Nonprofit GUE has been working to improve the scuba industry for 20 years

[RTC'83]

Just went to their web site. Looks like they have a good program, but my needs are meet by my current agency. I am a supporter of education and improvement and for some, this might be the way to go.

 

[Princess Chris]

I do applaud their approach to diving and I have heard great things of the courses, my experience with GUE divers however has put me off. I have met quite a few and every single one has been a miserable snobby piece of garbage. I had one call the shop i was working for and complain that my students were laughing too loud and we needed to take other divers into consideration. Sorry my bad I'll make sure they have less fun next time.

This may not have had anything to with them being GUE divers and it was just them being snobby Vancouverites.

The fitness test is a great idea, i definitely think the PADI "waterskills assessment" is not nearly enough.

 

[beester]

I do applaud their approach to diving and I have heard great things of the courses, my experience with GUE divers however has put me off. I have met quite a few and every single one has been a miserable snobby piece of garbage. I had one call the shop i was working for and complain that my students were laughing too loud and we needed to take other divers into consideration. Sorry my bad I'll make sure they have less fun next time.

This may not have had anything to with them being GUE divers and it was just them being snobby Vancouverites.

The fitness test is a great idea, i definitely think the PADI "waterskills assessment" is not nearly enough.

Heya, I'm just a regular (GUE) diver, but I hear your sentiment. In fact when I did my fundies in 2010 I was already thinking about it for a couple of years but this "DIR-STROKES-ELITE-FROGKICK.NL" **** that was still going on in my neck of the woods turned my stomach, note not by any instructors, but by regular GUE divers.

I finally did my fundies (and later other some other courses) and it was a (diving) life changer for me, I cannot recommend it enough and be thankful for GUE and it's instructors for providing it. The fact that other organisations are also focusing more and more on the basic elements of that course makes me very happy, clearly there must be something good in the content!

All of the instructors I've met have been stellar... very down to earth, friendly, regular guys (and girls). And while I still do look up to some of them (because some of them have done really amazing dives/projects) they are just loads of fun to drink a beer with, talk shop, dive with...

Have I've seen some ******** arrogant moves in the last 9 years I've been a GUE diver, unfortunately yes, from time to time yes... but most of the time it's freshly minted fundies divers who are on some kind of crusade to proof to the rest of the world how amazing they are having finished fundies... The quote in my signature refers to that ;-)

You see that in all endeavors ... it's human nature, on the day after losing his virginity, for a guy to strut around acting like he invented sex.
... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I remember reading about GUE and DIR (as they referred to themselves) in 1999.
There was a group of DIR guys down in the LA area, and at that time they were all hanging out on diver.net.
They initially came off as a group of very hostile jihadists against anything not DIR and would intimidate and harass to no end regular divers just trying to enjoy life and have friendly discussions about dive spots, dive reports, etc.
These guys I assumed were sent by the Florida chapter to spread the word but they went about entirely the wrong way. Testosterone and arrogance seemed to be the driving force as a way to beat people into submission about their system. As a neutral observer new to diving at the time I just lurked and watched. At one point I decided to see what it was all about. I assembled a group and we were interested in learning more and taking their fundies introduction course, but MHK (the western main guy at the time) pretty much blew me off and couldn’t be bothered with a bunch of Okies from Norcal that were probably no smarter than the dumbest cow at one of our dairies (farm animal stupid). So, it never happened. At the time they were traveling to the groups to spread the gospel provided there were enough people to sign up. They did go up to Monterey as well as Seattle and establish a foothold in those locations. I know of only one guy in my area that ever took fundies in Monterey, but he moved away. As far as I know he doesn’t dive anymore. I’ve visited diver friends in LA and knew several GUE guys down there. Most were cool, but from what was told many of them quit diving entirely and moved on to other things. I have no idea about BAUE since I’m not in that circle, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s not what it used to be. The problem I see is the cost and the lack of instructors. I don’t know, but to me that seems to limit their effectiveness in providing services. I don't see PADI NAUI SSI having that problem, at least they are available. GUE could have been a lot more effective if they would have been more professional and friendly in their initial appearance, had more instructors, and did a better job networking with dive shops and organizations.
It was a great idea and I’ve adopted a few things from their configurations, but you know what they say, you only get one chance to make a first impression. It’s too bad it was such a miserable first impression. I know that it turned more people off than it attracted. A lot of people quit posting on diver.net because of them.
I still run into people who have been diving for many years that have never even heard of GUE, DIR, or anything about that style.
Good luck.

 

[Marie13]

Here on the Great Lakes, we seem to be a great training hodge podge. No one seems to get very doctrinal, as far as I can tell. Maybe because there are no GUE instructors locally (I believe the closest is in Ontario, from where I am). You either have to import one or go elsewhere. We certainly seem to have a lot of TDI instructors.

 

[Griffo]

The GUE community is fairly small but well established down here. Fundies in particular seems to be well advertised by most scuba shops, even 5 years ago you had to hunt down your own instructor.

All the GUE divers I've dived with have been really nice people, very down to earth and definitely not preachy. Liam who pretty much established the Aussie chapter from what I understand, is one of nicest people you'll meet.

On the other hand, I've been on the receiving end of multiple sprays from other instructors and divers who've never done a GUE course about everything that's wrong with the agency. Literally the other week i was in a shop picking up a new O2 filled stage when one of the employees decided to go on a rant once he saw my cert card.
By the logic some seem to promote, TDI and PADI divers are the asshats in this equation, because I've only ever had bad experiences with PADI and TDI divers.

The reality is that there's opinionated knobs in all facets of life. My own life experience is that highly technical hobbies tend to attract a disproportionate amount of them. Like the knob who tried to prematurely end my (actual) jet-fighter flight so he could... fly his model jet fighter. But that's another story.

 

[chillyinCanada]

I remember reading about GUE and DIR (as they referred to themselves) in 1999.
There was a group of DIR guys down in the LA area, and at that time they were all hanging out on diver.net.
They initially came off as a group of very hostile jihadists against anything not DIR and would intimidate and harass to no end regular divers just trying to enjoy life and have friendly discussions about dive spots, dive reports, etc.
These guys I assumed were sent by the Florida chapter to spread the word but they went about entirely the wrong way. Testosterone and arrogance seemed to be the driving force as a way to beat people into submission about their system. As a neutral observer new to diving at the time I just lurked and watched. At one point I decided to see what it was all about. I assembled a group and we were interested in learning more and taking their fundies introduction course, but MHK (the western main guy at the time) pretty much blew me off and couldn’t be bothered with a bunch of Okies from Norcal that were probably no smarter than the dumbest cow at one of our dairies (farm animal stupid). So, it never happened. At the time they were traveling to the groups to spread the gospel provided there were enough people to sign up. They did go up to Monterey as well as Seattle and establish a foothold in those locations. I know of only one guy in my area that ever took fundies in Monterey, but he moved away. As far as I know he doesn’t dive anymore. I’ve visited diver friends in LA and knew several GUE guys down there. Most were cool, but from what was told many of them quit diving entirely and moved on to other things. I have no idea about BAUE since I’m not in that circle, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s not what it used to be. The problem I see is the cost and the lack of instructors. I don’t know, but to me that seems to limit their effectiveness in providing services. I don't see PADI NAUI SSI having that problem, at least they are available. GUE could have been a lot more effective if they would have been more professional and friendly in their initial appearance, had more instructors, and did a better job networking with dive shops and organizations.
It was a great idea and I’ve adopted a few things from their configurations, but you know what they say, you only get one chance to make a first impression. It’s too bad it was such a miserable first impression. I know that it turned more people off than it attracted. A lot of people quit posting on diver.net because of them.
I still run into people who have been diving for many years that have never even heard of GUE, DIR, or anything about that style.
Good luck.

"I can get on a plane and fly after diving while my hair is still wet " MHK

 

[beester]

"I can get on a plane and fly after diving while my hair is still wet " MHK

Very off topic... and not related in any case to MHK... (I don't know who he is... in fact the only divers I know in person from california are a couple of UTD guys that I once met in Mexico).

BUT: in some cases depending on the profile, saturation (how many dives you have done previously) and gasses used this could be actually true. The no flight time ranges set are very conservative, the in cabine pressure are typically set at 0.8 ATM (or about 2000-2200m alt), so unless there is a full cabin decompression in flight, there is not so much impact. No science here, so your mileage may vary, but I have gone on a flight 6 h after a long dive, and know people who were really in the "hair wet" territory (3 hours after dive on flight).

 

[The Chairman]

UTD is not the same as GUE. They aren't even close at this point. @beester MHK is the founder and spiritual leader of UTD. Many of us have issues with their ratio deco theory and shaving the no fly time to me is just poor planning. I've done a 6 hour flight, but on a private plane and we did not exceed 1000 feet from Florida City to Orlando. Yes, I'm a conservative diver and I haven't been bent in 50 years of diving.

 

[beester]

UTD is not the same as GUE. They aren't even close at this point. @beester MHK is the founder and spiritual leader of UTD. Many of us have issues with their ratio deco theory and shaving the no fly time to me is just poor planning. I've done a 6 hour flight, but on a private plane and we did not exceed 1000 feet from Florida City to Orlando. Yes, I'm a conservative diver and I haven't been bent in 50 years of diving.

Now I'm curious... who is MHK? I thought that Andrew Georgitsis was the founder of UTD? I know a couple of UTD divers, but no instructors...

Ratio deco would take us totally of topic. I know that UTD still teaches this and actively promotes it, not really sure that's such a good idea. But that's just my opinion.

On no flight time... like I said, your mileage may vary... but 24-48h that seems to be the standard is much too long, and not needed.