DIR- Generic Why use GUE nitrox only

[mr_v]

I have no doubt that GUE certified divers have some valuable skills. My question is....... what are the GUE prescribed equipment rules for configuring where and how to manage and stow your speargun, fish stringer, cocking device and goodie bag when shooting Lingcod and gathering crab, lobsters and scallops?

Why do you have to ask questions to which you already may know the answers. Based on your replies to other threads, I get that GUE, cave, and possibly tech is not what you do, and that's totally okay. There is no need to be snarky about it - again, you either get DIR, GUE or you do not.

If you're interested in GUE standards, look it up.

https://www.gue.com/files/standards9/Fundamentals-Standards-v9.1.pdf

 

[Learner Diver]

I got schooled for using air

Would like to hear the narrative.

 

[steinbil]

With no exceptions, all the divers I know who did GUE courses become better divers because of it. These are top notch people, I would never hesitate to dive with a diver who took GUE courses.

However, I can also say that about divers who take upper level TDI, NAUI, PADI, SSI, or whatever courses from top notch and very disciplined instructors, who teach almost all of the same theory and techniques, because--[wait for it]--GUE didn't actually invent any of that!
...

The claim that no other agency has rigorous standards is false. They do emphasize quality control though.

A friend of mine took GUE Tech 1 last year even though he had a similar certification from another agency. He said that in his mind neither he nor the other students should have passed the class, but they did. The instructor was unable to hold a stop. They did 0 ascents in blue water. And the instructor also popped to the surface while demonstrating an S-drill. He signed up for Tech 1 because he didn't feel comfortable doing the dives he was certified for. Do I think this would be the case with all instructors/classes from that agency? Not at all. Would I be surprised to hear a similar story from a GUE class? Very! Do I think this is related to standards, enforcement of them and quality control? Absolutely!

It's hard to become a GUE instructor, and they are required to dive actively and recertify regularly. Of course there are great instructors from other agencies, but I don't understand why so many are OK with the lack of quality control in other agencies.

So that's how you can tend to see "GUE Diver" as much as you see "diver who took GUE courses which were great." It seems cliquey by design. Which is good for that all-important (but also confining?) "standardization," and also apparently for business retention.

Some might find it confining. I find it liberating! Standardization of protocols and equipment makes diving easy, effortless and fun for me. It gives me freedom to enjoy my dives, always knowing where my team mates are, never having to turn around to look for them or chase them. Never having to be worried that they are pushing their own limits, exceeding the gas plan, or pushing me to exceed my own limits. Easy planning and adaptation of the plan if needed. Easy sharing of team resources, spare parts etc.

From an instructor, guide or "team" standpoint, yes it seems like it would be great that your students actually admit and accept they haven't mastered things, actually have the time (and money) to get it right, and all follow almost exactly the same *everything* according to exactly what GUE prescribes for them to do, buy, think, etc.

In my ongoing GUE class we all have different brands of wings, backplates, harnesses, drysuits, undergarments, lights. We happen to all have Apeks regs (popular here), and the same cheap Beaver masks, while the instructor has Halcyon regs. We're also asked to *gasp* think for ourselves, and also to give constructive feedback to each other and the instructor.

PS.
Remember the friend I mentioned earlier. In his GUE class he wasn't asked to buy anything, but the other agency pushed him to buy a second computer from their shop for the class. So the whole thing cost him more in the end, and he wasn't even comfortable using the cert...

 

[happy-diver]

When I want to learn something I'll research GUE stuff, rebreather ideas and spend time on internet Europe

So I fill my own tanks, and so as not to attract attention to myself, or have to analyse there are no markings
on them but high nitrox mixes in them and when I get saddled with those that are not using it the fact I can happily surface any time from almost anywhere as I watch my imposed buddy disappearing towards the sky causes me to realise, more oxygen whether it makes me feel better or not, makes me feel better in the head

Now I've been and seen a lot of these tech course things, it is only when you don't know stuff that you can't imagine most of the agencies, are just a part of the "another grand for an extra ten metres" cohort of diving
with those passing courses with provisos, such as getting more practice, are not really any better than when
they started, where if serious they should have turned up to the course already practiced in the art of diving


That's how I feel about the uneducated everywhere
it is out there for everyone, you just have to read it
so you avoid someone else deciding your thoughts

Urban Dictionary: Mainstream

Mainstream is what's the new trend. when one "style" gets old, a new one is reborn, a mainstream person is someone who jumps from trend to trend so that they fit in with the rest of the crowd. Mainstream is being what society thinks you should be, and look like.

www.urbandictionary.com

 

[rddvet]

All of GUE's recreational decompression/safety stops are based on 32% also.

Having a few GUE certifications, I will admit I do use evil air on occasion.

This is fake news. You would have immediately burst into flames and died.

 

[justinthedeeps]

certification from another agency. He said that in his mind neither he nor the other students should have passed the class, but they did. The instructor was unable to hold a stop. They did 0 ascents in blue water. And the instructor also popped to the surface while demonstrating an S-drill.

This can happen. The agencies need to check in on their instructors. TDI sends out detailed surveys to students, that would be a good time for honest feedback. Obviously someone like you describe should not be instructing that course.

I've been on both TDI and PADI courses ('upper level') where other students were not allowed to just "pass." The instructors stayed honest and recognized that these divers a) had not mastered the skills, b) would not be safe with a certification saying that they had, and c) could keep working at it on further days/weeks and possibly develop competence. It's not *exclusively* GUE who does that.

It is a great thing that GUE trains instructors and students to be very honest about whether they have successfully covered the material. Did we actually get this right? Do we have time to keep working on it? Of course there is time for that. Much respect for that.

 

[OMyMyOHellYes]

again, you either get DIR, GUE or you do not.

Which one requires Halcyon equipment? I like Halcyon stuff and some of my first stages are the H-50Ds.

Actually a couple of complete sets H50-D and (OLD STYLE!!!) Auras. So already configured with twin/sidemount... (actually bought off of SB as a pre-assembled sidemount set IIRC.)

 

[Lorenzoid]

So why would a GUE shop even have an option for providing EAN21?

I don’t know, but I think it’s good. I guess some customers just want air. In the end, GUE or not, it’s a business. Extreme Exposure, for example, sells all kinds of items that are not “GUE” because they get customers who have probably never heard of GUE.

 

[crofrog]

I don’t know, but I think it’s good. I guess some customers just want air. In the end, GUE or not, it’s a business. Extreme Exposure, for example, sells all kinds of items that are not “GUE” because they get customers who have probably never heard of GUE.

They also do air fills, however their air bank is tiny.

 

[boulderjohn]

I don’t know, but I think it’s good. I guess some customers just want air. In the end, GUE or not, it’s a business. Extreme Exposure, for example, sells all kinds of items that are not “GUE” because they get customers who have probably never heard of GUE.

They also do air fills, however their air bank is tiny.

Like most shops, Extreme Exposure's primary market is the people diving nearby, and for the people diving nearby, EANx 32 is ideal. I can't imagine why I would ever go into Extreme Exposure and ask for air. In contrast, people diving nearby where I live in Colorado have little to no need for nitrox, so most shops don't even have the ability to make it. Until I retired from instruction, the shop I used could only get nitrox when I made it for them, using all my own equipment.

My point is that what makes sense in some parts of the country does not make as much sense in others. Standard gases became standard gases in places where shops routinely banked EANx 32--the standard trimix gases are all easily made by mixing the right amount of helium with banked EANx 32. For most of the country, though, there is no banked EANx 32 available.

Where I live, we only use nitrox and trimix for diving in deeper waters on longish trips far from home. That means bringing everything with you in the form of prefilled tanks and helium and O2 supply bottles. In those cases, a requirement for standard gases is not only not a benefit, it is a detriment. When I dived with an agency (UTD) that required standard gases, refilling tanks for the next dives required us to bleed out much of the remaining gases in order to get the tank levels low enough be able to transfill from the supply bottles without a booster. We sent thousands of cubic feet of expensive helium into the stratosphere because of that.

When freed from that constraint, we were able to mix whatever we could mix in the most efficient and sustainable way possible. When I finally got a booster (electric), we could mix whatever we wanted back at the motel, but it was then just as easy to make whatever mix we wanted for the dives we planned to do.