<font color='#000080'>Bren,
I did the course last year, combined with Adv. nitrox. It's easy and I found it very usefull at the time. As long as you can hold a stop and can follow runtimes you shouldn't have any major problems.
You say you can't reach your valves. If you set up your harness as they discribe on that BAUE site (main points to bare in mind are:
1. The top of the backplate should be level with the 2nd vertebrate and you should be able to reach back and touch it with your suit/undergarments on. If you can't reach it your suit/undersuit is probably restricting your movement and you will have problems.
2. The shoulder straps should be pretty tight as they will stop the tanks from moving down (and away from your hands). When they are correctly adjusted it will be awkward to get out of the rig.
3. When doing a valve drill keep your head jammed back against the isolator and try to squeeze your shoulder blades together. Do not look down or arch your back as you will be pushing the valves out of reach. Also, stay horizontal as gravity will pull the tanks away from your hands if you loose trim and go at all vertical.
It works for me.
HTH.
Mark.
