Well the sunday morning had arrived so it was time to set off to Wraysbury from Hastings I noticed that the temp outside was a crisp -1C, the drive up there was no problem.
I arrived and parked up and waited for Mark to arrive, we sat down with a coffee and I filled in the forms and had a chat as to why I wanted to use twinset and also what I thought I was going to get out of it.
Once I'd finished the forms we went to the back of Mark vehicle where he had a selection of twinsets starting at 7L and going upto 15L, also with a few different wings to choose from.
Mark setup a twinset for me which was twin 12L's, Apeks XTC40 wing which was attached to a stainless steel back plate and harnes system, and a set of Apeks ATX Regulators.I got change into my drysuit and we put the twinset on for the first time, it was amazing how much they weighed. Well into the water for the first time with a twinset this wasn't as bad as I thought.
We went down onto a platform were Mark would demonstrate the skill then I would try my best to do it. the first skill was just a simple hoover over the platform so I could get used to the weight and feel of it all, then followed by swimming round the platform also also over it without touching it. Skill 2 was a gas shut down which simulates that one of the cylinder valves is leaking, so you have to switch of the manifold valve, then swap onto your backup regulator, and reach behind an isolate you right cylinder and see if this clears the problem, if not it's then open the right cylinder valve and swap regulators again and switch off the left cylinder valve. Finally you have to open both the manifold and right cylinder valve. We continued with a swim around and then out for a warm drink and a chat of what had happened with the dive.
Dive 2 Mark went over finning technique and was yet again a quick hoover over a platform and then a nice long swim making sure I was getting used to the wing for my bouyancy.
The day ended far to soon with my head just exploding with Tec this and Tec that, what shall I buy.
From on I was hooked into the Tec world.......!
