In general, I would recommend doing your diving course at home before a holiday, rather than opting for those quick 3-day beach resort courses, even if it involves training in a drysuit. While I consider GUE as the guardians of DIR, there are many excellent alternatives to the 2.5-day courses offered by PADI, SSI, and others. By choosing a technical-oriented agency, beginners stand a better chance of getting an awesome instructor, building a strong foundation, and gaining confidence underwater. RAID also seems to have a well-regarded concept, and I've heard many positive things about them. I completed my PADI JOWD in 1993, and even then, it felt somewhat 'commercial.' However, it was a solid 6-week course (if I remember correctly), with weekly evening theory and pool or lake practice. I had a good instructor, but looking back, my initial skills were taught kneeling and over-weighted, practices that would now raise all my alarm bells.
Being commercial is not a bad thing in it self. It’s bad if the instructor tries to make quick money. I teach many Rec1 courses in holidays and a definitive good aspect of this is that people are relaxed and insulated from their every day life. However, I teach the courses over 6 sometimes even 7 days and I think this is the absolute minimum a beginners course should take
I did an ISE Rec 1 (in parallel with some other courses) and not GUE. But I think I ended up with a similar result in the end because what I got was DIR flavoured, incorporated ideas about diving smart and importantly *being confident and comfortable in the water*. But I digress. I recently talked to a GUE instructor and he said he doesn't really get requests for Rec 1. I think this is a problem because I struggle to recommend a mainstream open water courses because I just don't think they're good enough to recommend. Why would you recommend training that wasn't adequate for your friend or loved one to actually enjoy diving or to be safe? On the flip side, it can be hard to justify such an expensive and intensive course when so many people are able to engage in recreational fish watching with far less training - millions of them every year without that many accidents. I didn't know a try-dive was an option with a GUE instructor. Maybe that's the solution here.
Hey! Thx a lot for the video. So far I am "only" a padi certified rescue diver but i want to get into cave diving. This video helped a lot and i think ill go for gue courses as soon as I have the funding for it.
@@DoktorBEN i live in Berlin and since I've posted this comment I've learned a lot about GUEs approach towards diving. Though some questions came up, especially after your gear video. But I'll save them for as soon as I found an instructor. I don't want to unnecessarily be bothering you. But I really appreciate your Videos. Thx for the effort.
Something I attempted to do on my own was to try and create a training comparison between GUE Rec 1 and various other agencies courses to really put the training time and expected exit skills in perspective with the relative cost (as you alluded). Examples: initial trained depths, equipment like drysuits, conditions like overhead, buoyancy mastery, etc). If you have the time, that might be an informative discussion either for each rec course video or a follow up at the end of your review of all the rec courses.
![What causes dive accidents?! - [What you did NOT learn in scuba class]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/PijYUHaa46I/mqdefault.jpg)
![What causes dive accidents?! - [What you did NOT learn in scuba class]](/img/tr.png)
In general, I would recommend doing your diving course at home before a holiday, rather than opting for those quick 3-day beach resort courses, even if it involves training in a drysuit.
While I consider GUE as the guardians of DIR, there are many excellent alternatives to the 2.5-day courses offered by PADI, SSI, and others. By choosing a technical-oriented agency, beginners stand a better chance of getting an awesome instructor, building a strong foundation, and gaining confidence underwater. RAID also seems to have a well-regarded concept, and I've heard many positive things about them.
I completed my PADI JOWD in 1993, and even then, it felt somewhat 'commercial.' However, it was a solid 6-week course (if I remember correctly), with weekly evening theory and pool or lake practice. I had a good instructor, but looking back, my initial skills were taught kneeling and over-weighted, practices that would now raise all my alarm bells.
Being commercial is not a bad thing in it self. It’s bad if the instructor tries to make quick money. I teach many Rec1 courses in holidays and a definitive good aspect of this is that people are relaxed and insulated from their every day life. However, I teach the courses over 6 sometimes even 7 days and I think this is the absolute minimum a beginners course should take
It was about time that GUE started with this kind of courses
nothing new here
Its been around for a long time...
We’ve got the course for quite some time. However, it’s not extremely popular since most people still start diving with a 2 days beach resort course
I did an ISE Rec 1 (in parallel with some other courses) and not GUE. But I think I ended up with a similar result in the end because what I got was DIR flavoured, incorporated ideas about diving smart and importantly *being confident and comfortable in the water*. But I digress.
I recently talked to a GUE instructor and he said he doesn't really get requests for Rec 1. I think this is a problem because I struggle to recommend a mainstream open water courses because I just don't think they're good enough to recommend. Why would you recommend training that wasn't adequate for your friend or loved one to actually enjoy diving or to be safe?
On the flip side, it can be hard to justify such an expensive and intensive course when so many people are able to engage in recreational fish watching with far less training - millions of them every year without that many accidents.
I didn't know a try-dive was an option with a GUE instructor. Maybe that's the solution here.
Absolutely! Everyone who took the try out day with me signed up for the course and was very happy in the end!
Hey! Thx a lot for the video. So far I am "only" a padi certified rescue diver but i want to get into cave diving. This video helped a lot and i think ill go for gue courses as soon as I have the funding for it.
Great! Where are you based?
@@DoktorBEN i live in Berlin and since I've posted this comment I've learned a lot about GUEs approach towards diving. Though some questions came up, especially after your gear video. But I'll save them for as soon as I found an instructor. I don't want to unnecessarily be bothering you.
But I really appreciate your Videos. Thx for the effort.
@@provuksmc6619 drop me a line at ben@gue.com. I’m regularly teaching classes close to Leipzig. So we could arrange something.
Something I attempted to do on my own was to try and create a training comparison between GUE Rec 1 and various other agencies courses to really put the training time and expected exit skills in perspective with the relative cost (as you alluded).
Examples: initial trained depths, equipment like drysuits, conditions like overhead, buoyancy mastery, etc).
If you have the time, that might be an informative discussion either for each rec course video or a follow up at the end of your review of all the rec courses.
Absolutely! You want to make a video about that? Reach out at ben@gue.com, maybe we can get that working
Will there ever be a "Jr Open Water" for youth under 15 through GUE?
Yes, the Rec1 is from 14 years!
@@DoktorBEN no plans you know of to allow lower? Like 11-12 ?
Where in the USA can you find GUE?
All over basically. HQ is in Highsprings/FL. Where are you based?
@@DoktorBEN Mississippi Gulf Coast
DLRG 😊
YMCA 1981