GUE Fundies For New Diver

[TSandM]

Lobzilla, you are just deliciously quotable - a veritable MINE of sig lines

 

[SelkieDVM]

Quick update…

I spoke with Bob this morning. Well Bob spoke and I listened. I will be signing up for the primer class on 12/11 in LA. I was sold once Bob made it clear to me that the primer class is really the first two days of the fundamentals class. This fits my style perfectly. I would rather spend the first two days of fundamentals reviewing and fine tuning skills while working on team dynamics than attempting to learn everything at once.

I will probably delay taking fundamentals until I can find a few more divers in my general area to form the core of a potential team. I have already had some encouraging private inquiries and referrals from potential instructors as well as students.

Once again, I would like to thank everyone for their advice and encouragement. I will post updates from class. Assuming the instructor doesn't completely kick my ass.

Congrats on signing up for the Primer. I took it with Bob this past summer and likely will be taking his FL Fundies in Jan/Feb (just spoke to him today about it). He is an outstanding instructor and I know you won't regret it. And don't worry, the Primer isn't that bad. I only had tears in my eyes after the first dive.
Cheers,
Lilla

 

[Lobzilla]

I only had tears in my eyes after the first dive.
Cheers,
Lilla

Did they clear out during the mask drills on the second dive?

 

[SelkieDVM]

Did they clear out during the mask drills on the second dive?

No LOL, they cleared out after I got over myself and realized I wasn't as good as I thought I was.

 

[kyjellyfish]

You'll enjoy Primer. I took the same course a couple of months ago with Steve and it was a wonderful experience. I had 30 dives up to that point and gained a huge appreciation for everything GUE-related. I was planning on taking the Fundies course with Steve/Bob in Dec you mentioned but opted to take it closer to where I live when one opened up at the same time. Good luck!

 

[aquaregia]

Its always hard to remember which "it's" to use, what with it's different meanings and all.

It's => He's
Its => His

 

[Lobzilla]

It's => He's
Its => His

Great mnemonic. That's tits

 

[lamont]

If there's any doubt, an apostrophe is a contraction of two words, so contractions take precedence: it's = it is, that's = that is, there's = there is

Only if it doesn't make sense as a contraction (Ben's or Charles') then it's obviously a possessive.

 

[DaMaDo]

Good info in this thread. I've also considered not being ready since I just did my 14th dive. Those last two dives were also my first two at trying the long hose but it felt pretty natural. I watched some youtube videos on the GUE "basic 5" and was practicing them on those two dives, but after reading this thread I realize I should probably wait in order to avoid bad habits.

I'm signed up with Bob Sherwood and Errol Kalayci to do fundies late Jan in Ft Laud. They are doing another one there mid Feb also.

I have my last AOW dive (night dive) to do and then the EFR/Rescue/DAN O2 combo class with Avery from Silent World scheduled for the end of month so I should at least have a bit more experience before the fundy class.

I'm looking forward to it!

 

[gsk3]

Good info in this thread. I've also considered not being ready since I just did my 14th dive. Those last two dives were also my first two at trying the long hose but it felt pretty natural. I watched some youtube videos on the GUE "basic 5" and was practicing them on those two dives, but after reading this thread I realize I should probably wait in order to avoid bad habits.

I'm signed up with Bob Sherwood and Errol Kalayci to do fundies late Jan in Ft Laud. They are doing another one there mid Feb also.

I have my last AOW dive (night dive) to do and then the EFR/Rescue/DAN O2 combo class with Avery from Silent World scheduled for the end of month so I should at least have a bit more experience before the fundy class.

I'm looking forward to it!

Congrats on signing up. Try to get some non-class dives in before then if you can, just to have fun and chill in the water.

It's best not to drill the Basic 5--they're not really the point of the class anyway, and you might ingrain bad habits--but if you want to try them out you shouldn't feel like they're forbidden fruit only offered to the initiated ;-)

The thing that is helpful to practice I think is buoyancy...you want to be able to stay within a 10ish foot range without popping to the surface, otherwise you'll just spend the whole class yo-yoing and learn less than you might otherwise.