Organisations teaching DIR

[Rhone Man]

A while back (sometime in the last 12 months) someone posted a thread about a new diver training organisation which was based on DIR principles. The only other thing I can remember was that the basic open water cert was going to run about $2,000.

Can anyone remind me what the name of the new organisation was?

 

[Gombessa]

Unifiedteamdiving.com

 

[Rainer]

UTD

Their Rec 1 class is $600.

 

[Rhone Man]

Thanks.

Am I correct in recalling that they are not affiliated with GUE at all? They just adhere to the same guiding principles?

 

[Rainer]

They adhere to many (certainly not all) of GUE's guiding principles. They are a completely separate organization.

 

[liuk3]

I know of a GUE Rec 1 class local to me which is being offered for (I believe) $1500. I think that it includes a nitrox certification and over 20 dives, and you also are able to achieve the equivalent of a Rec-pass in GUE-Fundamentals when you are done. I dunno if this is what the OP might have been referring to.

 

[Peter Guy]

I think the OP was referring to GUE's "new" OW class, NOT anything from UTD. The buzz was that the GUE class would be pretty pricey because it was so extensive.

 

[Rainer]

No, it's pretty clear he's talking about UTD (the only "new" DIR agency). When UTD first rolled out their Rec 1 class, it was $1200. Compare that to GUE's which is $3000 (so $1500pp with two students, or $1000pp with three) and you can see they're all clearly more expensive than a typical OW class. Having done some dives with UTD Rec 1 students, I'd say it's money well spent (especially at the newer pricing). As far as I can tell, at least in LA, GUE's R1 is vaporware. I kept inquiring about a class for my wife and kept hearing "soon". She finished up with a UTD instructor instead.

 

[BDub]

Thanks.

Am I correct in recalling that they are not affiliated with GUE at all? They just adhere to the same guiding principles?

No affiliation with GUE at all. Andrew Georgitsis, the founder of UTD (along with Jeff Seckendorf) is the former Training Director for GUE.

As Rainer said, we adhere to many of the same core principles, but not all.

As for the Open Water certification...Rec 1 is the Open Water equivalent. It involves at least 8 ow dives, along with significant class, academic and pool time. Pricing may vary geographically/demographically, but the Rec 1 class here in Seattle runs ~$600.