Ladies and gentlemen,
It was a true GUE DIR-F by Bob Sherwood and George Bouloukos. We did go through everything, and even we had a chance to have some exposure the meaning of "those blue gloves" as couple of us lost half of our gear on one of the dives. Sea Gods suddenly took all of our back-lights, etc.
For those that are scared of Fundamentals: don't be, it will be the best $500-600 you will possible spend in a scuba class. Enjoy it, the way I did. You will learn a lot. You may not pass, the way I did not, but YOU will be a better diver by the end of the class, and you will not regret taking it.
I did not get a card, but the way Bob Sherwood says it: "if you are in trouble, toss that card to the water gods and expect them to do wonders" I am 20, and I took the class to become a better diver, not to get a card. I missed two days of school to take the class I wanted to take since June.
And trust me, just the trim and buoyancy of Mr. Sherwood and Mr. Bouloukos killed the shadow of any kind of diving ego I had before I entered the class.
I learnt a ton, but the most important thing that I got from the class is the image of a nearly perfect diver, an image of a safer diver, an image that will make me train in the pool, in open water, anywhere I go, even in front of tv while practicing s-drills, etc. I may never become a WKPP exploration diver, but I know for sure that I will do my best to achieve the trim and buoyancy of GUE Instructors and WKPP divers, as you dont have to be an exploration diver and have thousands of dollars of equipment to achieve that.
P.S. Since I already started writing this, I wanted to add a final comment about all the DIR equipment wars. The bottom line is that the equipment is as good as the diver that is using it, and there is a very limited contingent of divers for whom equipment becomes the weakest link, the point of failure. For the majority of us, including the rookie that tries to appear smart by writing this, it is the diver that makes the trim and buoyancy far from perfect.
I can bet you my AOW card, that if you put Bob Sherwood into a leaking dry suit and give him an unbalanced rig, he will be able to maintain a pretty good trim and buoyancy close to his perfect shape. I will not be able to do that in the best equipment ever.
Bottom line, spend more time in the water trying to perfect your skills. If anyone needs a buddy in upsate new york, dont hesitate to contact me.
I loved every single second of DIR-F and proud that I have failed, because I know how far I am from good trim and good buoyancy. For those of you that are scared, dont be: the only way to learn is to make mistakes, make those mistakes in a controlled environment of a class or a skill session with your buddy, dont learn from your mistakes that happen at 100 feet, it may be you or your buddy whose life will be on the line with Water Gods.