GUE Fundamental course

[PullYourselfTogetherMan]

GUE Fundamentals Class Report (22 APR 2019)

My write-up from my Fundies class

 

[Ayisha]

... I'm taking in next week...

Then you'd better remove the Solo Diver badge or you're going to have some splaining to do next week...

 

[dewdropsonrosa]

No worse than 'splaining why the dual-bladder wing will be right back on the plate after class.

 

[loosenit2]

No worse than 'splaining why the dual-bladder wing will be right back on the plate after class.

Out of honest curiosity why take the class with an agency if you have no intention of adhering to their philosophy? Certainty you can find an instructor who would be just as thorough with the skills coaching without any of the “unwanted” restrictions.

 

[jlcnuke]

Out of honest curiosity why take the class with an agency if you have no intention of adhering to their philosophy? Certainty you can find an instructor who would be just as thorough with the skills coaching without any of the “unwanted” restrictions.

It's perfectly possible to want to learn another set of philosophies without intending initially to follow all of them. Plenty of religious people choose which parts of their religion to practice and adhere to, why should diving be any different?

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At this point, a significant divergent discussion on the pros and cons of Redundant Bladder Wings began to detract significantly from the original topic. That discussion has been moved to this new thread: Dual Bladder Wings - A Good Choice for Redundancy?

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[wetb4igetinthewater]

Out of honest curiosity why take the class with an agency if you have no intention of adhering to their philosophy? Certainty you can find an instructor who would be just as thorough with the skills coaching without any of the “unwanted” restrictions.

I'm in Seattle. Outside of GUE, there were no instructors that I could find to teach me at that level. Not one. When I had signed up for fundies, one of the GUE divers said to me (and I don't wish to start a flame war) "you don't have to drink the Kool Aid, just go for the skills." And I did exactly that. My fundies course was a cold shower, humbling, and just an awesome experience. The best skills course I've taken hands down. The only good mainstream agency course I've taken was my sidemount course taught by a cave diver who had gone through the GUE system. After that, my courses were pretty much worthless. So there is good reason to take fundies, even if someone doesn't want to adopt its philosophy. I get why GUE has its philosophy. Makes perfect good sense, but it doesn't work for me, as I dive sidemount in open water (my preferred configuration if I'm not teaching open water). I also solo dive when I take pictures. And I often dive air. But that doesn't mean that fundies was a course I should have skipped. I'm incredibly grateful for the skills and knowledge I acquired and it has influenced greatly how I teach recreational courses. Recently, another local instructor took fundies and he had the same sentiment.

To me it is brain dead simple. If you are lucky to have a GUE instructor near you and you want a solid course for improving your skills, fundies is it. I have found that finding awesome instructors requires some travel quite often. Why not go with pretty much a sure thing?

 

[dewdropsonrosa]

For my particular needs, the agency is secondary to my choice of instructor. I'm in the middle of the NSS-CDS Full Cave sequence, but decided to take a break to develop my skills before tackling more challenging material.

I need feedback, coaching, and practice in maintaining good technique while I'm task-loaded. I'm also a small woman diving heavy doubles and could benefit from refining my harness configuration, tank bands, weight placement, etc. for appropriate balance.

I'm taking Fundamentals with Mer because it ticks the boxes for my most critical needs right now.

 

[rjack321]

@dewdropsonrosa are you diving a wetsuit?

I'm curious why it "takes time" to create a balanced rig?

 

[Degenerate]

@mgreider I'm starting a 4 day Fundies tomorrow, will shoot you a PM after the course if I remember it.

 

[dewdropsonrosa]

Drysuit.

I don't maintain a consistent weight very well and might be anywhere between 165 and 180 during the dive year. It takes time for me to rebalance the rig overall and feel comfortable when I have a big fluctuation.