GUE Fundamentals Class

[LiteHedded]

Honestly, I don't think those posts give an accurate picture of the class. They may give that impression because you generally only hear from those particular people. People who take the class and pass it no problem the first time generally don't make a big deal of it, because it wasn't a big deal. But to go around declaring "I did fundies and passed the first time, because it was easy" can easily come across as cocky and arrogant. I passed the first time and it was easy

tech pass on my first go round as well. it's not as bad as scubaboard reports would have you believe.

 

[CptTightPants21]

From what I have seen, I would put the pass rates on the first attempt around:

40%: Rec Pass
20%: Tech Pass
40%: Provisional

 

[KevinNM]

tech pass on my first go round as well. it's not as bad as scubaboard reports would have you believe.

Sure, if you are already an experienced tech diver. Though no guarantees, I had a guy with full cave in a class and we all got provisionals. He had different issues than me, but when Mark went over the standards at Subway and asked how we’d done it was pretty subdued.

 

[Imla]

I had my double for about 3 months (during winter, in Norway... very little diving) before doing my fundies with a Techpass. It is challenging, but absolutely possible if you actually do what the instructor tells you to without challenging them

 

[Patoux01]

I've learned the hard and expensive way that you NEVER, EVER do a try dive on good/nice gear. Yes, it is awesome. Yes, you will want it. Yes, it's better than you'd think.

Funny, I tried a dpv on my last OW dive, and really found it to be meh at best.

 

[Lorenzoid]

I had my double for about 3 months (during winter, in Norway... very little diving) before doing my fundies with a Techpass. It is challenging, but absolutely possible if you actually do what the instructor tells you to without challenging them

Possible for some, I suppose. I have had my doubles and drysuit for close to two years and been back for coaching sessions with instructors several times, but as of last weekend's session I wasn't performing quite at tech pass level yet. I'll be back at it tomorrow, as I have been doing a couple of times a month on average (50 hours logged so far). I guess some people are just naturals, and some aren't. For those of us who aren't, it's about patience, practice, and perseverance.

It feels to me like performing at tech level is to performing at rec level as a marathon is to a half marathon. What I mean is, training to run a full marathon is way more than twice as hard as training to run a half marathon. Just my perception.

 

[LiteHedded]

just practice. get buoyancy first before you start doing things. that's the biggest thing that gets people I think.
they start fiddling with stuff before they sorted out their buoyancy and everything goes to hell

 

[kensuf]

And don't overthink it.

 

[KeesBL]

Hey, I think there's some really good advice in this thread. However, I didn't see anyone's names or contact info put out there. In case there are some readers out there that don't know who to talk to, I wanted to extend an offer.

I'm a GUE instructor, and if you're thinking about taking GUE Fundamentals but you're concerned about your experience, equipment, or anything else, please contact me! I am happy to talk over your concerns and answer your questions (free of course). Wherever you are in the world, however many dives you have, whatever weird time zone you live in, I will make it work.

Every GUE diver was in your shoes once. In the spirit of proving that, I've attached a photo from my open water course. We're all out there trying to explore and trying to get better... some of us have just had more time to work on it.

https://www.facebook.com/KeesBL/
Kees@GUE.com

 

[Compressor]

Hi KeesBL: Your link does not work. I get a "
This page isn't available"

Thanks.