I tasted the Kool Aide and it didnt agree with me

[Darnold9999]

Took DIR-F last year in Seattle. While their was quite a bit of emphasis on tasks, task loading and evaluation however there was also a considerable amount of instruction. Looking at a video of your diving is a great instructional tool. An instructor pointing out what you did wrong and how to improve is about as good as it gets re instruction. Hard to teach skills in a classroom - you have to get wet, try it and then talk about it later. That is what happened. Yes you move on to another skill immediately - but this skill builds from the previous one and you get to practice that one too. However - I can see where if you can't maintain basic boyancy the course would be frustrating.

Like the OP I didn't pass I think it was a provisional pass and I could pass if I could demonstrate a couple of things another time - didn't ever bother - don't care, wasn't the goal - don't really need another card. Thought it was a great course would recommend it to anyone. DIR is not for me, but can see why it is for others.

 

[Darnold9999]

How would a GUE OW course help - at the beginning you really don't need to know a whole lot, and teaching more doesn't mean more gets learned.

 

[PerroneFord]

Although the OP didn't say it explicitly state in these words, it sounds like one of his major frustrations was that the DIR-F was all test and no instruction.

I think there is a serious disconnect here. Not necessarily with the OP, but his post mirrors a few others I've read over the past few years.

When I took DIR-F, my buoyancy was very poor. I knew from the first 15 minutes in the water I was not going to be able to pass the class. I told my instructor that I was not there to pass the class (and I knew it going in) but I would absorb everything I could from the course. To this day, it remains the best money I ever spent in diving. I was not challenged like that again until I took cave training.

That said, I recieved a LOT of instruction in my class. Everything from having the instructor physically grab my fins while I lay on a picnic table at Ginnie Springs, and take my legs through the correct arcs for the frog and other kicks, to the assistant instructor taking 2 of us aside and spending 2 hours with myself and another student working on just the basics while the rest of the class proceeded with bag shooting, back-finning, and other more challenging tasks. It sounds as though other instructors are not offering the same level of instruction.

The video critiques were singly the most useful feedback I've gotten in diving. A chance for me to step outside myself and understand where my frustrations lie. I know this is a part of the fundies courses for everyone.

I am curious for those here if they recieved REAL instruction during their fundies courses or if, as with the OP, they didn't recieve what they felt was real instruction. Clearly each instructor will have their own style, but there is a wealth of information to be imparted during these courses. It would be a shame if people were taking the class and not getting it.

I will say again though, without basic buoyancy skill, DIRF will be a lesson in frustration. Thank goodness for the platforms at Blue Grotto, or I would have spent my entire class laying in the silt.

 

[Nailer99]

They all dive deep air.

Maybe if Chatterton wasn't diving air all the time he would have identified the wreck correctly and Gentile wouldn't have had to write a book to set the record straight.

Correction: They Dove deep air back before Trimix was available to anyone but the military. And they all accomplished things underwater that I wager you will never approach. On air. Below 200 feet.

 

[Charlie99]

I will say again though, without basic buoyancy skill, DIRF will be a lesson in frustration.

Another common element in DIR-F class reports is someone taking the class immediately after changing to BP/W and not having yet gotten comfortable diving it. As you point out, that's a good recipe for frustration.

 

[Geoff_H]

Why don't you actually get your facts straight first. I have no idea who you are, but if you're watching me so closely, then you would know that I am a Tech 1 diver.

You might like to update your "no. of logged dives then", since it currently shows 0-24. On a quick glance, this might give a mis-leading impression of your great dive skills.

 

[rjack321]

I am curious for those here if they recieved REAL instruction during their fundies courses or if, as with the OP, they didn't recieve what they felt was real instruction. Clearly each instructor will have their own style, but there is a wealth of information to be imparted during these courses. It would be a shame if people were taking the class and not getting it.

My DIRF was about 4 years ago:
I was taught much better kicks than I previously had.
A much better gas sharing method, and
How to manage a spool+bag combo well enough to shoot one from the bottom.

I was not taught basic bouyancy. That was weak, but good enough to stay a few feet off the bottom while performing other skills.

 

[LIVES4SHARKS]

I think, like any other sport, there are good sides and bad. Easy ways and more challenging ways. I was blessed to be shown another path very early in my diving. I hadn't adopted any set principal and am open to learning ways to make myself a better diver and better buddy. I also want to challenge myself, but I also want to see what is out there in OW and in the caves. I have read the book on DIR and will hope to take fundies next year. I was extremely happy with the choice I made going to a BP/W and a 7'hose because it works for me. But I have diligently worked hard to perfect the techniques I have been taught and have worked with the gear I have changed over to. I am still working on getting this to feel right, and it gets better each dive, but there is no such thing as changing dive philosophies overnight. It does help to have people to guide you along the way, and to assist you in the water where it all counts in the end. That is what has made me successful in my diving so far and I am grateful for the information that is imparted from this forum and board.

I wish only the very best for Carribeandiver! I hope you will find the type of diving that makes you the most happy! That is all any of us can ask!

Happy Diving!
Carolyn:sharks:

 

[Ben_ca]

I would like to try DIR one day, but not if it means I am gonna become arrogant. I have not read the GUE manual...is this a requirement?

LOL. I have often looked at DIR/GUE as something I would like to do - but the arrogance and dare I say it fanaticism was rather off putting. Two months ago was on a boat with a GUE instructor in UK and had a nice chat with him. Great guy, and it turns out the fanatical arrogance is not compulsory at all!! Amazing.
-j-

The majority of the people here on SB's only exposure to DIR/GUE is what they read online... and the majority of that is false. But as with alot of the internet myths... people just keep repeating what they have heard.

 

[almitywife]

***** mod post *****

dear divers,

please refer to the original post of this thread to get back to the topic.

with a few exceptions, this thread has been both informative and friendly so lets do our best to continue so people can contribute & be educated in a postive environment.

many thanks

***** mod post *****​