DIR- GUE GUE fundamentals, tec pass?

[rjgiddings]

@dewdropsonrosa has nailed it. Very well written...and exactly what I was going through. It was exhausting.

 

[seeker242]

Could you explain what makes the class physically, mentally and emotionally demanding?

That isn't necessarily the case, some people find it easy.

 

[AJ]

@dewdropsonrosa has nailed it. Very well written...and exactly what I was going through. It was exhausting.

It also depends on the instructor and your own mindset. In my case my buddy was a marine commando. His way of having fun was going hiking through rough terrain with 60 kilograms of back pack. He was exhausted too after 4 days. Others are just having fun all the way. In the end it was the most rewarding dive class I ever did. It made me a better diver. Other courses I felt I bought them, this one I earned.

P.s. later I discovered that my instructor had a teaching background and was deliberately pushing everyone to his/her own limits and a little beyond to make them pus themselves to be a better diver and be prepared for more challenging dives. In a sense it was a bootcamp, but not one I will do again with pleasure.

 

[Nirvana]

For me, the fundamentals class was not particularly exhaustive. I think one of the reasons must be that I had the lectures, the written exam and a few of the land drills prior to beginning the in water section of the course.

 

[rjgiddings]

I cut and paste straight outta the GUE book: "Stabilizing and controlling buoyancy while managing additional tasks. If a diver is finding it difficult to stay neutral while dealing with other tasks, they should segment the tasks/skills into smaller parts and stabilize buoyancy between each action. "

It's this very issue of task loading and running drills that was getting me way out of holding steady in the water column with perfect buoyancy - and caused me stress underwater.
There was no fun in fundies !

 

[CptTightPants21]

Could you explain what makes the class physically, mentally and emotionally demanding?

People lack perception of where their skill level is because they don't set an unbiased reference point. It's like only learning from a textbook and then being put in charge of building an actual bridge.


You think you are solid. Buoyancy decent, good control, you know what you are supposed to do. U R ready for the FUN of fundies. Then an instructor puts a quarter on a platform and pulls a piece of string across the platform at eye level and asks you to donate your regulator to a buddy in a simulated drill you know is coming. Simple enough, you got this. All of sudden the string is magically a two feet below you, your buddy somehow wrapped his entire manifold in the string, and who the **** knows where the quarter went. It all seems so easy in theory, but that is what happens in fundies when you are asked to perform a skill with precision and an unbiased reference point for the first time.

 

[ginti]

I'm starting to pursue a technical diving training and one possibility is to migrate to GUE.

With GUE I would have to start with a GUE fundamentals class and it appears that I could try to get either the rec pass or the tec pass (with doubles).

I wonder if it would be a good idea to try the tec pass with doubles considering I've never dove with it.

Hi RLima!

I never met a person struggling in the management of doubles more than in buoyancy, awareness or underwater communication... so, based on my experience, I would say: go!

But I haven't met thousands of divers, and since this is a personal thing, you may hear different opinions/experiences, as for instance loosenit2.

Just discuss with your instructor. I guess his/her suggestion will be to do the first dive with a single tank, and to switch to doubles only if you are doing well. But the words of your instructor are valued more than ours I think.

Why don't you think about splitting it into part 1 and 2 if you do not have much experience with this kind of equipment?

Curiosity... Where are you going to do it?

Thanks for the heads up. What would you say is the hardest part to achieve the tech pass? Or in other words, what held you and your buddies back from getting it?

This question was not for me, but I guess my experience can add a small piece to what you can expect from the course.

I do not think the hardest part is technical. Everyone in the end has his own demons, right? I think the hardest part is psychological.

One of the most common mistakes I have seen is to focus on the exercises and to forget about the buddy, or your own buoyancy, or something else. In a word, you lose awareness. I believe that maintaining the awareness, stopping when something is not going how it should, even during an exercise... this is is the hard part.

But, again, this is really personal...

 

[Degenerate]

As someone who did the fundies last year, all I can say is this:
Focus on getting a rec pass, or even a provisional.
If you don't have a lot of experience with drysuit, twinset and primary light before the course you really shouldn't set your mind to getting a tech pass.
It is an amazing course and you will learn a ton throughout it for sure.

I left my primary light at home when I left for the course, I went for fundies to improve my diving skills and not to get a tech pass and progress further asap like so many do.
I ended up with a rec pass which is what I aimed for, I want to progress to the GUE tech program in time but I didn't want to task load myself too much during fundies, there's a lot of learning during the course and adding more things like primary light and so on will make it harder to focus on the fundamental skills if you are not comfortable with them already.
I know a couple guys who were dead set on getting their tech pass and then moving on straight to a tech 1 course, all of them failed because their ambition outweighed their skill.
Have an open mind when you get to your course and don't beat yourself up if there is something that you struggle with, just keep working on it throughout the course and in the end you will either pass or get a provisional, just do your best.
Don't hesitate to book a fundies, it is by far one of the best things you'll do in your entire diving career.

 

[RLima]

Just discuss with your instructor. I guess his/her suggestion will be to do the first dive with a single tank, and to switch to doubles only if you are doing well. But the words of your instructor are valued more than ours I think.

Why don't you think about splitting it into part 1 and 2 if you do not have much experience with this kind of equipment?

Curiosity... Where are you going to do it?

My instructor told me he doesn't care if I use doubles or not so I think its just a matter of trim / task loading issues. Since my current recreational setup is sidemount and I decided to go the GUE track exclusively for tech training, I'm reaching the conclusion it would be counterproductive to take the fundamentals class with a single tank.

I'm scheduled for the class in Ilhabela, São Paulo / Brazil.

 

[RLima]

As someone who did the fundies last year, all I can say is this:
Focus on getting a rec pass, or even a provisional.
If you don't have a lot of experience with drysuit, twinset and primary light before the course you really shouldn't set your mind to getting a tech pass.
It is an amazing course and you will learn a ton throughout it for sure.

I left my primary light at home when I left for the course, I went for fundies to improve my diving skills and not to get a tech pass and progress further asap like so many do.
I ended up with a rec pass which is what I aimed for, I want to progress to the GUE tech program in time but I didn't want to task load myself too much during fundies, there's a lot of learning during the course and adding more things like primary light and so on will make it harder to focus on the fundamental skills if you are not comfortable with them already.
I know a couple guys who were dead set on getting their tech pass and then moving on straight to a tech 1 course, all of them failed because their ambition outweighed their skill.
Have an open mind when you get to your course and don't beat yourself up if there is something that you struggle with, just keep working on it throughout the course and in the end you will either pass or get a provisional, just do your best.
Don't hesitate to book a fundies, it is by far one of the best things you'll do in your entire diving career.

I'm not really in a hurry to progress to the next course but I want to push hard for improvements in technique and knowledge. To be honest I think I'll have problems with the swim test since I've been out of a track pool for about 20 years, I'm out of shape and my cardio got hit by not being able to work out due to lockdown. So my idea so far is to push for a tech pass but be happy with whatever I get in the end.

In terms of preparation I tried to practice trim and propulsion techniques on a dive I did yesterday, and I'll try to read the materials / watch GUE videos in advance.