Brian, thank you.
I have been trying for the last five years to put into electrons, over and over again, why I find this kind of diving to be so compelling and SO worth the effort and the expense. But NOTHING intrigues people as much as the honest and intense enthusiasm of those who pull the trigger to change their gear and their way of thinking, and take the first step.
We DO need reports from folks who are taking the system and using it and seeing the benefits in beyond-the-class diving. But we need the Fundies reports, too.
Maybe you guys can help me with a project I am starting on....It is related to a series of Gear and Training Articles I will be putting together with the new release of the South Florida Dive Journal ( likely in the next week it will show up instead of the last 2001 issue). This is to bring DIR experiences to divers who visit South Florida. I have Errol Kaylaci and Bob Sherwood ( GUE Instructors) working on this with me now, and will likely have several others involved soon.
One of the first instances of this will be near the end of January----Errol and Bob will be doing a South Florida Fundies class, and the weekend after it is completed, we will be doing some very cool dives on sites like the Hole in the Wall, the back rolls of Juno, and some deeper wrecks with huge fish on them. These fun dives will be DIR experience dives, where people who did not do the fundies class, but would like to learn and try a little DIR stuff, will be welcome to dive with us.
Anyway, what I need help with is what you could call a video "shot list" of events or "opportunities" a recreational diver could find themselves in, where having DIR skills ( such as trim and bouyancy) will make a major difference in how much fun they can have/how much adventure they can safely enjoy.
One shot we already did with stills, was of Errol in this 113 foot deep wreck called the Castor, with about 25 big jewfish all over the place....Errol went into a bottom compartment, a low overhang that went in about 15 feet, with several of the big jewfish hanging out in it...at about 4 feet or less off a silty bottom, it is an easy access with only the most minimal of penetration issues--but for a typical recreational diver, as much as they would like to commune with the big fish, they would be bouncing off the top and bottom, silting the place up badly...this makes this a perfect video for our series......
...But I will need many, many more ideas of cool applications of DIR skills for recreational divers..things we can "show" hapenning.
And of course, everyone here is certainly invited to dive with us
Regards,
DanV
