DIR People ticked me off again...

[LiteHedded]

Glad there's no bag shooting in a cave

oh it's not that bad. it went up and i stayed down. what the problem is??

check out when the fish is looking at the spool like 'wtf is going on here??'

 

[nadwidny]

If I was making the money they make to teach, I wouldn't want it floating around free, or on a $20 dvd either.

What does a DIRF course cost these days anyway?

 

[TSandM]

The one Guy Shockey is going to teach in Seattle this month, which runs over two consecutive weekends, I believe comes to $650 or so, and that's including Guy's travel costs. If you take the class from the ZG guys, it's $1500.

 

[nadwidny]

The one Guy Shockey is going to teach in Seattle this month, which runs over two consecutive weekends, I believe comes to $650 or so, and that's including Guy's travel costs.

Way above what the old DIRF was but seeing that it has been expanded to run 2 weekends, it's somewhat understandable. Downside is it's not going to attract anybody but the nearly converted, unlike the old format which was priced to attract the merely curious as well as the nearly converted. Too bad to lose the former group.

If you take the class from the ZG guys, it's $1500.

That's their way of saying PFO.

 

[Gombessa]

Way above what the old DIRF was but seeing that it has been expanded to run 2 weekends, it's somewhat understandable. Downside is it's not going to attract anybody but the nearly converted, unlike the old format which was priced to attract the merely curious as well as the nearly converted. Too bad to lose the former group.

There are GUE instructors running GUE Primer courses and free "Try GUE" sessions. My Fundies class ran 5 full days, and one of my major wishes was that it was even longer, so I imagine the new sessions are far better geared towards giving divers some exposure to GUE without the considerable investment in time and money needed for Fundies.

 

[nadwidny]

There are GUE instructors running GUE Primer courses and free "Try GUE" sessions. My Fundies class ran 5 full days, and one of my major wishes was that it was even longer, so I imagine the new sessions are far better geared towards giving divers some exposure to GUE without the considerable investment in time and money needed for Fundies.

They need to market the other courses more. From what I can see most people only know fundies and most instructors only market fundies. DIR doesn't need the nearly converted. It (and I as someone who is downstream and waiting for new people who are able to pull off the bigger dives) need the merely curious.

What's UTD doing in this?

 

[leabre]

It's the same reaction I had. My first exposure was a NAUI Intro to Tech grad, who was also in my OW class a year prior. I was colorfully dangly. He came to a dive at opening of lobster season with his HOG gear configuration, long hose, and light sabor. We didn't even get in the water yet, I knew I needed *THAT*. Seeing him and his team in the water (all of which were in my OW class) with good control, communication, and precision, and lights 10x brighter than mine. It wasn't long I ended up in a UTD Essentials class. I couldn't get the NAUI class due to scheduling and would have done GUE if there was a referral that direction, but I got in touch with the UTD instructor and don't regret it for a moment.

I was no shiny beacon of underwater grace upon completion of my class but it set me on the right course and one that paid back in spades with dividends. I had 100+ dives of bad habbits to break and new skills to hone in on.

I'm now about to take a UTD Tech 1 class that will soon after lead into UTD Overhead Protocols/Wreck 1 and Tech 2 within the next year I'm hoping. That's a testament to how much I've enjoyed the transformation and journey when I was about ready to exit diving before I took the Essentials class.

 

[rjack321]

What's UTD doing in this?

UTD "Essentials" is shorter (locally its averaging 3.5 days over 2 weekends) and there's no pass-fail stigma so that seems to encouraging and less daunting to people. Maybe its cause we have 2 instructors in Seattle too, so there's less travel costs and frequent meet&greet opportunities etc. I also know quite a few people who have crossed over at various levels too (rec3, intro to tech, or UTD Tech1) - including the 2 instructors who happen to be my frequent buddies, I can take the blame for introducing them to Andrew lol. We haven't had more than a few (<10) GUE grads at any level in years whereas I would guesstimate we're up to 80+ local UTD grads at some level or another. I am seeing local divers & buddies pull off increasingly bigger dives every year (myself included).

 

[GShockey]

They need to market the other courses more. From what I can see most people only know fundies and most instructors only market fundies. DIR doesn't need the nearly converted. It (and I as someone who is downstream and waiting for new people who are able to pull off the bigger dives) need the merely curious.

Hello Brian,

The GUE Primer is very similar to the fundamentals of old. I have run several of these courses this spring and they have been well received. It is a 2-2.5 day course and can be easily ran during a Friday evening-Sat-Sun timeframe. So far, the majority of attendees have continued on with further GUE training. An upcoming volume of Quest has an article about the Primer that I think you will enjoy.

Best,

Guy

 

[Blow.Fish]

Hello Brian,

The GUE Primer is very similar to the fundamentals of old. I have run several of these courses this spring and they have been well received. It is a 2-2.5 day course and can be easily ran during a Friday evening-Sat-Sun timeframe. So far, the majority of attendees have continued on with further GUE training. An upcoming volume of Quest has an article about the Primer that I think you will enjoy.

Best,

Guy

Thanks, Guy. This sounds like an interesting option for many. Basically if I understand correctly, this primer course a lite-version of the fundamentals course w/out a PASS/FAIL evaluation or certification ?

Out of curiosity, for those going into it with the expectation of continuing training (you seem to suggest that many do anyway), what would be the value of taking this primer course first ? Since it seems to be a subset of the fundamentals course, is there any upgrade path, or would you just end up repeating some of the same material again down the road? For those that are merely looking for some exposure to this system of diving, is there any significant cost difference between the two courses (primer vs fundamentals) ?