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john56 · 27th September 2007, 13:10

I took my Evolution training with Jeff, and agree with his comments wholeheartedly. Unlearning almost 20 years of OC habits and practices has been difficult; watching your instructors glide along with perfect trim and buoyancy while you struggle to not go shooting off to the surface I found extremely humbling.
Tom Huff from Northeast Scuba in Massachusetts was our primary instructor. I thought that he, as well as Richie and Carrie, did an excellent job of showing us how to deal with different situations that might come up, including multiple problems occurring at once (something that never happened to me diving OC…

). Having more than one instructor on the dives was fantastic; it increased my comfort level dramatically knowing that one of them was always looking over my shoulder. Of course, it made it easy for them to sneak up and shut off my O2, which seemed to happen about 10 times per dive…
It was easy to see that Richie and Carrie love their Evolutions, and I think that adds to their zeal in instructing, as I could tell they wanted us to enjoy diving our units as much as they do. Tom, Richie and Carrie also all had small, but very useful tips to impart regarding the units that aren’t in a training manual, but which make life easier as far as configuration of the unit, breaking it down for cleaning, and even in hanging it up to dry.
I was also concerned that I had not taken a formal class in 15 years, so I studied like mad, asked annoying questions of rebreather divers on dive trips prior to the class, and spent way too many of my workdays reading Rebreather World posts. I learned a great deal reading the posts, which made much more sense after getting my hands on my unit and being able to tear it down and put it back together.
Since I got certified, I have been very lucky in that I have been able to do several dives with Richie and/or Carrie on wrecks off the NJ coast. They have uncomplainingly answered my numerous e-mails and calls whenever I have a question about gear configuration or technique, and they have sacrificed their own dive plans to work with me in the ocean racking up time on the unit in the real world.
My Evolution has been problem-free thus far; I did have a bad download cable, but as soon as I alerted Silent Diving, they shot me out a new one via Fedex.
Many thanks to Tom, Richie and Carrie for the excellent instruction I received, and to all of you on Rebreather World for sharing your knowledge so that newbies like me can profit from your experiences. I am looking forward to continuing to learn as I move forward with my diving on my new rebreather!
John Yurga

27th September 2007, 13:10	#3 (permalink)
john56 New Member Current Rebreather/s: Evolution Other Rebreather/s: Megalodon Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: New Jersey Posts: 7	Re: Evolution Training in the Northeast I took my Evolution training with Jeff, and agree with his comments wholeheartedly. Unlearning almost 20 years of OC habits and practices has been difficult; watching your instructors glide along with perfect trim and buoyancy while you struggle to not go shooting off to the surface I found extremely humbling. Tom Huff from Northeast Scuba in Massachusetts was our primary instructor. I thought that he, as well as Richie and Carrie, did an excellent job of showing us how to deal with different situations that might come up, including multiple problems occurring at once (something that never happened to me diving OC… ). Having more than one instructor on the dives was fantastic; it increased my comfort level dramatically knowing that one of them was always looking over my shoulder. Of course, it made it easy for them to sneak up and shut off my O2, which seemed to happen about 10 times per dive… It was easy to see that Richie and Carrie love their Evolutions, and I think that adds to their zeal in instructing, as I could tell they wanted us to enjoy diving our units as much as they do. Tom, Richie and Carrie also all had small, but very useful tips to impart regarding the units that aren’t in a training manual, but which make life easier as far as configuration of the unit, breaking it down for cleaning, and even in hanging it up to dry. I was also concerned that I had not taken a formal class in 15 years, so I studied like mad, asked annoying questions of rebreather divers on dive trips prior to the class, and spent way too many of my workdays reading Rebreather World posts. I learned a great deal reading the posts, which made much more sense after getting my hands on my unit and being able to tear it down and put it back together. Since I got certified, I have been very lucky in that I have been able to do several dives with Richie and/or Carrie on wrecks off the NJ coast. They have uncomplainingly answered my numerous e-mails and calls whenever I have a question about gear configuration or technique, and they have sacrificed their own dive plans to work with me in the ocean racking up time on the unit in the real world. My Evolution has been problem-free thus far; I did have a bad download cable, but as soon as I alerted Silent Diving, they shot me out a new one via Fedex. Many thanks to Tom, Richie and Carrie for the excellent instruction I received, and to all of you on Rebreather World for sharing your knowledge so that newbies like me can profit from your experiences. I am looking forward to continuing to learn as I move forward with my diving on my new rebreather! John Yurga
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