DIR- GUE Why are non-GUE divers so interested in what GUE does?

[tursiops]

I don't remember. I feel like it was a timed swim not for distance.

Was it PADI?

 

[crofrog]

Was it PADI?

No, sdi.

 

[mariosx]

Is this being taught to the standards?

Painful to watch.

 

[tursiops]

No, sdi.

SDI and PADI swimming-skill standards are the same. The only timed skill is 10 minutes tread water.

 

[Blackcrusader]

Standards are designed to be appropriate for the level of the course being taken. I am very confident that the OW divers I certified over my career were more than ready to be successful on the OW dives they were about to take. Are you suggesting that all divers at all levels should be judged on the same level of performance? Do you mock new OW students who you deem not ready for cave certification?

Here's my take. I think many on this forum have forgotten what it is like to be a vacation diver who is not interested in being an elite technical diver. I meet a lot of people who only dive once a year on vacation. I am not expecting or going to compare them to others that dive on a regular basis. Most people on vacations want to do a few dives and do other things. They want to enjoy their vacation and are not going to get wrapped up in a GUE course. They might do an AOW or Rescue course and leave it at that.
I was lucky that I got posted to a country where there was a BSAC club. The continual training I could fit in with my lifestyle at the time. GUE requires that. I think GUE is better for those who want to continue diving on a regular basis and for instructors who want to use what they learn for their students. Also I think GUE is not unlike what I had in a BSAC club where you trained to the same standards and dived in teams. Divers on vacations meeting instabuddies of all levels are not doing that.


What was mentioned to me which gave me a good chuckle

"ANDP and some deco is in your future not hours upon hours knob twiddling a twinset in a quarry with synchronised diving in a teeming group of gooists."

 

[crofrog]

Here's my take. I think many on this forum have forgotten what it is like to be a vacation diver who is not interested in being an elite technical diver.

I think in part we were specifically talking about the people on this forum

 

[Blackcrusader]

I think in part we were specifically talking about the people on this forum

I cannot say I have met one vacation diver in the last decade that knows about this forum. People using this forum are a very small minority of divers. Yet talk about all those OW AOW and non tech divers is regularly mentioned. They are not part of this forums universe.

 

[Adobo]

I cannot say I have met one vacation diver in the last decade that knows about this forum. People using this forum are a very small minority of divers. Yet talk about all those OW AOW and non tech divers is regularly mentioned. They are not part of this forums universe.

I have been on maybe 50 vacation dives in Hawaii over the years. I have never met anyone who cares about any of the stuff that we argue endlessly about in scubaboard. Not once. I met a GUE diver once - she is a GUE instructor that lives on one of the islands part time and hopped on the boat to do a night dive. Other than that, I have never met a vacation diver that gave me the impression that they knew anything about GUE.

Also, never in any of my dives have I seen anything remotely like the egregiously bad divers depicted in the pictures shared in these thread. The argument for the ”need” for the skills taught in GUE fundamentals is thin at best for the vacation diving I have done.

On the other hand, my ”at home” diving (Monterey, CA) is a very different kind of diving than what is available in Hawaii. At home, the argument for fundies is very strong. Cold water, mediocre vis, much more water movement, etc. Most divers even in Monterey don’t do GUE. But the divers I have seen doing the more advanced/hard to get to recreational dives are typically GUE divers.

 

[crofrog]

I cannot say I have met one vacation diver in the last decade that knows about this forum. People using this forum are a very small minority of divers. Yet talk about all those OW AOW and non tech divers is regularly mentioned. They are not part of this forums universe.

And the point you’re trying to make is?

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Here's my take. I think many on this forum have forgotten what it is like to be a vacation diver who is not interested in being an elite technical diver.

It isn't about being an elite technical diver, but rather a competent recreational diver. A diver with sufficient situational awareness, buoyancy control, trim, finning techniques that they are not breaking coral.

That's all I ask for. It is unfortunate that a course like fundies seems to be the most surefire way to get them there. The skills portion of the course should be the norm for WRSTC agencies, but we all know it isn't.