UTD/5thd-x Courses?

[ucfdiver]

Has anyone taken a 5th Dimension or UTD course for basic open water? I'm curious to hear former student's opinions. I've done some reading up on it, and I wish I would have taken that type of class, and it seems recently I've had several people ask me about places or people to get certified through.

 

[Peter Guy]

Over the last two years I've taken three different courses from 5thDX -- Essentials; Rec 2 and Rec 3.

None of these classes are a substitute for OW.

Essentials of DIR is, quite frankly, DIR-F "light" in that it is a workshop which explains those things you would learn in DIR-F -- the "basic 5"; "S" drills; non-silting kicks; team orientation; etc.

Rec 2 is an introduction to failures, deeper diving (part of Rec-Triox) and, as I recall, includes a Nitrox card if you don't have one already.

Rec 3 is more failures, deeper diving and may include introducing Helium -- the completion of GUE's Rec-Triox if you will.

IF you can get a class through 5th DX my advice would be, Do It!

 

[Gombessa]

Peter said it best. I've taken Essentials, and it's not an OW class, but it IS a class you can take IMMEDIATELY following OW certification. The only prerequisite is a long-hose setup with necklace octo. Other than that, you can take it in a jacket BC all the way to doubles/can light.

It's not a evaluation-based course, which means it's not pass/fail. It's casual, fun and is meant to introduce you to the concepts of DIR diving (teamwork, drills, kicks, min deco) over the course of 2.5 days (half a day of lecture and two days of OW diving, with video of each dive). I highly recommend it if you're thinking about getting into DIR or Fundies.