GUE Fundamentals Iwakuni, Japan. 27 June-01 July 2012
Course Report
Instructors: Thomas Jonsson
Eriko Jonsson
Prior diving experience: I started diving about 5 1/2 years ago, but spent two winters in Utah and did not dive during this time. I was an avid skier, which was why I moved to Utah. I was certified in Pensacola, Florida, and have also dove in Alaska. I moved to Guam and spent 3 years there, diving locally and taking dive trips to Yap, Palau, Chuuk, and another trip to Palau.
I completed TDI Advanced Nitrox/Decompression Procedures while living on Guam, but moved to Iwakuni, Japan about 6 months after finishing this course.
I have wanted to take the Fundamentals course ever since diving in Alaska. The dive operator in Anchorage where I took a dry suit class is also a GUE instructor. That was the first time I had seen GUE trained divers, and it left a big impression on me. For a variety of reasons, I never took Fundamentals while on Guam. After moving to Japan I started getting in touch with some of the people here and we have been spending most weekends exploring the different dive sites around here.
One of these divers and I, started discussing taking GUE Fundamentals. I considered trying to fly back to Guam and getting together with a GUE trained diver there, that has also taken the same TDI course I have. The plan was to fly an instructor to Guam and try and get some other divers interested in taking it.
My dive buddy here in Iwakuni searched the GUE website for instructors and suggested that we get in touch with Thomas Jonsson, in Tokyo and see if he would travel down here and teach the class. Fortunately for us, not only was he willing to travel down here, but he would be bringing his wife, Eriko with him. She is also a GUE instructor.
Arrangements were made, and the class was arranged for the 27th of June. At first I was kind of nervous about the fact that there would be two GUE instructors watching our every move. Talk about being under the microscope!
Pre-Fundamantals practice: Richard and I had already been diving together, just doing fun dives. We would include slow ascents and stops at the end of each dive, just hovering and holding our position in the water.
Once we booked the class, we figured it was time to really step it up. We spent 2 hours in the pool on base, just going over every skill we could think of. It was very helpful to have some GUE videos to watch before hand. We both agreed to make the focus of our practice sessions just doing things while in trim and not get too hung up on exact steps. I didn't want to groove in the wrong steps or procedures. But it did allow us to improve while hovering in trim and not be doing too many fin movements.
Then we moved on to doing shore dives. Just doing fun dives, but adding some skills at the end, and still doing the slow controlled ascents and stops. The focus for us at this point was just to dive as a team, and communicate well.
We ended up doing night dives and dives with poor visibility. This proved to be helpful, since it really locked us into being a team.....as much as possible in preparation for the class. After that, we decided that it was just time to take a break. So no diving for the week before Fundamentals. We spent this time going over gear, adjusting anything that needed it, and just packing things up.
The first day was academics. Thomas asked us before coming down if we wanted to do the class in Metric or Imperial. I had already been wanting to switch over to Metric for awhile, so I asked Richard if he would be OK with doing the class in Metric....... Metric it is! I am happy that we agreed to take the class in Metric. Compared to my TDI class, which was taught in Imperial, Metric is so much more intuitive.
Day #2: We went over the equipment setup and configuration in detail. I was really looking forward to this part, since I have been diving a BP/W and a long hose for a couple of years prior to this class. I was expecting to have to make some changes here and there to the GUE way or doing things. I was also curious about how close I would be.
As it turned out, I only needed to make a few minor changes. The crotch strap and waist belt needed some minor adjustments, and the hip d-ring needed to be moved back slightly. A little adjustment to the shoulder straps and I was set. Thomas and Eriko did show some tricks of the trade for adjustments such as ( ) and ( ). It was very helpful to be shown how to ( ).
I never would have thought of that.
I quickly realized that the gear configuration was only one piece of the puzzle. In fact, every day I came to learn that what I though I knew about GUE were only small parts of a bigger picture.
Gear and skill are part or it.....but it's really not about the gear and individual skills. Not at all.
We then left the gear on shore and headed out to the water for some initial trim and fin kick practice. This first practice session was done without fins, just to get a feel for the body mechanics of it all.
It was back to the shore for some dry land demonstrations and practice. Team movement was covered, as well as how we were to position ourselves in the water for the fin kicks. Thomas and Eriko were very detailed in the briefings. Because of this, it was always very clear, once underwater what we were supposed to do for every drill. At this point I immediately felt the advantages of having two instructors. Any previous concerns I had about being under the microscope were gone. We were able to go over every skill multiple times, getting immediate feedback or an additional demonstration on the right way to do things. It was becoming clear that this experience was not just about skills, there are more elements to it than that. Everything revolves around you and your teammate. Even though Thomas and Eriko are instructors, during the briefings and during the dives, they always projected the we were part of their team, and not just a student/instructor situation. It is that of course.......but there was also a different type of vibe with their approach to teaching. It hard to describe, but that feeling of being a team with Thomas and Eriko was there throughout the course.
It's like they are training divers to be their teammate, and not just instructors teaching students. Because of this, we had a strong feeling that they wanted to have us succeed and improve. I was blown away by this.....and still am. That aspect of this class left a big impression on me. It's difficult to articulate, but there it is.
This dive and all of the others began with the GUE EDGE pre-dive sequence. Much more detailed than the typical pre-dive briefing, this is very much a Team check. This also includes the modified valve drill, s-drill, and bubble check. Richard and I alternated between being Team leaders on all of the dives.
Right away in this course, one of the students is going to be the Team leader, which is yet another layer of building the whole team approach that this course has instilled.
During the dive we started with the Basic 5 drills, and moved on to team movement, buoyancy control,
remaining in trim, hovering, and communication. This dive, along with all of the others ends with a thorough de-briefing. The focus of these is always to get us to improve as a dive team.
I won't detail every single dive, I would rather touch on my impressions about the whole experience.
One thing that was obvious from the beginning was Thomas and Eriko genuinely wanted us to improve. Every day built on what was done the previous day. Things are repeated and built upon constantly. Everything is observed, filmed, critiqued, corrected, and demonstrated. Improvements are encouraged......along with the now familiar “there's still room for improvement.”
The video de-briefs were extremely helpful. It locks it into your mind the things that you need to improve on.
The days were long, the time in the water was long. The time the Instructors spent with us each day must have been tiring for them. I'm not going to lie....I was wore out every day. I can only imagine how it must wear on Instructors who are tasked with building a dive team.
There were times during this class where I felt like I had a good handle on things, and then it would suddenly feel very difficult. This was constant, as new skills and drills were being introduced and added to the previously taught skills. For me, there was that back and forth feeling....at first feeling like “I got this”, then later feeling like “This is a lot to keep track of”.
Critique, video analysis, demonstrations and repeating things multiple times prepared us for the next tasks to be added. There is that back and forth feeling, but it's gradual and controlled. Each night I'd lay awake thinking about everything. Most mornings I woke up early.....my mind filled with thoughts about what I has already been taught. More tasks added....more learning. I was a fun learning environment to be in. Richard and I were really clicking as teammates!
I sort of had a preconceived notion in my head that Fundamentals would include some mild harassment or stress added by the instructors. It really wasn't like that. It was just about building.....always building a little bit at a time, and improving.
The high standard and the ever increasing task loading takes the place of any harassment. This is another impression that I'm left with about our Fundamentals class........ The stress all comes from trying to perform at the higher standard and from managing the added tasks as a team. The instructors were there to help us meet that goal, constantly adding layers. It was a very awesome experience. I miss it. I had so much fun.
Another thing I though I knew about Fundamentals beforehand, was about the skills.
I figured that if I had a good back kick, could do helicopter turns, shoot an SMB, do out of gas drill with a long hose, could hover, dive in trim...blah,blah,blah. Etc., etc. that I would do well in this class.
Those things did prove to be helpful. I practiced them all beforehand, and was ok with most of them.
Being able to do those things helped me to not struggle so much with the things that this course is really about (in my opinion), which is being a solid teammate. That's is....no more, no less.
It's about knowing that if I'm ever up the unsanitary tributary without proper propulsion, then I have a solid dive buddy that can be part of the solution to fixing the problem. It's also about me being that solid of a teammate to whoever I'm diving with.
Once that is realized.....it becomes about how to plan and execute a solid dive plan so that we don't create a bad situation to begin with.
The individual skills and the gear are a part of it.....but only a small part. The skills and gear are a foundation of course. But it was really about building a team.
I would never have passed this course without my teammate. No ****! It's as simple as that. We went into this class with that attitude. That we would pass or fail, or whatever, as teammates. We spent the entire course right in each others face, dealing with the ever increasing task load.....together.
For me.....that's what it ended up being all about. Being a teammate, being the kind of diver that anyone would know they could dive with and have a solid buddy.
If you dive with me, and we ever find ourselves up the unsanitary tributary......I've got your back! And a spare paddle.
Thomas and Eriko Jonsson left a huge impression on me when it comes to my attitude towards diving as a team.
I am extremely grateful for all of the time and care that they put into doing this class.
I am looking forward to all the diving Richard and I will be doing around Iwakuni in preparation for Tech 1.
We have also started organizing another Fundamentals class for some more divers here. We have two more that are planning to take the class next month. I'm working on firm dates right now.
Time to build a bigger team.
-Mitchell Singler
---------- Post Merged at 05:53 AM ---------- Previous Post was at 05:46 AM ----------
I figured I would add a picture.
Course Report
Instructors: Thomas Jonsson
Eriko Jonsson
Prior diving experience: I started diving about 5 1/2 years ago, but spent two winters in Utah and did not dive during this time. I was an avid skier, which was why I moved to Utah. I was certified in Pensacola, Florida, and have also dove in Alaska. I moved to Guam and spent 3 years there, diving locally and taking dive trips to Yap, Palau, Chuuk, and another trip to Palau.
I completed TDI Advanced Nitrox/Decompression Procedures while living on Guam, but moved to Iwakuni, Japan about 6 months after finishing this course.
I have wanted to take the Fundamentals course ever since diving in Alaska. The dive operator in Anchorage where I took a dry suit class is also a GUE instructor. That was the first time I had seen GUE trained divers, and it left a big impression on me. For a variety of reasons, I never took Fundamentals while on Guam. After moving to Japan I started getting in touch with some of the people here and we have been spending most weekends exploring the different dive sites around here.
One of these divers and I, started discussing taking GUE Fundamentals. I considered trying to fly back to Guam and getting together with a GUE trained diver there, that has also taken the same TDI course I have. The plan was to fly an instructor to Guam and try and get some other divers interested in taking it.
My dive buddy here in Iwakuni searched the GUE website for instructors and suggested that we get in touch with Thomas Jonsson, in Tokyo and see if he would travel down here and teach the class. Fortunately for us, not only was he willing to travel down here, but he would be bringing his wife, Eriko with him. She is also a GUE instructor.
Arrangements were made, and the class was arranged for the 27th of June. At first I was kind of nervous about the fact that there would be two GUE instructors watching our every move. Talk about being under the microscope!
Pre-Fundamantals practice: Richard and I had already been diving together, just doing fun dives. We would include slow ascents and stops at the end of each dive, just hovering and holding our position in the water.
Once we booked the class, we figured it was time to really step it up. We spent 2 hours in the pool on base, just going over every skill we could think of. It was very helpful to have some GUE videos to watch before hand. We both agreed to make the focus of our practice sessions just doing things while in trim and not get too hung up on exact steps. I didn't want to groove in the wrong steps or procedures. But it did allow us to improve while hovering in trim and not be doing too many fin movements.
Then we moved on to doing shore dives. Just doing fun dives, but adding some skills at the end, and still doing the slow controlled ascents and stops. The focus for us at this point was just to dive as a team, and communicate well.
We ended up doing night dives and dives with poor visibility. This proved to be helpful, since it really locked us into being a team.....as much as possible in preparation for the class. After that, we decided that it was just time to take a break. So no diving for the week before Fundamentals. We spent this time going over gear, adjusting anything that needed it, and just packing things up.
The first day was academics. Thomas asked us before coming down if we wanted to do the class in Metric or Imperial. I had already been wanting to switch over to Metric for awhile, so I asked Richard if he would be OK with doing the class in Metric....... Metric it is! I am happy that we agreed to take the class in Metric. Compared to my TDI class, which was taught in Imperial, Metric is so much more intuitive.
Day #2: We went over the equipment setup and configuration in detail. I was really looking forward to this part, since I have been diving a BP/W and a long hose for a couple of years prior to this class. I was expecting to have to make some changes here and there to the GUE way or doing things. I was also curious about how close I would be.
As it turned out, I only needed to make a few minor changes. The crotch strap and waist belt needed some minor adjustments, and the hip d-ring needed to be moved back slightly. A little adjustment to the shoulder straps and I was set. Thomas and Eriko did show some tricks of the trade for adjustments such as ( ) and ( ). It was very helpful to be shown how to ( ).
I never would have thought of that.
I quickly realized that the gear configuration was only one piece of the puzzle. In fact, every day I came to learn that what I though I knew about GUE were only small parts of a bigger picture.
Gear and skill are part or it.....but it's really not about the gear and individual skills. Not at all.
We then left the gear on shore and headed out to the water for some initial trim and fin kick practice. This first practice session was done without fins, just to get a feel for the body mechanics of it all.
It was back to the shore for some dry land demonstrations and practice. Team movement was covered, as well as how we were to position ourselves in the water for the fin kicks. Thomas and Eriko were very detailed in the briefings. Because of this, it was always very clear, once underwater what we were supposed to do for every drill. At this point I immediately felt the advantages of having two instructors. Any previous concerns I had about being under the microscope were gone. We were able to go over every skill multiple times, getting immediate feedback or an additional demonstration on the right way to do things. It was becoming clear that this experience was not just about skills, there are more elements to it than that. Everything revolves around you and your teammate. Even though Thomas and Eriko are instructors, during the briefings and during the dives, they always projected the we were part of their team, and not just a student/instructor situation. It is that of course.......but there was also a different type of vibe with their approach to teaching. It hard to describe, but that feeling of being a team with Thomas and Eriko was there throughout the course.
It's like they are training divers to be their teammate, and not just instructors teaching students. Because of this, we had a strong feeling that they wanted to have us succeed and improve. I was blown away by this.....and still am. That aspect of this class left a big impression on me. It's difficult to articulate, but there it is.
This dive and all of the others began with the GUE EDGE pre-dive sequence. Much more detailed than the typical pre-dive briefing, this is very much a Team check. This also includes the modified valve drill, s-drill, and bubble check. Richard and I alternated between being Team leaders on all of the dives.
Right away in this course, one of the students is going to be the Team leader, which is yet another layer of building the whole team approach that this course has instilled.
During the dive we started with the Basic 5 drills, and moved on to team movement, buoyancy control,
remaining in trim, hovering, and communication. This dive, along with all of the others ends with a thorough de-briefing. The focus of these is always to get us to improve as a dive team.
I won't detail every single dive, I would rather touch on my impressions about the whole experience.
One thing that was obvious from the beginning was Thomas and Eriko genuinely wanted us to improve. Every day built on what was done the previous day. Things are repeated and built upon constantly. Everything is observed, filmed, critiqued, corrected, and demonstrated. Improvements are encouraged......along with the now familiar “there's still room for improvement.”
The video de-briefs were extremely helpful. It locks it into your mind the things that you need to improve on.
The days were long, the time in the water was long. The time the Instructors spent with us each day must have been tiring for them. I'm not going to lie....I was wore out every day. I can only imagine how it must wear on Instructors who are tasked with building a dive team.
There were times during this class where I felt like I had a good handle on things, and then it would suddenly feel very difficult. This was constant, as new skills and drills were being introduced and added to the previously taught skills. For me, there was that back and forth feeling....at first feeling like “I got this”, then later feeling like “This is a lot to keep track of”.
Critique, video analysis, demonstrations and repeating things multiple times prepared us for the next tasks to be added. There is that back and forth feeling, but it's gradual and controlled. Each night I'd lay awake thinking about everything. Most mornings I woke up early.....my mind filled with thoughts about what I has already been taught. More tasks added....more learning. I was a fun learning environment to be in. Richard and I were really clicking as teammates!
I sort of had a preconceived notion in my head that Fundamentals would include some mild harassment or stress added by the instructors. It really wasn't like that. It was just about building.....always building a little bit at a time, and improving.
The high standard and the ever increasing task loading takes the place of any harassment. This is another impression that I'm left with about our Fundamentals class........ The stress all comes from trying to perform at the higher standard and from managing the added tasks as a team. The instructors were there to help us meet that goal, constantly adding layers. It was a very awesome experience. I miss it. I had so much fun.
Another thing I though I knew about Fundamentals beforehand, was about the skills.
I figured that if I had a good back kick, could do helicopter turns, shoot an SMB, do out of gas drill with a long hose, could hover, dive in trim...blah,blah,blah. Etc., etc. that I would do well in this class.
Those things did prove to be helpful. I practiced them all beforehand, and was ok with most of them.
Being able to do those things helped me to not struggle so much with the things that this course is really about (in my opinion), which is being a solid teammate. That's is....no more, no less.
It's about knowing that if I'm ever up the unsanitary tributary without proper propulsion, then I have a solid dive buddy that can be part of the solution to fixing the problem. It's also about me being that solid of a teammate to whoever I'm diving with.
Once that is realized.....it becomes about how to plan and execute a solid dive plan so that we don't create a bad situation to begin with.
The individual skills and the gear are a part of it.....but only a small part. The skills and gear are a foundation of course. But it was really about building a team.
I would never have passed this course without my teammate. No ****! It's as simple as that. We went into this class with that attitude. That we would pass or fail, or whatever, as teammates. We spent the entire course right in each others face, dealing with the ever increasing task load.....together.
For me.....that's what it ended up being all about. Being a teammate, being the kind of diver that anyone would know they could dive with and have a solid buddy.
If you dive with me, and we ever find ourselves up the unsanitary tributary......I've got your back! And a spare paddle.
Thomas and Eriko Jonsson left a huge impression on me when it comes to my attitude towards diving as a team.
I am extremely grateful for all of the time and care that they put into doing this class.
I am looking forward to all the diving Richard and I will be doing around Iwakuni in preparation for Tech 1.
We have also started organizing another Fundamentals class for some more divers here. We have two more that are planning to take the class next month. I'm working on firm dates right now.
Time to build a bigger team.
-Mitchell Singler
---------- Post Merged at 05:53 AM ---------- Previous Post was at 05:46 AM ----------
I figured I would add a picture.
