Hi all,
Just to close off this thread for me with some parting thoughts as it has once again degenerated into an us against them debate which I had never intended.
As an observation we have one person who vehemenently stands by the highest air standards in the world of which only a handful of stores supply in all of the world and then advocates technical training the young, *fit* smoking diver. If he is smoking what would the air standard matter. He would not likely be able to jam anything into his lungs that was not already there. Inconsistant? I think so.
It is aparent that there is a fundamental change happening in the market place. That thanks to GUE and others we are raising the bar in general and that is a good thing. I just dislike the way some folks go about it. Throw stones at the folks that are holding the standard while quickly scrambling to catch up. Both PADI and NAUI are guilty of this practice. Just how long ago did these agencies condem the tech diver? What is happening now? The technical agencies are not much different. Give credit where credit is due to the instructors who are trying to make a difference outside the framework of their agencies. Is Steve's course a sanctioned TDI course? The answer is not only no but hell no. Is Steve wrong in doing what he is doing? Of course not.
The only way to experience the GUE version of DIR is to actually come out and try it for yourself. Then decide whether it is for you or not. Personally I think it is great training for all levels of divers but I may be some what biased. Not all GUE/DIR divers are loud mouths. However all divers that have taken a GUE course know that they have just experieced a course unlike anything they have ever taken before and have actually acomplished something. The most consistant question that I answer on a regular basis is "why hasn't anyone taught me that before". The reason is simple..if your instructor does not know it then they can't teach it.
Canadians are a silly bunch of consumers when it comes to diving. If I were looking to have brain surgury done I would prefer to have it done by the best surgeon money can buy in a top notch hospital. But when it comes to diving they normal seek the least expensive training and not necessarily the brightest instructor. After all in a class of 243 someone has to come 243rd. This is not true of all instructors of course but consistancy and high standards are only maintained through rigorous standards. GUE has the highest standards in the world for their instructors as well.
All I would ask the arm chair cowboys to do is to form your own opinion by actually experiencing a GUE course. Then you have a basis of comparison. If not then you really do not have an opinion on the quality of training. When Steve or I or most of the other DIR and GUE divers say something in here it is based on expience. Most divers gravitate to GUE after having gotten tired of being raped and beaten by some other agency. I my case I had around 700 dives and was a full trimix IANTD diver before I realized that I had been sold nothing but cards and that as long as the instructor had the money (of pretty near any course that I taken up to this point) that rather than hold me accountable for having poor skills they would hand out the cards and sign me up for the next course. It is too bad that I learned this hard lesson after tens of thousands of dollars.
So if we hold ourselves high it is because we hold ourselves accountable as well. My name on a C card may not mean a heck of a lot to the student but it sure means a lot to me. We tend to produce confident, comfortable and competent divers through a ciriculum of education, experiece and equipment. End of story. As I have have stated in earlier posts I have yet to run across a diver that has under taken GUE training complain. It is usually the ones on the outside looking in. The door is open folks, I challenge you to come on in and have a look. See you around the other threads.
Safe dives,
Dan
Just to close off this thread for me with some parting thoughts as it has once again degenerated into an us against them debate which I had never intended.
As an observation we have one person who vehemenently stands by the highest air standards in the world of which only a handful of stores supply in all of the world and then advocates technical training the young, *fit* smoking diver. If he is smoking what would the air standard matter. He would not likely be able to jam anything into his lungs that was not already there. Inconsistant? I think so.
It is aparent that there is a fundamental change happening in the market place. That thanks to GUE and others we are raising the bar in general and that is a good thing. I just dislike the way some folks go about it. Throw stones at the folks that are holding the standard while quickly scrambling to catch up. Both PADI and NAUI are guilty of this practice. Just how long ago did these agencies condem the tech diver? What is happening now? The technical agencies are not much different. Give credit where credit is due to the instructors who are trying to make a difference outside the framework of their agencies. Is Steve's course a sanctioned TDI course? The answer is not only no but hell no. Is Steve wrong in doing what he is doing? Of course not.
The only way to experience the GUE version of DIR is to actually come out and try it for yourself. Then decide whether it is for you or not. Personally I think it is great training for all levels of divers but I may be some what biased. Not all GUE/DIR divers are loud mouths. However all divers that have taken a GUE course know that they have just experieced a course unlike anything they have ever taken before and have actually acomplished something. The most consistant question that I answer on a regular basis is "why hasn't anyone taught me that before". The reason is simple..if your instructor does not know it then they can't teach it.
Canadians are a silly bunch of consumers when it comes to diving. If I were looking to have brain surgury done I would prefer to have it done by the best surgeon money can buy in a top notch hospital. But when it comes to diving they normal seek the least expensive training and not necessarily the brightest instructor. After all in a class of 243 someone has to come 243rd. This is not true of all instructors of course but consistancy and high standards are only maintained through rigorous standards. GUE has the highest standards in the world for their instructors as well.
All I would ask the arm chair cowboys to do is to form your own opinion by actually experiencing a GUE course. Then you have a basis of comparison. If not then you really do not have an opinion on the quality of training. When Steve or I or most of the other DIR and GUE divers say something in here it is based on expience. Most divers gravitate to GUE after having gotten tired of being raped and beaten by some other agency. I my case I had around 700 dives and was a full trimix IANTD diver before I realized that I had been sold nothing but cards and that as long as the instructor had the money (of pretty near any course that I taken up to this point) that rather than hold me accountable for having poor skills they would hand out the cards and sign me up for the next course. It is too bad that I learned this hard lesson after tens of thousands of dollars.
So if we hold ourselves high it is because we hold ourselves accountable as well. My name on a C card may not mean a heck of a lot to the student but it sure means a lot to me. We tend to produce confident, comfortable and competent divers through a ciriculum of education, experiece and equipment. End of story. As I have have stated in earlier posts I have yet to run across a diver that has under taken GUE training complain. It is usually the ones on the outside looking in. The door is open folks, I challenge you to come on in and have a look. See you around the other threads.
Safe dives,
Dan
