When to do DIR-F?

[BarryNL]

I've noticed there's a DIR-F course coming up over here in about a month's time and I'm wondering whether to try and get a place.

What would people recommend as prerequisite experience and skills for taking this course?

Also, does anyone have a link for a detailed description of what goes on in this course (searched here but can't find anything detailed).

 

[scubak]

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[Sloth]

If you are use to a bp/w and a 5 or 7 ft hose and your buoyancy/trim are decent then you should be at a level were you will actually get something out of the course instead of being overloaded.

I went in with 100 dive on a "DIR" rig and the only difficult thing for me was that I went ahead and did the class in doubles even though I had only 5 dives in doubles up to that point. If I had taken it in a single rig it would have been a lot easier.

 

[jjones9527]

As soon as you are comfortable in the equipment, and have a modicum of buoyancy control, its a good time to take it. Don't be afraid of not passing (notice I didn't say fail), as you will come away after 4 days having learned a ton. If you get a provisional pass, you go away and practice your skill and come back a month or so later and repeat the last dive again (I had to do that). If you don't pass, you have to repeat the course over, but its usually little or no cost (or thats what used to happen here).

 

[TSandM]

I think (and this is my personal opinion, from my experience) you need three things to do Fundies: The ability to swim around in the 15 to 25 foot depth range without corking; the ability to hover more or less in the same spot long enough to do a skill (eg. regulator exchange); and enough familiarity with your equipment that it isn't getting in your way. We had students in our class who did not meet those criteria, and I don't think they enjoyed it much, or got a great deal out of it.

As far as exactly what goes on in the class, you can read the course description on the GUE website, which gives you precisely what material is covered, and what skills will be done and evaluated. And HERE is a thread Rick Inman and I wrote, describing our class. Now, this was the old Fundies class, which has since been expanded to include Nitrox and some Rescue skills.

Here and Here are a more recent description of the current class.

 

[*Floater*]

You have 100-199 dives and your gear is DIR-style per your profile, so the sooner you do DIRF the better. I took mine with around 50-60 dives about half of which were in my new bp/w and of those I think most were in doubles - I wanted to take the tech version of DIRF so I started diving doubles as soon as possible to get used the them. However those 20-30 dives I did in my new gear were within 3 weeks of DIRF so it was very recent and I took it in warm water which I assume makes it a little easier.

 

[Bob Sherwood]

Everyone has to start somewhere. I suggest contacting the instructor directly and have disccusion with them. let them know exactly where you are and what your goals are. I'm sure this is the best approach<G> Best, Bob

I've noticed there's a DIR-F course coming up over here in about a month's time and I'm wondering whether to try and get a place.

What would people recommend as prerequisite experience and skills for taking this course?

Also, does anyone have a link for a detailed description of what goes on in this course (searched here but can't find anything detailed).

 

[verybaddiver]

did the course after about 40 odd dives, did fine and passed with a rec pass (on singles), so i don't see much reason for not doing it at any stage

 

[BarryNL]

Everyone has to start somewhere. I suggest contacting the instructor directly and have disccusion with them. let them know exactly where you are and what your goals are. I'm sure this is the best approach<G> Best, Bob

I'll see if I can though it tends to be a bit pot-luck over here. As far as I know there are no native GUE instructors so shops just wait until they have students and then fly an instructor over to give the course.

 

[Doc Harry]

depends: are you going for a rec pass or tech pass?

rec pass: just go for it, learn what you're lacking at the class

tech pass: contact the instructor for details