beester
Contributor
I think that the GUE value should expand beyond the technical realm. As I understand they are doing that by setting up alot of rec courses and a primer.
There is alot to be learned from these courses without getting into tech and the easier it is for entry level divers to access this knowledge and skills the better. So you have people who can get a primer course, rec 1, etc get access to alot of skills without going into tech.
Fundies is in itself a prep stage for technical diving. It's its origin. If you take it even if you don't pass you learn alot and get very good pointers where to improve to get to your goal (if tech rating is your goal). So for people who want to go tech getting straight to fundies is an advantage. If you prohibit people from taking fundies before you've done some rec courses or primer to get you up to speed what's the function of fundies... it's then downsized to just an exam.
On the other hand you have people training their buts off before fundies to get this elusive rating. That I don't get...
I'm a newly fundies graduate. I'm a normal diver with 300 dives under my belt. I do wreckdives and what triggered me to do fundies was not going into tech or cave (wrecks are on average 100-130 feet deep in my area and caves are 400 miles away... so what's the use). I did fundies because word of mouth told me that this was a different skill level and I would learn alot. Since I breezed through alot of certifications and still wasn't feeling inadequate in certain areas I thought this was a good ticket (and it was).
So I did fundies without even knowing there was this fail, provisional, rec, tec pass system... I learned alot... enjoyed the whole course (it really was an eyeopener on gasmanagement, teamplay, buoancy, instructor skill level), made some new friends... In the end I got a tech pass. I jokingly told my instructor... great but I'm not going to use it.
So I'm glad I got the opportunity to step into fundies straight away..even though I don't need or want to go tech.
There is alot to be learned from these courses without getting into tech and the easier it is for entry level divers to access this knowledge and skills the better. So you have people who can get a primer course, rec 1, etc get access to alot of skills without going into tech.
Fundies is in itself a prep stage for technical diving. It's its origin. If you take it even if you don't pass you learn alot and get very good pointers where to improve to get to your goal (if tech rating is your goal). So for people who want to go tech getting straight to fundies is an advantage. If you prohibit people from taking fundies before you've done some rec courses or primer to get you up to speed what's the function of fundies... it's then downsized to just an exam.
On the other hand you have people training their buts off before fundies to get this elusive rating. That I don't get...
I'm a newly fundies graduate. I'm a normal diver with 300 dives under my belt. I do wreckdives and what triggered me to do fundies was not going into tech or cave (wrecks are on average 100-130 feet deep in my area and caves are 400 miles away... so what's the use). I did fundies because word of mouth told me that this was a different skill level and I would learn alot. Since I breezed through alot of certifications and still wasn't feeling inadequate in certain areas I thought this was a good ticket (and it was).
So I did fundies without even knowing there was this fail, provisional, rec, tec pass system... I learned alot... enjoyed the whole course (it really was an eyeopener on gasmanagement, teamplay, buoancy, instructor skill level), made some new friends... In the end I got a tech pass. I jokingly told my instructor... great but I'm not going to use it.
So I'm glad I got the opportunity to step into fundies straight away..even though I don't need or want to go tech.
