Purpose 

The Tech 1 Plus Upgrade is designed to allow the Tech 1 certified diver to develop their technical diving skills and to progress towards more complex and advanced dives.
The existing skills learned at Tech 1 will be expanded to include the use of a bottom stage to either allow more flexibility for multiple dives, or to allow longer bottom times.
Students will be trained in safe gas planning and management strategies, failure management and resolution and contingency measures. 

Prerequisites 

1. Must meet GUE general course prerequisites as outlined in section 1.6 
2. Must be a minimum of 18 years of age 
3. Must have passed GUE Technical Diver level 1 
4. Must have a minimum of 25 technical dives at the Tech 1 level. 
5. Students participating in a Tech class conducted in a cave must be at least GUE Level 2 Cave divers 

Duration 

The Tech 1 Plus Upgrade is normally conducted over a 1-2 day period.  It normally involves a minimum of 8 hours of instruction, encompassing both classroom and in-water work. 

Course Limits

1. General training limits as outlined in section 1.4 
2. Student-to-instructor ratio is not to exceed 3:1 during any in-water training 
3. Maximum depth 54 m / 180 ft 
4. Dives should not be planned to incur more than 45 minutes of Unadjusted Decompression 
5. No overhead diving except by active GUE Cave 2 Level instructors while teaching in the cave environment 

Course Contents 

The GUE Tech 1 Plus Upgrade course involves a minimum of eight hours of instruction designed to extend the Tech 1 divers knowledge and capacity using nitrox, normoxic and hyperoxic Trimix and decompression mixtures. Course requirements include four hours of academics and two dives, one of which will be critical-skill dives and one will be an experience dive. Initial dives will be conducted in shallow water to test diver ability and to fill in any deficits in skill levels. The last dive is to be a Trimix dive at depth for experience.

Required Training Materials

1. Doing it Right: The Fundamentals of Better Diving. Jarrod Jablonski, GUE, 2001, High Springs, Florida. 
2. Getting Clear on the Basics: The Fundamentals of Technical Diving. Jarrod Jablonski, GUE, 2001, High Springs, Florida. 

Academic Topics

1. Gas management
2. Equipment configuration
3. Decompression strategies
4. Contingency planning

Land Drills and Topics

1. Gas switch procedures
2. Failed/lost decompression gas strategies

Required Dive Skills and Drills

1. All skills and drills as outlined in General Diving Skills, section 1.5
2. Procedures for gas failures, including valve manipulation, gas-sharing, and regulator switching as appropriate.
3. Surface-marker buoy deployment.
4. Demonstrate familiarity with required course equipment.
5. Gas-sharing scenarios, to include a prolonged gas-sharing event.
6. Comfortably demonstrate at least three propulsion techniques that would be appropriate in delicate and/or silty environments; one of these kicks must include the backward kick.
7. Demonstrate effective valve management by switching regulators, shutting down a valve in under fifteen seconds and returning the valve to the open position again in under fifteen seconds.
8. Demonstrate reasonable proficiency with a single decompression cylinder.
9. Demonstrate proficiency with effective decompression techniques, including depth and time management.[
10. Demonstrate good buoyancy and trim, i.e. approximate reference maximum of 20 degrees off horizontal while remaining within 3 feet/1 meter of a target depth. Frequency of buoyancy variation and the divers control of their buoyancy and trim are important evaluation criteria.
11. Demonstrate reasonable proficiency with a bottom stage cylinder including ensuring that the correct gas is being breathed at all times, and a proficient switch from the stage to backgas.
12. Demonstrate the ability to manage a failed or lost decompression gas scenario.

Equipment Requirements

As outlined in 2.2.1.10
One bottom stage cylinder.  This should be a minimum of 80 cuft / 11L capacity, and marked as outlined in section 1.7.
One first-stage regulator for bottom stage gas, supplying a single second-stage and pressure gauge.