GUE Open Water class documentary

[Fr8dawg]

I would have done this course! I am new diver with about 18 dives so far and am already trying to figure out when and where I can do a GUE fundamentals class. Had I known of Gue prior to taking my "Mcdonalds" OW with the LDS, I would have seriously considered it. It took about 15 minutes of watching youtube videos to see a clear difference between a gue trained diver and the skills taught to me during my training. Saying that, I can't imagine many new divers would be interested. It seems to me that the ow certification is more geared to be a simple introduction to scuba. I felt that I was no where near where I should be after taking my class, which is what has led me here... in search of information.

Now that I know about organizations such as gue and utd... It is very apparent to me that these guys ARE doing it right and I am very excited to take part in what they have to offer. Even if I never do cave diving or wreck penetrations, or rebreather, or...any tech diving for that matter, having the skillset and team oriented approach to diving they advocate really stands out to me as being important for any diver. I don't buy into the notion that it's only for "tech" ... You're breathing underwater! If it works for the more criticle types of dives, it sure as hell should add a level of safety to my diving while tooling around the reefs.

So yeah, here's another novice diver that recognizes the gue ow certification (recreation cert whatever) is definitely worthwhile!

 

[beanojones]

Oh -- and I wonder if some of the things are situation-specific. I couldn't figure out at first what "unprotected airway" meant, except in the context of the brief Rescue clip. Now I realize you want the students with their masks on and their regulators in their mouths at all times until they are on dry land. I know that isn't the practice of many instructors here in Puget Sound -- we have no waves. We don't teach surf entries, because we don't do them (and if I had to guess, I'd guess most of the instructors here would have a bit of trouble someplace like Southern California!). It's very common to take the mask off and debrief during the surface swim in to shore, and then stand up, take fins off, and walk out. I don't know the place where they were doing the OW class in the film, but the water appears very shallow and very calm, and I suspect they probably teach as we do.

But GUE is apparently trying to train divers in one universally applicable system. Training divers to ignore ocean awareness just because they can get away with it in one specific location is bad practice.

My point was moreover that I am sure the instructor lectured about ocean awareness. It's absoutely basic to an in water activity. But if he was not going put it into practice (so the students would internalize it), then why would he lecture about it in the first place?

 

[Ben_ca]

But GUE is apparently trying to train divers in one universally applicable system. Training divers to ignore ocean awareness just because they can get away with it in one specific location is bad practice.

My point was moreover that I am sure the instructor lectured about ocean awareness. It's absoutely basic to an in water activity. But if he was not going put it into practice (so the students would internalize it), then why would he lecture about it in the first place?

I see this mentality alot in Monterey with new divers. They often are taught the various entries and exit but not the "Why" and "When". The result is new divers putting on their fins then side stepping 50 yards to the water on a flat day.... and crawling out when you have barely any ripples. The big part of Situational Awareness is to know when to use a particular skill and when not to. What did you want to see in the video? The class crawling out on their hands and knees?

 

[VooDooGasMan]

or did you want to see divers doing this

 

[VooDooGasMan]

Underwater Scuba Tricks - YouTubeor did you want to see divers doing this


oops

 

[VooDooGasMan]

Don't know about shore enty but here are some useful boat entry pointer's.

Stupid Diver Ways to get Off a Boat - YouTube

 

[VooDooGasMan]

And here is me teaching a no air procedure, notice the perfect trim

Short of Air - YouTube

 

[beanojones]

I see this mentality alot in Monterey with new divers. They often are taught the various entries and exit but not the "Why" and "When". The result is new divers putting on their fins then side stepping 50 yards to the water on a flat day.... and crawling out when you have barely any ripples. The big part of Situational Awareness is to know when to use a particular skill and when not to. What did you want to see in the video? The class crawling out on their hands and knees?

I wanted to see the team continuing buddy procedures until the tanks are off.

I wanted to see someone, Anyone, and it only needs to be one person, not turning their back on the ocean.

I wanted to see the instructor following the group, not leading the group from the water so he is actually teaching and evaluating proper buddy behavior, and ocean behavior which does not stop until the divers are out of the water with their tanks off. He is getting paid for his time.

I wanted to see proper sequencing and buddy behavior taught so that divers don't ever find themselves in the situation of having to remove their fins with no mask, and an unprotected airway all by themselves.

I am just going to say that watching someone take off their mask, take out their reg, and then hop around on one leg trying to take off their fins is just painting a picture of someone who is not thinking, and most definitely doing it wrong. OW students can be forgiven since they can only do what they are taught. But I know when I see a diver doing it, that there is an instructor out there who stopped empathizing, and stopped being efficient and thorough.

Look, other than the instructor's positioning which can really only be corrected in his instructor qualification course, these are all simple OW skills that every diver in an OW class should be learning, and putting into practice on every dive, from CW one on, because without following them, comfort, enjoyment and safety are compromised.

We can program in good, safe, comfortable dive behavior (or not) by putting ourselves in the student's shoes and thinking like them (or not). Why make a new diver (or even an experienced diver) have to stand on one leg in the ocean to remove fins while carrying a tank, without a mask, or a reg, or a buddy? Simply programming it into students, from CW on, makes for life long habits that don't require conscious thought. Things like buddy procedure starting with putting on gear, and stopping only when the tanks are off, and not a second before. Incorporate into training, instead of lecturing about it.

I imagine the instructor lectured about buddy procedure and ocean awareness, but then, at the time when most water problems occur (on the surface, and at the entry and exit points), he threw them out the window, because he stopped empathizing. He forgot that "dammit tanks are heavy", and "walking in fins is frustrating", and he figured since he was fine, his students were fine. This is my point about instructors (in general) liking to talk too much instead of simply programming students to dive correctly (in buddy teams, with ocean awareness, etc. ) Talk for hours about it, or just integrate it into the actual physical actions. The talk option in inefficient, boring, self-important, and does not actually stick long term. The doing option is effective, effective, and lasting. Every single second in a dive course counts Instructors can waste students time and talk for hours, or maximize their learning by incorporating it into every physical action of the course. Lecturing about diving is silly nonsense, if sometimes a necessary evil. Correct diving is learned by doing it right enough times that is it programmed into muscle memory.

We teach people to follow procedures not because they are always needed, but because they are sometimes needed, and once we are in trouble getting out of it is hard. Staying away from trouble is easy, if the instructor is awake, and empathetic, and not thinking about what they themselves are doing but by thinking about what the students are doing.

And quite simply it is easier to get fins off with a reg in and mask on regardless of condition. Why fish around blind when you can see them with a mask on? Ease, safety, comfort. Why not do it the right way from the beginning? Why have a procedure that you can get away with in a pool when you are trying to teach people to dive, not just in a pool but in the wide world of conditions.

 

[TSandM]

Thank you for your comments, beano . . . I think far more of us than just poor dissected Jesper may have been guilty of what you describe. I know you have raised my awareness of some issues for students, and for that, I thank you.

I do think, though, that what you emphasize to students will vary by location.

 

[Griffo]

I just wish that I was aware of this training system prior to starting down the normal rec road and spending not insignificant amounts of money on courses and gear.

If GUE was serious about attracting more students to this course though, they would spend some time seriously working over their website and online presence.
I challenge anyone to go to their website and find out information about the Rec1 course - you get directed to download some 100 page PDF that very poorly explains it, if at all. When I decided to learn to dive after my initial "try dive", i did a fair bit of research on which agency I wanted to learn with, and GUE didn't even appear in my google searches. Even when I then found out about GUE, and I crawled over their website, it was only on Scubaboard that i discovered that they actually do a Rec course.
So if GUE want to really improve rec diver training, then they really need to get serious about promoting their rec course in some shape or fashion so people actually hear about it.
Even on that video, it seems most of the students fell into the course by accident moreso than by any plan to attract them to it.