What now?

[UCFKnightDiver]

+1 for a GUE Fundamentals Course

 

[Bubbletrubble]

Now Bubbletrubble is there a particular reason why you chose those suggestions in that order? (one being better/more appropriate than the others etc.). GUE is definately an option for me I am going to talk to one of my buddies later in the week about the tech course he is taking now. All I know is he is taking GUE Tech Diver Level 1. We live in about the same area so I am assuming the facility is nearby.

The order I specified probably had more to do with my impression that there's a more extensive network of GUE instructors than UTD instructors. (At least GUE has been around longer than UTD.) I think you'd receive good instruction with either agency. Perhaps the best thing you could do is talk it over with an instructor from each agency.

If one of your buddies is already taking a GUE Tech Diver Level 1 Class, then he can give you firsthand info about his instructor. If you went down the same training path, you'd have a tech diving buddy who's on the same page in terms of ideology (gear and philosophy).

 

[CZAR]

Thank you all great suggestions. I will most likely be talking my buddy about his expirience with GUE and his instructor. Then I will have to search around and see if there are any other tech instructors in my area. Wayne at DiveSeekers well I am PADI instructed for everything i've done (which as far as c cards go isn't much). I have all of those skills down solid but haven't ever taken a formal class like advanced bouyancy control for example. I'm not really sure how much I would benefit from such a class but it is definately worth looking into. I am not very near you but I have been to dutch quite a few times so we could possibly work something out.

 

[TSandM]

I would echo the recommendation for GUE Fundamentals, even if your subsequent training doesn't necessarily continue with GUE. The class is an excellent one which can be taken in a single tank, if you wish; it introduces the standard for skills which is expected in technical diving, which is quite different from what you are likely to have seen in any mainstream diving class, unless you took it from someone with tech or cave training.

Rick Inman, who is one of the moderators here, took Fundamentals with me, and although he did not do any further GUE classes, he has said a number of times that taking the class was the best thing he could have done, and his subsequent technical instructor concurred.

Fundamentals, with a technical pass (in other words, taken in doubles with a can light and passed to technical standards) is a prerequisite for all other GUE technical training.

UTD Essentials and Intro to Tech are like recreational Fundies and tech Fundies, although Intro to Tech introduces carrying a deco bottle.

Other agencies (eg. NAUI) also offer an Intro to Tech class, but how good the class is can be pretty instructor-dependent.

I think you will find that, even if you don't move immediately into technical diving, taking Fundies will reinvigorate your diving, because you're going to be motivated to get out there and practice and master the skills to the level you saw them demonstrated. AND having those skills will make all the diving you do more fun!

 

[Rainer]

Regardless of your diving goals, GUE-F is a wonderful course to help improve your diving.

 

[Mr Carcharodon]

What now? Just go diving. Think some about where you want to go, but most of all just go diving. Diving is after all the end goal. Why are you obsessed by classes? Let your obsession being the things you can see, and the places you can go.

 

[boulderjohn]

I have all of those skills down solid but haven't ever taken a formal class like advanced bouyancy control for example. I'm not really sure how much I would benefit from such a class but it is definately worth looking into.

In my mind, I was a master of buoyancy until I started diving doubles and started learning to do skills like valve drills while holding a horizontal position in place. I realized then that as far as that kind of buoyancy was concerned, I was a pure beginner. It was quite humbling.

 

[CZAR]

In my mind, I was a master of buoyancy until I started diving doubles and started learning to do skills like valve drills while holding a horizontal position in place. I realized then that as far as that kind of buoyancy was concerned, I was a pure beginner. It was quite humbling.

I almost expect that to happen. I feel like i'm getting content where i'm at and it is to the point where recreational diving has lost it lore for me. My skills are good but good at a sport diver level and good at a tech diver level are two totally different things.

I'm not particularly obsessed with taking classes. I'm not one of those divers that has to collect c cards. When I take a class I want to get as much out of it as I possibly can and after that class I constantly perfect and hone my skills to second nature.

I've seen a lot under the water but there is so much more that can't be reached at a recreational level. So that is why I plan to further my education in the dive world.

 

[dwhthediver]

Other agencies (eg. NAUI) also offer an Intro to Tech class, but how good the class is can be pretty instructor-dependent.
I think you will find that, even if you don't move immediately into technical diving, taking Fundies will reinvigorate your diving, because you're going to be motivated to get out there and practice and master the skills to the level you saw them demonstrated. AND having those skills will make all the diving you do more fun!

Would it not be that way with any agency? Including GUE and UDT? Don't tell me all their instructors are perfect, even the men in black can make mistakes

 

[TSandM]

Well, I'll tell you, once you get hooked on the skills polishing of technical or cave diving, there is no end to it -- you're never perfect!

Edited to respond to dwthediver's question: Both GUE and UTD very strictly prescribe the curriculum (take a look at the GUE class standards for degree of detail!) including precisely which skills are done and exactly how they are evaluated. Although other agencies may require certain skills in their classes, there seems to be a lot more leeway in how they are performed and how they are evaluated. For example, we have a local technical instructor whose students do all their ascents holding onto an upline; this would not be possible in a GUE or UTD class.

The skills of the instructors as educators, even within those agencies, will of course vary, but the curriculum will not.