Diving "DIR" prior to Fundies

[ScubaFeenD]

The long-hose + necklace config requires a little more care in gearing up. You need to make sure that you always put the necklace on before the long hose and always do a modified S-drill to ensure that it isn't trapped (if you reverse the gear up order you wind up with 6" of deployable long hose). You can also get the long hose trapped in your waist strap and there's other minor gear up CFs that you get good at diagnosing and avoiding yourself after awhile, but where it helps to have a similarly minded buddy when you're just learning. It would also be helpful to practice some air shares to the point where you can complete it successfully without drowning -- even though it may not be up to DIRF standards. Common mistakes in donating are grabbing the body of the reg instead of the hose, and going in with your left hand to put your necklace reg in your mouth before you have cleared the long hose.

Thanks so much! That is really great advice and I will make sure to follow your advice when i set up my gear.

 

[b1gcountry]

The weight belt can also be easily confused with the waist strap, so I like to keep the buckle for the waist on my right, and the weight belt buckle slightly left of center.

Also, make sure you take off the necklace before you shimmy out of your gear or else you could hurt yourself.

I also make it a point to give my buddy a heads up that they should grab the reg in my mouth, as I don't have an octo.

Tom

 

[scuga]

drdrdiver I am kind of in the same boat with you. I got onto a local area DIR email list and everyone has tons of experience. One guy was even in the WKPP for awhile in the 90's. Anyway, I wonder how do you bridge the gap when it seems like any dive you could do would be the equivalent of a dive in the kiddie pool for the DIR guys in your area. Thanks for your post I mean it helped me too I have the same questions.

I can't even get any help from LDSs around here, because as soon as i mention BP/W they classify me as technical and claim that only a few guys around here bother with that--they don't even seem to know what DIR is.

Diveseekers is pretty good with equipment questions and they have reasonable prices I was talking to Wayne today and he was talking about stuff he learned in his Fundamentals class. The way I look at it The Scuba Connection is my LDS even though it's out of state you can email Jason and Wayne they will help you out.

Like your area, all our local dive shops are also very rec-centric and why not. I doubt that 1% of all scuba divers are worried about DIR philosphy.

 

[ScubaFeenD]

drdrdiver I am kind of in the same boat with you. I got onto a local area DIR email list and everyone has tons of experience. One guy was even in the WKPP for awhile in the 90's. Anyway, I wonder how do you bridge the gap when it seems like any dive you could do would be the equivalent of a dive in the kiddie pool for the DIR guys in your area. Thanks for your post I mean it helped me too I have the same questions.

Yea, I understand your trepidation. I am planning to sign up for a course this summer, and the only thing holding me back right now is that I don't think I have what it takes. Not necessarily not being able to hold my place, but just compared to the other guys in the class with >200 dives at least and tech certs. I am afraid I will hold the class back, and my purpose here is to be a great diver, not ruin it for everyone else. But on the flip side, how do you practice and not create bad habits when there is noone around to guide your practice? It's all very stressful, for someone getting involved. I am still working very hard on figuring this all out, and I will just start with the basics of gear configuration.

Diveseekers is pretty good with equipment questions and they have reasonable prices I was talking to Wayne today and he was talking about stuff he learned in his Fundamentals class. The way I look at it The Scuba Connection is my LDS even though it's out of state you can email Jason and Wayne they will help you out.

Like your area, all our local dive shops are also very rec-centric and why not. I doubt that 1% of all scuba divers are worried about DIR philosphy.

I mean, I don't blame them for not being responsive solely to tech divers, but some (not all) places here feel down-right hostile--it's very unfortunate. Thanks for the heads-up man. I will look into this

 

[TSandM]

Well, I don't know if it's the same way everywhere, but on the West Coast, just because you have a C2/T2 certification doesn't mean you don't ever do recreational dives or dive with anybody below your cert level. In fact, my experience has mostly been the opposite. In general, it seems that GUE/DIR trained divers are often VERY generous with their time, for people who want to understand the system. Don't be afraid to ask somebody like cmalinowski to go diving, if you can find a site that works for both of you. He's a super nice guy and very supportive of other people coming behind him in the pipeline.

 

[ScubaInChicago]

I don't want to be the bearer of bad news, but part of "DIR" diving includes diving with a teammate who is on the same page (not necessarily the same training/agency or level), just someone who understands the WHY of the DIR philosophy.

This is my personal feeling, and shouldn't be viewed as a rubber stamp across the board, but learning and mastering all the skills will only give you a 50% return on your investment when diving with others not trained with the same philosophy. If you start recruiting others in your area and come off to strong, you become the stereotypical DIR Nazi that everyone has heard the rumors about.

Saying that, If you currently have a regular dive buddy who is open minded and you can peak his interest in a Fundies class, you would benefit the most from it. If not, I might start searching by putting feelers in the local SB sections for divers interested in team oriented diving (doesn't come off as "those DIR people"). I might even post on multiple boards to draw as much interest as you can.

Again, I hope it doesn't sound like I'm trying to discourage you.....You'll see throughout your education that you will look at parts of your previous training in disbelief and attempting to tell others will make you the snob.

Good Luck

 

[ScubaFeenD]

I don't want to be the bearer of bad news, but part of "DIR" diving includes diving with a teammate who is on the same page (not necessarily the same training/agency or level), just someone who understands the WHY of the DIR philosophy.

This is my personal feeling, and shouldn't be viewed as a rubber stamp across the board, but learning and mastering all the skills will only give you a 50% return on your investment when diving with others not trained with the same philosophy. If you start recruiting others in your area and come off to strong, you become the stereotypical DIR Nazi that everyone has heard the rumors about.

Saying that, If you currently have a regular dive buddy who is open minded and you can peak his interest in a Fundies class, you would benefit the most from it. If not, I might start searching by putting feelers in the local SB sections for divers interested in team oriented diving (doesn't come off as "those DIR people"). I might even post on multiple boards to draw as much interest as you can.

Again, I hope it doesn't sound like I'm trying to discourage you.....You'll see throughout your education that you will look at parts of your previous training in disbelief and attempting to tell others will make you the snob.

Good Luck

Thanks for your comment and advice I have been actively looking for dive buddies in the area to set up steady dive friendships to facilitate more enjoyable dive activities. Also, I have asked a few people regarding interest in the diving "DIR." There has been some hesitation, but I hope that as I get to know people better I will be able to have a few very team oriented divers to dive with. Perhaps one day a much larger community of divers in the area will be "DIR," which would be great in my mind. It wont happen overnight, but I think it is worth working towards.

 

[CJM]

Im currently in the same situation where I have all the proper gear and will be using it prior to Fundies to get very familiar. I have just completed my GUE profile and applied for the class. This is an informative thread. thank you.

 

[b1gcountry]

Don't worry about slowing down the other folks in your fundies class. It is a class. You are there to learn. There was a full trimix diver in my class, and he struggled quite a bit at different points. Also, a lot of the class is teaching teamwork and Situational awareness. All these things are more challenging when the teammate you are working with isn't 100% up on trim/maintaining depth. So in a lot of ways, taking fundies with teammates that are less experienced can teach you more about team skills.

Tom

 

[Scott L]

So I am working out dates for taking fundies, but I will be diving a bit before I am able to take the class. I have read many of the GUE texts, including dress for success. I am wondering, would it be bad form to use some of the features of DIR gear config prior to training.

Now I know that there is BOOKS ARE NO REPLACEMENT for proper training, and I do not presume to call myself DIR until I pass fundies. However, the utility of the system is clear to me. So, as long as I explain to my buddies ( and perhaps practice with them) what to do in emergencies (such as air share), do you DIR divers think it would be acceptable to use the long hose, necklaced backup reg, etc?

Just trying to see how the community feels about this.

Well I started the GUE journey about 4 months before you have made just about every mistake one can so prehaps I can offer some usefull advise.

1) Acquire GUE's recently released - Beginning With the End in Mind - The Fundamentals of Recreational Diving, By Jesper Berglund. Covers all GUE-F topics in extreme detail and a wealth of other information encrouching into Tech 1. Simply awesome! Also build your diving library with - Doing It Right - The Fundamentals of Better Diving By Jarrod Jablonski.

2) Join GUE on-line which will give you access to training videos which are especially helpfull in learning the proper sequence & excecution of S-drills and valve drills. All the fin kicks are also demostrated.

3) Locate an experienced technical diving mentor before class in order to get your equipment dialed in. I ignored TSandM's repeated advise and showed up for class with a shiny new doubles set-up for which I only had 4 previous dives in. Unless your weighting/trim is sorted out you will be unable to hover and have a miserable experience as I did in my class. You cannot begin to learn new kicks unless you can maintain horizonal trim. Your instructor will unlikely have the time in class to properly accomplish this task for 2-4 students.

3) Indicate to your instructor you wish to have fellow classmates at or near your level. They sometimes mix classes with divers new to tec diving/doubles with tec pass ready students there simply to demostrate skills and acquire the card as a gateway to further GUE training. That was a very disappointing aspect of my class.

I know how you feel about diving in a different configuration than your buddies. Nearly all my local dive pals are non DIR divers. Somehow they can still hot-drop (drift dive) on 180ft wrecks, spear fish and surface with 2000psi left in their 100cuft HP single cylinders wrapped within their jacket BCD's. Talented divers? Yes. Safe divers? Ahhhh. That's why I sought GUE training and have already made some great new friendships in the process....