy. On the way out I lost it again, but only at 3m, so an improvement.
We packed up and went home, where we have cleaned and prepped the units for the next day’s dives. Then some more theory and the written exam, which I have passed.
On Friday Paul joined us as safety diver for the first “open water” dives. Our first dive got a bit delayed as Simon forgot to put his drysuit in the van… We are talking about the Van of Dreams here, so he got a spare, but it didn’t have drygloves and he refused to dive without them. What a wuss! Fortunately he managed to source the right Si-tech rings from another diver so after this intermezzo we have started. Bubble-check and bailout at 6m then mid-water swim at around 8m, buoyancy fine-tuning, bailouts (lot of them! For the 3Hs) no-mask swim (again), we did everything plus a bit more which is prescribed in the course standards. On the first dive the ascent was not as good as I wanted and as I felt very light in the shallows we decided to put on an extra kg. This made all the difference. On the second dive as we were ascending after sending up the SMB I have noticed that Simon is getting ahead of me, then settled down. On the surface he told us that his ADV stuck open and his CLs were flooded with dil, so he had to do the BOOM-drill for real. TBH I was so preoccupied with my buoyancy that I didn't even notice he has done it. After the dive while on closer inspection we saw that the new RMS cables are a bit shorter and stiffer than the non-RMS ones and they have a tendency to slip under the ADV, opening it wide. A bit more careful positioning of the cables and the problem was sorted.
We have cleaned and prepped the units for next week and I had a long, but uneventful drive to home.
Part 2
Next week I drove up to Simon’s on Wednesday evening to complete the remaining OW dives over Thursday and Friday.
We wake up a bit earlier on Thursday and prepped the units within 40 minutes and it was noticeable how much slicker you get with practice :). We made sure he takes his drysuit with him this time and off we went for another fine day. On the first dive we went down to the “sump” where we practiced reading the HUD in silt-out, did more buoyancy exercises under the wing of the plane and on the various other objects. Then I did a reg-out swim, which was a doodle, arriving to the no-mask ascent.
Based on my previous experience I knew it will be uncomfortable in 6C water, but what I couldn’t predict is that I nearly loose it…The ascent went OK, but before I had an OK from Simon to put the mask back on, again I managed to sniff a noseful of water. It was horrible. I could feel the water in the upper airways, where it shouldn’t be and I had a huge urge to breathe through the nose. I managed to clip my nose with one hand and tried to blow out the water. I tried to put my mask back on and clear it, however I didn’t seemed to get enough air to my lungs to do it properly, so there was some water at the mask which I sniffed p again. I had to take the mask off to pinch my nose…I have now done it twice and I was starting to panic and for one moment I thought F%^ it I’m going up! And here came the cavalry: Simon helped me settling down on the platform and even without my mask on I could see that both him and Paul was holding there regs ready to shove it in my mouth if needed. I had a look at my HUD and I have seen a solid green, so I knew I’m breathing OK gas. This calmed me a bit and I gave another, much more controlled go. Same thing, couldn’t clear the mask properly, water back in the nose. However, by this time I was much calmer and I could control my breathing and on the next attempt I managed to clear the mask and get myself sorted. Later on Simon and Paul both said they thought we would be on the way to the surface as they have seen the panic building up in my eyes. Not a nice experience, but it made me more aware of my limitations and abilities.
We continued the dive with running the rEvo in SCR mode, then doing some fun buoyancy skills riding an SMB and Simon demonstrated how should we went the loop if we are doing OC ascent. A bit more swimming around (swopping a couple of stages and going through restrictions) and I launched the bag and we ascended to do some simulated deco. It was miles better than a week ago, but I was still not happy with my shallow water buoyancy control.
Healthy lunch followed as Sharon was in attendance as surface cover and we went back for a second dive. We covered pretty much all the skills and scenarios responses to the 3H scenarios + total flood again when I noticed that my suit inflate has run out. It was time to swap stages with Paul for real, as he had an inflator hose on his. It threw my balance quite a bit as there is a big difference between a steel7 and an Ali7! But good for practice. I also noticed on the next bailout drill, that Paul’s Cyclone really needs a service, I could barely got gas out of it, only when I actively purged it. Simon noticed it as well so we agreed to swap back to my own stage for the bail-out ascent. As we were happily swimming along the container I checked my gauges and shock horror, my O2 showed only 40 bar. It was 90 bar a couple of minutes ago??? I indicated this to Simon, who casually waved OK, let’s carry on! For me this was the giveaway to check my valves and not to my surprise I found the O2 closed. Nice try I thought :). The dummy-run on the OC ascent was a bit of a disaster (or so I felt), venting the loop, venting the suit, changing the computer to OC and reeling the SMB proved a bit much, so I just about completed the simulated deco stops at 9, 6 and 3 before ungracefully popped to the surface from 3m.
I knew I have to get my act together for next day! We drove home, prepped the units, got the tanks filled and had a lovely dinner again, followed by some more theory on He, END and deco planning.
We planned the last two dives which were to be completed in Coniston. I crashed into the bed and fell asleep immediately. In the morning I wake up fresh and ready for the challenge. Everybody whom I spoken to said the Coniston is a great training place: deep, dark as pitch black and featureless. It didn’t disappoint! For the last day Steve came over to provide surface cover, while Simon, Paul and myself headed to the water. It was uninviting…but we descended and as soon as we gone past 20m it was like somebody switched the lights off. Pitch black, but with our torches the visibility was quite good (until I stirred the silt up a bit). Strangely, when we reached our target depth of 42m, I felt much more comfortable. Paul showed me the way, as I was going to lead the second dive. More skills and drill at depth and after we racked up some deco, we started to ascend on a huge pink rock and completed our stops on a rocky ledge. No dramas and an overall very good dive. We had a bite to eat and some tea coffee in the Van of Dreams, and then started to prepare for our final dive. It was going to be easy: same depth for the same amount of time, locate the pink wall and bail-out to OC and complete a perfect ascent whilst communicating to the other team members. And off we went. Once on the bottom and we were at the pink rock I experienced a total flood (fortunately not for real!) so I had to bail-out. I was anxious about the whole thing but managed to keep my calm and followed the plan to the letter. Probably annoyed the hell out of Paul with my constant pestering about how much deco we need to do… At the 6m stop I started to feel a bit floaty as the gas from the Ali7 emptied, but halfway through the 6m stops this feeling disappeared. As we broke the surface at the prescribed time I realized that Simon has clipped an other stage to me…oh well I could have been more vigilant . As we scrambled to the shore I was told that I have passed the course and I can take my new toy home :D!
I was well pleased! This is the time and place to thank everyone who helped me through this course especially Simon and Paul.
Epilog: since then I have completed more than 50 hours on the unit. It took me a year, but actually I have dived more last year than I have done in the previous 2 years. The gas logistics are so much simpler (thanks to Brocky et al at Bristol Channel Diving) and I always have a good 10 hours worth of gas in the garage. No major issues with the unit: I managed to break the cable coming off from the battery in the Predator, but it was an easy mend, I had the usual battery changes in the computer/solenoid and revodream. The only fault was the leaking O-ring in the O2 spg, which was fixed in about 5 minutes. I just timed myself this week: from a disassembled unit (I had the half-used lime canisters in a sealed bag, so no filling those) to a ready to dive one it took 17 minutes to prep and that included loading the kit in the back of the car. I made some tweaks: putting elevated D-rings on the waistband and changing to the rMS system...so nothing major, it's still a stock unit. Still continue to do at least 2 drills/dive and just done two bail-out ascents for good measure to see if I can keep it together. So far so good, and looking forward to some further training to MOD2!
Part 1
It all started on YD when Simon TW planned the road-trip with the Van of Dreams last year.
I have already read a bit about rebreathers and from what I gathered, I quite fancied the rEvo. So I booked a day at NDAC and I was pretty much sold to the idea on the second dive, when for a brief moment I managed to hover midwater, motionless, breathing in and out in complete silence (apart from the reassuring clicks of the mushroom valves). The price of the rEvo was however prohibitive and we just had a little baby…So I plodded on with OC learning valuable lessons from Garf and doing my trimix course. Fast forward to November, when we had a sadly eventful trip to Scapa, where Simon TW and his gang was moored next to us. We had a brief chat and he mentioned that he might be able to do a deal on a unit…I managed to sell my flat back home which provided me some free cash, so when Simon pm-ed me about the potential of buying the rEVO III mini hCCR I have done the try-dive on, I jumped.
We set out dates and I did my MOD1 with him over two weeks. Simon and Sharon was kind enough to put me up in their home, I think it is not very common that you have this opportunity and friendliness.
I won’t bore you with all the skills and drills we have covered during the course (you can read all of them here http://www.revo-rebreathers.com/uplo..._270411_EN.pdf ) but give you some highlights sticking points.
Day 1 was on theory and building up the unit from scratch. The theory was very enjoyable, as I got a relatively strong background in physiology and physics we have covered most of the topics swiftly and I even managed to explain a few things to Simon . We spent better part of the afternoon putting the unit together and although it took a good couple of hours it was evident that the day-to-day maintenance of the rEvo is a doodle. Some more theory and a thai curry prepared by Simon and we retired to sleep.
Day 2 and 3 were spent at Capernwray, where I have never been before. Being weekdays, the site was not particularly crowded (in fact there were only 4-5 other divers around.) During the first 6 dives we used the ‘breather in MCCR mode, setting the setpoint manually at 1.0, with a parachute of the solenoid at 0.7. On the first day we did the two “confined water” dives, so we didn’t venture deeper than 8m. The first dive was spent on getting used to the unit, practicing bailouts and getting the feel for buoyancy. I used to use my wing as my primary buoyancy source, but Simon wanted me to use the suit and although a bit reluctantly I followed the advice. It was actually easier than I thought, as the rEvo was a much lighter setup than my twinset!
During the dive I started to feel comfortable and somewhat in control after about 10 minutes and I thought I managed to get a reasonable control over everything.
On the way out where it gets shallow over the slipway I lost the buoyancy at 4.5m and popped to the surface, much to my annoyance, but fortunately I didn’t forget to add O2 on the way up… After the first dive we headed to the cafeteria for a healthy lunch and de-brief. Apparently I wasn’t half bad, so we pressed on to the second dive. This is where the fun begun: no-mask swims, BOOM-drill, barrel rolls and some more bailouts for hypoxia, hyperoxia and hypercapnia. The “tour” around the container without mask was particularly interesting. It wasn’t really for the 6C water, I could cope with that or the reduced visibility (I used to swim in my early teens and never wore goggles so this wasn’t new), but for the fact that I discovered I inadvertently inhaled via my nose, not just via my mouth. I pinched my nose, but then it blocked the view of the HUD, so it was a bit of a faff. The barrel rolls were the fun part and generally I felt better with my buoyancy. On the way out I lost it again, but only at 3m, so an improvement.
We packed up and went home, where we have cleaned and prepped the units for the next day’s dives. Then some more theory and the written exam, which I have passed.
On Friday Paul joined us as safety diver for the first “open water” dives. Our first dive got a bit delayed as Simon forgot to put his drysuit in the van… We are talking about the Van of Dreams here, so he got a spare, but it didn’t have drygloves and he refused to dive without them. What a wuss! Fortunately he managed to source the right Si-tech rings from another diver so after this intermezzo we have started. Bubble-check and bailout at 6m then mid-water swim at around 8m, buoyancy fine-tuning, bailouts (lot of them! For the 3Hs) no-mask swim (again), we did everything plus a bit more which is prescribed in the course standards. On the first dive the ascent was not as good as I wanted and as I felt very light in the shallows we decided to put on an extra kg. This made all the difference. On the second dive as we were ascending after sending up the SMB I have noticed that Simon is getting ahead of me, then settled down. On the surface he told us that his ADV stuck open and his CLs were flooded with dil, so he had to do the BOOM-drill for real. TBH I was so preoccupied with my buoyancy that I didn't even notice he has done it. After the dive while on closer inspection we saw that the new RMS cables are a bit shorter and stiffer than the non-RMS ones and they have a tendency to slip under the ADV, opening it wide. A bit more careful positioning of the cables and the problem was sorted.
We have cleaned and prepped the units for next week and I had a long, but uneventful drive to home.
Part 2
Next week I drove up to Simon’s on Wednesday evening to complete the remaining OW dives over Thursday and Friday.
We wake up a bit earlier on Thursday and prepped the units within 40 minutes and it was noticeable how much slicker you get with practice :). We made sure he takes his drysuit with him this time and off we went for another fine day. On the first dive we went down to the “sump” where we practiced reading the HUD in silt-out, did more buoyancy exercises under the wing of the plane and on the various other objects. Then I did a reg-out swim, which was a doodle, arriving to the no-mask ascent.
Based on my previous experience I knew it will be uncomfortable in 6C water, but what I couldn’t predict is that I nearly loose it…The ascent went OK, but before I had an OK from Simon to put the mask back on, again I managed to sniff a noseful of water. It was horrible. I could feel the water in the upper airways, where it shouldn’t be and I had a huge urge to breathe through the nose. I managed to clip my nose with one hand and tried to blow out the water. I tried to put my mask back on and clear it, however I didn’t seemed to get enough air to my lungs to do it properly, so there was some water at the mask which I sniffed p again. I had to take the mask off to pinch my nose…I have now done it twice and I was starting to panic and for one moment I thought F%^ it I’m going up! And here came the cavalry: Simon helped me settling down on the platform and even without my mask on I could see that both him and Paul was holding there regs ready to shove it in my mouth if needed. I had a look at my HUD and I have seen a solid green, so I knew I’m breathing OK gas. This calmed me a bit and I gave another, much more controlled go. Same thing, couldn’t clear the mask properly, water back in the nose. However, by this time I was much calmer and I could control my breathing and on the next attempt I managed to clear the mask and get myself sorted. Later on Simon and Paul both said they thought we would be on the way to the surface as they have seen the panic building up in my eyes. Not a nice experience, but it made me more aware of my limitations and abilities.
We continued the dive with running the rEvo in SCR mode, then doing some fun buoyancy skills riding an SMB and Simon demonstrated how should we went the loop if we are doing OC ascent. A bit more swimming around (swopping a couple of stages and going through restrictions) and I launched the bag and we ascended to do some simulated deco. It was miles better than a week ago, but I was still not happy with my shallow water buoyancy control.
Healthy lunch followed as Sharon was in attendance as surface cover and we went back for a second dive. We covered pretty much all the skills and scenarios responses to the 3H scenarios + total flood again when I noticed that my suit inflate has run out. It was time to swap stages with Paul for real, as he had an inflator hose on his. It threw my balance quite a bit as there is a big difference between a steel7 and an Ali7! But good for practice. I also noticed on the next bailout drill, that Paul’s Cyclone really needs a service, I could barely got gas out of it, only when I actively purged it. Simon noticed it as well so we agreed to swap back to my own stage for the bail-out ascent. As we were happily swimming along the container I checked my gauges and shock horror, my O2 showed only 40 bar. It was 90 bar a couple of minutes ago??? I indicated this to Simon, who casually waved OK, let’s carry on! For me this was the giveaway to check my valves and not to my surprise I found the O2 closed. Nice try I thought :). The dummy-run on the OC ascent was a bit of a disaster (or so I felt), venting the loop, venting the suit, changing the computer to OC and reeling the SMB proved a bit much, so I just about completed the simulated deco stops at 9, 6 and 3 before ungracefully popped to the surface from 3m.
I knew I have to get my act together for next day! We drove home, prepped the units, got the tanks filled and had a lovely dinner again, followed by some more theory on He, END and deco planning.
We planned the last two dives which were to be completed in Coniston. I crashed into the bed and fell asleep immediately. In the morning I wake up fresh and ready for the challenge. Everybody whom I spoken to said the Coniston is a great training place: deep, dark as pitch black and featureless. It didn’t disappoint! For the last day Steve came over to provide surface cover, while Simon, Paul and myself headed to the water. It was uninviting…but we descended and as soon as we gone past 20m it was like somebody switched the lights off. Pitch black, but with our torches the visibility was quite good (until I stirred the silt up a bit). Strangely, when we reached our target depth of 42m, I felt much more comfortable. Paul showed me the way, as I was going to lead the second dive. More skills and drill at depth and after we racked up some deco, we started to ascend on a huge pink rock and completed our stops on a rocky ledge. No dramas and an overall very good dive. We had a bite to eat and some tea coffee in the Van of Dreams, and then started to prepare for our final dive. It was going to be easy: same depth for the same amount of time, locate the pink wall and bail-out to OC and complete a perfect ascent whilst communicating to the other team members. And off we went. Once on the bottom and we were at the pink rock I experienced a total flood (fortunately not for real!) so I had to bail-out. I was anxious about the whole thing but managed to keep my calm and followed the plan to the letter. Probably annoyed the hell out of Paul with my constant pestering about how much deco we need to do… At the 6m stop I started to feel a bit floaty as the gas from the Ali7 emptied, but halfway through the 6m stops this feeling disappeared. As we broke the surface at the prescribed time I realized that Simon has clipped an other stage to me…oh well I could have been more vigilant . As we scrambled to the shore I was told that I have passed the course and I can take my new toy home :D!
I was well pleased! This is the time and place to thank everyone who helped me through this course especially Simon and Paul.
Epilog: since then I have completed more than 50 hours on the unit. It took me a year, but actually I have dived more last year than I have done in the previous 2 years. The gas logistics are so much simpler (thanks to Brocky et al at Bristol Channel Diving) and I always have a good 10 hours worth of gas in the garage. No major issues with the unit: I managed to break the cable coming off from the battery in the Predator, but it was an easy mend, I had the usual battery changes in the computer/solenoid and revodream. The only fault was the leaking O-ring in the O2 spg, which was fixed in about 5 minutes. I just timed myself this week: from a disassembled unit (I had the half-used lime canisters in a sealed bag, so no filling those) to a ready to dive one it took 17 minutes to prep and that included loading the kit in the back of the car. I made some tweaks: putting elevated D-rings on the waistband and changing to the rMS system...so nothing major, it's still a stock unit. Still continue to do at least 2 drills/dive and just done two bail-out ascents for good measure to see if I can keep it together. So far so good, and looking forward to some further training to MOD2!