Who should take DIRF

[Dectek]

They may allow audits or attendance of the class in a Seminar situation versus a pass/fail certification. From what I have read about the GUE instructors this will probably not happen but...
Could this lead to a quality of training issue. More time or attention on the diver that wants certification because of perception that this diver is putting a higher value of the DIRF training.

I AM NOT SAYING THIS WILL HAPPEN. I am just talking about the potential. Human nature and all that.

It is a shame that there are so few guys to do the training. The only problem with having larger numbers of instructors is maintaining the quality.

 

[WJL]

I took a DIRF class in July 2002 after less than 15 dives total, including my certification dives. The instructors were completely at ease with my experience level. They said they were happy to teach beginners before they had too many bad habits and unrealistic views of their skills. All the other class members were much more experienced than me, but we all went through the same skills, drills and lectures. If the class had been "pass/fail" I would have failed, but I learned some superb lessons, and was shown what I needed to do to pass. I spent the rest of the summer practicing what I learned. After 60 some dives, I think I could pass the course now, but I still have plenty to learn and perfect.

From my perspective, the best time to take the class is when you're new at diving. Under the recently-announced "pass/fail" certification format, even if you fail you are going to learn what it takes to be "competent, confident, and comfortable" in the water. You will be a better diver, and have more fun diving, if you apply the lessons you learn. It's never too early to learn to do it right.

If you want to go on to take further GUE training, you may have to take the class again and pass it. That seems like a reasonable requirement to me, given the thinking that the certification is supposed to act as a gate-keeper or screener for the more advanced classes GUE offers. GUE wants to assure itself that those taking its more advanced training classes have what it deems the necessary fundamental skills. If you pass the Fundamentals class, you do. If you fail, you don't. If you want advanced GUE training, you have to follow their rules. If you don't want to follow their rules, you will have to get trained somwhere else.

 

[mudguppy]

The more I look into progressing and learning more of scuba, the more I am looking to take the DIRF course! But...I'm not a spring chick anymore.

Are the prerequisites required to take the DIRF training very challenging?
They probably have something on the internet that tells some basic requirements. Maybe I can start working up to where it wouldn't be too physically challenging depending on what they do. Heck, if all these other old geesers can do it, maybe I could someday.

 

[ericfine50]

Here is a link to the GUE site: http://www.gue.com/classroom/standards/2/1.shtml

Eric

 

[ibnygator]

I'm 42 years old and am watching patiently for the first DIRF class that fits my schedule so that I can take the class.

mudguppy once bubbled...
The more I look into progressing and learning more of scuba, the more I am looking to take the DIRF course! But...I'm not a spring chick anymore.

Are the prerequisites required to take the DIRF training very challenging?
They probably have something on the internet that tells some basic requirements.

Here is the website with specifics:
http://www.gue.com/classroom/standards/2/1.shtml

 

[Big-t-2538]

mudguppy once bubbled...
The more I look into progressing and learning more of scuba, the more I am looking to take the DIRF course! But...I'm not a spring chick anymore.

Are the prerequisites required to take the DIRF training very challenging?
They probably have something on the internet that tells some basic requirements. Maybe I can start working up to where it wouldn't be too physically challenging depending on what they do. Heck, if all these other old geesers can do it, maybe I could someday.

you don't need anything other than the long hose, the text, and a willingness to learn...or in my case be a thorn....

 

[MHK]

animian2002 once bubbled...
I have read abt DIR/DIRF from here and I notice that most of the time, the participants are either very experienced recreational divers or cave divers. I have yet to read abt newbie taking DIRF though they are allowed to take and I wonder why :huh:

just out of curiorsity :thinkof:

Who do you guys think best suit to take DIRF and why ??

Animian,

Other then Andrew G I have taught the most DIR-F classes of the instructor core so I feel comfortable speaking to your concerns. We have had a wide variety of newbiw diver's in our classes. In fact, it is not uncommon to have a class where we have 2 or 3 instructors taking the class along with 2 or 3 newbies. In the most extreme case we had one class where we had a diver with 5,000+ dives in the same class as a diver with 9 dives.

I suspect the reason you see fewer trip reports from newbies, is that most of the newbies I run into are unfamiliar with scuba forums such as these, whereas the more experienced diver's that have been around the sport longer frequent scuba forums more often. I have no anecdotal evidence to support that claim, but it's just from field experience so take it for what it's worth.

But I suspect if you take a class you'll understand and see that the wide variety of experience levels are commonplace..

Hope that helps..

Regards

Michael Kane

 

[WreckWriter]

MHK once bubbled...
I suspect the reason you see fewer trip reports from newbies, is that most of the newbies I run into are unfamiliar with scuba forums such as these, whereas the more experienced diver's that have been around the sport longer frequent scuba forums more often. I have no anecdotal evidence to support that claim, but it's just from field experience so take it for what it's worth.

I agree with this, maybe a bit less so in this particular forum than most but still true.

WW

 

[chepar]

MHK once bubbled...
But I suspect if you take a class you'll understand and see that the wide variety of experience levels are commonplace..

I have been interested in taking a DIRF class for improving my skills. However, I admit to having been a little intimidated by my impression that the people taking this class were all very experienced and skilled divers. Okay, more than a little intimidated.

As an example, my skillset as a new diver is not as refined as a DM's or an instructor's - and reading those class reports on the difficulty they had doing the drills had me imagining how out of place I would be . You know, the "if THEY'RE having a hard time, I'll just be laughed out of the class" thought process.

 

[MHK]

chepar once bubbled...


I have been interested in taking a DIRF class for improving my skills. However, I admit to having been a little intimidated by my impression that the people taking this class were all very experienced and skilled divers. Okay, more than a little intimidated.

As an example, my skillset as a new diver is not as refined as a DM's or an instructor's - and reading those class reports on the difficulty they had doing the drills had me imagining how out of place I would be . You know, the "if THEY'RE having a hard time, I'll just be laughed out of the class" thought process.

The idea behind the class is to level the playing field, if you'll allow the term. In fact, I've found that many new diver's pick up the skills quit easily since they haven't had 100's or 1,000's of dives building bad habits that then nned to be broken..

We called it the Fundamental class because the general idea is that we are teaching and/or refining the Fundamental basics of scuba. Some have never learned some of the basics, other's learned them in an inefficient manner, whereas other's may have learned them, but haven't practiced them in a while..

We are in the process of setting up a class in Maui for around May or June so if interested let me know off-line..

Hope that helps..