DIR- Generic Age and Demanding Diving

[PfcAJ]

How can it be that it's the hardest course? Aren't there more advanced, more demanding courses in GUE?

I don't know; I am asking.

Everything builds on fundamentals. If your fundamentals are good, the rest is not that hard really.

Not to say it’s easy, of course.

 

[ginti]

Is this intentional ie: is "you are getting a bit tired after already 3-4 full days of diving and concentrating and trying to grasp content. Hitting a low mid course is normal" done on purpose to somehow enhance learning?

My guess is no and that is why they broke up GUE F into 2 parts; 1 and 2.
I don't know; I am asking.

Although I cannot answer directly your question, I can tell you something related to it.

When I finished the cave 1 course, the instructor asked us how we felt. According to him, we shouldn't feel too much tired (for going out to celebrate, for instance), but we also shouldn't feel fresh enough to make another dive. This is exactly how we felt and, apparently, it is done intentionally.

I have also to say that I didn't feel particularly tired at the 4th day of cave1 and tech1. I did the c1 with an IE. The t1 was the final intern course of a candidate instructor, and an IE was supervising (officially the instructor was the IE). Having compared IE and less experienced instructors, I can tell you there is a massive difference, and this may playe a role in how tired you feel during the course (I would say that a very experienced instructor is quicker, because he is more efficient and effective).

I think your guess is right, one shouldn't feel too tired during the course.

P.S. no idea if they changed the course in the last years.

 

[beester]

How can it be that it's the hardest course? Aren't there more advanced, more demanding courses in GUE?

I don't know; I am asking.

Everything builds on fundamentals. If your fundamentals are good, the rest is not that hard really.

Not to say it’s easy, of course.

PfcAJ already answered it. yes there are much more demanding courses in GUE, but these are all building blocks. If you would dump a student without a fundies tech pass and tech 1 + sufficient diving experience in a tech 2 class, he would have a very very miserable time, and quit before the first day was over. (Although a friend of mine did pass T2 without ever having done T1, but he was well known in GUE procedures, had done all the cave courses).

I did my T2, and while I felt a bit aprehensive before (for different reasons) the course was a breeze and super fun to do. Same for C2, although I feel C1 and C2 are more gradual while the difference between T1 and T2 is much bigger.

I believe fundamentals is harder, because you start from "nothing", you need to learn the GUE language (procedures), you need to perform a number of excercises (taskloaded) while keeping your platform absolutely perfect (for a tech pass), you are spending hours and hours in the water, then still hours on land drills and theory. It's a lot to grasp in 1 go. Hence for me personally it was a hard (but very fun) course.

 

[beester]

Is this intentional ie: is "you are getting a bit tired after already 3-4 full days of diving and concentrating and trying to grasp content. Hitting a low mid course is normal" done on purpose to somehow enhance learning?

My guess is no and that is why they broke up GUE F into 2 parts; 1 and 2.
I don't know; I am asking.

I've asked a lot of instructors this... and no it's not intentional. The good thing about GUE courses is, that you really are ready to do the kind of dives after you finish the course, there is no doubt about that. To be able to do that they have to cram a lot of information, practice, drills, into a limited amount of time, so the course in itself can be tiring.

How tiring depends on a lot of stuff. Instructor-student interaction, how the instructor manages time, how ready the students are, how they gel together, but also the logistics of the course (if you need to spend a lot of time to get to dive spots, or to fill tanks, it eats away time, meaning you'll have longer and more tiring days).

But most GUE friends state the same, that there is this strange "low" midway in the course. But of course experience may vary, and depend in a large part on the students. If the team (students) are not totally ready (during my C1 and T1 there was 1 team member who got a provisional), it becomes a harder course... also for the instructor. Nothing easier for an instructor than having 3 students who are totally ready, breezing through the course, the opposite is much harder and makes for a much more tiring course not only for the students but also for the instructor.

Anyway I'm rambling a bit ;-)

Cheers

 

[johnkendall]

How can it be that it's the hardest course? Aren't there more advanced, more demanding courses in GUE?

I don't know; I am asking.

From an instructional point of view, Fundamentals is definitely the hardest course that I teach. The concept behind fundamentals is to start the process of getting divers to dive within the GUE standards. Students can come in with vast ranges of capability or experience, and the challenge is to help them improve their diving. It is generally also the first time those divers ever get detailed, honest feedback about their capacity and knowledge. Therefore people work very hard to achieve their goals during the class, and that is tiring. Level 1 classes we start from a known place - Fundamentals Tech Pass, and can build from there. That's not to say the classes are not challenging (they definitely are), or tiring (definitely again), but divers coming in to those have a good understanding of how GUE training works, and will have practiced their fundamental skills a lot. If someone comes to a level 1 class without that practice however, they are going to have a miserable time, and probably drop out on or around day 3.

HTH
John

 

[Compressor]

Thanks to all that replied to me.

 

[helodriver87]

From an instructional point of view, Fundamentals is definitely the hardest course that I teach. The concept behind fundamentals is to start the process of getting divers to dive within the GUE standards. Students can come in with vast ranges of capability or experience, and the challenge is to help them improve their diving. It is generally also the first time those divers ever get detailed, honest feedback about their capacity and knowledge. Therefore people work very hard to achieve their goals during the class, and that is tiring. Level 1 classes we start from a known place - Fundamentals Tech Pass, and can build from there. That's not to say the classes are not challenging (they definitely are), or tiring (definitely again), but divers coming in to those have a good understanding of how GUE training works, and will have practiced their fundamental skills a lot. If someone comes to a level 1 class without that practice however, they are going to have a miserable time, and probably drop out on or around day 3.

HTH
John

This is accurate. I've done C1, C2, T1, CCR1, and Cave CCR through GUE. The only class that even got close to being as tough as fundamentals was CCR1. Because it's basically fundamentals on a CCR.

 

[PfcAJ]

This is accurate. I've done C1, C2, T1, CCR1, and Cave CCR through GUE. The only class that even got close to being as tough as fundamentals was CCR1. Because it's basically fundamentals on a CCR.

Concur. Rb80 was harder than everything past fundies too. Buoyancy is wacky and there’s a million things goin on that you’ve gotta keep track of.

 

[Matan]

and in every advanced class - it seems it's always back to fundamentals.

I don't remember hearing (for any student) during my T1 and T2 things like "you need to improve your gas switch / bottle rotations" - I did hear (for every student including myself of course) comments about back kick / flutter kick / situational awareness / body position. I honestly feel that back kick really "synced" in only during T1

so yeah fundies is the hardest.

 

[ginti]

and in every advanced class - it seems it's always back to fundamentals.

I don't remember hearing (for any student) during my T1 and T2 things like "you need to improve your gas switch / bottle rotations" - I did hear (for every student) comments about back kick / flutter kick / situational awareness / body position. I honestly feel that back kick really "synced" in only during T1

so yeah fundies is the hardest.

Same for me (only C1/T1 here). Fundamental skills do their job (I guess otherwise its a fail), but they are far fom being perfect. On the other hand, switch, no viz exit etc. are "easy" IF you have a good foundation