Looking for ideas on article series...

[ScubaFeenD]

Hi Dan,

You know, for a lof of stuff taught in fundamentals now, I am always unsure whether the skills being taught and mentioned here (ie free controlled ascents while shooting a bag) are really DIR or just in indication of GUEs great education and appropriate education. I mean, while I see that GUE/DIR divers can clearly perform the skill, shouldn't any student out of a tech prep course be just as proficient? I think yes, but sadly it isn't the case.

I know that the difference I feel after having taken fundamentals is much harder to capture on film than just doing a specific skill. ITs a confidence and comfort in my own and my teams preparedness that needs to be captured somehow.

So, while i am hard pressed to find distinct filmable differences that will be readily apparent to divers interested, I think perhaps showing before and after film of divers that then are DIR trained would be beneficial. For instance, show divers that are pretty good prior to fundamentals (or whatever class) and then show them after the class. There should be complete differences in comfort that I think would be apparent on film, not only that, but the team cohesiveness and awareness should be up, skills should be way up, and performance should be clear on film. Perhaps even a clip of dive preparation and planning could be shown, as I have noticed a huge difference between my ability to plan and prepare for a dive before and after fundies. A team going over the GUE EDGE or some other standardized plan would be great ( i think GUE used to use SADDDDDD or something of the like).

Anyway, I am sure this is easier said than done, but I surely hope you are able to convey the ease, comfort, and enjoyment that can be had with the DIR system.

 

[danvolker]

Buddy of mine loves floating around midwater with no reference. This is easy to do in our local mudhole which typically has 20-40 feet of viz and you can nice a comfy greenish-black blob of nothingness all around you when you're only floating in 60-80 feet of actual water column.

On the other hand we've got a Lake up here which is glacier fed and nearly has cenote visibility and immediately drops off to 200-600 feet, and we've hovered at 60 feet and kicked off the wall to the point where we could barely see the wall anymore.

Not sure if you could capture that other than just a wide shot with divers hovering in nothing but blue...

One shot that would be easy to get, could be leaving the bottom on a 140 foot deep hole in the wall dive, and showing the diver leaving the bottom--what they see..then looking up into nothing-ness...(vis estimated at 70 feet), and then as they climb with no ceiling to see, they soon lose the visual cue of the bottom( show them looking down, then up). In mid collum, they see only themselves and no physical boundaries in any direction. They will do the first short stop at 70 feet, and with luck, viz will not allow them to see the surface ( easy for a tech dive where first stop you definately will not see surface, but this needs to gel with the potential concerns of recreational divers, not tech divers). Then each stop they go to from that point on, will mean bouyancy control with no visual cues other than your "instruments" ( and of course, your bubbles).
If we can make this feel alarming on the video for the recreational divers--capture their discomfort, this would be an effective moment of the video conveying the real issue for us....then it should be easy enough to show the GUE trained diver in the same scenario.
We could do some quick interviews with each group afterward....

Is this a direction for the video series to go in ? Thoughts ?

Regards,
DanV

 

[danvolker]

What about something along the lines of how improved buoyancy control extends dive time? Newbs and even no so newbs waste a ton gas inflating and deflating bc. As well as being improperly weighted. I guess I am thinking of baby steps that anyone could take right where they are even in whatever gear they have to get a taste.

Early on someone of the DIR persuasion took me under their wing and helped me figure out weighting and trim as best the could over the net. I still have some work to do as I haven't been in the water much, but it gave me taste for what could be. Fundies is on my list of things I want to do. It was those small steps that gave me a taste to want more.

Maybe that isn't what you are looking for. Just a thought.

If I went to the Blue Heron Bridge, where there are hordes of "new" divers with zero trim or bouyancy skills, I could certainly show the 2 extremes of this picture...and with some comedy....but I really don't want to hurt the feelings of the new divers I could be shooting there either.....I suppose I could ask ahead of time.. ( look for a group gearing up with the telltale look of being new or student related )

Regards,
DanV

 

[HenrikBP]

We could do some quick interviews with each group afterward....

Is this a direction for the video series to go in ? Thoughts ?

As long as the interviews don't come off as "having a chip" on anyone's shoulder, it might work. The difficulty of illustrating blue water ascent "discomfort" might be that some recreational divers have never tried diving a situation with no visual reference. So if they've never experienced it, it may not seem as disturbing.

Henrik

 

[rjack321]

Side by side shot of some divers hanging onto an anchor line for dear life at a safety stop while their buddy relaxes next to them midwater?

Pay my airfare, find me a pink poodle jacket and I'll hang onto some anchor line for dear life in Fort Lauderdale in January

 

[ScubaFeenD]

Side by side shot of some divers hanging onto an anchor line for dear life at a safety stop while their buddy relaxes next to them midwater?

I think this is a great idea! A DIR trained friend of mine and I did a dive in jersey recently. Most of the really experienced guys were literally hanging off the upline and pulling themselves up while my friend and I did controlled ascents, hit all stops, and didn't hang on to the upline at all the whole time. I am not sure if you want to do a video comparison, due to the risk of alienating people, but for someone watching, the disparity should be stark. In fact, we were asked if we were cave divers once back on the boat. We politely denied any actual cave training

 

[UnderSeaBumbleBee]

If I went to the Blue Heron Bridge, where there are hordes of "new" divers with zero trim or bouyancy skills, I could certainly show the 2 extremes of this picture...and with some comedy....but I really don't want to hurt the feelings of the new divers I could be shooting there either.....I suppose I could ask ahead of time.. ( look for a group gearing up with the telltale look of being new or student related )

Regards,
DanV

Dan, I think if someone approached me and asked me a few questions about things I was struggling with and if they might be able to help, I would be open to it. Not everyone would. I would watch for a few newbies and then say something like I am working on a project to help new divers. Would you mind if I filmed you, showed you the film, made a few suggestions and then filmed you again to see how a few simple changes impacted you.

I think you would get some takers. After getting certified and then buying gear, many people are tapped out on cash and can't afford more training. So I think a few people would for the offer of help work with you. I am not talking full blown fundies but a few baby steps.

It would be fun to see someone like that fresh out of ow, then with a few tips, and then perhaps with a gear change. Sort of a commercial of before during and after and progressing. In a couple of minutes with a couple of divers you could show what is possible. If there is that much improvement with a few baby steps, what is possible with the full monty?

 

[danvolker]

Dan, I think if someone approached me and asked me a few questions about things I was struggling with and if they might be able to help, I would be open to it. Not everyone would. I would watch for a few newbies and then say something like I am working on a project to help new divers. Would you mind if I filmed you, showed you the film, made a few suggestions and then filmed you again to see how a few simple changes impacted you.

I think you would get some takers. After getting certified and then buying gear, many people are tapped out on cash and can't afford more training. So I think a few people would for the offer of help work with you. I am not talking full blown fundies but a few baby steps.

It would be fun to see someone like that fresh out of ow, then with a few tips, and then perhaps with a gear change. Sort of a commercial of before during and after and progressing. In a couple of minutes with a couple of divers you could show what is possible. If there is that much improvement with a few baby steps, what is possible with the full monty?

On the next day with decent vis at BHB, I will go and look for "candiates"...divers that clearly could use help. If they agree to let us film them before and after, Errol will do 1 or 2 days ( training hours x2) at BHB and then do an AFTER filming...
If any of you guys want to pretend to be a Blue Heron Bridge Diver, here is your chance for a freebie

 

[UnderSeaBumbleBee]

Dan, let me know how it goes. I hope it is profitable for both you and the newbies. A win win is always nice.

Helping someone to see for themselves or someone they easily relate to is the first step to helping them change. I have been working on my frog kick, but confess I still flutter. What made me see the real need to change kicks was once when I was diving along the shore at the local lake. There are tons of big rocks underneath the water. I kicked a long a few hundred feet and then turned around and went back the way I came. Much to my shock I could see where my kicks had blown off tons of slit and stuff from the rocks at regular intervals. Had someone filmed my cloud I might have figure it out sooner. That was the first time I was really out of the training area at the lake and in an area with no other divers. The damage to the bottom was all mine to see.