Course Outcomes

GUE’s Recreational Diver Level 2 course is a no-decompression course structured to prepare divers for deeper recreational diving while using sound equipment, efficient diving skills, and advanced breathing mixtures. Course outcomes include, but are not limited to: skill cultivation and refinement, familiarity with the theory and practice of decompression, safe use of Nitrox and Triox for extended bottom times, correct ascent procedures, diver rescue (on land, at the surface and underwater), emergency management, and the use of Helium to minimize narcosis, CO2, gas density, and post-dive “nitrogen stress.”

Prerequisites

Applicants for a Rec 2 course must:

1. Submit a completed registration form, a medical history, and a liability release to GUE Headquarters.
2. Be physically and mentally fit.
3. Hold insurance that will cover diving emergencies such as hyperbaric treatment, e.g. DAN Master-level insurance or equivalent.
4. Be a nonsmoker.
5. Obtain a physician’s prior written authorization for the use of prescription drugs, except for birth control, or for any prior medical condition that may pose a risk while diving.
6. Be a minimum of 16 years of age.
7. Have passed the GUE Recreational Diver Level 1 course or a GUE Fundamentals course at the “recreational” level.
8. Have completed at least 25 non-training dives.

Course Content

The Recreational Diver Level 2 course is normally conducted over five days, and includes ten dives and at least fifty hours of instruction, encompassing classroom, land drills, and in-water work.

Rec 2 Specific Training Standards

1. Student-to-instructor ratio is not to exceed 6:1 during land drill or surface exercises; it cannot exceed 3:1 during any in-water training.
2. No overhead diving.
3. Critical skills may not be conducted deeper than 30 feet/9 meters.
4. Maximum depth of 100 feet/30 meters.

Required Training Materials

GUE training materials and recommended reading as determined by the course study packet received via online download after GUE course registration.

Academic Topics

1. Introduction: GUE organization and course overview (objectives, limits, expectations)
2. Applied diving physics
3. Applied diving physiology
4. Situational awareness
5. Breathing gas overview
6. Dive planning, gas management, and logistics
7. Introduction to Triox
8. Decompression overview and minimum decompression procedures
9. Diving safety and accident prevention
10. Rescue diving techniques, emergency management, and diving-related first aid

Land Drills & Topics

1. GUE-EDGE and pre-dive drill sequence
2. Rescue skills, including managing a rescue scenario, swimming and non-swimming assists, egression techniques, controlling a panicked diver, underwater search patterns, managing and surfacing an unconscious diver
3. Navigation skills using a compass, guideline, and natural navigation
4. Light and touch communication protocols (only applicable if the optional night dive is included)

Required Dive Skills & Drills

1. Must be able to swim at least 300 yards/275 meters in less than 14 minutes without stopping. This test should be conducted in a swimsuit and, where necessary, appropriate thermal protection.
2. Must be able to swim a distance of at least 50 feet/15 meters on a breath hold while submerged.
3. Demonstrate proficiency in safe diving practices; this would include pre-dive preparation, in-water activity, and post-dive assessment.
4. Demonstrate awareness of team member location and a concern for safety, responding quickly to visual indications and dive partner requirements.
5. Efficiently and comfortably demonstrate how to donate gas to an out-of-gas diver in multiple gas-sharing episodes.
6. Demonstrate a safe and responsible demeanor throughout all training.
7. Demonstrate proficiency in lift bag/surface marker buoy deployment.
8. Demonstrate good buoyancy and trim—i.e., approximate reference is a maximum of 30 degrees off horizontal while remaining within 5 feet/1.5 meters of a target depth.
9. Demonstrate three propulsion techniques. Students should demonstrate comprehension of the components necessary for a successful backward kick.
10. Demonstrate proficiency during gas-sharing scenarios, including a direct ascent while managing minimum decompression obligations and the use of a surface marker buoy and spool.
11. Demonstrate effective proficiency with proper ascent/descents, including the implementation of deep stops.
12. Demonstrate effective navigation using a compass and managing a spool as a guideline underwater.
13. Demonstrate proficiency in fundamental diver rescue techniques including assessing a rescue scene, supporting and recovering distressed, tired, and unconscious divers at the surface, recovering an unconscious diver to the surface, and a range of simulated diving incidents.
14. Demonstrate basic equipment proficiency and an understanding of the GUE equipment configuration.

The GUE base equipment configuration is comprised of:

1. Tanks/cylinders: students may use a single tank/cylinder with a K-, H-, or Y-valve. Students may also use dual tanks/cylinders connected with a dual-outlet isolator manifold, which allows for the use of two first-stages. Consult course specific standards and your instructor to verify size requirements.
2. Regulators:
   • Single tank: one second-stage regulator must supply a 5 to 7 foot/1.5 to 2 meter hose (2 meter long hose is required for all cave classes). The first stage must supply a pressure gauge, inflation for the buoyancy compensator (BC), and a means to inflate a drysuit where applicable.
   • Double tank: one of two required first stages must supply a pressure gauge and provide inflation for a drysuit where applicable. The other second stage must supply a 5 to 7 foot/1.5 to 2 meter hose and an inflation source for the BC.
3. Backplate system:
   • Should be held to the diver by one continuous piece of webbing. This webbing should be adjustable and should use a buckle to secure the system at the waist.
   • A crotch strap is attached and looped through the waistband so as to prevent the system from riding up a diver’s back.
   • The continuous webbing should support five d-rings;
     • The first placed at the left hip
     • The second placed in line with a diver’s right collarbone
     • The third placed in line with the diver’s left collarbone
     • The fourth and fifth are placed on the front and back of the crotch strap where divers plan to use advanced equipment like DPVs.
   • The harness below the diver’s arms has small restrictive bands to allow for the placement of reserve lights. The webbing and system retains a minimalist approach.
4. Buoyancy compensation device (BC):
   • A diver’s BC is back-mounted and minimalist in nature.
   • It is free of extraneous strings, tabs, or other material.
   • There are no restrictive bands or restrictive elastic affixed to the buoyancy cell.
   • Wing size and shape is appropriate to the cylinder size(s) employed for training.
5. At least one time/depth measuring device.
6. Wrist-mounted compass.
7. Mask and fins: Mask is be low-volume; fins are rigid, non-split
8. At least one cutting device.
9. Wet Notes.
10. At least one surface marker buoy (SMB) with spool per diver.
11. Exposure suit appropriate for the duration of exposure.

Equipment Requirements

Additional Course-Specific Equipment

1. Where required, bottom gas, decompression, or stage cylinders are marked in accord with GUE standards and configured in line with GUE protocol. They should be as close to neutral as possible with a relatively small swing from negative to positive during the use of the cylinder.
2. Where argon bottles are applicable, they should be sized appropriately for the environment; small tanks are placed on the backplate with larger supplies affixed to the diver’s left back gas tank.
3. Surface marker buoy: where required, the SMB should be appropriate for environmental conditions and deployed using a spool with at least 100 feet/30 meters of line.
4. One reserve mask is required for some classes.
5. Underwater lights:
   • Where required, back-up lights should be powered by alkaline batteries (not rechargeable) and stowed on the d-rings at a diver’s chest.
   • Reserve lights should have a minimal amount of protrusions and a single attachment at its rear.
   • The primary light should consist of a rechargeable battery pack and be fitted with a Goodman-style light handle.
   • Where burn time requirements create the need for an external battery pack, it should reside in a canister mounted to the diver’s right hip.
6. Guideline devices, as required during cave diving activities:
   • A primary reel is required for all cave diving and provides a minimalist form factor with a handle designed to support a Goodman or “hands free” handle operation.
   • The primary reel should contain at least 150 feet/45 meters.
   • A safety spool is required for each diver while cave diving and should contain at least 150 feet/45 meters of line wrapped on a simple spool.
   • A jump or gap spool is required during Cave 2 dives and should contain at least 75 feet/23 meters of line wrapped on a simple spool.