GUE Practitioners...Convince Me

[lowviz]

So, you finally took Fundamentals, huh? I must have missed your class report.

Not yet, -need to improve certain skills first.

 

[Rainer]

That's what the class is for...

Not yet, -need to improve certain skills first.

 

[gsk3]

That's what the class is for...

Or come dive with us....

 

[ScubaFeenD]

Not yet, -need to improve certain skills first.

Well, no offense, but you seem to think you understand/know exactly what GUE is about/like and you have yet to take the class. Perhaps you shouldn't opine until you actually have some experience with it to back up your assertions.

 

[lowviz]

............//............ And remember, everything in this post is just my opinion...

...//.... Perhaps you shouldn't opine until you actually have some experience with it to back up your assertions.

Probably right. Off this forum until I can speak with some authority.

 

[lv2dive]

That's what the class is for...

I would assert that class is not the place one would WANT to be focusing on some skills. Fundies isn't, at any rate. Dennis has indicated in other posts he has had challenges with buoyancy... I heartily agree with his decision to try and work out most of those kinks before day 1 of Fundies. *How* to best do that is another topic... Mentoring, private sessions with a GUE or non-GUE instructor, Primer, a different class (i hear Ed Hayes has a stellar buoyancy class)... Any of these are valid options. But getting that sorted out one one way or another makes sense to me.

 

[lamont]

Yeah, I would have to agree by your posts over the years. I'm most intrigued by how you resolved that so well with what I can only imagine is a holistic system of diving.

It all fits together like a big jigsaw puzzle.

There's nothing truly emergent at the "big picture" level that isn't there in the small stuff as well. Why do we not use 120# wings? Well, because of the dynamic instability, and we start of weighting ourselves properly and focusing on a balanced rig. Then that has benefits in our abilities to hold stops, etc and you can follow how that causes different implications down a chain of bits and pieces until you see how it fits together.

Similarly, "looking good" in trim position has all kinds of reductionist bits and pieces that fit together. By being flat in the water you move horizontally much easier while you tend to move vertically less easily, which is what you want. By having trim near zero you aren't constantly being overweight to counteract finning up, so if you get task loaded and stop finning you don't start to slide down in the water column. That leads into the whole "bigger picture" concept of the stable platform, but being flat is the basic building block to start with. And of course by being flat you also don't create little "silt devils" behind you when you're in a cave frog kicking either.

So there is a "big picture" but you don't have to do anything other than hold in your head all the little reductionist bits and pieces in order to see the whole thing.

I'm wrestling with exactly that, my rig that served me well enough in the NE Atlantic, doesn't cut it in caves. I'm not about to re-invent that wheel.

My gear doesn't represent me, my diving does. Unfortunately, major parts of my diving were found to be quite lacking. I'm currently copying the most basic "North Florida Standard" rig. Could be easily argued that this too is a holistic approach.

-your post got me thinking (yet again). Maybe it is only the "our dive" vs. "my dive" GUE credo that I struggle with. Interesting, thanks.

That's the biggest issue that I've seen, and what is probably at the root of the typical shouting match between "personal preference" (used perjoratively by GUE/DIR divers) and "dependent diver" thrown out by the other side.

 

[lowviz]

Thanks, all. (You too, Tim. All of this adds value for the OP. -I saw the slapshot you were lining up. Figured I'd just stand there to see what happened next. )

There are way too many skilled and helpful people on the GUE/UTD side of the world to turn my back on all of it...

Very Best,
lowviz

 

[ScubaFeenD]

Probably right. Off this forum until I can speak with some authority.

Dont leave; that wasnt the point of what I was trying to say. Merely, that there are many very detail oriented reductionists that do extremely well with GUE education, and to assert that GUE's holistic approach wont fit people like that is misleading. Much like human biology, the global view and micro view are both pretty amazing. I just hope you will have the chance to appreciate that some day--I am still finding new ways to appreciate it every time i learn more about it.

Further, you might consider taking it, seeing where you end up, and accepting that you might have to take it twice. Being shaky with your buoyancy is fine and might mean you wont pass the first time, but I know a few GUE fundamentals tech passes that took the class twice and are phenomenal in the water now. Food for thought. Either way, stick around and read and keep contributing.

 

[eelnoraa]

Not yet, -need to improve certain skills first.

I would assert that class is not the place one would WANT to be focusing on some skills. Fundies isn't, at any rate. Dennis has indicated in other posts he has had challenges with buoyancy... I heartily agree with his decision to try and work out most of those kinks before day 1 of Fundies. *How* to best do that is another topic... Mentoring, private sessions with a GUE or non-GUE instructor, Primer, a different class (i hear Ed Hayes has a stellar buoyancy class)... Any of these are valid options. But getting that sorted out one one way or another makes sense to me.

hmm, I see it differently. One common mistake that people made is to go into GUE fundie (or for the matter, any GUE classes) and expect to get a pass. No, you take these classes to learn. If you are a fast learner, perform the requirement satisfactory, you get a pass. If not, you will still learn a lot. Unless you are a unsafe diver, you will get provisional, which allow you to pratice on your weakness and be re-evaluated again later. Your instructor will have the best assess on what you need to work on. When you try to learn the skill by yourself, chances are you learn it wrong and it become a bad habit. Then you are even less likely to get a pass. So concentrate on the learning part, not the passing part.