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I got up at 4am and despite the 300.6mile drive I was second out side the gates of Crapenwray this morning such was my desire to dive the YBOD.
So how was it?
OK first the preamble on dry land was very basic nothing on pre testing the unit or scrubber packing etc so all the grotty pre dive planning bits were glossed over but hey they had limited time and a load of keen divers so no complaints.
So it was a quick once round the basic controls and kit up and in the water.
First problem was lead. 14KG was recommended
?? for the first attempt. Seeing as I dont even use a weight belt I had thought the 10KG I had with me was more than adequate so I went for that. (Mistake No 1)
Having got over the shock of putting on a weight belt for the first time since my PADI OW training I was in for shock No2.
How the hell do you put this bloody thing on?
The mouthpiece double hose drops down over your head so you kind of have to wiggle up underneath it. Its like my toilet seats at home the bloody thing wont stay up long enough for you to sort your kit out.
So with a bit of assistance I am in the rig. Having dived a wing for the last two years I am a bit shocked to have a chest full of stuff. Big inflated kind of stuff that got in the way.
Then I couldn’t find the straps or the chest clip strap so all in all I was not impressed with ease of donning the unit.
First major plus point.
I stood up and despite the 10 KG of lead it felt as light as a feather. (compared to twin 12's) Fantastic.
So off skipping and hopping I went to the waters edge without even breaking a sweat.
Andy the instructor gave me the basics again, demonstrating how to close the mouthpiece and how to add dilluant (02 was disconnected for safety). Then another major pisser the Dry suit hose wont fit my Apex nipple. This meant I would have to fly the wing using the auto air. This was my first experience with an Auto air and I can safely say they look like cheep crap and they breath like cheep crap even at 7m.
So breathing off the loop all the way into the water to ensure I have at least some 02 in the Mix I descended for the first time.
No ADV on this unit so the counter lungs bottomed out straight away. I added a bit of dilluant to cover this and immediately shot up to the surface from 3m. Bugger
The counter lung dump was not easy to find at a push and I fafed until Andy came to help.
Down we go again. I am 0.5mm off the bottom and trying desperately to hover without going up. Innumerable times I tried to alter my buoyancy by breathing in until the counter lungs turned inside out but this of course had bugger all effect on my available lift.
So a bit more air in the wing. Squirt Squirt, bugger thats too much and I a heading up desperately trying to get the dammed auto air to dump some gas.
So having popped up again from about 4m I am now pretty pissed off.
Worse still, Andrew seems to be having no trouble at all and has buggered off. I avoid mental melt down by consoling my self that he has an ADV and I dont and he has a Dry suit hose and I dont. This of course was no excuse but it made me feel better.
Attempt 3
Down we go again and I am adding imperceptibly small amounts of gas to the wing and achieve a very tenuous link with the world of buoyancy control. I feel like my first ever dry suit dive all over again.
At this point we stop and do the bail out drill. Andy demonstrates and I follow. This involves holding a ring at the side of the mouthpiece and rotating the whole mouthpiece down a quarter turn to shut it.
Then you let it go and it floats above your head and you go for the crappy breath auto air. Process reversed and we are off again.
I now notice that Andy (Instructor) stayed about 1.0m off the bottom and finned down if he started to move up and finned up if he started to move down. I very carefully adjusted my position to match his and attempted to follow his pattern of diving.
What do you know it worked. No more trips to the surface.
At this point about 15mins into the dive I realised that I haven’t checked my handsets once. Total muppit alert with bells on. I check both and find the set point of 0.7 and three readings all around .65 PPo2 on master and slave units.
I curse the bugger who set up the Master unit on the left where my hand dare not leave the unfamiliar controls of the Auto air for fear of instant trip to the surface.
I check the units regularly now and all is well throughout the rest of the dive.
Dont ask about the dive I remember nothing I was 98% focused on buoyancy control and 1% focused on keeping a normoxic mix available to breath. The remaining 1% of my available brain capacity was trying to assess other aspects of the unit. I had a dry throat, which surprised me, but I was probably breathing to shallow and to fast so I wont pay much attention to that. I was surprised at the limited capacity of the counter lungs. I was easily able to over fill them and collapse them on one big breath and was curious to know what strenuous exercise was like breathing the unit. The gauges poking out, auto air poking out, counter lungs and breathing loop felt untidy and cumbersome. I wanted to strap things down and tidy them up to get a more streamlined feel to the unit but most of all I wanted that Auto air secured so it would always be to hand. I also wanted to sort the dump out for the counter lungs so I didnt have to flip the breathing loop out of the way to find it.
Apart form that it was great
I liked the whole concept of the CCR I liked the reduced weight, I liked the fact that you didnt have to worry about how much gas you had left. I also dont think the problems I encountered are more than half a dozen trips to Stony's worth in reality.
So did I like it? Yes and No
They had an Azimuth there and I liked the clean lines and clear chest area. I especially liked the instantly recognisable wing configuration. I should have asked to dive that too but I thought for £15 I was pushing my luck. I liked the Azimuth mouth piece with the lever for switching on and off (much easier to use in a pinch than the Inspiration and a single handed operation too which might be essential. Unfortunately I cant afford the Azimuth unit so its not and issue.
So despite the back to basics just call me numpty dive, it looks like a CCR is on the shopping list for next year. I still want a crack at the KISS before making a final decision though.
ATB
Mark Chase
I got up at 4am and despite the 300.6mile drive I was second out side the gates of Crapenwray this morning such was my desire to dive the YBOD.
So how was it?
OK first the preamble on dry land was very basic nothing on pre testing the unit or scrubber packing etc so all the grotty pre dive planning bits were glossed over but hey they had limited time and a load of keen divers so no complaints.
So it was a quick once round the basic controls and kit up and in the water.
First problem was lead. 14KG was recommended

Having got over the shock of putting on a weight belt for the first time since my PADI OW training I was in for shock No2.
How the hell do you put this bloody thing on?

The mouthpiece double hose drops down over your head so you kind of have to wiggle up underneath it. Its like my toilet seats at home the bloody thing wont stay up long enough for you to sort your kit out.

So with a bit of assistance I am in the rig. Having dived a wing for the last two years I am a bit shocked to have a chest full of stuff. Big inflated kind of stuff that got in the way.
Then I couldn’t find the straps or the chest clip strap so all in all I was not impressed with ease of donning the unit.
First major plus point.
I stood up and despite the 10 KG of lead it felt as light as a feather. (compared to twin 12's) Fantastic.
So off skipping and hopping I went to the waters edge without even breaking a sweat.
Andy the instructor gave me the basics again, demonstrating how to close the mouthpiece and how to add dilluant (02 was disconnected for safety). Then another major pisser the Dry suit hose wont fit my Apex nipple. This meant I would have to fly the wing using the auto air. This was my first experience with an Auto air and I can safely say they look like cheep crap and they breath like cheep crap even at 7m.
So breathing off the loop all the way into the water to ensure I have at least some 02 in the Mix I descended for the first time.
No ADV on this unit so the counter lungs bottomed out straight away. I added a bit of dilluant to cover this and immediately shot up to the surface from 3m. Bugger

The counter lung dump was not easy to find at a push and I fafed until Andy came to help.
Down we go again. I am 0.5mm off the bottom and trying desperately to hover without going up. Innumerable times I tried to alter my buoyancy by breathing in until the counter lungs turned inside out but this of course had bugger all effect on my available lift.
So a bit more air in the wing. Squirt Squirt, bugger thats too much and I a heading up desperately trying to get the dammed auto air to dump some gas.
So having popped up again from about 4m I am now pretty pissed off.
Worse still, Andrew seems to be having no trouble at all and has buggered off. I avoid mental melt down by consoling my self that he has an ADV and I dont and he has a Dry suit hose and I dont. This of course was no excuse but it made me feel better.
Attempt 3
Down we go again and I am adding imperceptibly small amounts of gas to the wing and achieve a very tenuous link with the world of buoyancy control. I feel like my first ever dry suit dive all over again.
At this point we stop and do the bail out drill. Andy demonstrates and I follow. This involves holding a ring at the side of the mouthpiece and rotating the whole mouthpiece down a quarter turn to shut it.
Then you let it go and it floats above your head and you go for the crappy breath auto air. Process reversed and we are off again.
I now notice that Andy (Instructor) stayed about 1.0m off the bottom and finned down if he started to move up and finned up if he started to move down. I very carefully adjusted my position to match his and attempted to follow his pattern of diving.
What do you know it worked. No more trips to the surface.
At this point about 15mins into the dive I realised that I haven’t checked my handsets once. Total muppit alert with bells on. I check both and find the set point of 0.7 and three readings all around .65 PPo2 on master and slave units.
I curse the bugger who set up the Master unit on the left where my hand dare not leave the unfamiliar controls of the Auto air for fear of instant trip to the surface.
I check the units regularly now and all is well throughout the rest of the dive.
Dont ask about the dive I remember nothing I was 98% focused on buoyancy control and 1% focused on keeping a normoxic mix available to breath. The remaining 1% of my available brain capacity was trying to assess other aspects of the unit. I had a dry throat, which surprised me, but I was probably breathing to shallow and to fast so I wont pay much attention to that. I was surprised at the limited capacity of the counter lungs. I was easily able to over fill them and collapse them on one big breath and was curious to know what strenuous exercise was like breathing the unit. The gauges poking out, auto air poking out, counter lungs and breathing loop felt untidy and cumbersome. I wanted to strap things down and tidy them up to get a more streamlined feel to the unit but most of all I wanted that Auto air secured so it would always be to hand. I also wanted to sort the dump out for the counter lungs so I didnt have to flip the breathing loop out of the way to find it.
Apart form that it was great

I liked the whole concept of the CCR I liked the reduced weight, I liked the fact that you didnt have to worry about how much gas you had left. I also dont think the problems I encountered are more than half a dozen trips to Stony's worth in reality.
So did I like it? Yes and No
They had an Azimuth there and I liked the clean lines and clear chest area. I especially liked the instantly recognisable wing configuration. I should have asked to dive that too but I thought for £15 I was pushing my luck. I liked the Azimuth mouth piece with the lever for switching on and off (much easier to use in a pinch than the Inspiration and a single handed operation too which might be essential. Unfortunately I cant afford the Azimuth unit so its not and issue.
So despite the back to basics just call me numpty dive, it looks like a CCR is on the shopping list for next year. I still want a crack at the KISS before making a final decision though.
ATB
Mark Chase