Fundies on Monday!

[eelnoraa]

Just enjoy and learn as much as you can, and don't worry about passing.

 

[TSandM]

once you get into it and see all the pieces come together like a well oiled machine, it just blows your mind how flexible and well thought out the system really is.

You know, it's funny. My husband teaches a Fundies-type class, adapted for PADI divers, so there are no absolute gear requirements. One of his students from the last class bought a backplate and ended up reconfiguring his regs. His comment to us at the end of the class was that he had had a light-bulb moment -- He said something to the effect that, "I suddenly saw how it all works together, the gear and the procedures."

Yeah.

 

[ScoobaChef]

You know, it's funny. My husband teaches a Fundies-type class, adapted for PADI divers, so there are no absolute gear requirements. One of his students from the last class bought a backplate and ended up reconfiguring his regs. His comment to us at the end of the class was that he had had a light-bulb moment -- He said something to the effect that, "I suddenly saw how it all works together, the gear and the procedures."

Yeah.

How does that class work out? I know I had some amusing moments going through the PADI mill with the full DIR rig. S-drills while wearing snorkels and 7ft hoses, in water rescue breathing while doing gear removal with bp/w, really proves the holistic concept.

 

[TSandM]

Peter's only taught it once so far, and it worked out really well. Of course, you can't teach primary donate with somebody who's rigged his system up with a pony bottle, but you can make sure he has an efficient and effective strategy for donating gas (and maybe point out the weaknesses in the strategy he's chosen, at the same time). You can try to teach the kicks to someone in split fins, but if you lend them a pair of paddles for a night in the pool, they quickly figure out how much they have hampered themselves with their gear choice. We don't prescribe anything, but we show people the options, and a lot of them change their decisions. (I can a lot, because some of this happens in Peter's regular classes, as well.)

 

[Cyprian]

Good luck, ScoobaChef, and as the others said.....have fun! That's the most important thing.

 

[ScoobaChef]

This is kinda a no brainer question, but is it worth the extra task loading of doing the class in a drysuit. I haven't used one before, but with twins and and a light, i'm a bit on the negative side of a balanced rig.

Which is the lesser of two evils?

 

[Griffo]

Personally I would say to anyone that they should do Fundies in as much familiar gear as possible, and not to change anything just before the class.

However, i'd also say the best person to ask is Liam. He may do an assement on your gear and determine that you are simply not balanced in your current setup, or he may consider it OK for the depth of the dives you will be doing. He's best placed to provide an assesment.

You may also learn something in the process and the reasoning why.

 

[ScoobaChef]

Personally I would say to anyone that they should do Fundies in as much familiar gear as possible, and not to change anything just before the class.

However, i'd also say the best person to ask is Liam. He may do an assement on your gear and determine that you are simply not balanced in your current setup, or he may consider it OK for the depth of the dives you will be doing. He's best placed to provide an assesment.

That was my thought too, I was just curious if anyone had tried switching for the class and what the results were. Not too worried about the rest of the gear, Liam and Robin were the ones to gear me up in the first place.

 

[Freezerbrn]

That was my thought too, I was just curious if anyone had tried switching for the class and what the results were. Not too worried about the rest of the gear, Liam and Robin were the ones to gear me up in the first place.

I did... Two dives in a drysuit and a test run in double AL 80's just before class started. Not good. Took a lot of extra work and stress. Got a provisional. Switched to steel 100'sTrained for 5 moths. Did my recheck and got my tech pass. 2 months later I switched to double 120's. 7 months later I took GUE Rec 3. Great class btw. I love my current setup and no more major gear changes for me. T1 prob at the end of this yr.


Bottom line: I should have waited until I knew what gear I wanted to use, practice with it then take the fundies class. YMMV Hope this helped.

enjoy the class... I'm so glad I took it. I can't imagine any other way of diving.

 

[Griffo]

Bottom line: I should have waited until I knew what gear I wanted to use, practice with it then take the fundies class. YMMV Hope this helped.

enjoy the class... I'm so glad I took it. I can't imagine any other way of diving.

I took the opposite path - did fundies in singles and wet with no expectations. Learnt a whole bunch of skills and am applying them to the switch to dry and doubles. I'll re-take fundies later to get a tech pass, but in my mind with only 50 dives to my name, I thought it was better to learn from the beginning with the right skills, rather than trying to undo bad habbits later.

But I do have easy access to both GUE instructors and divers to help coach me.