JustinLoos1985
Contributor
UTD and GUE both have very high standards. I highly recommend James Mott if your interested in becoming a better diver.
Is UTD still a "fringe" organization?
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Here are the UTD Standards if you want to peruse them.
https://utdscubadiving.com/wp-content/uploads/UTD_StandardsAndProcedures_v6c.pdf
JustinLoos1985
Contributor
UTD as an organization has been more active recently. New website, new podcast, new training materials.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmFVUZBRJJ6gSC4inf8gM7A
if you want to know what UTD is about they put it out there on the web.
if you want to know what UTD is about they put it out there on the web.
Well, if I’d ever go off and start my own agency, it would be the Association of Recreational Scuba Educators. I think it would be a preferred acronym over all agencies, so when you walk into a shop or onto a boat, they’d ask, “where’s your ....?”
Thank God they replaced their website from 1996! (Yes I realize that predates UTD - that’s how antiquated their website was!)
KevinNM
Contributor
You can always work with an IE to get prerequisites waived, you just have to know your stuff and have learned how GUE does things as though you had taken the appropriate GUE class.
Would like to ask about the "unified" and "team" aspect of UTD...
Firstly the "unified". Is conformity to equipment standards considered to be more important than utilising the correct equipment configuration for the 'mission'? Thinking back to the old bigoted days of DIR, insisting that you have to all have exactly the same config regardless. A good example is not allowing a D-ring on the RH waist, mandating backmount where sidemount would be appropriate (for many reasons). Insisting that computers are in gauge mode, etc. There's many places where hybrid solutions would be appropriate, such as sidemounting bailout cylinders to keep them properly streamlined and in control, especially when penetrating wrecks or tighter caves. What about gasses? Standard gasses are fine but horrendously expensive -- 25/25 for a 25m/80' dive?
Secondly the "team" element which results in less independent thought or development. A lot of places one dives requires solo mentalities, such as penetrations within shipwrecks and restrictions within caves. Could the team mentality encourage 'group think' and suppress independent thought?
Have to question using ratio deco. Why? We now have Shearwater computers which give a far better calculation of the deco curve for the specifics of the profile. Diving with two of them means redundancy. Three is even better. ZHL16 works and is widely adopted for planning, etc.
Firstly the "unified". Is conformity to equipment standards considered to be more important than utilising the correct equipment configuration for the 'mission'? Thinking back to the old bigoted days of DIR, insisting that you have to all have exactly the same config regardless. A good example is not allowing a D-ring on the RH waist, mandating backmount where sidemount would be appropriate (for many reasons). Insisting that computers are in gauge mode, etc. There's many places where hybrid solutions would be appropriate, such as sidemounting bailout cylinders to keep them properly streamlined and in control, especially when penetrating wrecks or tighter caves. What about gasses? Standard gasses are fine but horrendously expensive -- 25/25 for a 25m/80' dive?
Secondly the "team" element which results in less independent thought or development. A lot of places one dives requires solo mentalities, such as penetrations within shipwrecks and restrictions within caves. Could the team mentality encourage 'group think' and suppress independent thought?
Have to question using ratio deco. Why? We now have Shearwater computers which give a far better calculation of the deco curve for the specifics of the profile. Diving with two of them means redundancy. Three is even better. ZHL16 works and is widely adopted for planning, etc.
UTD is an abbreviation of the original name, but it doesn’t mean limited to original organization mandate. KFC serves more than chicken. RBC, CIBC, TD banks are no longer considered Canadian. HSBC is also international.
The above sums it all up pretty well.
I don’t qualify as a dive god but my only GUE card is T2. Of course in 1998 that was a result of a conversation where JJ incredulously asked if I really still didn’t have a trimix cert since many of us started diving mix before there was much formal training. I suspect now the pool of squared away divers that could do this is much smaller simply because the majority with the right mindset probably started with GUE.
Deco tricks are nice to know but they have very specific ranges in which they work. UTDs methods fail pretty badly if you are not inside just the right parameters. Much more efficient to use software and learn what applies to specific dives based on experience.
I was taught how to dive SM properly by a GUE IE but no need for a card. SM is a tool for exploration but a horrible way for newer cave divers to learn to cave dive. It adds too many little potential mistakes. I must confess it is also a tool for old guys who want to be able to walk after 30+ hours of bottom time during a fun week in Mexico.
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