What's the hardest class you have taken, and what made it hard?

[nimoh]

Lynne, I don't have time to read read through every response in this thread but will when I have some time.

I'm sure several posters have listed GUE's Fundamentals class as their hardest. It was for me despite logging 100 OW dives by the time I signed up for the Fundies class. During the five day class I was shown the standard I had to meet but during most of the class I struggle to meet those standards. I was mentally beating myself up each day for not doing well during the dives. The last two days of class, I had dreams of the skills I was required to do for class while I was sleeping. I allowed the class to affect me which made it a hard class for me. I'd never seen such precision in the water column until I saw Bob Sherwood underwater and I wanted that precision so badly. In addition to the dives there was considerable amount of classroom knowledge to absorb every day. Up until that point, I'd never had a class that ran 12 hours or more per day.

Up until that point, I'd never watch a video of myself underwater while the instructor gave positive and negative feedback. I'd never had every propulsion or task scrutinized to such precision and detail as in my Fundies class. I'd never had to dive as a team, yes, I had buddies before but this was a whole different level of awareness during a dive, to not only think of yourself throughout the dive but to think of your team. From the time you entered the water until the time you exit the water, it was a team dive. The gas on my back was a team resource. That a-ha moment when your team gets it right and it clicks only hit me on the last day of class but when it did, it made up for the mental beating I gave myself for four days.

Fundies was my hardest class because of all the many *first* I listed above. I have been able to leverage off the many *first* for all subsequent training classes which is not to say those subsequent training classes were not hard but having solid fundamental skills allowed further training to build on top of it.

thanks for this post. I have been looking for an opportunity to take GUE Fundamentals, and will probably start looking a little harder. All of the classes I have taken have contributed to me being a better diver, but I have never had a class challenge me to make drastic improvements. I expect GUE Fundamentals to be both challenging and rewarding.

 

[Mayor]

thanks for this post. I have been looking for an opportunity to take GUE Fundamentals, and will probably start looking a little harder. All of the classes I have taken have contributed to me being a better diver, but I have never had a class challenge me to make drastic improvements. I expect GUE Fundamentals to be both challenging and rewarding.

It's always ok to call the instructor and talk about you goals and what equipment might be needed. Many have extra gear (I know Sherwood does) if requested before class.

 

[nimoh]

It's always ok to call the instructor and talk about you goals and what equipment might be needed. Many have extra gear (I know Sherwood does) if requested before class.

Thanks, advice is always appreciated. Since the rescue class, I have been slowly migrating my gear configuration to DIR and I am fairly close. One thing I want to do however before Fundies is to get an orientation to diving doubles (which I can do locally). I will definitely talk with the instructor prior to the class to ensure I have all of the equipment I need, but planning not to need any additional equipment.

 

[Mayor]

Excellent points.....And while it might be nice for a 2 week or more Fundies, I could never afford 2 or 3 weeks off for a class.... I see a 4 or 5 day class being VERY HARD for most adults to take off completely for a class.....Not a vacation, a real class. If there was such a 3 or 4 week class, imagine how expensive it would have to be with an instructor having this number of days to stay in a hotel etc., not to mention all the boat or pool costs. Most divers consider Fundies a bit pricey in it's present form.....double or triple it's length, and who would have the time and money? I am thinking prep work is going to have to be the key.....important in the more difficult college classes also...Try getting into a class in cell bio or Structural Geology without the pre-requisite studies....

With five long days packed and I mean packed with information and skills from 8:00am to 9:00pm at night There is some real value in this class. They should charge more especially Bob Sherwood for being one of the founding members of GUE. Sure you could do the class over two weeks and that would make thing easier but sounds unrealistic. From your report you never said if you passed but as you know the class is more then that. My day five was hero or zero on the last dive and team pulled 5's for tech passes. Of course we know Bob does not give out those very often so we were blown away. I have since gone back and listened in on other classes when time permits. He always seamed ok with it but I would ask before showing up. I also was part of a group of divers that helped a woman pass the class. She wanted it so bad none of us could say no to helping her. She passed because of the community that goes along with the class. It opens doors to a world of skilled team members. Primer gives a good foundation for this class or an intro to tech from another skilled instructor.

 

[Mayor]

Thanks, advice is always appreciated. Since the rescue class, I have been slowly migrating my gear configuration to DIR and I am fairly close. One thing I want to do however before Fundies is to get an orientation to diving doubles (which I can do locally). I will definitely talk with the instructor prior to the class to ensure I have all of the equipment I need, but planning not to need any additional equipment.

You might also want to talk about those tanks as well. I went to class with steel 100's which were very wrong for my frame. Ended up using a set of Bob's tanks for class and it made all the difference in the world. Since then steels are gone and replaced with a few sets of alum. Was hard headed the first two days of class but gave into the guy with 20,000 dives for the remaining days.

 

[danvolker]

From your report you never said if you passed but as you know the class is more then that....

My day five was hero or zero on the last dive and team pulled 5's for tech passes. Of course we know Bob does not give out those very often so we were blown away. I have since gone back and listened in on other classes when time permits. He always seamed ok with it but I would ask before showing up. I also was part of a group of divers that helped a woman pass the class. She wanted it so bad none of us could say no to helping her. She passed because of the community that goes along with the class. It opens doors to a world of skilled team members. Primer gives a good foundation for this class or an intro to tech from another skilled instructor.

Mayor,
One of the best things for me about the class, also created a severe time problem....Bob realized I needed to experience some things first hand.....so my trying to use Free diving fins, and then another radical fin, before finally accepting that for the zero movement skill set, I really needed to give the Jetfins a try....and they won by a mile for this...but at the cost of a huge amount of time I "could" have been working on perfecting other things...Related to this, I had insisted on my LP120 rather than doubles...without the speed of freediving fins, this tank actually topples you side to side--causing a lot of fin activity for stabilizing, even with jets. Bob ended up changing so many aspects of my configuration, I was left with insufficient time to deal with all the new configurations, including the dry suit ( used 10 times last year, and 2 times prior to class this year). While boyancy and trim is easy for me on the bottom, with the lp 120 swing of bouyancy, and the tiny amount of weight GUE insists we use ( which I agrere with) , I felt like a new diver on ascents where the 120 was getting light near dive end....
And....Now that Bob has been kind enough to totally change the position of my right shoulder d-Ring, I really stink at "un-clipping" the primary reg from it....this change in muscle memory positions, added to my laziness in typically not clipping the reg, made this a skill I need more practice with.....probably a few days at most....the drysuit a couple of days....and I am switching to doubles which I am picking up from Brownies in about an hour So I need about a week or so to reach a comfort level with all the new stuff....Bob gave me a Provisional for this, and neither he nor I expect any problems once I just use the gear with the new knowledge he has imparted. He will be around here plenty often to re-test this soon.

Anyone who has read my past posts, would probably have expected this....I have done such huge dives, using the "non-optimal" gear configurations mentioned, that I really would not just accept the "new" GUE ideas. Since I have some big plans for some of the big projects coming up, it made perfect sense to become totally GUE..it just takes someone as stubborn as me a little extra time to let go of old ideas.

One of the new buzz's you guys will soon hear about, is what we think is an enormous underground Cave system under the intracoastal in Boynton ( near Boynton Beach Blvd, where a failed bridge project many decades ago proved a huge void in the underground below the intracoastal, could be Wakulla sized for u/w cave. We now have some information about what may be an external opening or conduit from the huge aquifer system, at 115 feet deep, off of Boynton....Bill Mee and I are planning on checking out the entrance area of this, and determining if it is functinal cave or not....the reliable info we have, is that it goes back in MORE than 60 feet, but the spearfisherman who went in was NOT a cave diver, and did NOT know if his light would hold up, or that his gear and training were up to going further....good call really
He did say it was roomy enough to swim in, but NOT large enough for him to turn around, so he had to back out pushing himself with his hands....so apparently it is not terribly silty in this part either

 

[nimoh]

great points.

With less than 100 dives and no tech experience, I am probably more open to gear configuration changes than a lot of people. I am mostly going based on JJ's book on DIR fundamentals of better diving, but also on advice from local tech divers and scubaboard.

I am diving steel 100s, and although I am not diving doubles yet, they are set up with left and right valves. I don't believe steel 100s in a doubles config will be too heavy for me since when I dive them as singles in my dry suit, I still carry 6 pounds of lead and a 6 pound keel weight although I am open to the notion of the tanks not being right for my trim.

 

[Mayor]

great points.With less than 100 dives and no tech experience, I am probably more open to gear configuration changes than a lot of people. I am mostly going based on JJ's book on DIR fundamentals of better diving, but also on advice from local tech divers and scubaboard. I am diving steel 100s, and although I am not diving doubles yet, they are set up with left and right valves. I don't believe steel 100s in a doubles config will be too heavy for me since when I dive them as singles in my dry suit, I still carry 6 pounds of lead and a 6 pound keel weight although I am open to the notion of the tanks not being right for my trim.

For singles they were a great tank for me as well. I'm 6'1" and when doubled up even adding a tail weight they would still fight me trimming out. If your close to 6' I would rethink this before talking with the instructor. Just trying to save you wasted time and money. One thing for sure the 100's are easy to sell.

 

[Mayor]

Mayor, One of the best things for me about the class, also created a severe time problem....Bob realized I needed to experience some things first hand.....so my trying to use Free diving fins, and then another radical fin, before finally accepting that for the zero movement skill set, I really needed to give the Jetfins a try....and they won by a mile for this...but at the cost of a huge amount of time I "could" have been working on perfecting other things...Related to this, I had insisted on my LP120 rather than doubles...without the speed of freediving fins, this tank actually topples you side to side--causing a lot of fin activity for stabilizing, even with jets. Bob ended up changing so many aspects of my configuration, I was left with insufficient time to deal with all the new configurations, including the dry suit ( used 10 times last year, and 2 times prior to class this year). While boyancy and trim is easy for me on the bottom, with the lp 120 swing of bouyancy, and the tiny amount of weight GUE insists we use ( which I agrere with) , I felt like a new diver on ascents where the 120 was getting light near dive end....And....Now that Bob has been kind enough to totally change the position of my right shoulder d-Ring, I really stink at "un-clipping" the primary reg from it....this change in muscle memory positions, added to my laziness in typically not clipping the reg, made this a skill I need more practice with.....probably a few days at most....the drysuit a couple of days....and I am switching to doubles which I am picking up from Brownies in about an hour So I need about a week or so to reach a comfort level with all the new stuff....Bob gave me a Provisional for this, and neither he nor I expect any problems once I just use the gear with the new knowledge he has imparted. He will be around here plenty often to re-test this soon.Anyone who has read my past posts, would probably have expected this....I have done such huge dives, using the "non-optimal" gear configurations mentioned, that I really would not just accept the "new" GUE ideas. Since I have some big plans for some of the big projects coming up, it made perfect sense to become totally GUE..it just takes someone as stubborn as me a little extra time to let go of old ideas.One of the new buzz's you guys will soon hear about, is what we think is an enormous underground Cave system under the intracoastal in Boynton ( near Boynton Beach Blvd, where a failed bridge project many decades ago proved a huge void in the underground below the intracoastal, could be Wakulla sized for u/w cave. We now have some information about what may be an external opening or conduit from the huge aquifer system, at 115 feet deep, off of Boynton....Bill Mee and I are planning on checking out the entrance area of this, and determining if it is functinal cave or not....the reliable info we have, is that it goes back in MORE than 60 feet, but the spearfisherman who went in was NOT a cave diver, and did NOT know if his light would hold up, or that his gear and training were up to going further....good call really He did say it was roomy enough to swim in, but NOT large enough for him to turn around, so he had to back out pushing himself with his hands....so apparently it is not terribly silty in this part either

Can't wait to hear more about the find and the plan to map it. Gear issues are very hard to overcome in this type of class. I also had drysuit and steel tank issues during class. When Bob said to change that out I should have listened right way. It would have saved me so much more time in class. That's a great point " just do what ever he asks". Even if you think it's wrong it won't be. I know this and Dan who has way more experience then many of us knows this. So all the new divers wanting to take this class. Save a day or two and just do what he wants you to do. LOL........

 

[Blackhalo]

Yes it does. In Open Water I mask finned and snorkled. In AOW I never removed gear and in rescue I had fins one which gave me enough thrust to stay up above water while performing rescue scenarios. Plus in Open water I had a 5 mil on

That's wild; the very first thing we had to do in my OW was tread water for 15 or 20 minutes with no gear (in swimsuits). However, in comparison I when I attended a swift water rescue class there was a woman in class with us that did not know how to swim. Guess being thrown into dependent situations is one way to learn (like my dad being pushed off a cliff by his brother) but I would think it would make you more susceptible to panic.