DIR- GUE Seeking Fundies I buddy for possible May/June 2019 course

[DavidFL]

I did GUE Fundamentals Part 1 over a weekend in High Springs about three weeks ago. My instructor was Meredith Tanguay. I did the Part I because I couldn't work out four or five days in a row. Highly recommended. I will try to get the Fundies Part 2 in the future or might actually take a full sequence, but I got more than I expected out of doing Part 1.

 

[rjack321]

Stand by for a couple of months. I'm coming to UW for grad school in September.

I may be up for a refresher or a repeat to keep my skills up around that time.

Oh congratulations! Your drysuit will be getting a workout here.
While we have a big GUE group in the Seattle metro area, I'm not really up to date on GUE protocols.
In lieu of formal practice... how about I show you around some of our "destination" dives out here? I am losing one of my buddies who's post-doc is ending in September. So you have good timing, when one door closes another opens

 

[KevinNM]

I did GUE Fundamentals Part 1 over a weekend in High Springs about three weeks ago. My instructor was Meredith Tanguay. I did the Part I because I couldn't work out four or five days in a row. Highly recommended. I will try to get the Fundies Part 2 in the future or might actually take a full sequence, but I got more than I expected out of doing Part 1.

Meredith is great. Kyle is good too, I did a couple hours with Kyle about my DS issues and he helped a lot.

 

[Jack Hammer]

Kyle is great, very good at explaining things and good disposition. Good sense of humor too.

 

[seeker242]

but Fundies shouldn't be about "getting a tech pass".

Why not? If your goal is to improve your skills, getting a tech pass means you have improved your skills.

 

[kensuf]

Why not? If your goal is to improve your skills, getting a tech pass means you have improved your skills.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with getting a tech pass. My objection is to the you "SHOULD" get a tech pass statement. I believe that not getting a tech pass should not be viewed as a failure as long as you're learning and improving.

 

[lv2dive]

For two reasons off the top of my head, both discussed below.

1. Focusing on the outcome rather the learning can detract from the learning itself. I’m not a GUE instructor, but I've been around enough classes (as a videographer) to have seen this multiple times. Students are laser-focused on the tech pass, then they have a bad few hours or day, maybe around day 2 or day 3. Instead of focusing on the learning for the remaining class time, they start to obsess about not earning the tech pass. They get worked up about the potential of “failing” and start performing even worse. The more mistakes they make, the more frustrated they get. Of course that can happen regardless of whether they are targeting a tech pass, but *in general* in my experience, students who have let go of the outcome are much easier on themselves and end up getting more out of the class.

2. One can significantly improve their skills but not earn a tech pass. GUE requires you meet or exceed the bar for every single standard to earn a tech pass.

I’ve spoken to this topic on ScubaBoard in the past, bc I think it is so important. Of course one can have a primary goal of learning / improving and a secondary goal of tech pass. I’m not saying they are mutually exclusive especially if the tech pass goal is a secondary goal. But overall, in my experience, students perform better if they simply stay focused on what they are doing and aren’t focused on the outcome (or thinking that they “should” get a tech pass but they are blowing it).

Why not? If your goal is to improve your skills, getting a tech pass means you have improved your skills.

 

[seeker242]

I’ve spoken to this topic on ScubaBoard in the past, bc I think it is so important. Of course one can have a primary goal of learning / improving and a secondary goal of tech pass.

Seems to me the goals are completely identical

2. One can significantly improve their skills but not earn a tech pass. GUE requires you meet or exceed the bar for every single standard to earn a tech pass.

I personally don't see a problem with wanting your skills to meet or exceed every single standard. I don't see how aiming for that can be bad.

 

[lv2dive]

I explained how/why it could be bad in the parts of the post you deleted.

....I personally don't see a problem with wanting your skills to meet or exceed every single standard. I don't see how aiming for that can be bad.

 

[KevinNM]

The problem is that the rec standard is pretty hard for most people in a WS and single. The underwater video often shows people doing stuff they had no idea they were doing. Just doing the class with doubles is harder. With a DS it's even harder. And the standards for a tech pass are much higher than a rec pass, and you have to perform consistently at that level, not just have one great run.

So unless you are a very experienced tech diver already or a freak of nature you are extremely unlikely to get a tech pass the first time you try. If you go into the class expecting that you may find it extra frustrating as things don't work as hoped.

And if you are a highly experienced diver there may well be behaviors you have ingrained that are are not allowed per GUE standards, and that is a real pain to fix. So getting onto the path early in your diving career is probably best.