DIR- GUE What does GUE mindset mean?

[Lorenzoid]

I've felt basically since learning about Fundies that the scuba industry really could use an equivalent for the typical vacation diver. I'm sure there's a large number of people out there who are interested in being the safest diver they can be, but also will only ever be diving a rental jacket BCD with yoke regs in standard rec set-up.

Sure there may be individual instructors doing that as part of their PPB couse or similar, but SB in general makes it sound way easier than it actually is to evaluate instructors prior to a lesson .....

I don't think you really need to "evaluate" instructors. Focus your search on OW instructors who also do tech diving. They will understand what you're looking for.

 

[crofrog]

Global Underwater Explorers

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Global Underwater Explorers is building global communities of passionate divers, empowered by high-quality training and organized to support wide-ranging diving activities. These communities contain and partner with dedicated explorers, conservationists and scientific researchers to conduct a diversity of aquatic initiatives around the world.

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GUE is a leader in scuba education, developing many industry-first training protocols with a global cast of extremely knowledgeable educators and producing divers of exceptional quality. These programs enable divers to enjoy a range of opportunities, including conservation, exploration, and...

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[SpeedyJ]

I don't think you really need to "evaluate" instructors. Focus your search on OW instructors who also do tech diving. They will understand what you're looking for.

Given the absolute trash quality of some of the tech instructors I’ve seen, this is hardly a foolproof solution.

People make mountains out of molehills in terms of why they can’t take fundies. I was loaned all the required gear for fundies by the shop, and found the instructor and shop owner eager to “make it work” for me.

 

[kensuf]

There are aspects to the GUE approach I like, and would like to learn (advanced buoyency and finning techniques), but I have no interest in team diving or caves. Sooner or later I would like to find a GUE instructor to teach just those aspects of diving.

The biggest thing I took away from Fundies was the team diving. The way the team dynamic worked in the class I took reminded me very much of when I did my IDC and all of the candidates worked together to help each person succeed.

If you're looking to it for getting better with your buoyancy and trim you might as well sign up for "Peak Performance Buoyancy" and play with hula-hoops in a pool.

 

[kensuf]

I don't think you really need to "evaluate" instructors. Focus your search on OW instructors who also do tech diving. They will understand what you're looking for.

Not necessarily. Unfortunately there are several instructors that "tech dive" and really don't have a clue what they are doing.

 

[crofrog]

The biggest thing I took away from Fundies was the team diving. The way the team dynamic worked in the class I took reminded me very much of when I did my IDC and all of the candidates worked together to help each person succeed.

If you're looking to it for getting better with your buoyancy and trim you might as well sign up for "Peak Performance Buoyancy" and play with hula-hoops in a pool.

I think for most people, fundamentals are the first time they're exposed to truly exceptional divers, and they understand the concept of what control is in the water—the ability to position accurately in reference to the team and environment while dividing their attention between that and a task.

 

[kensuf]

I think for most people, fundamentals are the first time they're exposed to truly exceptional divers, and they understand the concept of what control is in the water—the ability to position accurately in reference to the team and environment while dividing their attention between that and a task.

Agreed, but my point was that the soft skills, especially the team diving aspect, is as integral to the entirety of the program as the physical skills. Discounting the value of the is a shame.

 

[BlueTrin]

I assume it’s the same for T1 but I think when you do Fundies you get only a bit of a taste for doing things in team.

When I did C1, I was amazed by how the GUE SOP really works well in a team of people with the same training. We started as a team of 3 (we didn’t know the third classmate) and it wasn’t the technical skills that were the hardest for us. It was the communication between three people in the various scenarios.

Simple things fall apart when everyone is trying to lead but nobody is listening for example.

By the end of the class, everything felt much smoother and I like to believe that I could work relatively easily with anyone who did C1 as we would “communicate” using the same protocols.

I don’t think I experienced something similar in any other class I have taken so far. I think all my other scuba training was mostly focusing on rather individual skills than team scenarios.

 

[kierentec]

I assume it’s the same for T1 but I think when you do Fundies you get only a bit of a taste for doing things in team.

When I did C1, I was amazed by how the GUE SOP really works well in a team of people with the same training. We started as a team of 3 (we didn’t know the third classmate) and it wasn’t the technical skills that were the hardest for us. It was the communication between three people in the various scenarios.

Simple things fall apart when everyone is trying to lead but nobody is listening for example.

By the end of the class, everything felt much smoother and I like to believe that I could work relatively easily with anyone who did C1 as we would “communicate” using the same protocols.

I don’t think I experienced something similar in any other class I have taken so far. I think all my other scuba training was mostly focusing on rather individual skills than team scenarios.

Having been in plenty of real failure scenarios with both GUE teams and non-GUE teams, I can tell you honestly the latter can get pretty hairy (and always frustrating), even with super experienced divers.

 

[steinbil]

Having been in plenty of real failure scenarios with both GUE teams and non-GUE teams, I can tell you honestly the latter can get pretty hairy (and always frustrating), even with super experienced divers.

Those scenarios, how they were solved, and what the challenges with communication were, sounds like very interesting reading to me. Any plans of putting any of that in writing anywhere?