DIR- GUE Finding teammates after failing fundamentals

[KevinNM]

Looking back, I probably should've done a single tank. I found this really helpful page - Course Progressions | Wet Rocks Diving a little too late and had already committed in my mind to using doubles, bought the wing and everything.

If you didn’t take Fundies with Mer (that’s her website) you might consider it next time.

I got a rec pass in a single and wetsuit, got a provisional trying it in drysuit and doubles. Everyone in my class, including the certified cave diver, got a provisional. The whole tech rig makes things much more complex given the extra things to manage. And if you have to spend 100% of you attention on your issues you can’t be paying much attention to your teammates and what they are doing.

If you can’t do your part to keep your team together, at the same depth and fairly close, during exercises you probably won’t pass.

 

[BoltSnap]

I have just one question: why did you swap your excellent Nova fins with outdated, crap jet fins?
Was it suggested by the instructor, or you just did think that they were the "do it right" thing?

It is probably a GUE requirement.

 

[BoltSnap]

If you didn’t take Fundies with Mer (that’s her website) you might consider it next time.

Why is that? What does she offer or do that is different and so positive about her? Aren't all GUE instructors supposed to be doing the same thing?

Note: I am genuinley interested to know, not arguing with you at all.

 

[FishWatcher747]

This thread is a perfect example about weight distribution not being taught as an essential aspect for proper diving.

Divers take courses in obvious foot heavy configurations and nobody corrects the weight distribution.

One can tighten their butt muscles all they want to compensate for the center of mass not lining up with the center of buoyancy. Good luck with that.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

This thread is a perfect example about weight distribution not being taught as an essential aspect for proper diving.

Divers take courses in obvious foot heavy configurations and nobody corrects the weight distribution.

One can tighten their butt muscles all they want to compensate for the center of mass not lining up with the center of buoyancy. Good luck with that.

Oh man I just realized that the airspaces that divers have to manage are not just their lungs, BCD/wing, dry suits if they are wearing one, loop if they are diving a rebreather, but also their colon!

It's little tidbits of information like this that makes scubaboard so valuable!

 

[overthinking_diver]

Question... You said you were in Double Alu80s. Are you SURE you were actually leg heavy?

No, definitely not 100% sure. We played with some trim weights and It definitely changes with full vs empty tanks.

So: challenge. For one dive, try to stretch your legs nearly straight out. Use a tailweight. (If you dont have one, use tape and tape one to the bottom of your tanks. (Make sure to dive a balanced rig)

Try a static trim test. Have someone look at you and signal the angle you have your body in. When horizontal, make a not of any feeling of toppling over.

Thanks, I'll definitely try this next dive!

 

[overthinking_diver]

Frequently, the instructor is the one that "failed" the student not the student failing the course. I would never tell a student who is still trying to learn that they "failed" and should stop the course. I'd work with them to the end of the course and even add time and extra effort to help them if they are genuinely wanting to learn.

I can't blame the instructor. He did a great job and helped me improve a lot. I'm pretty sure he thought I was unsafe to dive for the last dive on the last day in my current state. At the end of the day, It's a judgement call. I don't think GUE has an official SOP on when someone should be removed from a class. But they like their SOPs so who knows
We also had only one dive left and the other student, who has an existing relationship with the instructor was on the verge of a tech pass and had to do the "unconscious diver" skill. It's possible he didn't want me assisting that if he was worried I might panic? I don't know, I can only speculate. I was basically told "you're done, you failed" with a very friendly, sympathetic tone.
Do I understand his decision? Yes. Do I like it? No, of course not, but I'm a little biased . Could he have done something to help me get a provisional and not a fail. Probably . Does any of this matter long term? Not at all, I'll just have to skip one diving vacation to retake the class again. It's just 5 days, it's not like repeating a school year

 

[Ayisha]

Thanks. I had seen the NEUE before but it seemed like there was no activity. I will keep an eye on it.

There aren't many posts in NEUE, but it's a very active cross-border community in the 1000 islands area.

Dives tend to get organized through FB group chats between the members rather than on the page.

It's Bob Sherwood's group and there are a lot more FB posts through his shop All About Scuba (GUE/NAUI) in Alexandria Bay, NY. They dive all through the year.

For the Memorial Day weekend, there's a multi-agency (GUE/NAUI/DAN) workshop and get-together. It's a little expensive, but I find it to be so worth it with the coaching that we all get from top-notch instructors.

Some of us are driving down and doing 2 dives on Friday afternoon on Andrew's boat (Blue Foot Diving/All About SCUBA). I believe there's still space.

There will be Bob, Heison Chak, Graham Blackmore from the UK, Jamie Lichner, and so on running workshops Saturday and Sunday.

Spring 2023 Workshop

 

[Germie]

I read a few things that sounds strange to me.
First heavy jetfins in a 3mm wetsuit? Why? Even I can't hold balance then anymore. If I teach people in a wetsuit and they have balance problems and heavy fins, I will give them my lightweighted fins for my wetsuit and then they feel for sure the difference. It are no splitfins, but the Seac F1 (quite long). Or the Scubapro Go Sport (that are techfins for a wetsuit).

Also that you could not do the last dives of a course were you paid for. Fundies is not a tech course were you have to deal with unsafety if people are not good enough. It is a shallow entry level course.

Further, I don't think you won't find buddies to practise with. Also if you just do a fundive, you can practise of course. I had students in my courses with a fail on fundies and with a tech rating and a fail does not say they will not improve later. Also I have failed a student with a tech rating on an normoxic course. We agreed together to quit. It was not a direct fail, but the student did not want to practise. He just wanted to dive for fun. So the balance with 2 stages never came.

The most important thing is that you want to learn. Then you can improve. Even if you will never do a gue course again, the main thing is practise to improve. And remember, most technical divers have done courses with other agencies, they are not worser or better. DIR is a mindset, but it can be found in every agency if you find the right instructor. So do what feels right for you. Maybe you will start sidemount quite fast for example. Some divers dive easier in sidemount. There is no good or bad choice. Just practise, dive dive dive dive. Even a fundive is a practise. So dive dive dive with the equipment you have now. Practise, but still make sure you have fun. And then decide if you want to redo fundies or not. Also remember, the best instructor can be a worse one for you if personalities won't fit. But first: fun fun fun, dive dive dive, practise, practise, practise. And don't look down to a padi or cmas diver that also wants to practise with you. They also can overlook you when doing a valvedrill, they also can shoot an smb, can also practise finkicks. Every minute under water is also practising. Internet can be a help to find specific buddies, I see it quite often that someone wants to practise for fundies.

 

[KevinNM]

Why is that? What does she offer or do that is different and so positive about her? Aren't all GUE instructors supposed to be doing the same thing?

Note: I am genuinley interested to know, not arguing with you at all.

They do the same thing, but not the same way. I’ve done courses with three instructors and spent a morning with another working on an issue. They are all good and do similar things, but personality matters.

Meredith put more emphasis on the underwater video, which is extremely good at showing a student what they are actually doing. Which, at fundies level, may have very little correlation with what they think they are doing. I know I was pretty surprised to see all the crazy I was doing. And I get the feeling that this wasn’t emphasized enough to the OP.

Don’t know, I wasn’t there.