DIRF completed, forum question...

[kalvyn]

It is obvious that you simply dont show up with a drysuit and twins to pass DIR...thats just insulting peoples intelligence. What I am trying to say is that people who have managed a certain proficiency with a dry suit and twins have had years of experience in the water to get to this level. When a majority of these folks show up for class it makes one with a single wonder...gee, do I have the water experience needed to pass such a class.

As others have pointed out, how much experience one has or doesn't have is really irrelevant. In my own personal opinion, it's better to do it while you're new, as you'll have less to un-learn. This was the exact reason I did fundies after having been certified for only four months and I think it was a really good thing. A lot of folks find fundies an ego-busting experience. Since I was so new as a diver, I had no ego to bust. I was just excited to be learning these skills and actively working on becoming a better diver. In my class (taken in April 2003 before it was pass/fail), I thought the guys in doubles had the worst time of it. I don't remember how much experience they had, but I was definitely the pup in the group, diving-wise.

That said, I'm willing to bet that I would get something totally different out of the course if I were to go through it again. I find that's sorta like life, though... you read a book or see a movie more than once, you find things you missed the first time.

The bottom line here; don't worry at all about how little diving experience you have, or how much anyone else may or may not have had. Work on the stuff your instructor pointed out to you, early and often. Dive a lot, and don't forget to have fun! Do another check-out after a few months and I bet you pass.

Jimmie

 

[ElectricZombie]

I passed DIR-F using a wetsuit and AL80 doubles. However, I was already proficient with the skills so it wasn't a big deal.

 

[reubencahn]

Obviously, only GUE would know statistics and I doubt they keep them on who passes with doubles and who with singles. But I do think it's easier to pass diving a single and a wetsuit. There's just less to worry about in that valve drills, buoyancy, trim etc. are simplified. Moreover, I don't think you're judged more harshly if diving with singles. My concern during the class was that I was perhaps judged more leniently because I was not a tech diver. My instructor had a simple answer to that: "The video is the video." Of course, at the beginning of the class, we were shown videos of what the skills were supposed to look like. And I think if our performance was a rough approximation of those videos, we passed. But everyone in the class who passed or got a provisional was given things to work on either for their own benefit or to get ready for techI or rectriox. As others said, the class in many ways was really about showing us where we were and what we needed to do to improve.