Hi Bill.
There is a little bit of this happening in caving too. On any given
weekend the gear the type of gear that people take into a cave is very
different, everyone has their personal preferences.
But on expedition caving there is more uniformity in equipment. You
don't see someone using a Mitchell system, another one with a Texas and
someone else with a Frog. The way that people cross rebelays is more or
less standardized, with some expeditions setting up mini courses outside
of the cave to make sure that people are crossing rebelays in a safe and
efficient way.
That is more or less what GUE wants to do. So that any diver from any
part of the world can meet with another GUE diver and she will be
confident that if there is any need (for donating gas, for example) this
other diver will react in a specific way and there should be no confusion.
The standards are rather long, but it's more like having a book
describing how to rig a rebelay and how to cross it so that a caver from
Washington can team up with a caver from Argentina and move as a team
knowing that they will be using the same kind of signals and same
techniques (which make it easier to look at someone and know if
something is off, instead of trying to figure out first what this other
person is trying to do).
Sorry for the long reply!
- Fofo
On 05/08/15 9:28, Mixon Bill via Texascavers wrote:
Sure, one would like to know that one's diving buddies are qualified and using
equipment that is more or less familiar to you, so you can spot problems or
help in an emergency; that is their argument. But it can be carried to
extremes. See http://www.globalunderwaterexplorers.org/standards
and the link there to a nearly 100-page list of training and equipment standards. I suspect (hope)
that many cave divers would not find that much regimentation congenial. For example, their
equipment standard does not appear to permit side-mounts, which have come to be seen as pretty much
essential for a lot of cave diving. (That standard may be sometimes "honor'd in the
breach.") Rebreather divers must use a "GUE-approved rebreather."
Global Underwater Explorers clearly consider themselves an elite bunch. Others
may disagree, or if they agree (certainly they have some impressive
accomplishments), be put off by it. -- Mixon
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