Maybe the subject of this topic (Rob) would like to make a trip since it is close to his home............................Rob?
Super idea! CA is a lot closer than FL is . . .
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Maybe the subject of this topic (Rob) would like to make a trip since it is close to his home............................Rob?
SM is primarily a tool to get into nasty tight spots, where you often can't easily function as a good teammate. Those types of dives will forever be beyond "DIR".
I don't think GUE will ever embrace SM simply because old people have bad knees...
Jax, Chris is right. GUE will not change or expand their procedures or equipment configuration to accomodate physical disability. I know this from a personal conversation with Bob Sherwood, who told me he would not accept a student into his Fundies classes, if that student required a release in the harness because of shoulder problems. It wasn't that he wouldn't pass them; he wouldn't teach them. Physical capacity is part of the GUE diving paradigm -- which is fine, and I'm not complaining about it. But the GUE answer to, "I can't carry doubles up and down the stairs any more" is not to do the dives that require you to carry them, and for me, that's not an option.
I see a lot of problems with any sidemount system becoming "DIR", beginning with the fact that they won't adopt one unless they are facing dives that they cannot accomplish with the existing equipment -- and such dives are, at least if you believe what the people who do them say, inherently poorly suited to a team approach, which is central to DIR diving. GUE certainly won't adopt a system just because some of their members want it, or because "everybody is doing it".
Sounds stubborn and last century. I think there is a serious difference between physical disability limiting your ability to dive, and allowing people to learn an alternative and equally valid way to dive. I mean, you have to ask the question of why they wont teach team sidemount, considering their ranks consist of such highly qualified instructors and divers. Why not respond to the memberships desire to learn more.
Sounds stubborn and last century. I think there is a serious difference between physical disability limiting your ability to dive, and allowing people to learn an alternative and equally valid way to dive. I mean, you have to ask the question of why they wont teach team sidemount, considering their ranks consist of such highly qualified instructors and divers. Why not respond to the memberships desire to learn more.
GUE is great, and I love learning the things that Wakulla divers have to share through the classes, but if they continue the "you dont need to know what we dont think you need to know" mentality they will lose a lot of ground eventually, and the steam they built up to revolutionize the dive industry might be lost.
They are numerous facets of scuba diving for which GUE does not provide training. SM diving is simply another entry added to the list. A good percentage of our area's experienced divers are spearfishman. They are among the world's best and most have never heard of GUE. Why are so many here demanding their involvement with the SM discipline?