Why not Fundies?

[jonnythan]

However the main reason is that to be quite honest I don't believe my skills are up to the challenge of such a class. It certainly has the reputation for being very demanding. Perhaps in a couple of years I might be in a postion to give it a try.

What an awful reason.

Really.

It's a class, not a test. The entire point is that they *teach you* how to hone your skills. There's no point "practicing" stuff you were never taught how to do. You will only ingrain bad habits and make it that much harder to learn how to do stuff later.

I suggest that people take the class as soon as they can, preferably with less than 50 dives. They *teach you the fundamentals*. End of story. The whole idea is that it is assumed that you don't know the fundamentals.

 

[jbd]

Regarding equipment--I took the DIRF course using a jacket BC. The only equipment that was absolutely required by the instructor was the long hose and bungeed 2nd stage so I could do the air sharing scenarios. Other than those changes to my gear everything, mask, fins, weight belt etc, etc was my standard recreational gear.

It was a good class, well taught by very knowledgeable, skilled divers that had great personalities.

 

[cerich]

the longer you wait the more you will have to relearn...

of course there are other options other than GUE to get the same level of training without the "DIR" stigma, in fact I know a few instructors on here that are more than up to the task.

 

[bradshsi]

I suggest that people take the class as soon as they can, preferably with less than 50 dives. They *teach you the fundamentals*. End of story. The whole idea is that it is assumed that you don't know the fundamentals.

So by your metric, would you recommend people directly out of OW should take this class ?

 

[bradshsi]

Regarding equipment--I took the DIRF course using a jacket BC. The only equipment that was absolutely required by the instructor was the long hose and bungeed 2nd stage so I could do the air sharing scenarios. Other than those changes to my gear everything, mask, fins, weight belt etc, etc was my standard recreational gear.

It was a good class, well taught by very knowledgeable, skilled divers that had great personalities.

I've read this before (that gear requirements were minimal). However this was contradicted by other people. Also if you look at the GUE web site, they are very explicit about what gear is required.

 

[jonnythan]

So by your metric, would you recommend people directly out of OW should take this class ?

I don't think so, no. Everyone is different, but you should have at least a handful of dives under your belt just to be used to being underwater. This way you can actually focus on your trim and finning instead of being preoccupied with just breathing and how weird your wetsuit feels or whatever.

 

[jonnythan]

I think jbd took his class "way back in the day" before the gear requirements solidified a bit.

 

[jbd]

Bradshi,
I have to agree with jonnythan--don't worry about your skills being up to par to take the class. If you already had the skills there would be no point in taking the class

The class exists to elevate skills where skills are lacking or not to the level they are hoping to get people.

The instructors and staff are up front but honest about critiqueing your performance but its solely for the purpose of giving you a base of knowledge from which you can work from to improve your skills and abilities.

 

[bradshsi]

I don't think so, no. Everyone is different, but you should have at least a handful of dives under your belt just to be used to being underwater. This way you can actually focus on your trim and finning instead of being preoccupied with just breathing and how weird your wetsuit feels or whatever.

So I'm a slow learner and not a natural underwater. For me 50 dives is too few (75-100 seems about right. At the rate I dive this is 1-2 years worth, since I have to date 30 dives).

You might not agree with it (as you are certainly entitled to do), but it's a pace that I'm comfortable with. I'm sure for others 20 dives would be a sufficient intro.

 

[PerroneFord]

He also said "DON'T do something one way just because JJ does it like that. YOU need to understand why we like it like that, before you use it."

Most people on the internet who push DIR seem to blindly follow the idea without thinking--I believe that those people are NOT DIR, because of that. They aren't thinking for themselves--and GUE's biggest push is to create thinking divers.

You know it's funny. I was fortunate enough to trick JJ into doing my Fundies class. I took it with about 20 dives under my belt. I was awful. I mean REALLY awful. But what I got back from that class was amazing. I am quite pleased with my diving now, some 45 dives later.

I spent quite a lot of time talking to JJ about the whole "internet DIR" thing and he is somewhat taken aback by how it's morphed into this thing it is. The idea of creating thinking divers is what he wanted. However, the idea of creating a team ethos is also important at the basis of DIR.

More than anything else DIR is about having a core of fundamental skills upon which to build as you go forward in diving. Whether that be taking photos on a reef, or doing deep cave penetration. The ability to stop, hover, turn around with your hand full, ascend and descend smoothly, hold a stop without grabbing a line, and fin without disturbing the bottom, are skills ALL divers should have.

The ridiculous ideas I see people talk about on the internet (out of context) just crack me up. The supposed truism that you cannot wear a computer and be DIR. Of COURSE you can. Or that you have to wear Jetfins, or that you have to do ANYTHING. I remember a coversation someone was having about how sidemount is not DIR. Sure it is. Or it can be. The WKPP guys did sidemount.

But these DIR "truisms" taken out of context fall flat on their face. I have yet to meet any of the "arrogant DIR" types that I read about so often from the Anti-DIR crowd. I'm sure there are some arrogant types out there, but they exist in all agencies.

Lynne, you posed a good question. But like others, I think the real issue for many is the cost of the gear. Had I not started out with an eye toward DIR/Hog, it would have been prohibitively expensive for me to go that route for DIR-F. I think the Essentials class, or something that attempts to teach the skills without having to dive the Hog rig, would be far more palatable to many divers.