Doing it Right

[Centrals]

Made up my mind 10 yrs ago that DIR is NOT for me.
It was hilarious to see certain tech divers wearing dry suit to dive the tropical warm water in Malaysia and Philippines. The P-valve was necessary because they have to drink so much water before the dive just to cool down.
DIR is fine with me but not as "Doing It Right"!
As for the "H" brand there are always better and cheaper alternative.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

DIR classes, something every tech or soon to be tech diver should take. Extreme Exposure in Florida does the courses (the makers of Halcyon). I am going to do their classes after my Commercial Training, but my one buddy took their course and couldn't stress enough to take them.

He said that they cut out all the "crap" that the industry as a whole has made the "norm" to make money off of. They teach you how to be a minimalist...how to dive completely safe, completely in control in any attitude, and so much more...all with the utmost safety.

I was talking to him in regards to doing more standard advanced courses and he stopped me and asked why I would waste all that money when this is the only course I would want/need to take. He even went as far as saying that once you take this one...you will not want to waste any money on the other courses.

I will post my personal reviews on this course once I go through it, but after learning a LOT from him...If he says its good...then it is.

All my tech gear is modeled after his setup. Minimalist mindset and I LOVE IT!

Anyone else been through this course or was looking to do it??

The course your friend took was most likely Fundamentals ... which is an excellent course. It is not, however, all the course you will ever need. Fundamentals focuses on certain core skills ... trim and buoyancy control, buddy skills, air management skills, propulsion techniques ... and it builds those skills around a very specific "platform" of diving equipment. It's an excellent class for recreational diving, or for entry into technical diving.

It is not ... however ... all the course you will need. It does not, for example, teach you fundamental rescue skills. It doesn't even touch on underwater navigation or search and recovery. It teaches you nothing about planning and preparing for limited visibility diving ... nor a host of other skills that are needful for a recreational diver who aspires to dive in a variety of conditions.

There is no "magic bullet" ... Fundamental is what it is ... a good start. A lot of people come out of it with an excess of enthusiasm because it opens their eyes to things they never were introduced to in earlier classes ... but, frankly, it was created as a remedial skills class for people who aspired to dive in caves or other types of overhead ... in other words, it gives you the basics of what will be needful if you should ever decide to go into the more challenging environments commonly referred to as "tech diving".

I've taken the class ... twice, in fact ... and gotten a lot out of it both times. I've taken more than a dozen follow-on classes since ... from NAUI, TDI, IANTD, and NSS-CDS as well as several workshops that were "non-denominational" ... and I'll continue taking classes as I identify new techniques, equipment, or environments that I want to learn more about. I've taught NAUI classes in a shop that offered GUE ... and have heard the "why take anything but GUE classes" logic from others who were enthusiastic about what that particular class taught them. The best answer I can offer is "because GUE doesn't offer all the classes I want to take".

A popular diving magazine has these words at the top of the front cover ... "A Good Diver Is Always Learning". No one agency teaches everything there is to learn. No one approach to diving offers everything you'll ever need ... not in the broader sense of "you". We're all individuals, with individual goals, insights, learning styles, and interests. GUE may indeed be all your friend will ever need ... you may discover, as you learn more about diving, that there are other classes taught by other agencies out there that will open vistas for you that GUE does not. Or you may ... as I did ... come to realize that adherence to that one style of diving is too restrictive to scratch the itch you have for diving in a way that you want to pursue your interest.

Even the GUE instructors I've met will tell you to approach it with an open mind ... they are not just referring to what they will be able to teach you ... they're referring to diving as a whole. They don't want blind adherence to a system ... the most important thing they're trying to teach you is how to use your brain ... it's a valuable skill, and not one that always applies strictly to the context of a GUE class ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[sotgecho]

You can bash the Halcyon gear all you want, but even their "bulkiest" gear still is nothing compaired to the ind. standard stuff out there; at least in my opinion.

I purchased their Eclipse System and love it. Saved me from having to purchase everyting seperate.

Guess I should have worded things differently, I was more wanting opinions on the DIR courses that those have taken...not a bash fest on DIR.

However, you are correct (those of you above) when you basicly say; "to each their own", it is true. What works for one person doesn't always work for another.

Also...why are a couple of you saying that a DIR course is going to make you some; "non-sociable" or "non-companion/buddy diver"? I don't understand?

Read the reviews in the DIR forums here on ScubaBoard on GUE classes (there are many) and on the official GUE forums on their website as well as DIR Explorers . You will see a lot of course reviews and insight.

Make sure you are ready to invest a lot of time, money and sanity into GUE diving. It is not for everyone.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

You can bash the Halcyon gear all you want, but even their "bulkiest" gear still is nothing compaired to the ind. standard stuff out there; at least in my opinion.
Guess I should have worded things differently, I was more wanting opinions on the DIR courses that those have taken...not a bash fest on DIR.
Also...why are a couple of you saying that a DIR course is going to make you some; "non-sociable" or "non-companion/buddy diver"? I don't understand?

I must have missed some deleted posts. Nobody said anything negative about DIR, nor did anyone bash Halcyon gear. I merely pointed out that it has become mainstream and is now far from minimalist. If that is your quest, there is an excellent subforum on Scubaboard that can help you gear yourself.

 

[Centrals]

The course your friend took was most likely Fundamentals ... which is an excellent course. It is not, however, all the course you will ever need. Fundamentals focuses on certain core skills ... trim and buoyancy control, buddy skills, air management skills, propulsion techniques ... and it builds those skills around a very specific "platform" of diving equipment. It's an excellent class for recreational diving, or for entry into technical diving.

It is not ... however ... all the course you will need. It does not, for example, teach you fundamental rescue skills. It doesn't even touch on underwater navigation or search and recovery. It teaches you nothing about planning and preparing for limited visibility diving ... nor a host of other skills that are needful for a recreational diver who aspires to dive in a variety of conditions.

There is no "magic bullet" ... Fundamental is what it is ... a good start. A lot of people come out of it with an excess of enthusiasm because it opens their eyes to things they never were introduced to in earlier classes ... but, frankly, it was created as a remedial skills class for people who aspired to dive in caves or other types of overhead ... in other words, it gives you the basics of what will be needful if you should ever decide to go into the more challenging environments commonly referred to as "tech diving".

I've taken the class ... twice, in fact ... and gotten a lot out of it both times. I've taken more than a dozen follow-on classes since ... and will continue taking classes as I identify new techniques, equipment, or environments that I want to learn more about. I've taught NAUI classes in a shop that offered GUE ... and have heard the "why take anything but GUE classes" logic from others who were enthusiastic about what that particular class taught them. The best answer I can offer is "because GUE doesn't offer all the classes I want to take".

A popular diving magazine has these words at the top of the front cover ... "A Good Diver Is Always Learning". No one agency teaches everything there is to learn. No one approach to diving offers everything you'll ever need ... not in the broader sense of "you". We're all individuals, with individual goals, insights, learning styles, and interests. GUE may indeed be all your friend will ever need ... you may discover, as you learn more about diving, that there are other classes taught by other agencies out there that will open vistas for you that GUE does not. Or you may ... as I did ... come to realize that adherence to that one style of diving is too restrictive to scratch the itch you have for diving in a way that you want to pursue your interest.

Even the GUE instructors I've met will tell you to approach it with an open mind ... they are not just referring to what they will be able to teach you ... they're referring to diving as a whole. They don't want blind adherence to a system ... the most important thing they're trying to teach you is how to use your brain ... it's a valuable skill, and not one that always applies strictly to the context of a GUE class ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Unlike most DIR divers that crossed my path over last 10yrs. I hope they are reading this and remember.
Good on you.

 

[Jax]

Why is this in the Advanced Forum, instead of Basic or DIR?

 

[sotgecho]

I was talking to him in regards to doing more standard advanced courses and he stopped me and asked why I would waste all that money when this is the only course I would want/need to take. He even went as far as saying that once you take this one...you will not want to waste any money on the other courses.

So you wouldn't an EFR and CPR class? That is a standard advanced course beyond OW.

 

[TSandM]

Bob has a very good point. There are any number of areas that GUE training doesn't cover well; and even if you absolutely master the Fundamentals curriculum, you're still going to be at a loss in conditions very different from what you are accustomed to.

But it is my personal opinion that every serious diver should take Fundamentals, or something similar, simply because attaining the degree of stability and poise in the water that they require RESULTS in more bandwidth, both to enjoy the dive, and to detect issues and cope with them before they become major.

I personally love diving within the DIR system. I love my gear, which is very neatly stowed (whether it's minimal or not, I won't debate, but it is neat) and all of which works very well in all the environments in which I have dived, from the South Pacific to Northern Vancouver Island. I love diving with buddies who are on the same page, and have strong skills. I am extremely grateful to have been taught high standards for performance to continue to hold myself against.

I have taken Fundamentals, Rec Triox, Cave 1 and Cave 2, and UTD Rec 2 and Rec 3 and Tech 1. They have all been very good classes, through which I have learned a great deal, and in which I have made long-lasting friendships. I think you'll have a lot of fun. The EE instructors have very good reputations. (Look at katenptl's recent report of her Fundies class with Doug Mudry.)

And just on another note -- why wouldn't you put this in Advanced? It's a student looking forward to what is definitely NOT an entry-level class, but it isn't technical. Does ALL discussion of DIR have to go in our own forum, so no one else will see it?

 

[Blackwood]

You need to back off the coolaid a little and come back to earth. GUE/DIR training is great and can teach most divers a lot, but it is not the end all, be all and it is about as far from minimalist as you can get.

Let's be real. One can not claim that any organization's gear configuration (or procedure or that matter) is far from minimalistic unless there is an objectively sound minimal set of gear for diving.

While you may not believe a light is necessary, for example, to others it is a requisite item, thus diving with it is minimalistic.

I've suggested on here a minimum gear set for SCUBA diving. It consists of 1) self contained air (i.e. a tank), and 2) a way to breathe it (i.e. a valve). But even the folks with "minimalist" moniker under their screenname tend to dive with harnesses and masks and fins and regulators and depth gauges and timers and exposure suits and weights etc. Hardly minimalistic, from an objective standpoint. Everything save the tank and valve are luxuries to make diving either safer or more fun.

My personal minimum set of gear probably contains things yours does not.

 

[Scott L]

You can bash the Halcyon gear all you want, but even their "bulkiest" gear still is nothing compaired to the ind. standard stuff out there; at least in my opinion.

I purchased their Eclipse System and love it. Saved me from having to purchase everyting seperate.

Guess I should have worded things differently, I was more wanting opinions on the DIR courses that those have taken...not a bash fest on DIR.

However, you are correct (those of you above) when you basicly say; "to each their own", it is true. What works for one person doesn't always work for another.

Also...why are a couple of you saying that a DIR course is going to make you some; "non-sociable" or "non-companion/buddy diver"? I don't understand?

GUE is the best training agency in the world and everybody knows it. In addition, Halcyon offers a very broad line of equipment which no other manufacturer can match with tightly controlled USA manufacturing ouput. DeeSeaSupply produces some great equipment, but Halcyon is without question the leading innovator of equipment IMO.