UnderSeaBumbleBee:
I ask those questions as a someone who truely wants to learn. I also want to know where you and others are coming from to better understand your position. Perhaps knowing your vantage point will give me insight into the wisdom you are trying to offer.
So are you willing to answer my questions are just call me someone who wants to rant?
I became interested in DIR after almost getting myself killed. So I come as a noob who almost lost her life and the safety of the system is a big draw for me. I come as a noob and don't try to make myself out to be anything else. I am open about my newness and desire to learn.
I am not an expert on DIR, as I said I am someone who wants to learn. I want to know what you and others are on this thread.
I think I know where you're coming from ... and I also think it's important to understand that not everyone who's "tasted the kool-aid and decided it's not for me" does so for negative reasons. I've always been careful to state that I am "not DIR" ... perhaps it would be a good time to try to explain why.
I took DIR-F twice. I've participated in two formal and a number of informal workshops that were run by either GUE instructors or very experienced GUE-trained divers. I worked for our local GUE shop for a year. After all of that, I decided that GUE training wasn't the path I wanted to pursue.
It had nothing to do with the quality of training ... to my concern, the training's excellent. It's very much in line with how I want to dive. My reasons had to do with more pragmatic concerns.
First, the limits of available instruction ... we now have a local GUE instructor here. At the time, we didn't. Importing instructors really limits how much time you're going to have with your instructor, and leads to some of the issues that have been discussed here. In my area, we also have an abundance of very good, very experienced instructors who teach for other agencies. I settled on NAUI for my tech training, in part because we have several excellent NAUI Tech instructors here. The one I'm currently using has also had some GUE training, which I consider a positive thing. I get to train with him, and dive with him, pretty much whenever our schedules permit. That continuum appeals to me.
The second reason touches on some other issues that have been discussed here. I went a year between my first and second DIR-F class ... primarily due to the fact that the instructor who taught my initial class never came back to re-evaluate the students who'd received a provisional. Eventually I just took the class again with a different instructor and passed. In the interrim, I almost lost sight of the fact that I got into diving for the purpose of having fun. Personally, I think too many GUE students get too caught up in practicing skills ... and spend way too much time in the shallows working, rather than getting practical diving experience. That's not for me ... I learn by doing, and learn best by diving. I don't want to practice to the point where I'll never make a mistake ... I want to practice to the point where I know what to do to avoid mistakes, or when I make one, recover from it and learn something from the experience.
Finally, as many have stated, DIR is a "holistic" system. Being DIR is like being pregnant ... you either are or you are not. There's no such thing as being "almost DIR". That whole concept just goes against my personality ... I am not, and never will be, "holistic" anything. There's just enough "rebel without a clue" in me to want to do certain things my way, for the simple reason that it makes me feel more comfortable to do it that way. For that reason ... and even though I strongly believe that DIR is an excellent system for diving ... I will not, and do not want to, "be" DIR.
So please keep any comments of mine that you read in this forum in context of this background and attitude ... DIR fascinates me, which is why I am here. But I'll pass on the kool-aid ...
... Bob (Grateful Diver)
; I am a photographer that will take as much time as needed to get the shot
