gue accepting certs from another organisation, experiences?

[Gareth]

Taliena

An IE would want to see more than just ticking a box of skills. They'd want to see you were on board with the ethos of GUE and team diving. The instances I am aware of where people have skipped classes is where they have been diving regularly with other GUE divers and are basically GUE divers anyway. There's the Rub. You don't need GUE training to be a GUE diver. You just need to dive within the GUE standards and follow GUE protocols. A "GUE diver" is a diver that accepts the GUE approach to diving, not a qualification that can be earned. Being a GUE diver is something you have to commit to doing every time you go diving. You are on the internet promoting solo diving for goodness sake, as well as saying you are deliberately choosing a different bottle rotation technique than your GUE peers. You clearly don't get it.

GUE is 10% Equipment, 10% skills and 80% approach. Your equipment may be compliant, and your skills may be awesome, but if you do not understand and adhere to the GUE standards then you are not ready for advanced GUE standards. If you do understand the GUE standards and choose to ignore them then GUE isn't for you. That's not elitism. GUE is simply a big global diving club that allows people to dive very safely with a huge number of people. We achieve that by all following the same set of club rules. The standards and operating procedures are our club rules.

As for the bottle rotation, let's hear it. I can submit a request for change to the procedure if it's valid. However, bear in mind that being a GUE diver is a compromise. You have to recognise that the benefit of diving in a standard configuration, and using standard protocols, so that there can be a global standard, outweighs the benefit of tweaking your equipment to suit your specific needs, or doing skills "your way". If you are not willing to make that compromise, and you do not appear to be, then GUE probably isn't for you.

GUE has it's fair share of egos like every other agency. However, the people that think they are better than everyone else tend to get chewed up by the courses. A significant number of very experienced and qualified divers who do fundies with me "just to see what it's all about" walk away with a fail.

Gareth Burrows
GUE Isntructor Trainer.

 

[Taliena]

Diving is always a compromise. There are circumstances that you have to do other things than you normal do. Not always, but for example, you won't dive if you can only get air for a recreational dive? I dived not so long ago in Spain, dives where with a padi divecenter and no nitrox available. So I dived on air, no problems then. There are dives where ccr is better than oc, etc. And since when is diving as gue diver with a non gue configuration or way forbidden? Then you cannot dive single tank with a rental bcd anymore (I have dived this year 2 times a normal bcd with single tank), etc.

 

[Ste Wart]

Taliena

An IE would want to see more than just ticking a box of skills. They'd want to see you were on board with the ethos of GUE and team diving. The instances I am aware of where people have skipped classes is where they have been diving regularly with other GUE divers and are basically GUE divers anyway. There's the Rub. You don't need GUE training to be a GUE diver. You just need to dive within the GUE standards and follow GUE protocols. A "GUE diver" is a diver that accepts the GUE approach to diving, not a qualification that can be earned. Being a GUE diver is something you have to commit to doing every time you go diving. You are on the internet promoting solo diving for goodness sake, as well as saying you are deliberately choosing a different bottle rotation technique than your GUE peers. You clearly don't get it.

GUE is 10% Equipment, 10% skills and 80% approach. Your equipment may be compliant, and your skills may be awesome, but if you do not understand and adhere to the GUE standards then you are not ready for advanced GUE standards. If you do understand the GUE standards and choose to ignore them then GUE isn't for you. That's not elitism. GUE is simply a big global diving club that allows people to dive very safely with a huge number of people. We achieve that by all following the same set of club rules. The standards and operating procedures are our club rules.

As for the bottle rotation, let's hear it. I can submit a request for change to the procedure if it's valid. However, bear in mind that being a GUE diver is a compromise. You have to recognise that the benefit of diving in a standard configuration, and using standard protocols, so that there can be a global standard, outweighs the benefit of tweaking your equipment to suit your specific needs, or doing skills "your way". If you are not willing to make that compromise, and you do not appear to be, then GUE probably isn't for you.

GUE has it's fair share of egos like every other agency. However, the people that think they are better than everyone else tend to get chewed up by the courses. A significant number of very experienced and qualified divers who do fundies with me "just to see what it's all about" walk away with a fail.

Gareth Burrows
GUE Isntructor Trainer.

Great post from an Isntructor Trainer..... Garf Spell check!

 

[KevinNM]

The advantage was that you could get introduced to the skills without the pressure of the evaluation. However it no longer exists as a formal course. Fundamentals part 1 is kind of the replacement for that. However I suspect you could work with an instructor to do something that fits you needs, they are not limited to just teaching a formal course if you want to work on something in particular.

 

[elgoog]

Primer no longer exists. You now have the option of splitting Fundies into parts 1 and 2 (part 1 being the equivalent of Primer). The content is practically the same but the difference is that Fundies 1 is a pass/provisional/fail course. My wife and I did Fundies 1 last year and highly recommend it if you want to just "check GUE out". This is a good option if you like learning few skills at a time, practicing on your own and then moving on.
In our case, we did Fundies 1 in wetsuits and learned about equipment config, team diving, protocols and trim+buoyancy without any task loading. I provisional'd that class and wifebuddy got a rec pass. Did a bunch of diving on our own after that (wet and dry) to practice the basic skills. Last week we did a one day drysuit workshop with our Fundies instructor as we weren't having a good time figuring it out on our own (my provisional Fundies pass got converted to a rec pass after it). We'll do some more dives on our own in the drysuits and then do Fundies 2 after that - I feel like shooting an SMB, doing decent ascents, etc are much more within my reach now than if I had tried to do it all at once in a week long course.

Class report from our Fundies 1 is here - http://www.scubaboard.com/community/threads/first-look-gue-fundamentals-1.511491/

 

[elgoog]

I don't see why not. I don't know if Fundies 1 has a tech pass but Fundies 2 (essentially full Fundies cert) definitely does.
You don't even have to do the same equipment in 1 and 2 - wetsuit vs drysuit, singles vs doubles, etc. You will, however, have to do some sort of checkout dive or workshop with your Fundies instructor to sign off on new configuration and make sure you're still at Fundies 1 level with them before proceeding to the next class.

 

[C Dub]

Thanks so much for sharing. Is it possible then to split Fundamentals into 1 & 2 and attain a Tech Pass?

Yes it is, assuming you do it in drysuit and doubles. You can also take fundies in a wetsuit and single tank (rec pass), then come back later in drysuit and doubles for a tec pass, which is what I did. All we had to do for tec pass was the last dive of fundies to tec pass standards. Since I had to transition to doubs and drysuit, I practiced for a couple of months between rec and tec pass.

 

[Ouvea]

This probably sounds like a dumb question, but is there an advantage to attaining BOTH a Rec Pass and a Tech Pass?

It's a different level of control in your skills. Having the Technical rating to your Fundamentals allows you to take GUE's technical diving courses. Without it, you cannot begin T1 or C1.

 

[Ayisha]

Yes, if you're aiming for a tech pass, that's what you want to end up with at the end of Fundies 2. If Schedule A is still the same as a couple of years ago, you would need to complete it in doubles and with a primary light in addition to the basic gear requirements, and the performance standards are more precise. If you do not achieve a technical pass the first time, you can still achieve a recreational pass if you meet those performance requirements. If you're close, than a provisional pass with 6 months to try again. If you achieve a recreational pass, you can try again to upgrade it to a tech pass later after more practice.

Hope that helps.

 

[C Dub]

So no advantage in having both. It's better to shoot straight for Tech Pass. Thanks.

Well, maybe. If you are not totally squared away in doubles and a drysuit, you are probably going to fail going for a Tec pass (as in not even get a provisional). Depends on the diver and their skill level. I was very glad I did a rec pass first, as I found out during the class that I did not know what I did not know, know what I mean?