Semi-Cave: Is this dangerous?

[NAM001]

Don't beat yourself up over this. The agency is not as important as you having the skill level (not superior skills) needed for your dive. Hovering and helo turns are nice but NOT NECESSARY to successfully completing the dive. People spend years trying to perfect it. Some or most just can not ever perfect it. I know many will not like this but. Have you ever had to deal with the women that cant go to the store with our hours of make up and color coordinating. Appearances are nice but getting the goods is what the mission was all about. Not looking good. IMO taking and failing a course like that makes you so far ahead of the majority you should have no shame in failing such a course. Yes, passing may say, you can successfully dive in any environment anywhere in the world. If you don't go there you never use the limits of the training. If i took a class like that i would go into it with the expectation of failing. I would learn the critical parts i needed for my diving. S#$%W rock bottom if all you dive in is 40' lakes with moderate vis. You learn it , you dont use it, and you forget it, so really you never had it. When yo get done you can have the card that says fundies ect but all the boat wants is OW or better to ride.

 

[WrmBluH2O]

Congrats, Boyan!

What situation or which specific skill drove your class member to tears? (Just curious for your thoughts. I've researched Fundies quite a bit and will be taking relatively soon.)

Also, please tell me why you found it insane. I've read many a Fundies class report and would love to know your experience (i.e., what made it intense).

Thanks in advance.

 

[Lorenzoid]

That's amazing! Congratulations. Do you really have fewer than 25 dives, or did you just not update your profile? I had over 200 dives when I took Fundies (Rec), and only got a provisional Rec pass.

 

[Boyan]

Congrats, Boyan!

What situation or which specific skill drove your class member to tears? (Just curious for your thoughts. I've researched Fundies quite a bit and will be taking relatively soon.)

Also, please tell me why you found it insane. I've read many a Fundies class report and would love to know your experience (i.e., what made it intense).

Thanks in advance.

Thank you!

It was a little bug he couldn't get rid of, which was putting his fins in vertical position. What drove him insane was that he didn't have these problems when practicing, but they returned on fundies. He had trouble staying calm, keeping track of the team, following directions underwater and the teacher pointed these things out which really put him down mentally. He said this was worse than military. It was really important for him to pass and he put a lot of pressure on him self. I think this was the main problem.

For me, first day was a disaster. I was all over the place. I had never dived with wing and plate, all my equipment was loaned, my wetsuit was super thight and I couldnt breathe well and I was basically spinning vertically and horizontally and bumping into my class mates all the time. I was out of control. I couldn't help but nose dive and it was super hard to return to horizontal position, then I would again nose dive and spin sideways. I was a lot better on my fun dives and OW cert dives, so I was very surprised. I also had a lot of buoyancy problems, not being able to release air from the wing etc. After the first dive, while still in the lake the instructor flat out said I was the worse diver in the group and advised my class mates to keep an eye on me and try to help me stay in position lol.

The course was 4 days, every single day we did 12 - 13 hours. On the first day the instructor was pretty icy, military like. On day two, something changed, I got the equipment adjusted, straps tightened, weights repositioned and I was able to stay in position, do great back kicks, frog kicks it was a different world, something just clicked. From there on I was in a good mood and my soft skills started to become an asset. I was aware of my buddies, communicated well, helped with a real equipment failure (mask fail) with another diver and the instructor and his co-instructor (a notorious cave diver from wkpp) 180'ed their attitude towards me. I was suddenly not a lost cause anymore lol.

What I can tell you, the most important part, is that attitude in the water is super important, at least as important as the actual tasks. You are expected not only to perform well, but to help your buddies perform well, to help them, to be aware of what is happening. I think this is the hardest part to understand about GUE, but it is also the best part about gue.

That's amazing! Congratulations. Do you really have fewer than 25 dives, or did you just not update your profile? I had over 200 dives when I took Fundies (Rec), and only got a provisional Rec pass.

Thank you!

Yes, I had 8 when I enrolled and now I have 15.

I expected to pass tech when I enrolled, after first day my new objective was to secure provisional haha then I was surprised to pass rec.

 

[Boyan]

Don't beat yourself up over this. The agency is not as important as you having the skill level (not superior skills) needed for your dive. Hovering and helo turns are nice but NOT NECESSARY to successfully completing the dive. People spend years trying to perfect it. Some or most just can not ever perfect it. I know many will not like this but. Have you ever had to deal with the women that cant go to the store with our hours of make up and color coordinating. Appearances are nice but getting the goods is what the mission was all about. Not looking good. IMO taking and failing a course like that makes you so far ahead of the majority you should have no shame in failing such a course. Yes, passing may say, you can successfully dive in any environment anywhere in the world. If you don't go there you never use the limits of the training. If i took a class like that i would go into it with the expectation of failing. I would learn the critical parts i needed for my diving. S#$%W rock bottom if all you dive in is 40' lakes with moderate vis. You learn it , you dont use it, and you forget it, so really you never had it. When yo get done you can have the card that says fundies ect but all the boat wants is OW or better to ride.

It was a humbling experience, like I now know what I don't know. But since I at least got the rec pass I plan to continue with gue. However I realise there are great divers who don't have fancy certs. I have seen great divers dive with bc jacket and split fins, so its not all about the system.

 

[KevinNM]

I had a guy with full cave get a provisional pass along with me in a class full of doubles divers. (All 3 of us got a provisional). The physical skills they require to get to the tech courses are not trivial to attain. But not as impossible as they seem to be on that first dive in fundies.

 

[WrmBluH2O]

Hi Boyan,

Thanks so much for sharing your experience and giving specifics! A very candid, nice report that gives me a good sense of what it was like to be there. Congrats again on your rec pass!