Well, I said I would post a report, so here goes....
Arrived at the dive shop in Kingston, Ontario Saturday evening and introduced myself to the DIRf students who were just returning from their dives. Eventually met the instructor (Dan MacKay) and introduced myself. I asked to join the class tomorrow and was told sure - we'll stick a video camera in your hands!
So TomR, the shop owner showed me how to run the controls and I managed to get some footage they could use. Turns out the other 2 guys in my Tech1 class were part of this DIRf class.
Day 1: Introductions to each other and class expectations were outlined. Turns out I was by far the least experience diver of the 3, but since I had taken DIRf back in December, I had the advantage of getting to practice what I had learned before jumping into Tech1. I also had the much appreciated benefit of a few practice dives with Uncle Pug.
So after a couple hours of classroom, we went outside and went over our gear. Not too many issues - but zipties and large bolt snaps are taboo in eastern North American DIR. There were a few nitpicks on such things as how lights (backups and primaries) are to be attached, but all-in-all, not bad. The other 2 guys reels were prohibited from use, but once again Uncle Pug saved the day by loaning me a Halcyon reel - though it had a bit too much line on it which created issues when rewinding. This was easily solved by removal ~ 30' of it. As for the little ball tied on it to keep the line from being reeled through the guide - I didn't ask if it was OK and Dan didn't say it wasn't
. At any rate - that reel got used (and left behind) a lot and the ball never created a problem.
After gear review, we did some land drills with the reel individually and as a team, then hit the balmy 42F waters of lake Ontario. Valve drills and S drills were far less than smooth as the 3 of us from opposite ends of the continent had our first introduction as a dive team. After a few tries we all got it reasonable right and did our 3 dives. Dan acted as the videographer as well as failure simulator, so he had his hands full and we caught a break as he missed some of our bumbles
Overall, we worked together as a team and didn't have any major problems dealing with stuff as it came up.
Day 2: More hours of classroom, then into the water again. Once again, we managed not to off each other, though individual strengths and weaknesses were starting to emerge. For me, it was my buoyancy. I decided I didn't like being hypothermic, so was adding more gas to the drysuit. This only served to buy me trouble in the form of increasing the task loading resulting from the dynamic instability this created. Having a drysuit with a "shoulder dump" located on the bicep means I have to do a half roll to dump suit gas. I have learned to deal with this, but it still means I get out of trim and have to correct it. Another team member was new to all his gear, including a borrowed drysuit, and still learning to use his new BP/W and newfound DIRf skills. Team member #3's issue was a comfort zone several feet back and a couple feet above the rest of us, which made him a bit harder to keep track of. He was also quite a bit younger with much less experienced at being assertive when it was his turn to be team leader.
At any rate, more and multiple failures were introduced. We were repeatedly warned by Dan not to buy ourselves trouble. We, of course, did not always heed this advice and every time we would deal with a failure and take the time to retrieve the stinkin' reel, somehow another failure would occur. We did eventually learn that it's OK to abandon gear to expedite our exit as we can always go back and get the left gear.
Again, despite all the problems we had, we were able to keep the teamwork thing going and worked together to get stuff dealt with.
Day 3: We were warned that this was humpday. It was. We had officially graduated past the shallow water portion of the class and got to dive on The Munson. Really neat wreck with the deck at ~ 95', sitting on the mud at ~ 110'. Since it was still early in the season, the mooring line had not yet been raised, so Dan found the jug and used the dreaded air gun (used to simulate manifold failures) to put gas in it and send up the line. We 3 students lined up and watched. We noticed he was having some sort of problem since he kept pushing off the deck, the video camera was clipped off and floating above him and he was shutting down valves. There were LOTS of bubbles. So the 3 of us were directly in front of him ready to donate gas or assist however necessary. Turns out the dreaded air gun usage had caused icing in the manifold and both 2nd stages were free-flowing. He finally asked me to check his manifold. By then, the R post had been shut down long enough to thaw and could be used, so I shut down the L post (after he asked) and made sure his isolator was open.
On to our dives - This day was rough. We had managed the more difficult "30' drills" yesterday, but everything fell apart during the 70' drills. Our teamwork was almost non-existant and it showed. We were getting snippy with each other on the surface and communication under the water was breaking down. The dives were with EAN 32% with the same gas in our deco tanks. The good thing was - we never popped to the surface, nor did we exceed our simulated 70' MOD during the gas switches. It was really frustrating. It was so bad that Dan left us in the classroom to review and discuss the video ourselves. After he came back, he told us the obvious - we need to bring this team together or we will not be completing the class. So that night we met for pizza and talked.
Day4: I guess Dan had enough confidence in us working this out that we mixed 30/30 for our dives and actual EAN 50% deco gas. More long hours of lecture including the much anticipated Ratio Deco. Wow! This is so easy, as long as you follow the rules including standard gasses, deep stops, etc...
This dive day went much better. The team had come back together. We dealt with our problems and failures and didn't buy ourselves too many problems. Gas switches went well and we mostly managed to keep our ascents within the time parameters. I was surprised by the narcosis slam after the gas switch. I mean c'mon! It's only 70'! I shouldn't be this narced :06:
Day 5: Woohoo! We mixed our 21/35 and 50% for the checkout dive to 150'. There were to be no simulated failures and no video camera. It was a really boring (to me) dive on a rock wall with lots of zebra mussels and a few fish (can you tell I'm missing the ocean by now). Overall, it went OK, but we got chewed out for not properly dealing with the current. In my opinion at the time, it was more important to stick with the dive leader (the young guy who had almost no experience in current and did not always understand suggestions) than it was to follow the instructor who was hugging the bottom. Ah well - we learned a few days ago that arguing is NOT productive.
Overall, I gained a tremendous amount of knowledge from this class and would definitely recommend it to anyone thinking of expanding their limits!
So there ya have it - I kept it as short as I could and left a lot out, so if you have questions - ask away!!
Arrived at the dive shop in Kingston, Ontario Saturday evening and introduced myself to the DIRf students who were just returning from their dives. Eventually met the instructor (Dan MacKay) and introduced myself. I asked to join the class tomorrow and was told sure - we'll stick a video camera in your hands!
So TomR, the shop owner showed me how to run the controls and I managed to get some footage they could use. Turns out the other 2 guys in my Tech1 class were part of this DIRf class.
Day 1: Introductions to each other and class expectations were outlined. Turns out I was by far the least experience diver of the 3, but since I had taken DIRf back in December, I had the advantage of getting to practice what I had learned before jumping into Tech1. I also had the much appreciated benefit of a few practice dives with Uncle Pug.
So after a couple hours of classroom, we went outside and went over our gear. Not too many issues - but zipties and large bolt snaps are taboo in eastern North American DIR. There were a few nitpicks on such things as how lights (backups and primaries) are to be attached, but all-in-all, not bad. The other 2 guys reels were prohibited from use, but once again Uncle Pug saved the day by loaning me a Halcyon reel - though it had a bit too much line on it which created issues when rewinding. This was easily solved by removal ~ 30' of it. As for the little ball tied on it to keep the line from being reeled through the guide - I didn't ask if it was OK and Dan didn't say it wasn't
. At any rate - that reel got used (and left behind) a lot and the ball never created a problem.After gear review, we did some land drills with the reel individually and as a team, then hit the balmy 42F waters of lake Ontario. Valve drills and S drills were far less than smooth as the 3 of us from opposite ends of the continent had our first introduction as a dive team. After a few tries we all got it reasonable right and did our 3 dives. Dan acted as the videographer as well as failure simulator, so he had his hands full and we caught a break as he missed some of our bumbles
Overall, we worked together as a team and didn't have any major problems dealing with stuff as it came up.
Day 2: More hours of classroom, then into the water again. Once again, we managed not to off each other, though individual strengths and weaknesses were starting to emerge. For me, it was my buoyancy. I decided I didn't like being hypothermic, so was adding more gas to the drysuit. This only served to buy me trouble in the form of increasing the task loading resulting from the dynamic instability this created. Having a drysuit with a "shoulder dump" located on the bicep means I have to do a half roll to dump suit gas. I have learned to deal with this, but it still means I get out of trim and have to correct it. Another team member was new to all his gear, including a borrowed drysuit, and still learning to use his new BP/W and newfound DIRf skills. Team member #3's issue was a comfort zone several feet back and a couple feet above the rest of us, which made him a bit harder to keep track of. He was also quite a bit younger with much less experienced at being assertive when it was his turn to be team leader.
At any rate, more and multiple failures were introduced. We were repeatedly warned by Dan not to buy ourselves trouble. We, of course, did not always heed this advice and every time we would deal with a failure and take the time to retrieve the stinkin' reel, somehow another failure would occur. We did eventually learn that it's OK to abandon gear to expedite our exit as we can always go back and get the left gear.
Again, despite all the problems we had, we were able to keep the teamwork thing going and worked together to get stuff dealt with.
Day 3: We were warned that this was humpday. It was. We had officially graduated past the shallow water portion of the class and got to dive on The Munson. Really neat wreck with the deck at ~ 95', sitting on the mud at ~ 110'. Since it was still early in the season, the mooring line had not yet been raised, so Dan found the jug and used the dreaded air gun (used to simulate manifold failures) to put gas in it and send up the line. We 3 students lined up and watched. We noticed he was having some sort of problem since he kept pushing off the deck, the video camera was clipped off and floating above him and he was shutting down valves. There were LOTS of bubbles. So the 3 of us were directly in front of him ready to donate gas or assist however necessary. Turns out the dreaded air gun usage had caused icing in the manifold and both 2nd stages were free-flowing. He finally asked me to check his manifold. By then, the R post had been shut down long enough to thaw and could be used, so I shut down the L post (after he asked) and made sure his isolator was open.
On to our dives - This day was rough. We had managed the more difficult "30' drills" yesterday, but everything fell apart during the 70' drills. Our teamwork was almost non-existant and it showed. We were getting snippy with each other on the surface and communication under the water was breaking down. The dives were with EAN 32% with the same gas in our deco tanks. The good thing was - we never popped to the surface, nor did we exceed our simulated 70' MOD during the gas switches. It was really frustrating. It was so bad that Dan left us in the classroom to review and discuss the video ourselves. After he came back, he told us the obvious - we need to bring this team together or we will not be completing the class. So that night we met for pizza and talked.
Day4: I guess Dan had enough confidence in us working this out that we mixed 30/30 for our dives and actual EAN 50% deco gas. More long hours of lecture including the much anticipated Ratio Deco. Wow! This is so easy, as long as you follow the rules including standard gasses, deep stops, etc...
This dive day went much better. The team had come back together. We dealt with our problems and failures and didn't buy ourselves too many problems. Gas switches went well and we mostly managed to keep our ascents within the time parameters. I was surprised by the narcosis slam after the gas switch. I mean c'mon! It's only 70'! I shouldn't be this narced :06:
Day 5: Woohoo! We mixed our 21/35 and 50% for the checkout dive to 150'. There were to be no simulated failures and no video camera. It was a really boring (to me) dive on a rock wall with lots of zebra mussels and a few fish (can you tell I'm missing the ocean by now
). Overall, it went OK, but we got chewed out for not properly dealing with the current. In my opinion at the time, it was more important to stick with the dive leader (the young guy who had almost no experience in current and did not always understand suggestions) than it was to follow the instructor who was hugging the bottom. Ah well - we learned a few days ago that arguing is NOT productive.Overall, I gained a tremendous amount of knowledge from this class and would definitely recommend it to anyone thinking of expanding their limits!
So there ya have it - I kept it as short as I could and left a lot out, so if you have questions - ask away!!
