Why YOU should take DIR-F (Fundies)...

[Peter Guy]

I guess my question is threefold.

1. What are the skills that are learned in DIR-F?

Without going into it in any great detail (that has been done many times and you can actually get all the information from the GUE website), the "skills" are how to handle task loading without losing buoyancy, trim or your teammates (buddies).

2. Is there a subset of those skills that would be appropriate for photography?

IF you believe (as I do) that maintaining buoyancy, trim and team awareness while task loaded is important, then no, there isn't a subset of skills. (Note, the actual skills you learn, air shares (S-drills), SMB deployment, valve drills in reality are more for task loading than the acts themselves -- although the acts ARE safety related -- but the non-silting kicks are good in and of themselves.) In photography, to "Do It Right" you need to be able to maintain your position without losing your teammates AND without damaging the environment (although I do know a certain photog who maintains that the environment is secondary to the shot!) -- and that means being very good at maintaining buoyancy and "appropriate trim" (which may be upside down) while getting the shot and knowing where the team is (which is a lot of task loading).

3. What level of proficiency is really required?

Whatever it takes for you to be satisfied -- if the Card is not important.

As to whether there is some other class that teaches these skills either for photographers OR for recreational divers, I only know of Breakthrough Diving's Essentials -- which is "DIR-F" in workshop form. My cave instructor asked, "Doesn't PADI's "Peak Perfomance Buoyancy" teach this?" I could only smile.

 

[lamont]

Actually no.

The DIR forum is now open to debate DIR. Its the new DIR practitioners forum where you have to tow the line.

Trolling and flamebait is still not allowed though. The only real moderation which has been done so far on the DIR forum, AFAIK, has been removing a few posts that were blatant troll/flamebait.

 

[francousteau]

Trolling and flamebait is still not allowed though. The only real moderation which has been done so far on the DIR forum, AFAIK, has been removing a few posts that were blatant troll/flamebait.

Crap! I was just starting to get cranked up too. J/K

 

[b1gcountry]

My cave instructor asked, "Doesn't PADI's "Peak Perfomance Buoyancy" teach this?" I could only smile.

It really should.

I would really like to take the fundies course, as you said, not because it's DIR, just because I think it would be a good evaluation, and challenging. The problem is I don't think you can get a good course experience if you had to rush it into a weekend, and we really don't have any instructors in the Midwest that I could find (and CERTAINLY not through a dive shop.) Most of the locals I've found who have taken it have gone down to Florida. If I could find someone local, I would have already taken it.

Tom

 

[TSandM]

Tom, Ed Gabe is in Kentucky, which albeit not local to you, is not THAT far away. He posts on SB from time to time as GUEdiver, and he's always struck me as a good guy.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I took Fundies ... twice ... and not for the usual reasons. Up to that point I'd been diving with DIR-trained divers for a while and figured I had all the requisite skills anyway (turns out I figured wrong).

My reason for taking Fundies the first time was that I had recently become a NAUI instructor, and was on a "mission" to pick up teaching tricks and skills that I could then pass on to my students. Not that I particularly wanted to teach DIR-style ... but they have a different way of looking at things than the mainstream classes do, and I figured that difference in perspective was worth having (turns out I was right about that, at least).

In some respects I was disappointed with the class ... as Peter observed, the class was more about evaluation than actually teaching ... and it felt incredibly "rushed" to me. Nonetheless, I learned something valuable, both in terms of my own diving skills and in terms of how to design in-water exercises for my students.

A year later I took the class again ... primarily because I was unhappy with my own performance the first time thru ... figured I wasn't going to get over it until I went out and proved to myself that I was better than that ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Matt S.]

Yes, you won't know some stuff that a "good diver" should know (gas management being a big one), but you'll be a safe diver and have fun while you're doing it.

You can learn about gas management without taking a DIR class. I went to Bob's seminar while I was still a PADI OW student, because even back then it seemed crazy to me that no gas management was taught.

 

[GreenDiverDown]

You can learn about gas management without taking a DIR class.

You can learn all of this without taking a DIR class.

 

[JeffG]

You can learn all of this without taking a DIR class.

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...don't let out the genie.

Do I have to ban you from this forum?




Mind you, I haven't found it anywhere else, but in theory it sounds good.

 

[GreenDiverDown]

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...don't let out the genie.

Do I have to ban you from this forum?




Mind you, I haven't found it anywhere else, but in theory it sounds good.

I'm just talking about the things that Peter listed... not the whole DIR thing.

There are, of course, other pathways to a successful cave training experience other than DIRF. In fact, as great is DIRF is, there are some things that even it can't offer that would be of benefit to a diver planning on cave training.