Preparing for fundamentals / intro to tech

[rddvet]

What I gained from this thread is that berndo is FIGJAM regarding anything connected to diving.

I had to google that one. I will just defend him a tiny bit and say that sometimes he has decent comments that are well thought out and presented. That's how he was for a long time, with some aregumentativeness thrown in. Now he's kinds ratcheted that to the opposite. I think he could make for some good discussion if if wasn't all spewing hate and arguments like it's become.
Anybody remember razorista?

 

[Germie]

But we don't know if the TS is more or less an autodidact. There are videos about the procedures easy to find on Youtube. Practising that stuff is not that hard then.
Is it bad to practise outside a course? I don't think so.

And remember there are good and bad divers with every agency. All divers are human and breathe from the same regulator and have to deal with the same physics.

 

[steinbil]

Despite berndos ridiculous claims, I'm quite sure the GUE "zealots" in this thread don't really care if OP chooses to go ahead with TDI or GUE classes. I'm also quite sure they don't mind anyone recommending TDI instructors or "plugging" any specific agency. GUE might not be right for everyone, but I wouldn't want interested parties get the wrong impression from berndos crusade against anything GUE.

Instead of responding to the ridiculous claims, or sh*tting on any other agencies, I'll say why I love GUE with an anecdote from my last dive. Yesterday I dove with two GUE divers that I've never dove with before. We spent 2 minutes doing a GUE EDGE and discovered and solved an equipment problem before splashing. One diver said his ears were a little off, so we agreed to descend slowly and to let him decide the depth we would go to. We also agreed that I would shoot the SMB at the end of the dive and to do a 1m/min ascent from 6m. Simple things. It was the most enjoyable dive I've had. Throughout the dive, I never had to turn my head to see where my buddies were. Team positioning and passive light communication made it so relaxing. When we had 10 minutes left on the agreed bottom time, the team leader signalled to shoot an SMB. There was quite a bit of current at the time, but we drifted together in a diamond formation, so I could clearly see my buddies while I got out the bag, shot it, and we started the ascent. I've always done the standard 3m/min ascent, so I didn't know if I would be able to do it while reeling the SMB, but because of perfect positioning by my team, it was easy. They were always in sight and a good visual reference for me, and helped keep track of time. It was perfect, like clockwork. We took exactly 6 minutes from 6 meters. Some people, like berndo, might say that this is easy. I know it isn't easy for me, but with an excellent team I was able to do it, they made me better. We were in perfect sync the entire dive, and I've never dove with them before. Was this overkill for a simple dive? Probably. But it's fun! I enjoy the teamwork, and I enjoy the satisfaction of executing skills well. And heading in to technical classes and diving, I know what kind of buddies I would like to have when doing perfect ascents is more important.

Are there excellent divers like these with non-GUE certs? Of course. Are they as common among non-GUE divers? Not in my experience.

 

[berndo]

That's how he was for a long time, with some aregumentativeness thrown in.

I always thought it's a cult but the gue fanboys have gotten worse over the years... especially the people who hardly made it through fundis. Ironically the noobs are the most zealous followers, compared to the instructors and C2/T2 I know who seem like fairly normal people.
They had to boot a fresh gue fundi gue from a buddy's dive club recently (which is unheard of) because he was harassing new students about how they need to switch to gue for safety reasons... he went to people homes too, to literally evangelise. No other agency has people that come knocking on your door ...

 

[overthinking_diver]

Yes, every time I drive a different car with a manual gear box or play a different tune on my guitar I have to unlearn all the bad habits from prior experiences... and I have start all over again. Makes total sense.

Thanks for your response! I wanted to see if you have a sincere disagreement with the rest of the folks here or are just trolling. I'm always open to opposing points of view especially coming from someone with your amount of experience.

But anyway, I got my answer.

Enjoy diving! Sorry, GUE hurt you so much.

 

[Lorenzoid]

I haven't checked in on this thread in a few days, but wow--10 pages now, mostly about GUE versus the world.

I'm quite sure the GUE "zealots" in this thread don't really care if OP chooses to go ahead with TDI or GUE classes. I'm also quite sure they don't mind anyone recommending TDI instructors or "plugging" any specific agency.

Bingo. I started with Fundies, but if I had instead taken Intro-to-Tech with a TDI instructor and was pleased with the outcome, I'm sure I would not hesitate to recommend that instructor.

In my thinking, what matters most when a diver is beginning down this path is to practice whatever way of doing some procedure your instructor taught you, and learn to go through the sequence of motions consistently and fluidly, so the whole procedure becomes second nature, and without too much flailing around/depth change. I would like to think a good instructor with whatever agency would emphasize these points.

 

[overthinking_diver]

They had to boot a fresh gue fundi gue from a buddy's dive club recently (which is unheard of) because he was harassing new students about how they need to switch to gue for safety reasons... he went to people homes too, to literally evangelise. No other agency has people that come knocking on your door ...

ok, I'll try one more time How does this story help the OP prepare for fundies/intro to tech? What are you hoping to accomplish with these posts? Get the OP (or a casual reader) to drop their fundies plans, because a GUE diver was an ******* to you? Change the behavior of new fundies grads? Whatever it is, you're going about it the wrong way with all the negativity and I think you're getting the opposite reaction.

You're super experienced and probably a great diver but instead of offering the OP advice on how to get better, something that they're asking for. You chose to spend your time and energy trying to win an argument. An argument, you've had with the same people for the 100th time, in a 100 other threads every time GUE gets brought up.

 

[berndo]

... and I think you're getting the opposite reaction.

All I did was point out that it's nonsense that you can't learn new skills. The stuff about 'bad habit' building when people practice a little outside or even dare to use double without a class is a gue 'fact' aka fairytale and me saying that triggered the mob.

 

[PfcAJ]

All I did was point out that it's nonsense that you can't learn new skills. The stuff about 'bad habit' building when people practice a little outside or even dare to use double without a class is a gue 'fact' aka fairytale and me saying that triggered the mob.

Except it’s not a fairy tale. It literally happens to people.

You don’t need a class for everything, but if you’re going to go out and attempt to learn procedures on your own, you’re likely setting yourself up for a bad time. So many people come in to these classes thinking it’s an “audition” and are all caddywampus.

 

[VikingDives]

@blueskies_up_ahead By my count, I'm the 6th instructor to comment in this thread.

Of the other instructors, 3 have said that you shouldn't practice new skills prior to taking ITT/Fundies, 1 did not comment, and 1 said it was ok to practice new things.

I'm going to throw my hat in with the don't practice new things folks, so make that 4 against and one for...

Whether you take fundies or a good ITT class, or hell, even advanced open water, as an instructor I can tell you that it's easier to teach a good habit to someone who has no experience than it is to break a bad habit. For example, I get a lot of students who were taught to kneel in the pool during open water, when they show up for their first class with me, I know it is going to take about 6 hours of training to get them to the point where they can hover horizontally and have decent looking trim.

In contrast, brand new open water students will have (generally) learned to hover horizontally and control their buoyancy at least as well by the third hour of pool instruction.