[Clare Gledhill]

I'm a GUE instructor and I sell Halcyon kit. Why?

Well to put a few things straight, I have no need to sell the kit. A dealership registration does not come free with the instructor card. I used Halcyon kit before I became an instructor, I used Salvo lights but moved to Halcyon as, I am sure Phill will confirm, I couldn't get what I wanted from a Salvo at the time for my cave diving in Mexico. It makes sense to sell what I use - it's the reason I sell DUI drysuits and Santi undersuits. I believe in them as products.

I support Halcyon for other reasons too. GUE is a non profit making entity and as Jarrod often quips is very successful at it indeed! Halcyon underwrites a lot of GUE's costs and losses and as such I'm happy to support them. Halcyon also funds the WKPP and researches a lot of its products on the project dives which I believe is a good testing ground for the stuff that we eventually see brought on to the market. The reason that we can't get HMI lights at the moment is that the whole manufacturing capacity of Halcyon is taken up making them for the WKPP - it is no corporate giant, it is a small scale manufacturer run by divers making dive kit for divers.

Rich is entirely right that Jarrod would be too ethical to object if we chose to sell other kit. Brian already sells products that compete directly with Halcyon and I know quite a few GUE instructors who use and deal in X scooters. Santi were developed in conjunction with AG too - and the undersuits are gaining in popularity as they are well made, carefully designed and well detailed for the problems that divers face.

There are quite a few DIR stylee brands out there who produce acceptable kit which I happily accept students using on my courses. I don't need to sell these products to ensure that my impartiality is worn on my sleeve.