I drank the GUE Fundies Kool-Aid and survived!!

[Gombessa]

I think everyone in our class had some kind of remedial attention. And truly, head-back, eyes-forward is super-tough to remember in class. I cannot remember how many times a blue drygloved finger descended from the heavens to gently push my forehead back towards the manifold. I eventually got the message, but I'm sure it left a mark.

 

[wjknobles]

I just had the time to read the entire thread and I must say:

first, thank you to ScubaSam for posting it ...

second, as others have said there are always those who will detract from things, no matter what they are.

My own experience with DIR divers has always been that they are willing to talk with you, answer your questions, dive with you, and try to explain why they choose to dive that way. Personally that was one of the reason I chose to go that direction starting with my first BC and reg ... in fact I now try to teach all my classes from a DIR standpoint (from OW up).

ScubaSam ... I am glad you had a great experience, glad you had the courage to post this despite all the flaming that is known to happen around DIR topics, and hope I'll be able to make it to Florida to take my own GUE training sooner rather than later. (of course thats always been my goal, but Austin has this weird habit of not letting you leave)

 

[HenrikBP]

<snip> I flamed out. Spectacularly.
<snip>
While I did my very best to maintain a positive, cheerful outlook

Dave; as Sam said - cut it out! You did indeed keep a cheerful outlook. And as Bob said - you stuck in there. You didn't check out! And you came back for more practice after class. Time takes the time it needs and I have no doubt you will get to a happy place in you diving.

It's all about the Team.

Henrik

 

[TSandM]

No matter how much skill you have, or how much experience, good classes will bring you nose to nose with your inadequacies, and unless you are made of depleted uranium, it hurts. (See my report of the Cave 2 class I just finished and didn't pass.) And in every class, there is a spectrum of capability. Sometimes it's obvious who the strongest diver is, and sometimes the strengths and weaknesses are so asymmetrically distributed that it's hard to tell. But everybody is there to try to learn to be better at something, and if the class shows you where you need to improve, then you just have to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and get about improving!

My Fundies class had six divers in it, and I got put with the "these guys are hopeless but I have to teach them anyway" group. We were the three stooges underwater, constantly getting separated, having buoyancy problems, and misunderstanding signals. None of us passed. But I passed six months later, and one of my buddies later took the class over and passed it. And the skills we learned and the work we did was totally worth it.

As somebody just told me about the Cave 2 class, wallow in it a bit, then pick yourself up and rub dirt in it and get going!

 

[Blackwood]

If you say yes to all of the questions below, I will dive with you.

• Will you donate your regulator if I needed it underwater?
• Will you stay by my side and be my buddy, NOT swim off or bolt to the surface when I have enough gas for us both to surface doing all our required ascent stops?
• Will you dive safe and within the limit of our training?
• Will we have, discuss and agree on a dive plan that includes enough gas to get us both back to the surface, boat or shore safely before heading into the water?

Am sure I'm leaving out more questions but it's after midnight in London now so I'm sleepy...yawn!!

Even if you missed a few, that's a fantastic post and should be stickied somewhere in the archives of SCUBA lore.

 

[Blackwood]

Also glad to hear that we might have another Fundies instructor here on the West coast!

Steve is one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet. Hopefully he'll be instructing soon!

 

[SCUBA Q]

The point re: baseline skills for Fundies bears repeating. I took the same DIR-F class as Sam and Henrik. Not having mastered the requisite buoyancy and trim skills PRIOR to class, I flamed out. Spectacularly.

While I did my very best to maintain a positive, cheerful outlook - and especially to be as helpful a teammate as possible despite my prodigious shortcomings - the experience has left me absolutely crushed.

I apologize to my classmates for taking up their time as I struggled with the most basic of skills.

I got to do a final dive with Dave and Bob S. on Sunday after everyone else left and let me tell you, Dave was looking really good. Good buoyancy throughout the dive and a good ascent. Don't be so hard on yourself...starting to sound like me

When you want to go dive Dutch again? How's the August 28th weekend?

 

[BabyDuck]

As somebody just told me about the Cave 2 class, wallow in it a bit, then pick yourself up and rub dirt in it and get going!

that was me...

thanks for posting, sam. i'm glad you had a positive experience! i'd have liked to take fundies, but i think it's passed me by since i don't want other gue cards.

 

[wreckless1]

I, for one, welcome our new GUE-trained DIR overlords.

 

[ScubaSam]

Steve is one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet. Hopefully he'll be instructing soon!

Steve was a huge contributing factor to my success in the class and to the overall warm environment of the Fundies class. He possess great underwater communication skills. Both Steve and Bob were extremely approachable with our questions or our concerns. Steve Rocks!!!!

I got to do a final dive with Dave and Bob S. on Sunday after everyone else left and let me tell you, Dave was looking really good. Good buoyancy throughout the dive and a good ascent. Don't be so hard on yourself...starting to sound like me

When you want to go dive Dutch again? How's the August 28th weekend?

Quintin - I fly back to the states on the evening of Aug 28th, and if I'm not too jet lagged I'd love to hover with y'all on Saturday.