Am looking to take a Fundamentals course somewhat soon, with the goal to advance later onto the Tech courses.
Anything I should know/practice beforehand, before signing up for the Fundies?
It depends on your goal. If you are taking the course with a singe tank and no light and just want to get better at bouyancy, trim, etc. - I don't think you have to practice a heck of alot but rather get really comfortable with your gear and DS. I was aiming to pass GUE/F w/ my tech cert (doubles, can light, etc.) first time so I was "on a mission". So this is more or less what I did BEFORE taking the class (and passed, by the way):
- I read the GUE Fundamentals book a few times.
- I made a great connection with the local GUE dive shop. They set up all of my gear perfectly (i.e., BPW, hoses, fins, EVERYTHING - even down to the suit pockets). We didn't have to spend any time during class tweaking my set-up.
- I saw a TON of YouTube videos on the drills and kicks.
- I did about 30-40 dives in ALL of the equipment. (Yes, it was overkill using doubles on a 40' reef - but practice is practice).
- Practiced the drills on my own until I felt like it was routine and I was within a foot or two of bouyancy while performing all of the drills. I did this by doing the drills in front of a fixed spot so I knew when I was acending/descending.
- I practiced ALL of the kicks. I also had a chance to do a few pool sessions with GUE graduates that corrected my technique on a few things.
- If you get your back-kick down before the class, it will make the entire class much more manageable in the water as you will be able to control your positioning in relation to your team and instructor.
I took Fundies w/ a diver that hadn't practiced much AND had just done a few dives with his new drysuit. Needless to say, he was very very frustrated throughout the entire course and didn't pass.
I know that there are folks out there that subscribe to the "you're going to class to learn so why pick up bad habits before" philosophy. I would rather be solid on MOST of the skills and then re-learn a few than seem helpless throughout the entire class.
Also (and this is probably the subject of an entire other thread), if you're shooting for a tech pass and not already an experienced DS diver, make sure you have your trim and bouyancy down in your DS before you even think about taking the course.
Hope that helped!