But for some reason they leave a trace of divers who keep bragging how much better divers they are compared to everybody else. And they do this right after passing fundies with a low dive count. Not all, but some. I don't see this pattern with any other agency.
Emphasis mine.
I can't remember exactly where I read this but it came up when I was still researching GUE a few years ago. I read that a few GUE clubs have a rule that a new Fundies grad can't talk about the advantages of GUE and how good of a diver it's made them for at least 6 months after taking the course. I did not understand it then but did as soon as I finished mine
I think it's because the course usually improves your diving so much and there's this sense of accomplishment that makes you want to tell everyone about how great it is. My anecdotal experience with GUE divers is that they tend to get more and more humble the more advanced they get.
I see the same thing in martial arts as well. The person who just graduated from white belt to the next one up immediately takes it upon themselves to tell everyone how good that style is, why it beats all other styles, "oh you're doing it wrong, lemme show you a better way", etc.
If you're certified for hypoxic trimix (GUE Tech 2?, TDI Adv Trimix, etc.), I think managing 8 dives per year - at that level - could be challenging. Especially if you are an ocean diver, not a cave diver. The guys I personally know around here that do those >200 foot dives get blown out half the time (or more) and it seems like they probably mostly don't get in more than 2 - 4 dives a year that are that deep. And that's part of the point, isn't it? "at your highest level of certification" So, doing a bunch of dives in the <200' range doesn't really fill that bill, does it?
Nevertheless, if one can't manage 25 dives over three years at their highest level of certification, did they bite off more than they can chew with that last cert? It seems to me that one should pursue the next cert level because they feel their current level is holding them back--keeping them from doing the kinds of dives they want to do (and have the time and money to do, not to mention the dive environment conducive to doing them).
But my thinking is that if one has difficulty doing, say, 8 Tech 2-level dives a year, then maybe Tech 2 doesn't truly fit that diver's life? The goal, I presume, is to discourage dabbling in dives that push one's current limits. Maybe diving hypoxic trimix in the Atlantic just a few times a year is not the safest idea? If you're a Florida diver doing caves, or a European going to Croatia, maybe Tech 2 makes more sense for your situation?
Nothing really to add to the above 2 quotes other than I agree with both of you on this. From local boat diving experience and messages on the email lists, I see a fair number of tech boats get blown out (2017 was especially bad). We have a couple of backup tech dive sites that the captain can usually go to but I've seen divers skip those and just hang out on the boat as they didn't want to do that dive again, "waste" a trimix fill on it, etc.
Specific to cave diving and wrecks in tech range (because both are of interest to me) - An interesting conundrum along these lines is whether doing the minimum number of dives (or more) per year, all within a week or two on trips still meets the spirit of the rule. As opposed to being able to do 1-2 such dives a month, which to me, seems like it keeps your skills more current and ingrained. I assume you would still try to use those same skills during your non-cave, non-tech dives but still ...
You're missing a choice that is made to only dive the way GUE teaches - which may be the only way a given diver knows.
So, they miss dives because he/they don't know how to plan a dive using gases that are not on the Standard Gas list. Unless he/they learned somewhere outside of GUE. Ditto for doing an ascent that is faster than the GUE prescribed way of doing it (which I believe would be the case if you were diving GF 40/80, for example).
You support the notion of adhering to your training when diving, right? So, what do you say to the GUE diver who shows up for a NC wreck dive at 105' and the shop only offers a choice of Air or EAN30? If the person only has GUE training, it is my understanding (WHICH COULD TOTALLY BE WRONG) that they would not be able to both adhere to their training AND go diving, as their training would require them to use EAN32, which is not available.
Following is my personal approach on diving and GUE training only (and probably the only part of this post that is actually relevant to the OP
@salmon_ella post). GUE training gave me a set of tools to conduct safe dives and a framework (standard gases, equipment, ascent rates, etc) to make planning super easy. I choose to use those as much as I can but, if it's not possible, I don't limit myself to it. I don't like making changes on the fly or right before splashing but I like to think I can use my GUE training combined with knowledge of local conditions, resources and talking to non-GUE buddies about the dive to actually plan the dive.
The example of EAN30 on NC wrecks is a good one for me as I'm planning this trip next summer. In this case, I just ran a couple of max depth square profiles on EAN32 and EAN30 and know what adjustments to make to my "normal" GUE dive planning.
For tech dives, it's probably a little more involved than this but I can't imagine not talking to a potential buddy ahead of time what gases, deco schedule, etc that they plan to use. Does this actually happen? That you show up on a tech boat and get buddied up with someone on the spot. I'm (hopefully) going to complete Rec 3 soon and I would not be comfortable even doing a dive with backgas deco with someone I hadn't spoken to before and talked about what I wanted to do, was comfortable doing, not doing, etc.
@stuartv I'm curious if the GUE divers who skipped the dives because of reasons you listed had not talked about it before. Did they plan on not doing the dives at all or made the decision right before the dive when they found out what the parameter were going to be.
Bottom line - I think non-GUE divers think GUE divers are super rigid in terms of what they'll do, use or dive (or not). I'm sure there's some divers that are that rigid but I think being on the same page, agreeing on a dive plan and, most importantly, knowing how to help each other out in case things go sideways are what really matter, regardless of which flavor of KoolAid you drink.