when to take DIRF

[tombiowami]

I think 35 dives is the requirement for taking the class. Take it, now. I am taking it in a few weeks.

Tommy

 

[wetman]

The day i stop buying gear is the day i stop diving. I dont think i'll ever have enough. Plus, now i've got lots of friends that have taken diving now (i'm sure just to get me to stop bugging them about taking diving half the time ), so theres always enough gear for those who need it.

And, as far as collecting badges go, i never really looked at it that way. The NAS course was for pure enjoyment, and the rest were mostly for interest and found most of them quite enjoyable too - dont think i'd do a course for any other reason. Plus, most of those courses were with people i know and quite enjoy hanging around.

I love this stuff and can't seem to learn enough about it.

A question about the DIRF course - it seems to me to be a fairly unique course in what it offers - do any of the more advanced courses cover some or all of those items or not?

steve

 

[O-ring]

If you are talking about advanced courses with GUE, no...DIRF is a prerequisite to Tech1/Cave1 and they build from there. I thought I remembered reading somewhere that it did not used to be a mandatory starting point but they were getting too many people enrolling for Tech1/Cave1 that they were having to kick out of the class because their basic skills were unacceptable.

However, I just looked at GUE's site and can't find that it is MANDATORY, but it mentions an equivalent course is required...what would you consider equivalent to DIRF? Certainly not PADI OW...

I would do DIRF first...

 

[tombiowami]

GUE Tech or Cave classes assume you have mastered for the most part the DIRF skills or you get sent home to practice and come back. They will kick you out of class the first day if you are not up to par.

There is a wealth of info along these lines on the GUE website.

Tommy

 

[DNAXdiver]

Yah I guess you might have a point if you look at the DIRF course as an antidote for all the other courses. But I get dismayed as tech comes out of the closet at how many divers are just working their way through the courses without evr doing any diving in between (and I'm not saying that Wetman is one of them) - it makes you wonder what their goal is and if they really enjoy diving or if they are just in love with the gear and the image of themselves as big bad techdivers. You see guys showing up for deep trimix courses who have only a handful of dives that were done outside of a class. No tech course gives the student mastery of the skills being taught - they just give the student the background to start mastering the skills on their own. If the student thinks of each course as just prerequisite to the next, rather than as an invitation or challenge to put the new skills to use and master them before going to the next level they are shortchanging themselves. As it is we are seeing abominations like students turning up for deep trimix courses wearing a drysuit for the first time, or using stages for the very first time on their first 200'+ trimix dive. And accidents.

Originally posted by Uncle Pug
I agree with o-ring... don't waste time learning bad habits... and I will add... stop buying stuff until you have taken the DIRF... that way you will have less to sell on ebay.

btw: you don't get a card after taking the DIRF.... so no worries there about collecting too much plastic

 

[Uncle Pug]

Originally posted by DNAXdiver
But I get dismayed as tech comes out of the closet at how many divers are just working their way through the courses without evr doing any diving in between

It just isn't that way with GUE at all... in fact some folks have to do a bunch of remedial diving before they can even *pass* the DIRF much less pass tech and cave classes...

In fact you could consider DIRF to be remedial diving...

And once you do get to the plastic packin' part you will have to submit yearly logs verifying dives to your cert. level to keep your plastic...

A GUE plastic packer can definitely do the dives listed on the plastic.... competently.

 

[wetman]

Which i think comes back to my orig. question. I likely should have said when/how much/ WHAT KIND of experience...

Not sure i could have done any more diving if i wanted to last year - didnt really start til late july, stopped around the end of dec. and just restarted in april (with 1 in jan). The 80 i did mention were outside of classes. I'd go every day if i could but real life takes precidence unfortunately.

The one thing thats certain is as I get better at certain things I've noticed the diving getting more enjoyable, which is why if theres a course that could point me in a better direction, I think that will help me enjoy this stuff much more. And from what i've seen, the DIRF looks like it may help there. Not even sure i want to go beyond that yet and not even sure i would want to go GUE - and i'm not sure theres even much option up here, i only know of one GUE shop and would use the DIRF course to see if i liked the instructor or not.

steve

 

[DNAXdiver]

OK you aren't one of them (sigh of relief) but my point is still well taken

Let us know how the DIRF goes!

Originally posted by wetman
The 80 i did mention were outside of classes. I'd go every day if i could but real life takes precidence unfortunately.
steve

 

[PA/NJdiver]

I just took the DIRF course this past weekend with Andrew. We had a guy in the class that only had 25 dives. Even though his skills were not good, he now knows what to work on and what to strive towards. There is no sense wasting any time. Take the class and then practice your butt off. You won't regret it. By the way, Andrew teaches his OW students to do the skills we did in the DIRF class.

I highly recommend this class to everyone.

Stacey