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btw I would much rather have an attentive buddy who knows how to communicate well than a strict plan.
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Unnecessarily burdensome? No, but I don't think you need to do a GUE EDGE verbatim, on every dive. Just a basic dive plan covers most of it anyway.
Amen to thatbtw I would much rather have an attentive buddy who knows how to communicate well than a strict plan.
A follow up. I’ve tried for a month to schedule a tech upgrade. Scheduling has been impossible.
One thing I wish GUE did was how to dive with non gue divers after the course, or just have my instructor talk about it.
@tmassey Thanks for the great writeup firstly. I think your thoughts are probably like many people post class, and over time your perspective may shift a little as you reflect. It's certainly a humbling experience at first - I think the worst ascent's I have ever done, OW class included, were during my Fundies. Embarrassing but a learning moment too.
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On this whole GUE diving with non GUE divers.. pretty much every dive post course has been with non GUE divers, my regular buddy (wife) excluded. But we're almost always be in a larger group, and most dives we'd follow the terrain up more-so than being a square dive where we're doing min-deco ascents to "be GUE". We do however remain a solid buddy pair inside the group, and given recent events thank gosh for that.
5 years ago, i'd jump on a boat and everyone would be like "what the hell is that gear". And i'd smile and nod and talk about why i prefer BP/W's and the long hose etc. These days, it's really just the long-hose and can-light that ever draws any attention. Every second diver seems to be diving BP/W's these days, mostly with some skill, but not always.
When I dive without my wife, i'll just do a normal buddy check, and do the dive. I will however mention that I'll donate my primary if they haven't dived with a long-hose diver before and show a quick s-drill to demonstrate.That adds about 15 seconds to the pre-dive chat. If it's a night or wreck dive I'll probably talk about light signals. I'm hardly taking them to the dark side.
I've never tried to convert anybody to GUE or get them to do GUEEDGE or similar. I don't mention anything you wouldn't hear from any other diver, unless specifically asked.
(I did however once meet someone on another course who had signed up based on my SB Fundies report, I thought that was pretty cool)
I do sometimes get questions about trim etc post dive at which point I might say I did a thing called Fundies and explain the agencies background. But I've tried my best to be the quiet one, it's not like i'm a T2 evel CCR diver, just an open ocean flounderer.
I have however had a couple of people on dive boats try to tell me why the systems wrong and crap and how i'll die with a long-hose in ocean diving. I just smile and wave and then do my best to look cool underwater.
I’m pretty sure if you do a course, you can get a tech pass during it.I’ve tried for a month to schedule a tech upgrade. Scheduling has been impossible.
I’m pretty sure if you do a course, you can get a tech pass during it.
You don’t have to schedule a meet-up with an instructor just for a tech pass. Like say you want to doc diver, do it, if you’re ready, you’ll be tech rated upgraded along with your documentation diver details.
I understand. I recently read that you can be upgraded to a tech pass either as an individual evaluation dive or during a course after fundies.He wants to upgrade his Rec Pass to a Tech Pass. So he does need to be re-evaluated.
Of course, now that I look for where I read that, I can’t seem to find it.