GUE fundies training in the Southeast...? Need Instructor recommendations

[storm_chaser]

I'm an experienced diver looking to earn GUE fundamentals certification in 2020.

I have a couple questions.

1. Does someone have an instructor recommendation? I would like to be trained by a GUE cave instructor, someone who lives and breathes caves as that is my ultimate goal. I am willing to travel outside the Southeast.
2. Could I rent gear for my certification? I am working on upgrading my diving kit (buying a backplate, dry suit, etc.), but I will likely need a year or two to finalize my current kit to be GUE compliant.
​

 

[dewdropsonrosa]

I enthusiastically recommend @mer, Meredith Tanguay. She's a tremendously accomplished diver and one of the very best instructors. She made a huge difference in my diving by bringing insight (and solutions!) for my gear problems and great coaching to improve my technique.

She teaches in Florida and Hawaii for most of the year, but is starting to tour the mid-Atlantic and midwestern states over the summers to bring GUE training to underserved locations.

She travels with a substantial amount of extra gear (wings, fine, lights) to lend to students for classes. You'll want to have your own core gear - drysuit, backplate and wing - fitted to your needs, but a lot of other things would be available to rent or borrow.

 

[Goingforsound]

You can do fundies in a wetsuit. The rule is that exposure protection needs to suit the environnement.

In my opinion, Its a good practice to have your own Backplate, wing and harness. Its probably the only item that needs personnal adjustement (outside of the drysuit).

Regs and primary light can be usually rented. When I did fundies, I also rented the double wing.

 

[Jack Hammer]

It's a short drive to cave country and GUE HQ from Atlanta. There are quite a few awesome instructors who meet your criteria. Kyle is great too.

 

[PfcAJ]

Kyle Harmon or Mer Tanguay.

Get in the class as soon as you can, even if that means using a wetsuit.

 

[Lorenzoid]

I have been down this road (and no, I don't literally mean I-75, but if you pursue Fundies and cave training you will get to know the stretch between Atlanta and High Springs intimately). High Springs, FL is the center of America's cave diving universe--people come from all over the world to dive and train there. No need to go anywhere else. We are fortunate to be a mere 5-hr drive from that.

I agree with @Goingforsound that if you can't afford to buy all the tech gear at once, at least buy a backplate/harness, so it's adjusted for your body. At Extreme Exposure in High Springs, you can rent a wing, regulators, and anything else you could possibly need, even a drysuit. I took Fundies in a wetsuit (5mm with 3 mm vest underneath) and was too cold--shivering on the surface intervals during a particularly chilly early spring course--but YMMV. I can relate to your statement that it may take you "a year or two" to acquire all the gear for cave diving--I certainly took my time to buy all the bits.

I would say ALL of the GUE instructors in N. FL "live and breathe caves." The question is which ones have time in their schedule that aligns with time in your schedule. Check the GUE web site for scheduled classes: GUE class schedule. Keep in mind that what is listed is often just advertising their availability or a reflection of another prospective student's interest in setting up a class--it doesn't mean the instructor doesn't have other dates available to schedule a class for you.

If you have your mind set on caves, then you will probably want to take Fundies in the full cave configuration right off the bat: double tanks, primary light for signaling, and (preferably) a drysuit. Alternatively, you can take Fundies in recreational gear: single tank, omit the use of a light for signaling, and so forth--and you will still learn the same, uh, fundamentals, but you will then later need to acquire doubles, drysuit, and a primary light and learn how to apply the GUE principles to that configuration. I took the latter route, but I wasn't focused on caves at the time I first took Fundies--my immediate goal was simply to become a better recreational diver. Later, to learn doubles and drysuit, I contacted Kyle Harmon for a combined doubles/drysuit "primer" course as they call it.

I took Fundies with Doug Mudry and thought he was a great instructor. He has a lot on his plate these days, but he does advertise a Fundies class in March, currently with zero students registered: Class details. That web site doesn't show Kyle Harmon having anything scheduled, but I have done several post-Fundies coaching sessions with him, and I suspect he has good availability. Meredith Tanguay is one of the most popular and busiest instructors for Fundies and Cave. She divides her time between her home base in Hawaii and traveling all over the continental US to teach. Lauren Fanning is another possibility, though I'm not sure if she teaches Cave 1 yet or only Fundies.

The first thing to do is contact one of them, explain your goals, get some advice, and get registered for a Fundies class.

 

[PfcAJ]

Lauren is a very talented diver. I haven't had the opportunity to see her teach, but I have been diving with her on a few occasions and she's good.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Lauren is a very talented diver. I haven't had the opportunity to see her teach, but I have been diving with her on a few occasions and she's good.

My wife and I got a couple of coaching sessions from her. My wife found her petite stature inspirational. She can hump those 104s on land and, of course, make it look effortless in the water.

 

[laikabear]

As far as renting or borrowing gear, I would try to have your OWN backplate, harness, and wing at a minimum for the class as @Goingforsound mentioned above. You want your gear to be familiar to you. If you usually dive a BCD and not a backplate and wing, you should get a few dives on one before the class. You need to be able to hover pretty much neutrally to learn the skills, so if you're bouncing all around in unfamiliar gear, it's going to suck. Also, you want to take advantage of the instructor helping you adjust your equipment to your body. If you borrow stuff from them and later buy your own, you won't have their help. I think that's very important with the backplate and wing.

If you don't own a drysuit, I would recommend you take Fundies in a wetsuit and go for a drysuit primer and later tech upgrade after getting a rec pass. Fundies is a lot to take in. I wouldn't make it any harder than it has to be in that one chunk. It would be different if you said you'd been diving a drysuit for a long time. Same advice regarding doubles. Just my 2c. It was what worked for me.

Talk to one or more of the instructors and see who you click with. And DO NOT buy any gear before you run it by the instructor. Some things that seem like they will be fine may not meet the instructor's approval for some reason. Your instructor may not like a certain item even though people on Scubaboard said it was great. BTDT.

 

[KevinNM]

I bought a halcyon BP&w from ebay, it still works fine.

I’ve never yet run into a bad GUE instructor. In Florida I’ve done classes with Mer and Mark Messersmith and some one on one with Kyle. They are all great, but different.

Dry suits tske the fun out of fundies. Don’t show ip with one you haven’t used enough to be very comfortable with. Doubles are not so bad, but it adds more stuff for you to master. I would work with doubles ahead of time.

To give you an idea of the issues, I got a rec pass in a WS and single and then a provisional in DS and doubles. It’s a lot more complex.