DIR- GUE Fundies buddies

[Wstern5]

Is it -recommended, not recommended or doesn’t matter… that fundies buddies have the same diving experience, goals, configuration (doubles v single)?

I’m thinking about taking fundies with the goal of doing at least T1 after. I have what I would call moderate tech experience.

Would it make sense to for me to do fundies with another diver who is in a single tank with 50 dives? Do all team members need to or receive the same rating? Obviously not all tech pass but can one fail and the other get a tech pass or pass or whatever?

 

[beester]

Heya Wstern5,

Doesn't matter! Yes if you are taking your fundies locally, and your teammates have the same longterm goals, you might end up with life long buddies. However the beauty of the GUE system is that no matter where you end up diving, no matter what kind of diving you'll be doing in the near or far away future, you'll always be able to find buddies.

I did my fundies in 2009. I had no real goals, except improve my diving after a near death accident, during a wreck dive. My fundies buddies were very diverse, one a real recreative diver but with a GUE girlfriend, doing his first dives using a twinset and drysuit during fundies, the other a former french foreign legion soldier, padi instructor, with 1000s of dives under his belt. Me somewhere in the middle (about 500 dives, quite a lot of doubles and drysuit experience).

We gelled very well together during those hard 4 days, and have been in touch ever since. One of my fundies buddies is now a full time GUE instructor, the other is still diving in GUE context mainly focussing on video and 3D photogrammetry, for me, I'm diving a bit less now (2y old son) but I tend to sneak in at least 30-40 tech dives per year.

Our ratings coming out of fundies:
- I came out with a tech rating
- The ex french legionair with a rec rating
- Our videographer came out with a provisional, and redid his fundies a year later.

Have fun and enjoy the experience ;-)

 

[ericfine50]

I would recommend taking it with a group of divers you dive with regularly,

 

[Wibble]

Whilst you're working as a team together, the assessments of your skills are individual. Most skills are on or near a platform. The GUE Fundies instructors are very good.

 

[rddvet]

It would be best to take with people you plan to dive with or have similar experience levels, but not necessary. I will say that its no fun having tons of experience and then taking it with someone with horrible skills. I took my class about 6 weeks ago. I’ve been cave diving for 10 years with various advanced cave and tech certs. I took fundies for the experience and because I’d like to take tech 1. One guy dropped in to upgrade to a tech pass and was great to work with. One guy had about 75 dives and only a frw in doubles. On paper it could have sucked being paired with him. He was an excellent diver for his experience level and came truly wanting to learn. He was great to work with as well. The last guy was an ow instructor who considered himself a tech diver because he had an/dp. He thought he was a great diver and with 30 years experience or more he should have been. That dude was the worst to work with and almost ruined class for everyone. He was unprepared both gear wise and mentally. He didnt pay attention to the dive plans or skill demos so he was clueless in the water. Add to that he had no idea what horizontal trim was or how to use his butt dump. We would be hivering over a platform watching each other or the instructor do skills and this dude would either shoot to the surface or would get distracted and swim off. He was an absolute nuisance and detracted from the class. He made life hard for the instructor and the instructor did the best he could not to exclude him but to also not detract from class. On the last day another instructor was brought in just to work with this dude and teach him trim and how to use a freaking wing dump. Even with that I learned in the class and enjoyed it. It was very hard to practice ascensts when one guy sinply couldnt do them and we had to decide wheteher to be good buddies and maintain him as part of our team or just let his ass shoot to the surface since he couldnt stop himself.
So the point is, it’ll work either way. My wife and I are each other’s primary buddy. We took fundies separately because we dive so much together we wanted to learn separately then come back together as a team. I wish in retrospect I was in her class because that horrible diver did make class suck at times. Taking it with regular dive buddies can be great, but diving with new people also has its benefits. The good news is even if youre stuck with a new diver in a single tank you’ll likely not have as horrible of a yahoo in your class as I did

 

[Wstern5]

It was very hard to practice ascensts when one guy sinply couldnt do them and we had to decide wheteher to be good buddies and maintain him as part of our team or just let his ass shoot to the surface since he couldnt stop himself.

I was actually thinking about this exact scenario, and if it’s only a two person team (I’m pretty sure that is allowed) what do you do?

 

[Lorenzoid]

I was actually thinking about this exact scenario, and if it’s only a two person team (I’m pretty sure that is allowed) what do you do?

That's a good question for an instructor. It does happen. It can be a good learning experience. Nevertheless, if it happens throughout the class and ends up holding other teammates back, I could see it being a hindrance.

My wife and I took Fundies together, we were at the same experience level--purely single-tank rec divers at that time--and we acted as teammates in the course. There were four people in our class, the other two being a similarly situated couple, and they acted as another 2-person team. The other couple had even more difficulty with the skills than my wife and I did, and we believe they held us back--they just used up a lot of time that could have been ours. We got a provisional and returned a couple of months later for the rec pass.

 

[Compressor]

I took my fundies with 2 other divers I had never met. We became friends quickly. ( in a good way).
At the time, I had been diving for 31 years, my buddies a year for one buddy and the other one a few more years.

All 3 of us got provisional. We learned a lot including many things besides diving skills.

 

[rddvet]

I was actually thinking about this exact scenario, and if it’s only a two person team (I’m pretty sure that is allowed) what do you do?

it could be a problem, but I honestly still learned and enjoyed the class. I did not get as much ascent practice as my wife did and that is directly related to the incompetent diver in our class. His skills weren’t the biggest issue. He could not focus or pay attention to anything. Every detail went over his head and he had no clue what we were supposed to do once we hit the water. He was just a clueless old dude. I still wouldn’t be afraid to take a class with unknown people. If I could survive that, you’ll be fine.

the scary thing is this guy was an ow instructor who gets paid to teach and guide people. And he’s done quite a bit of wreck diving. We were all surprised he’s survived this long.

 

[CptTightPants21]

It would be best to take with people you plan to dive with or have similar experience levels, but not necessary. I will say that its no fun having tons of experience and then taking it with someone with horrible skills. I took my class about 6 weeks ago. I’ve been cave diving for 10 years with various advanced cave and tech certs. I took fundies for the experience and because I’d like to take tech 1. One guy dropped in to upgrade to a tech pass and was great to work with. One guy had about 75 dives and only a frw in doubles. On paper it could have sucked being paired with him. He was an excellent diver for his experience level and came truly wanting to learn. He was great to work with as well. The last guy was an ow instructor who considered himself a tech diver because he had an/dp. He thought he was a great diver and with 30 years experience or more he should have been. That dude was the worst to work with and almost ruined class for everyone. He was unprepared both gear wise and mentally. He didnt pay attention to the dive plans or skill demos so he was clueless in the water. Add to that he had no idea what horizontal trim was or how to use his butt dump. We would be hivering over a platform watching each other or the instructor do skills and this dude would either shoot to the surface or would get distracted and swim off. He was an absolute nuisance and detracted from the class. He made life hard for the instructor and the instructor did the best he could not to exclude him but to also not detract from class. On the last day another instructor was brought in just to work with this dude and teach him trim and how to use a freaking wing dump. Even with that I learned in the class and enjoyed it. It was very hard to practice ascensts when one guy sinply couldnt do them and we had to decide wheteher to be good buddies and maintain him as part of our team or just let his ass shoot to the surface since he couldnt stop himself.
So the point is, it’ll work either way. My wife and I are each other’s primary buddy. We took fundies separately because we dive so much together we wanted to learn separately then come back together as a team. I wish in retrospect I was in her class because that horrible diver did make class suck at times. Taking it with regular dive buddies can be great, but diving with new people also has its benefits. The good news is even if youre stuck with a new diver in a single tank you’ll likely not have as horrible of a yahoo in your class as I did

This.

I was going to make a longer comment, but this covers it all. On paper it's better to have the "experienced" buddies, but you would be shocked how often it is the single tank new divers that are fun to work with in class and the super experienced "tech diver" struggles. If you have a buddy you dive with, it would be great if you can both take the class, but don't think it is a prerequisite to having a good class. Don't be afraid to take a class by yourself and use it as an opportunity to meet new divers--I know a ton of dive buddies that met through fundies.