Is UTD still a "fringe" organization?

[boulderjohn]

Interesting. From my (ignorant) perspective, I thought they'd grown out of the caving community!

I know by reputation they're quite strict with their standards of uniformity and they've adopted some odd manifold thing for sidemount.

The two statements are not contradictory. UTD did have its origins in the Florida cave diving community, but it does not have a significant presence there now.

This is my understanding:

Andrew Georgitsis was active in the WKPP and training director for GUE before being fired by GUE. He then was in charge of NAUI tech before being fired there. He then created UTD, with its base in California.

 

[Lorenzoid]

@onepointfivethumbs , if you like what you hear about UTD and like your instructor, then participate in helping make UTD NOT a fringe organization.

 

[Hartattack]

Hey OP, I've heard great things about James (never met him), and those who have here have said he is a great instructor. With that said, there is a GUE presence in Great Lakes via The Midwest Underwater Explorers (MWUE) Community, of which I am part. With that said, we have local meet ups all season, and GUE instructors travel to the area to teach classes. If you are interested—please find us under the same name on Facebook or PM me, and I can send you the schedule via email.

 

[rjack321]

James is the real deal, if I were in your position I would have no issues training with him. I doubt you will ever get to the point of taking a hypoxic OC trimix class in the Great Lakes area nowadays (not at $3+cf for helium) and I don't think he even teaches at that level either. But James can help you up your level and get you diving beyond 100ft and into the normoxic trimix range on your local sites and wrecks with good skills and habits.

The two statements are not contradictory. UTD did have its origins in the Florida cave diving community, but it does not have a significant presence there now.

This is my understanding:

Andrew Georgitsis was active in the WKPP and training director for GUE before being fired by GUE. He then was in charge of NAUI tech before being fired there. He then created UTD, with its base in California.

Andrew was not active in WKPP, never really a cave explorer, and never lived in FL either. He sold his UTD share to his partners and is no longer affiliated with UTD.

 

[rjack321]

Thanks

Was more posting that they had a good reputation for skills. Is that wrong too?

All the UTD divers I know (40 or 50, I Dmed for a bunch of classes via the local UTD instructors) are solid for their level - mostly because they want to be and their instructors facilitated that. The name on the card is a bit ancillary.

 

[lowwall]

I can't tell you anything about James Mott as a diver. But I can wholeheartedly recommend him as a podcaster.

The Great Dive Podcast: Meet The Boys

 

[rob.mwpropane]

I can't tell you anything about James Mott as a diver. But I can wholeheartedly recommend him as a podcaster.

The Great Dive Podcast: Meet The Boys

I think it's the other one you have to watch out for....Brando!

 

[OTF]

A few people have mentioned that UTD "does things differently" at least from GUE, so my question is what do they do differently? And what are the pros/cons to the differences? Are we talking minor differences in their training model, or radically different approaches to procedures underwater?

I don't know anything about the organization.

 

[tbone1004]

A few people have mentioned that UTD "does things differently" at least from GUE, so my question is what do they do differently? And what are the pros/cons to the differences? Are we talking minor differences in their training model, or radically different approaches to procedures underwater?

I don't know anything about the organization.

that's a deep rabbit hole that I wouldn't recommend going down especially as UTD's training may change in the next couple of years with AG out of the training side of the organization.
The biggest thing is the continued use of ratio deco which is primary with UTD and not with GUE. Couple things with some standard gases in the ~100ft range that are pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of things and a few others, but Ratio Deco is the big one.

 

[kensuf]

nevermind