DIR - F anyone?

[capecodder]

I spoke to Bob Sherwood from gue. He says that he would travel to us and give the course. his thing is, is that we would have to guaruntee him 6 students, pay for all of his travel and hotel expenses, 300 dallah/head for the course,,, yadda... yadda.. I think that I'm going to drive to his dive area, which is in upstate ny,, St. lawrence seaway,, and take one of the courses thats already scheduled. This way,, I can concentrate on learning, and not have to worry about looking like a dumb a$$ in my own area!!! I'm lookin at enrolling in the july 18-20 he needs a 150.00 deposit(non refundable) what do you guys think???

let me know,

buck

 

[O-ring]

MASS-Diver once bubbled...
My 2 buddies and I are very interested in taking the DIR-F course and we could probably go almost any time over the summer.

Does anyone know how they solved the tank fill problem last year down on the cape? How many dives per day is the course, is it only 2 or is it 4?

BTW, Hathaway pond on the cape is an ideal training site.

...since my course was a year ago, but it was 2 dives per day then for a total of 4 dives.

 

[MASS-Diver]

Thanks O-ring,

I was asking because since most own people own atleast 2 or 3 tanks, they could just rent one or more in advance and avoid the whole problem of everyone getting fills at once at 5 am. After all it's $400 for the course what's another $10-15 for a rental?

 

[large_diver]

At last year's course. a guy affiliated with Diver's Market in Plymouth helped out with logistics (he was one of the folks who helped set up the class, although he wasn't taking it). After the second dive on Saturday at Hathway's, we all dropped our tanks at DM (already closed). The guy from DM who was helping out stayed and filled them while we went back to the classroom for the evening session (also in Plymouth). After class we went back and picked up the tanks (around 9PM or so).

The Saturday portion of the class consists of land work in the morning and 2 dives in the afternoon (I think we were out of the water for good around 4:30 or so). Ideally you need to work with a shop in advance to ensure they are willing to stay open late to fill your tanks.....and since you will be going back into the classroom for the evening, you need to work out how/when you will go back and get the tanks.

I like the tank rental suggestion as one potential solution.

I originally volunteered to work with Sea Sports in Hyannis (I have a friend who is an instructor there) to have them do our fills on Saturday, telling them it was going to be late in the day (I think they close at 5) and that we would have 30-40 tanks. They said no problem. We ended up not using them since we needed to go right back to Plymouth for the classroom sessions that night. So there are solutions out there....but at the same time you don't want to have the whole group waiting around for 2 hours to get all the fills done, since this wastes class time.

Mike Walls is another good option -- with a brand new shop, I know he would be willing to help out. I know Mike pretty well from his ECD days and am sure you could work something out with him.

You will also need a place to meet for the classroom sessions, but the GUE guys are pretty flexible -- for a smaller 6 person class, someone's house or hotel room would work fine. Our final classroom session last year was in the Olive Garden in Hyannis -- Andrew G. was able to play the digital video on a portable DVD player right in the restaurant. You can do some of this outside, but on Friday and Saturday nights you will need an indoor location since the class runs well after dark.

I am interested in DIRF as well, but more and more I am thinking of making the trek to the St. Lawrence -- better vis and better logistics.

-Chris