Diving doubles recreationally

[cbrich]

Some you guys crack me up,

 

[ianr33]

That may work too if you carefully avoid those who move the tank bands for trim and then adjust the harness to be able to reach the valves and then have to add ankle weights and dive like a seahorse...

While you can find many non-GUE divers that got it right, there is the guarantee that no GUE instructor will encourage or endorse hack jobs.

The comfort factor that Dry_Diver mentioned is greatly enhanced by picking the right tanks for your body style and setting them up correctly. Not every LDS employee has the knowledge/experience to do this. Even fewer understand the concept of a 'balanced rig' that does not turn into a death trap (due to weight) when your primary buoyancy compensator fails.

So how many days ago did you do Fundies?

Please tell me the split fin in your Avatar does not belong to you.

 

[Lobzilla]

Oh geez. Man, not only are you drinking the kool-aid, but by reading this it may be your blood-type.

The reference to kool-aid is silly but you are correct about the "blood type". I work in medical device development and my other hobby is aviation. In both cases, failure is not an option and before getting acquainted with GUE I was horrified about what the SCUBA industry considers safe and qualified. If you want to bet your life on anything but the best, that is your choice.

Wanna buy a PADI specialty dialysis machine for half the price? Or get an SSI-type instrument rating in a weekend and then fly across the country? No sane person would do that but in SCUBA that philosophy is OK for some reason.

I saw on another thread you just took fundies, and I think that's fantastic.However, you may need to get off that little "fresh out of fundies" high-horsie you are sitting on.

I think that thread indicated clearly that we got our a$$es kicked in that class. GUE-F was first cert that I actually had to earn. The rest (OW, AOW, EAN40) was a joke. I do not derive any status from having trained with GUE but their curriculum and staff has allowed and encouraged my teammates and me to be better divers than what other agencies churned out in the same time period. Why should I not promote a system that has provided great value for me?

There are people out in the world with a lot more experience than you have that can move tanks in the bands, adjust their harnesses to make reaching the valves easier if needed, and somehow they manage to stay in a nice horizontal trim. Without ankle weights.

Experience is earned over time. Time is the cost, experience is the benefit. Please show me a couple of non-GUE trained divers that after one year of diving can hold their own (and their trim) in one of our teams. If you find them, we'll keep 'em.

Do you personally know of even any (or even one) non-GUE tec/rec instructors that "encourage or endorse hack jobs?" If your 50-99 dives is correct, I have a hard time believing that you have the first-hand experience to make such a statement.

Yes, I do and the scary part is how much nonsense I have seen already after about one year and 50 dives.

OTOH, do you know any GUE instructor first hand? Did you ever attend a GUE class? If not, you do not know how much value you can get for your money.

Granted there are great non-GUE instructors out there but the funny thing is that they will refer you, like any good professional, to the specialists if appropriate.

This I do agree with. I would be surprised if 1 of 20 LDS employees around here have the experience or knowledge to properly set up doubles, a stage bottle, or a BP/W properly, as only a couple are tec divers and even fewer are tec instructors.

 

[Lobzilla]

So how many days ago did you do Fundies?

Please tell me the split fin in your Avatar does not belong to you.

No, and I am not kneeling on the platform either. I am the guy in (nearly) perfect trim. Otherwise, I would not lean that far out of the window with my opinion

Seriously, I am no "Wunderkind". I just listened to people who are worth listening to and practiced what logically made sense.

I "did" Fundies in February, got my butt kicked, practiced, and passed in July. Now I am practicing for Tech1 to get my butt handed to me again, practice again,...

 

[ianr33]

The reference to kool-aid is silly but you are correct about the "blood type". I work in medical device development and my other hobby is aviation. In both cases, failure is not an option and before getting acquainted with GUE I was horrified about what the SCUBA industry considers safe and qualified. If you want to bet your life on anything but the best, that is your choice.

Wanna buy a PADI specialty dialysis machine for half the price? Or get an SSI-type instrument rating in a weekend and then fly across the country? No sane person would do that but in SCUBA that philosophy is OK for some reason.



I think that thread indicated clearly that we got our a$$es kicked in that class. GUE-F was first cert that I actually had to earn. The rest (OW, AOW, EAN40) was a joke. I do not derive any status from having trained with GUE but their curriculum and staff has allowed and encouraged my teammates and me to be better divers than what other agencies churned out in the same time period. Why should I not promote a system that has provided great value for me?



Experience is earned over time. Time is the cost, experience is the benefit. Please show me a couple of non-GUE trained divers that after one year of diving can hold their own (and their trim) in one of our teams. If you find them, we'll keep 'em.



Yes, I do and the scary part is how much nonsense I have seen already after about one year and 50 dives.

OTOH, do you know any GUE instructor first hand? Did you ever attend a GUE class? If not, you do not know how much value you can get for your money.

Granted there are great non-GUE instructors out there but the funny thing is that they will refer you, like any good professional, to the specialists if appropriate.

Keep diggin son.

 

[Jaydubya]

No, and I am not kneeling on the platform either. I am the guy in (nearly) perfect trim. Otherwise, I would not lean that far out of the window with my opinion

I'm not GUE trained but you look a little head-down to me but I doubt it matters in a no-flow quarry anyhow. Kudos on staying off the bottom, wouldn't want to get your drysuit dirty

 

[Lobzilla]

How so?

My singles rig
View attachment 100352

My doubles rig
View attachment 100353

Everything is within 2-3inches of each other on either rig.

My pain-point on the singles rig is the hose for the backup regulator. The fact the the SP MK17 does not have a swivel turret maybe part of the problem. However, with a single first stage I have this large loop over my right shoulder like in your photo. Granted, this is a nitpick item but I just find the hose routing on doubles cleaner.

 

[Lobzilla]

I'm not GUE trained but you look a little head-down to me but I doubt it matters in a no-flow quarry anyhow. Kudos on staying off the bottom, wouldn't want to get your drysuit dirty

You are correct and it does matter even in a quarry. In this case I am getting ready to assist my teammate with the long hose clean-up but keeping my head up is something that still echoes in my ears from the class. As long as you know your shortcomings it is only a matter of time.

 

[James R]

Wanna buy a PADI specialty dialysis machine for half the price? Or get an SSI-type instrument rating in a weekend and then fly across the country? No sane person would do that but in SCUBA that philosophy is OK for some reason.

Oh crap. I did my OW through YMCA? What ridiculous analogy will you come up with for them? YMCA multi-engine rating?

Experience is earned over time. Time is the cost, experience is the benefit. Please show me a couple of non-GUE trained divers that after one year of diving can hold their own (and their trim) in one of our teams. If you find them, we'll keep 'em.

But would they have you? That elitist attitude makes me think I'd rather pee in my drysuit than endure a day on a boat with such snobbery from fellow divers. Seriously man....

OTOH, do you know any GUE instructor first hand? Did you ever attend a GUE class? If not, you do not know how much value you can get for your money. Granted there are great non-GUE instructors out there but the funny thing is that they will refer you, like any good professional, to the specialists if appropriate.

What you are missing here is that I am in no way knocking what GUE is teaching or their methods, and certainly not any GUE instructor. I think what they do is great. I have no issues at all with GUE.

What I, and many others, often find off-putting is when people like you, with basically little to no experience, save a fundies class under your belt, preach down upon those divers who haven't taken fundies as if you are the Noah of all that is diving, here to save the flock from the great flood of Air2 octo-inflators, poor trim, and ankle weights.

 

[ucfdiver]

My pain-point on the singles rig is the hose for the backup regulator. The fact the the SP MK17 does not have a swivel turret maybe part of the problem. However, with a single first stage I have this large loop over my right shoulder like in your photo. Granted, this is a nitpick item but I just find the hose routing on doubles cleaner.

A 2-4in shorter hose solves this problem. MK25 routes really well, you just have to put the 7ft hose on the swivel, and backup reg on the bottom port. Most people seem to point the reg down and it doesn't route as well (it's even on GUE's site in the less desirable position, idk why).