Best practices of GUE versus other dive programs ?

[muzikbiz22]

That's why most GUE divers dive with other GUE divers , it's cool to travel half way around the globe to find a GUE community and dive knowing you're going too dive with someone who has trained the same , use standard gas , rec/tech profiles , deco obligations are all the same and thinking on the same page on time.

I understand the standardization aspect, the community aspect, commonality, uniformity, similar/same gear, etc. But playing devils advocate, where's the agility ? What about adversity, diversity, etc ? Where's the "when in Rome, . . ." ? It's a bit like saying "I only stay in Hilton hotels, and eat McDonalds, no matter where I'm at or where I go. I walk in, they know my name, I eat, I sleep, and I go". If I'm going half way around the world to an exotic local, the last place I'm staying is Hilton, and the last thing I'm eating, is McDonalds. Here's a hypothetical; what would you do if you were on a dive trip by yourself, handed rental gear, and you were buddied up with a 77 year old chain-smoking Scottish woman, vacation diver that weighed no more than 90 pounds, and had the all the potential elements of a train wreck ? I can tell what I would do, and DID. I dove with "this person" some years ago, had some of the best dives of my life, made a friend, learned a couple of things from her, and ultimately this lady had the best SAC rate of any diver that I have ever dove with. Something I pride myself on is the ability to adapt. Just me, just sayin'

 

[KenGordon]

You did not end up in any problems where differences in training and procedures might be an issue.

On the dive with three of us the ascent was slow as the OC diver thought the CCR divers don’t like going up quickly, I thought the GUE diver didn’t like going up quickly and the GUE diver thought the OC diver’s Suunto would keep him down longer.

But the rest was fine. Why would it not be? It is all just diving.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Does anyone currently responding to this thread remember what its topic is supposed to be?

Yes. And my first thought was that the question was not what practices of GUE do we believe are good. It seems to me that a lot of the responses have named practices that many of us believe are good. But does that mean they "should be incorporated into the basic OW courses of all the other dive programs around the world"? If PADI's forte is providing the most streamlined learning experience that will prepare a diver to safely do the kinds of dives most new divers today want to do, and if PADI is currently accomplishing that, then what practices of GUE "should" PADI adopt? Why?

 

[Trace Malinowski]

...for cave diving, not for basic OW training.

I meant the gateway course to GUE's tech and cave programs.

 

[Addicted2H2O]

Yes. And my first thought was that the question was not what practices of GUE do we believe are good. It seems to me that a lot of the responses have named practices that many of us believe are good. But does that mean they "should be incorporated into the basic OW courses of all the other dive programs around the world"? If PADI's forte is providing the most streamlined learning experience that will prepare a diver to safely do the kinds of dives most new divers today want to do, and if PADI is currently accomplishing that, then what practices of GUE "should" PADI adopt? Why?

ANYTHING that focuses on proper trim and great buoyancy. Because the last thing you want is a new diver hitting the bottom and stirring up silt, landing on the reef, etc. I know PADI has a Peak Performance Buoyancy course and that's all well and good, but why charge extra money for a skill that EVERY diver should have upon completing a standard OW course?

 

[Lorenzoid]

ANYTHING that focuses on proper trim and great buoyancy. Because the last thing you want is a new diver hitting the bottom and stirring up silt, landing on the reef, etc. I know PADI has a Peak Performance Buoyancy course and that's all well and good, but why charge extra money for a skill that EVERY diver should have upon completing a standard OW course?

If you mean maintaining good buoyancy and trim and performing a skill, it sounds like PADI is already making efforts in that direction, as Boulderjohn has informed us.

 

[EireDiver606]

ANYTHING that focuses on proper trim and great buoyancy. Because the last thing you want is a new diver hitting the bottom and stirring up silt, landing on the reef, etc.

I’ve seen people with 2000 dives who can’t get intro good trim and they blame it on the neoprene Drysuit and bcd....

 

[EireDiver606]

The practice that GUE has that should incorporated into PADI is of course much much greater emphasis with buoyancy and trim but also while doing smb and other taskloading.

I think the almost anal high regard of safety should be brought over also. When you feel a lot safer and more confident. Diving is simply more fun.

 

[sigxbill]

it sounds like PADI is already making efforts in that direction, as Boulderjohn has informed us.

Since heavy emphasis should be placed on, "boulderjohn has informed us," it is more like, "since boulderjohn became disgruntled with where he learned good buoyancy and trim and performing a skill from, he has been making efforts to redirect padi in that direction" ...

 

[boulderjohn]

A decade ago, the buoyancy required by all RSTC programs, including PADI, was pathetic. If an instructor followed standards exactly and did not add anything, a student would be certified with close to no buoyancy skill whatsoever. IN those days, the Peak Performance Buoyancy was a must.

After the publication of our article on neutral buoyancy instruction and (especially) the behind the scenes arguing for the two months it took to arrive at the final published draft, PADI dramatically changed their standards to require a significant amount of work with buoyancy and trim. They now encourage (but sadly do not require) classes to be taught to students while they are always in trim and neutrally buoyant. The difference is amazing.

Students taught according to the new PADI standards and while neutrally buoyant and in trim do not need the Peak Performance Buoyancy class. Students who are not taught that way need it very much. I am sadly sure that many PADI instructors are still blindly following old standards and practices, and their students will need that class when they are done.