Why the Compass on the Left Arm?

[PfcAJ]

It's not a big problem. It's a minor problem. If you're used to one thing and have to switch, you're just adding unneeded complexity (however minor it may be). That's the whole point of a standard configuration. All the components are the same.

 

[TSandM]

Oh, dear. There is nothing in the GUE configuration that doesn't have a reason behind it. Nobody should ever say, "You do it because it's what you do."

If you think about it, you don't normally have to watch your compass on a continuous basis. Nor are you usually managing a compass AND ascending (although that does sometimes happen when scootering). And, if you are in a dry suit, which a lot of GUE divers come to, with cave and tech diving, you can manage at least some of your buoyancy without moving your left hand.

In practice, most people will end up mounting a compass of some sort ON the scooter, so if you are scootering, you can easily check your heading. Then you go back to the original configuration, where there is plenty of real estate on your forearm for a compass on the left and a gauge on the right, and possibly a backup gauge on the right, but if you start putting two gauges and a compass on the right . . . well, if you're me, you ran out of forearm some time ago.

So I guess I see the bottom line as being: If you are not scootering, you are not likely to be managing an ascent in such a way that you need to monitor a compass continuously. If you ARE scootering, you will likely have a compass on the scooter, or be following a line. Putting gauges on the right and the compass on the left puts your constantly monitored information on a hand which is more or less fixed in position, whether scootering or swimming or ascending. Putting the compass on the left puts a less frequently monitored gauge on different real estate.

 

[Vegan Shark]

Thanks for the response, TSandM. I've been going through a lot of the GUE threads lately, and your posts are always informative.

I hadn't thought of the issue of a backup gauge, but for the problem of real estate it seems like it would just come down to arm length and size of gauges. Big units like Shearwater Petrel and Liquivision + a backup + a compass would be very crowded, or simply not fit. For wrist-watch-sized computers, though, I don't think it's a problem. My computer and compass take up less than half my right forearm, so plenty of real estate left.

Maybe I shouldn't worry about it, though. I like a lot of the GUE teachings and configuration, and if after taking classes I still hate having the compass on my left I can always just wear it how I want.

 

[lv2dive]

There are specific "whys" to the compass on the left arm that other have addressed. To the more general question of why not start on the right arm and move to the left: one of the tenets of GUE is "Beginning with the End in Mind" Plenty of people go into Fundamentals with no plans to go further including ever getting on DPV (self included) but by "beginning with with end in mind" there is less (if anything) to "unlearn" and configuration taught at the earliest levels stays with one throughout.

I personally don't agree with the answer "it's the way it is done" - it is done that way *for a reason* and that reason should be able to be spoken to. Further, of course not every configuration decision is best for *every* environment - how could it be? - but the benefits outweigh the costs.

 

[rlynch]

Kate gives a very good explanation for why the left arm. In practical use it works very well and transfers to scooters easily (if you ever need) with no unlearning. I wear it on my left along with a timer/backup bottom timer (spro meridian) and petrel on my right. I do occasionally remove it from my arm and hold it if I am doing a long nav just to be more precise.
PADI normally illustrates it being used on the right arm with the left extended in direction of travel. However when a can light is added to the mix this breaks down since you need to be able to manage the compass, light and bottom timer /depth gauge simultaneously and be able to respond to OOG situations. With the left wrist placement this is possible, on the right it is problematic.

 

[Diver0001]

Oh, dear. There is nothing in the GUE configuration that doesn't have a reason behind it.

The difference between a reason and a rationalization is sometimes very thin.

After more than 15 years of reading "reasons" why X is done in a particular way, I can safely say that with respect to gear, the position and configuration has remained absolutely stable... but the reasons given for it have not.

Your reason, for example, for why the compass goes where it goes, is not what JJ wrote. It's not what was discussed in 1995 ... but .. yeah... the compass has to go *somewhere* so choices need to be made and reasons need to be given (or invented) for why it is there and no where else. During the DIR wars, the reasons had to be very "weighty" because the system needed to be absolutely water-tight. There was a LOT of resistance to DIR and if it had a future then *everything* needed to be important...somehow...It was the nature of the DIR wars.

But the fact is, things were not always that rock-solid. I have the distinct impression, for example, that the compass goes left because the guy who invented the system was right handed. Same with the reason why stages go on the left instead of the right, or split, which was the norm in IANTD at the time.

I know this is kind of like swearing in the church but it's not. The tenant that standardization was paramount meant that some choices needed to be made and then defended... but you need better reasons than, "I'm right handed" if you want to convince everybody.... and hence the line between reasons and rationalizations became blurred.

Nobody should ever say, "You do it because it's what you do."

In practice, this is the reality. I know you don't like to hear it, Lynne, but the fact is that if you don't understand the reason given that people will explain it but if you don't agree with the reason given that you don't have a choice.

R..

 

[Vegan Shark]

one of the tenets of GUE is "Beginning with the End in Mind" Plenty of people go into Fundamentals with no plans to go further including ever getting on DPV (self included) but by "beginning with with end in mind" there is less (if anything) to "unlearn" and configuration taught at the earliest levels stays with one throughout.

If someone never intends to have a DPV, though, then it's not really beginning with the end in mind, since that isn't the end point. And if it were really about beginning with the end in mind, why aren't dry suits required equipment? Or as a more extreme example: rebreathers. If someone takes Fundies in a rashguard, then later on goes into tech diving and switches to a drysuit, that right there is a lot to learn/unlearn.

the benefits outweigh the costs

But what benefits? The only benefit is for divers with scooters, or people that have massive bottom timers that take up the whole arm. Since neither of those apply to a lot of people, there is no benefit except, "Well, if you DO someday go to use a scooter, you don't have to get used to the compass on the other side." Maybe that is a worthwhile argument to some, but it doesn't win me over.

However when a can light is added to the mix this breaks down since you need to be able to manage the compass, light and bottom timer /depth gauge simultaneously and be able to respond to OOG situations. With the left wrist placement this is possible, on the right it is problematic.

Why is this problematic on the right?

I think the biggest question I have is: Why does it matter? Why should a configuration be blindly followed if the individual has something that works better for them, and it poses no safety or efficiency problems if changed? For team diving, it's great if everyone is on the same page, and using the same procedures ... but only for the important stuff. Long hose is important. If one GUE member was using a 7', and the other using a 2', obviously there is an issue. But which arm you choose to place your compass on has 0 perceivable effect on your teammates. So why would people get their wetsuits in a bunch and say you can't take a GUE class like that, that it isn't DIR, etc?

 

[lv2dive]

I don't think anyone has gotten their wetsuit in a bunch, you asked a question and people are trying to answer it.

 

[eelnoraa]

Wetsuit in GUE class is OK. I haven't done one in wet, but I have seen it done.

I would view the standardization as a system in a whole. Some decisions have stronger reasons, some not so strong. Sure for someone under some circumstances, some part of DIR standardization aren't optimized. You can always fine the corner cases. The system as a whole just work well for most situations.

 

[Vegan Shark]

I wasn't referring to people in this thread, sorry if I was unclear. Everyone here is civil and friendly I've been told by others that for classes the equipment configuration has to be completely standard, so the compass must be on the left even if the diver intends to switch it to the right afterwards, though. And that for diving with other DIR divers, it would be frowned upon, etc.