GUE, DIR, and Philosophy part II

[ericfine50]

During my DIRF class, Andrew G. said he teaches is OW students from the start these skills. I guess this was his "baby" and made it a requirment for Tech 1, not GUE. So. there may be a GUE OW class in the future. Who knows?



Eric

 

[detroit diver]

There is a GUE open water class. I spoke with Andrew G. last weekend and they're just waiting for some details to be worked out before they release it. I don't know what those detail are. As Netdoc said, it takes a lot of detail work to get one of these things to go.

 

[xoomboy]

I've always been amazed that the mainstream dive certification agencies (PADI, NAUI) do not expire their cards or even have them come up from renewal.

I was at my LDS the other day bringing back some rental gear and gabbing with the guy at the counter. Someone came in, flashed a card from 1974 (older than me!), said he hadn't been underwater in years. He filled up his tanks (which he had kept up to date because you HAVE TO in order to be able to fill them) and left.

*shudder*, hope he's okay!

Matt

 

[The Chairman]

then there is a better than average chance that he was too and was just pulling your leg. I have been known to act "dumb" (well, not as dumb as UP) (and some say that it is no act!) when a youngster tries to "show" me a thing or two. Who knows, I might larn me sumthin' new, but I do get a kick out of new divers "spreading the word" about their new sport. It's healthy for them and I love it!!!

 

[jlargent]

Your correct GUE does not have an open water certification program. Though I've heard rumors they are working on one. I doubt any of the GUE instructors have a real preference (Org. wise) about
who they would send a new diver to. There are OW instructor from multiple agencies that are also GUE instructors.
Without recomending a certain instructor I would say find an instructor not assoicated with a dive store. You would be more likly to get an instructor that puts the new diver ahead of gear sales.

To be honest there are several dive instructors in this area that I would recommend, that do work at dive shops, however I have worked with them enough to know they put the safty of their students first. 1 is a PADI instructor, the other TDI and PADI.

One of the easiest examples of gear ahead of students is that a lot of instructors have 2 different sets of gear. The set they dive in, and then the set that matches what the dive store sells. I realize most of us have more than one set of gear but I think you understand what I'm getting at.

I do not mean to imply that all instructors from PADI, TDI, etc are bad. There are some very good instructors out there who refuse to give in to pressure from their orginizations to just produce new divers at all cost.

 

[xoomboy]

I don't think people necessarily need to find a non-LDS instructor to learn to dive. As it's been said hundreds of times just on this board, it's important to find the best instructor you can.

That said, my fiancee and I just recently went through OW certification (a refresher for me) with someone NOT associated with our local LDS. He's a harbormaster who also teaches (PADI) on the side.

Opinion: I think that most uncertified people don't know that it is possible to find someone unaffiliated with the LDS to learn to dive. If you were to take a general poll of the non-diving public, I would say that the majority of people would just call the dive shop and register for a class. Most wouldn't even shop around much.

Me, I'm happier that we didn't go through the shop, even though I did my original OW through them and know the guys down there and will most likely do business with them for gear purchases.

There was no pressure to buy anything at any time the way we did it. It wasn't even an issue. AND she had the luxury of one-on-one basic training for a great price, while I was able to work on my technique and get myself back up to speed.

Plus, now I have a friend that is the harbormaster

Matt

 

[TCDiver1]

Dang jlargent, are you in my head or what?

I'm independent whenever i can be but have THREE different sets of gear, two for two different LDS's i teach for from time to time and one for myself. Due to the equipment intensive nature of OW training it's pretty hard to independently teach without investing & maintaining mucho gear. LDS's know that & hold it over your head. Your right, most LDS's i'm familiar with take gear sales MUCH more seriously than instruction. Heck, with larger classes i'm forced to pay for necessary added pool time out of my own pocket because one LDS says another instructor only takes this many (not enough) hours. If i didn't have a good day job that would not be an option.

I agree with c-cards requiring some kind of renewal to remain current. As stated earlier, i think most of the problems out there with skills have to do largely with lack of diving after training. Try as they might well over 50% of the divers we certify don't dive much after certification no matter how hard we extoll the virtues of doing so. There is money to be made to help sustain the industry, by performing Q&A training for divers who are already certified. It would go a long way to solving some of the ills out there.

And for those of you who think it is evil for anyone in the scuba industry to actually make money from it, save your comments for someone who will argue with you. I won't. Cutting costs for classes is one of the things that got us to where we are today. The cheap quicky class is NOT the answer

 

[roakey]

gedunk once bubbled...
I agree with most of what GUE is trying to do also, but you would think they would have started at the entry level where they say the problems all start.

“Core competencies” GUE grew out of the re-training program that the WKPP had to put people through in order for them to function as a team in the WKPP. So their original thrust was cave and deco and they’re working back into OW, realizing that the sooner someone they get someone on the right track, the less work they’ll have to face later.

Not to mention that they’ll enjoy diving more and have a higher probability of staying with it.

Roak

 

[roakey]

xoomboy once bubbled...
Someone came in, flashed a card from 1974 (older than me!)...

So you'd have some kinda probelm with a PADI "Basic" card from, say, July 1973, boy?

Roak

 

[xoomboy]

So you'd have some kinda probelm with a PADI "Basic" card from, say, July 1973, boy?

Nah, I believe artifacts like THAT should be preserved for everyone to enjoy!



Matt