Gmail - [SFL-DIR] Tech 1: "Three tips for Tech courses that I think are helpful (this goes just as well
for Tech dives also..)

1. Constantly watch your team for any developing problems.
2. Know exactly how long things should take and how long things are
taking (I�ll explain more about this later)
3. When you or another team member has a failure or problem, THINK
THINK THINK about all the potential problems this could create; all the way
until you are sitting back on the boat. Don�t forget about how it might
affect future failures (What happens if you have a left post failure and
later on your buddy runs out of gas, for example?)

To expand a little on #2, gas supplies are limited on tech dives, and since
you can�t bail out to the surface if you run out, your gas management is
critical. The key to keeping your gas management under control is to be
obsessive about time. A few examples:

1. I check my back gas at exactly every 5 minutes of bottom time. In
other words, I check it at 5, 10, 15, 20, etc, on my bottom timer. When I
look at it, I say something like �I�m at 5 minutes bottom time, I started at
3000 PSI and I�m now at 2500PSI. That is 500PSI in 5 minutes. At the end
of my planned bottom time of 20 minutes, That will put me at 1000PSI, which
is below rock bottom, so I�m probably going to have to call the dive at
15minutes or so�. Sounds hard at first, but becomes second nature after a
while.
2. I left the bottom at 150ft and 20 minutes bottom time. My first
decompression stop is at 110ft; I should get there at just over 21 minutes
bottom time. Your bottom timer will beep at you if you ascend to fast, but
you need to check for yourself that you don�t ascent too slow. If you get
to 110ft a couple minutes "

- Joel Svendsen