Begin with the end in mind

[LCF]

I've had a couple of juxtaposed experiences lately that have prompted this thread. I took GUE Cave 2, and squeaked by by the skin of my teeth with a provisional, and after I came home, I had an opportunity to dive with Bob Sherwood, one of the GUE Training Council guys, and get some feedback from him.

When I dove with Bob, we spent over an HOUR taking my rig apart and resettling it, resulting in dropping the tanks almost three inches. We reduced weight and moved weight, and some of that worked and some of it didn't. And we did very simple things in the water -- a valve drill, a little swimming, and clipping on a deco bottle, deploying and stowing the reg.

What I came home with is this: When I did Fundies, I railed against the strictness of the standards (although I tried to meet them, and eventually did). In Rec Triox, I got even more bitter -- Who CARES if you are 15 degrees out of trim during an airshare in midwater?

Well, what Cave 2 taught me is that all those things matter at some point. In high flow, being at all out of trim means presenting a larger surface area to the flow, and thus higher resistance. Going out of trim when you lose a fin means blowing the viz, and converting a minor issue to a major one. Taking several minutes to clip in a second bottle delays the entire team in starting their decompression, and adds to the O2 burden they are carrying.

The standards for Fundies, for someone doing Fundies level dives, can seem ridiculous; but the time to learn good habits (and avoid bad ones) is at the beginning, because it is far more expensive and difficult (and painful) to correct things at a higher level, later on.

Begin with the end in mind. Put the work in when you start, and you won't have to do it in spades when it really counts.

[ljj]

Very good advice.

[KMD]

sounds like you had a good session with Bob and it revitalized you?

[LCF]

I had a good session with Bob. He was very patient, and very kind, especially considering that he was volunteering his time. But the huge insight was to go back and do Fundies level skills with a MUCH better understanding of why they are required and where they might be used. Honestly, at this point, I'd love to go back and take Fundies again, and work on every little detail with a much better appreciation of the utility of getting it RIGHT.

[KMD]

Honestly, at this point, I'd love to go back and take Fundies again, and work on every little detail with a much better appreciation of the utility of getting it RIGHT.

Oh man. I can imagine how well that goes over with Peter.

[Cam]

"Begin with the end in mind"

I would accept that as an axiom of diving. Nice post.

[Ben V]

Another beautiful and insightful post Lynne

I like the aspect that this also applies to gear choices... If you could buy with "the end in mind" you could bypass many of the bends in the road that many of us have been thru

[AzTek Diver]

If I didn't get anything else out of all my Covey classes, that phrase will be with me forever. I've always found it difficult to get accross to students that they need the basic skills required of the most difficult dives, this is the foundation of everthing that follows. Most of the skills were reverse engineered from people that do the most advanced dives so they will work at all levels.

[Jason B.]

Nice post Lynne. I wish you continued success on your journey to dive nirvana.

[Grateful Diver]

It is a nice axiom ... but it assumes that you have a clue where the end will be. Most divers ... even the very experienced ones reading and responding to this thread ... didn't have a clue when they started that they would be doing the dives they're doing today. I know I didn't. When I started diving I assumed I would be a 25 dives a year vacation diver. I trained and purchased accordingly. When I took Fundies, it never occurred to me I'd ever want to dive deeper than recreational depths ... or in caves ... or go inside of wrecks. I trained and purchased accordingly.

Goals have an interesting way of moving.

And even when you have a specific goal in mind, there's a big difference between what you see in your "mind's eye" as the goal, and the reality of that goal once you get there. It's difficult to fully comprehend the skills needed to dive inside a high-flow cave until you've been there.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

[mwhities]

Another beautiful and insightful post Lynne

I like the aspect that this also applies to gear choices... If you could buy with "the end in mind" you could bypass many of the bends in the road that many of us have been thru

Somehow, I feel that could be pointed at me.

Lynne, GREAT POST. It's helped me consider my decision on the training I want to do. I'm going to make a HUGE effort (I've already e-mailed another GUE instructor.) to get into Fundies ASAP. I may even drop Cavern and study for the Fundies class.

Thank you for so many helpful posts and other things you've done.

Michael

[scubamountaingirl]

I told you bob rocks....now what was he doing way over in your neck of the woods? hummm he sure gits around.

i have waited all summer to take this class. Its not going to happen this year due the fact i work a job now. But come spring, if i am still not self employed again. I will just pull up the tent and live in my car.

I think doing fundies in a slow and not frantic and panicked mode maybe the best base training i have come across...

IMHO
wendy

[LCF]

I guess my point, Bob, was that even if you DON'T know where you'll end up, learning the skills to standards is worth doing, because you may well end up somewhere where that degree of precision is really useful.

I sort of feel about Fundies the way I feel about gross anatomy. That was the one class in med school that, after I'd been out of school for a couple of years, I really wanted to go back and take over, because now I KNEW what I needed to know.

[Doppler]

I guess my point, Bob, was that even if you DON'T know where you'll end up, learning the skills to standards is worth doing, because you may well end up somewhere where that degree of precision is really useful.

I sort of feel about Fundies the way I feel about gross anatomy. That was the one class in med school that, after I'd been out of school for a couple of years, I really wanted to go back and take over, because now I KNEW what I needed to know.

And therein lies a central challenge when teaching internally motivated students -- step one is getting them to buy-in.

Great thread Lynne.

[cmalinowski]

Glad you and Bob got to dive and it was beneficial.

I don't know that Sarah knows what her end goals are, but having someone there (me, Bob, dive buddies) who can help her understand the potential goals I hope is helpful. She now knows that she likes wrecks. And knows that in the future propulsion techniques, buoyancy, and trim will affect her ability to do some of those dives.

It is a learning process. And you don't always know that you are not doing it most optimally unless someone bonks you on the head and says "hey, you are not doing it most optimally." That is what fundies is supposed to be... a bonk on the head. At least it has been for most everyone I know that has taken it.

Chris
PS: typing with your head cocked to one side (with drops in your ear) makes all the words look strange