Why not Fundies?

[Kwbyron]

I think my comments are being taken against the DIR setup, and they are not ment to be.
The long hose note I made was the aspect of it I found most appealing. I felt the standard comments on safety were well represented and as an OW diver, the more comfortable and relaxed I am in a tense situation, the less likely I will be to panic; which is why I will go long. I don't have plans to do cave/wreck pen. so it was more for those who see it as a tech safety issue...if that makes sense?
For skill level, I am nooooowhere near an experienced diver, but my swimming skills are very strong (born with fins comment) I was swimming before walking type thing...so I feel that a course on finning techniques for me personally would be a misappropriation of funds...which is to the OP's question, why haven't I taken it up here. I sat in on the class room portion a few months back, so I am failure with the program and made the call. I haven't signed up for rescue yet because I just got some new gear setup and I want to get comfy with that first.

 

[Meng_Tze]

You've just articulated why I put it off for so long ... and when I finally got around to taking the class, boy did I feel dumb for having let someone else's bad attitude affect my own decisions. I discovered that for every mean-spirited DIR dude out there, there's a dozen who are exceptional role models ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Here is what I did. I did some GUE training, never claim to be DIR and let the 'Hardcore DIR divers' do their own thing......If one way is the only way (except for the laws of physics, which evolve anyway) then I am not interested. There are always those who feel superior when they have done some training....to me that are the feeble minded, they truly do not understand that training only shows what you didnt know, and what you have left to know...........

I take what I need and move on.......but in honesty... almost everything that GUE teaches makes sense to me... but I am not DIR

 

[limeyx]

Lynne, you are a very positive role model on the board and a wonderful spokesperson for DIR. The good news is that the concepts are being incorporated by instructors in other agencies. My IANTD instructor used the Intro to Tech DVD.

The problem with "the concepts" being taught is that you lose something very valuable.
What draws me to GUE/DIR is the experience of the organization and their instructors and what they put their instructor candidates through in order to be instructors.

Let's face it, who do I want teaching my class. Someone who has been in a cave for 400 minutes at 275 feet, or penetrated wrecks at 70+metres, etc. etc. and has gone throught eh GUE instructor training and regularly does such exploration dives (and here I also include the 5thd-x guys as I think they are easily on a par with the GUE instructors)

or someone who heard about "DIR-like" things and started teaching some of those things?

It's a no brainer for me. And yes, other people non-DIR have done deep wrecks and gone back in caves, but in my opinion (and it is just an opnion) GUE and their affiliates are doing it safer, more often, more repatably and more organized than anyone else, which is why I will always always go with it, and not some "DIR-compatible" course.

Also, with DIR, the visible things are actually the easiest/almost least important (OK, backplate, long hose etc. are important) but much of what they offer you only get in the class environment, and it's stuff you have to experience to really "get"

And yes, I do put my $ where my mouth is. For our last class, we flew our instructor in at a significant extra cost when there are plenty of other "tech" instructors in the area.

It's my opinion that GUE/5thd-x give you the hardest training for any given certfication level (and usually the most restrictions on what kind of diving you are "certified" to do and that's just the way I like it)

 

[TheRedHead]

I sat in on the class room portion a few months back, so I am failure with the program and made the call. I haven't signed up for rescue yet because I just got some new gear setup and I want to get comfy with that first.

Are you saying that you sat in on a DIR Fundies classroom and didn't like it?

 

[TheRedHead]

Let's face it, who do I want teaching my class. Someone who has been in a cave for 400 minutes at 275 feet, or penetrated wrecks at 70+metres, etc. etc. and has gone throught eh GUE instructor training and regularly does such exploration dives (and here I also include the 5thd-x guys as I think they are easily on a par with the GUE instructors)

My IANTD instructor is an Advanced Trimix instructor and full cave diver. He routinely dives to over 350 feet and even his students are diving the Andrea Doria. He is the most skilled diver I have seen. I think you are being judgemental without knowing the facts. And this is exactly what I was talking about when people put down other diver's classes or diving styles.

 

[JeffG]

My IANTD instructor is an Advanced Trimix instructor and full cave diver. He routinely dives to over 350 feet and even his students are diving the Andrea Doria. He is the most skilled diver I have seen. I think you are being judgemental without knowing the facts. And this is exactly what I was talking about when people put down other diver's classes or diving styles.

and yet I've seen a whole bunch of piss poor tec instructors. They are out there. (There is one in Edmonton, he can't even do valve drills)

 

[TheRedHead]

and yet I've seen a whole bunch of piss poor tec instructors. They are out there. (There is one in Edmonton, he can't even do valve drills)

You can't assume that. It makes people angry and resentful. It appears that the post is made to diminish the other person. I assume that my instructor used the Intro to Tech DVD because he is a NAUI recreational instructor too. I would think you guys would be happy that the precepts are moving into the mainstream agencies.

I've taken classes from SSI, PADI, NAUI, TDI and IANTD so I don't represent any one of them. You guys are so closely identified with GUE you ARE representing them whether or not that is your intention.

 

[Adobo]

My IANTD instructor is an Advanced Trimix instructor and full cave diver. He routinely dives to over 350 feet and even his students are diving the Andrea Doria. He is the most skilled diver I have seen. I think you are being judgemental without knowing the facts. And this is exactly what I was talking about when people put down other diver's classes or diving styles.

Yeah well, my instructor can beat up your instructor.

 

[TSandM]

Adobo, you forgot the smiley . . .

Limeyx has his reasons for choosing the organization with which he works. I personally think they are fairly good ones, if you read it as he wrote it, which is that he wants to take technical training from people who are doing the kinds of dives (or bigger dives) he wants to do, and they are doing them on a regular basis. I don't think he said that no other technical instructor does that. I think he said this is an agency of instructors who do that, and he chooses to work with them for that reason.

Going on into technical training with GUE is different from taking Fundies. Fundies just fills in the holes in your basic diving education (if there are any, and nobody fly in my face about that statement, please!) If you go on with GUE, you are going to be asked to hew closer to the main trunk of the tree, and they have their reasons for that. But this thread isn't about technical training from GUE. It was just about Fundies . . . Or at least 30 pages back, it was

 

[TheRedHead]

Lynne, there are many excellent tech instructors from all the tech agencies doing big diving and training good divers. What he really said is:

"Let's face it, who do I want teaching my class. Someone who has been in a cave for 400 minutes at 275 feet, or penetrated wrecks at 70+metres, etc. etc. and has gone throught eh GUE instructor training and regularly does such exploration dives (and here I also include the 5thd-x guys as I think they are easily on a par with the GUE instructors)

or someone who heard about "DIR-like" things and started teaching some of those things?"

and that's rather presumptuious, and if you say things in that way, people aren't going to have warm, fuzzy feelings and flock to your oganization.

If you relate your positive experiences without making implications about other training, people will be more receptive.

You wanted a reason why people aren't taking training through GUE even though they are interested, and I gave you one.