Equipment for DIR-F - what do I need and what can I beg/borrow/rent?

[MarcHall]

I am thinking about signing up for the DIR-F class at Lake Rawlings this summer, but I'm a little unclear about what the equipment requirements for DIR-F are.

I have heard different things varying from 'Everything needs to be 100% DIR' to 'GUE will let you take DIR-F with long hoses and a back-inflate BC' to 'Go the the store and buy a full DIR setup' to 'The instructors will usually let you borrow or rent a BP/Wings for the class'

I know some of the folks who post here took DIR-F recently. What were your experiences?

I have non-split fins (rubber straps), a back-inflate BC (single tank, 35lbs lift), SP MK16/S550 reg with octo bungee (I can get a long hose), and an air integrated console computer (has gauge mode - maybe an expensive non-DIR spg).

Rich S.
Greenville, NC

Rich

You should contact the instructor for the course you are
planning on taking.

The GUE online Registration form has a section where you list your current equipment and a copy is forwarded on to the
instructor for review.

You can also download the GUE Standards and Procedures from the GUE Website and in section 2.1.2.10 the Equipment
requirements for GUE Recreational Courses are listed.

Enjoy

Marc Hall
www.enjoythedive.com

 

[IndigoBlue]

I have an idea but since this is a family board I don't think I can say it!

I got it first hand, Drew, from a GUE instructor.

I would have expected the new kinder gentler Drew to have automatically assumed that.

 

[jonnythan]

I got it first hand, Drew, from a GUE instructor.

I would have expected the new kinder gentler Drew to have automatically assumed that.

I'm sure everyone else would love to know which GUE instructor told you that you need double 104s, a drysuit, a p-valve, and an STA for a DIRF course.

Come on.. which is it?

 

[IndigoBlue]

I'm sure everyone else would love to know which GUE instructor told you that you need double 104s, a drysuit, a p-valve, and an STA for a DIRF course.

Come on.. which is it?

You totally misread the post, and you inferred way too much.

 

[fireflock]

The class I am thinking about is the one announced yesterday in the DIR forum on this board. June 25-27, Dave Sweeten in the instructor.

One of the reasons I asked on this board (NC Divers) and not the DIR board is that I was hoping for some input from the folks who took the class at the same place (Lake Rawlings) from the same instructor (Dave Sweeten). I was looking for some first-hand experiences.

Rich S.
Greenville, NC

 

[Doc Intrepid]

I am thinking about signing up for the DIR-F class at Lake Rawlings this summer, but I'm a little unclear about what the equipment requirements for DIR-F are.

Rich,

CD had it right.

Mike Kane will be running the course (if its the one coming up). (MHK on this board, go to Members, etc.)

PM him. He'll clarify what he's looking for.

If you need some stuff, let people know. There will be a gathering there that weekend, of sorts, of a number of area reprobates, low brows, and geeks (oh my). It may be possible to scrounge up this and that.

Regards,

Doc

 

[herman]

Unless they have changed from last year (I took this same course at the same place with the same instructors) you need a BP/wing, a 5 to 7 ft hose and non split fins. If you have an Air II I or any of the octo/lp inflator combos I would drop that as well. They (GUE) loaned me a BP so the only other thing I would have had to change was the long hose but sence I had already done that in a cavern course, I was set. I kept my console on and my computer stayed in it. I did add some clips and things but nothing difficult. You will also need a weight belt if you now use intergrated weights.

 

[cornfed]

I would have expected the new kinder gentler Drew to have automatically assumed that.

Sorry, new signature line!

 

[cornfed]

You totally misread the post, and you inferred way too much.

You start by calling the class a marketing ploy designed primarily to sell gear. You finish by saying you'll need to "re-gear" to include a drysuit and 104s. I'm sorry, but I fail to see why anyone's claim that your advice is suspect would be that far off.

 

[IndigoBlue]

You start by calling the class a marketing ploy designed primarily to sell gear. You finish by saying you'll need to "re-gear" to include a drysuit and 104s. I'm sorry, but I fail to see why anyone's claim that your advice is suspect would be that far off.

Every (both) GUE instructor I have talked to wants you to buy their gear, starting with a backplate, harness, and STA. Every person I have watched go this route has done so. I was not aware that any stores carry rental gear for DIRF for the backplate, wing, harness, or STA.

Most divers already have their own regulators, so the issue becomes buying a long hose as well. Normally you will be talked into a 5 ft hose, and no one will mention that down the road you will need a 7 ft hose as well or instead.

Should you want to proceed beyond DIRF, you will need a drysuit, with a pee valve. A drysuit without a pee valve is not DIR, unless you are female, correct me if I am wrong.

The tank of choice is the single 104, correct me if I am wrong.

Pretty soon, you will have totally re-geared, if you go down this route. Renting, in the meantime, is maybe possible in some places, but not very conducive, if you want to continue down this route.

That is the long version. I apologize for the shorthand, the first time around.

Do I see it as primarily driven by gear sales? Since the technical overhead market is not large enough, apparently, to sustain 3 major gear manufacturers, yes, it does seem to me that bringing these protocols to recreational diving is, indeed, an major marketing attempt to sell gear. Technical gear, to nontechnical divers. My view. As Chickdiver would say, Am I not entitled to my own view?