| Hi Andrew, welcome to the board.
I'm going to go against the grain here.
People's view of fundies certainly in the UK seems to have changed since I first looked into doing it (less than a year ago).
Back then people's advice was "go along and get what you can out of it"
So eventually I did. I turned up on before the course started on day 1 met one of my buddies (Neilh) we both collected our wings and hoses from our instructor (Rich Walker) and he helped us get the kit sorted, we did a dive to see how we got on and then we did the course.
Now it seems people's advice is "get your gear and practice for x amount of time beforehand"
The course was hard (but only really because of the expectations I put on myself), and I got a provisional pass but the instructor gave me a clear indication of what to do to pass and a few training dives later I met up with him and was reevaluated and passed.
So after a long winded story I'd suggest doing what I did - go in with an open mind and just go for it. Speak to your local fundies instructor and see if he'll do what Rich does and help you get your kit sorted beforehand and may be get a dive in with the rig. Prior to that enjoy your diving as normal but concentrate on being neutrally buoyant and knowing what your trim is doing- ie see what happens when you do nothing in the water. IMHO these are the real requisites of fundies.
Hope this helps
Jonathan |