Who should take DIRF

[DiverBuoy]

Ok SeaJay what happened? And what "non-DIR" gear are we talking about that Mike had to overcome the "minor annoyances" of?

 

[Dr. Jay]

I guess my general strategy will be to slowly migrate towards the DIR/GUE deal as far as the gear config goes. I'll stick with what I've got for now and concentrate on getting skills and experience. I'd like to set a goal to pass the class the first time I take it, thanks to all the helpful info I've found here.

Nice carpenter analogy

I'd also be interested to hear about the "annoyance adventure".

 

[MHK]

Dr. Jay once bubbled...

Nice carpenter analogy

I'd also be interested to hear about the "annoyance adventure".

Gald you liked that one ;-)

If you read SeaJay's trip report you'll see what I'm talking about ;-).. SeaJay is a much better writer then I am so it's best in his own words ;-)

Let me know if I can help any further..

Regards

 

[SeaJay]

Originally posted on the "DIR-F: The Truth Comes Out" thread:

...I knew right away that I'd have a problem the moment that I deflated my wing completely and still bobbed like a cork. Having dealt with this situation before, and not wanting to miss the class, I headed down anyway, knowing that I was going to be light and floaty the whole time, but that once that 5 mil of suit compressed, I probably wouldn't be too bad off.

My buddy and I immediately settled into the correct "prone" position, like we were taught. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn't that far off from what I'd been doing anyway. I did have one problem, though... I had placed my tank a little high, and was whacking myself in the back of the head with the valve. Ouch. Having to keep my head cocked to one side or down a little was throwing my position out a bit.

I wasn't down there but for about thirty seconds (around 20') when I got a bit out of trim and was quickly upside-down and floating to the surface. I knew the problem... Not enough weight... And so I hardly resisted. I signalled to MHK that I'd be back in a second, but he came up to check on me anyway.

"You looked great there for a few seconds... What happened?"

Pretty embarrassed because of the silly-looking fin-first float, I said, "I didn't get enough weight to compensate for this thicker suit... I'll be right back."

I adjusted the belt from 16 to a whopping 20 pounds... It was a pain just trying to keep the thing on with all of that weight in there.

Ah, well... No matter. Back in the water. I'm sinking. Cool. Now maybe I won't look so goofy...

Okay... Down. Signal to MHK. Do a frog around a bit (hey, this works great! I thought I had been doing the frog correctly before...) and then start to practice an OOA. *Pop.* I'm at the surface. What the heck?

Okay, down again. Good thing we were only in 20 feet of water. Do an OOA drill (what they call an "S drill.") My buddy and I approach each other... I am out of air... She hands me her reg, and we conk heads, stand up vertically, and while we're trying to get our reg situation correct, we bob to the surface. How embarrassing.

I couldn't do anything that they asked me to... And it's not like they asked me to do anything extraordinary... Simply show trim... Buoyancy... Do an "out of air." It was horrible. I was horrible.

I swear, I've never dived so badly in my whole life. And when I looked over after having all of these problems and saw Jay, our friendly neighborhood cameraman, filming my flailing limbs... Well, I just about lost it.

"Okay, stop," I thought. "Good. Now... Prone position. Good. Hey, howcome I'm bobbing at the surface AGAIN?" Just like that, I'd nailed my coffin shut like sixteen times in sixteen minutes. I was terrible.

That last time I popped to the surface, I didn't go back down. I had tried all of the obvious things... Dumping air, adding weight... Body position... But I just wasn't finding the right combination of things. I mean, I could see very clearly that I was seriously an accident waiting to happen.

And here's the part that really got my blood boiling... I'm a Rescue Diver. I'm supposed to be able to save people. Supposed to be able to drop from a helicopter into raging seas and save damsels in distress, right? I mean, it was bad. And I was really embarrassed. I was completely out of control.

My mind raced with thoughts of giving up and changing my name... Moving back to the desert where I belonged, away from water, which apparently was my enemy. I wondered how it had been that I hadn't killed myself yet, and then it dawned on me...

Must be the gear.

I can't be that terrible. I've never had these problems before...

While there may be some truth to the fact that I'd never dived this rig before, and that I was having some serious weighting issues... And while there might have been some truth to the fact that 5 mil was about twice what I was accustomed to, and that in only 20 feet of water, it was definitely working against me in the buoyancy-stability department... The problem wasn't the suit or the weight or the rig... The problem was that I couldn't handle it.

I made it to shallow water and took my rig off. Around the time that I was getting it clear of my shoulders, I heard a "ppppffffffttttt..."

Wait a minute. Something's leaking. Ohmygosh. So that's it. Something's leaking. Well, that would explain why I do fine and then all of a sudden I blow to the surface. Maybe the inflator valve is leaking into the bladder.

That's when MHK popped up. He could see in my face that I was really upset. I've never been so embarrassed in my whole life, and I started to think back about the things I could have said here on the board or in person, where I argued a point or talked to someone as if I had a clue about diving. My performance showed that clearly, I had no business anywhere near the water, much less giving advice on it.

"Goddam thing's leaking!" I said, angrily. "Shoots me up to the surface here and there... Listen."

He listened... "Yeah, I hear that, but it's leaking slightly OUT, not IN..."

I was so ticked, I couldn't even see straight. If he was right, then I really just sucked as a diver. And with my skills, training, and the hundred or so dives that I've done, if I am THAT bad, I need to get out of the water. Permenantly.

My tank had never been so light. It came off of me, and I think I actually threw it, from shallow water, onto the dock. It sailed nicely. Okay, that's an exaggeration... But the point is that I was at that point where the adrenaline was going, I was really mad, and 40 pounds of gear felt like 5. You know that point.

I was steamed. Big time. Angry at the gear, angry at the situation. Angry that I'd been sucked into paying this kind of money for some stupid cult class. Angry at me, angry at my buddy, and angry at MHK. Angry at the bird in the tree. Angry at God. Angry at the stupid little fishie that had followed me around, looking for food. Certainly this was his fault. If HE hadn't been BUMMIN' FOR FOOD, then maybe I'd have been able to concentrate!

I'm not a stupid guy. I knew I wasn't handling this well. I needed to take a time-out before I really embarrassed myself.

"You okay?" MHK asked.

"No! Stupid diving. Maybe I just need to get the hell out of the water for good. I swear, Mike, I'm not this bad."

"I've seen worse."

"What?! Worse?!! I wanted you to come up and say, 'Hey, you're not far from being really good...' I can't believe this. Mike, I swear, I'm a really great diver. I live for this stuff, man. It's gotta be the gear..."

"You need a few minutes to cool off?"

"Yes I do, Goddammit!"

...And so I walked over to the edge of the dock, crossed my arms, and stared into the water for 45 minutes. I don't know what was more embarrassing... My lack of skill ("must be the equipment") or the fact that I was pouting like this. But maaaaan, was I ticked. I had to do this just so I wouldn't throw a tantrum.

After cooling off a bit, I grabbed my gear and headed back up with the rest of the group, who was discussing technique and such. All of the students had this look on their faces like they'd been totally defeated. Nobody thought they did well... And these were dive shop owners, University instructors, and well-educated cave divers. I found a little solace in that, but it wasn't much.

MHK was very cool about all of it. "Okay, now?"

"Yes, but I'm sure there really is something wrong with this rig. It's leaking IN, not OUT."

So we deflated the bladder completely and let it sit for 15 minutes. It did not inflate on it's own.

"See?" He said.

"Then YOU dive it. YOU check it out... I am SURE there's something wrong with it. I am diving with a jacket next time, like I was taught in my Open Water classes. This backplate crap is for the birds."

Ten minutes later, I was watching him maintain perfect balance, control, trim and buoyancy with my "stupid rig." Meanwhile, I floated like a cork, in a perfectly vertical position, with a rented jacket-style BC hanging around my ears. He looked up and me and shrugged. I could see him thinking, "Nothing wrong with this rig..."

Sheesh. So that meant that I really did suck as bad as I thought. I've never been so embarrassed in my life.

"It's not your fault," MHK said. "You're beating yourself up too much over this. You were never taught any of this stuff in PADI class. This is all completely new to you."

Let's just put it this way:

The equipment means very little. Period. If I were to do this class all over again (and I will), I would probably rent/borrow a backplate and wing, only because one of those are simply better suited for the situation. Of course, I wouldn't need to do that at this point, since I now own my own. But if I didn't have my own, I'd rent or borrow, and take the class... 'Cause the gear don't make no difference.

See, I went to the class in order to decide what sort of gear I should purchase. Months ago, when it came time to commit to buying my own gear (and I'd done some 100 dives on rented stuff) I was looking around for answers and ran into this board. Of course, that introduced me to backplates and wings, which introduced me to DIR... Which meant that I really needed to decide on a dive philosophy before I could commit $1000 or more to gear... (Who am I kidding... I had my eye on a hoseless computer, too, so maybe I was looking to commit closer to $2000 or even $2500!) The dive philosophy decision, of course, led to DIR-F.

...So I really took the class in order to explore more about the whole dive style; what GUE calls a "holistic" form of diving, meaning "all encompassing." I was really floored with the results.

I'm just getting around to buying my gear now. I dove with borrowed gear at DIR-F and it wasn't the best... But it was adequate. It was my skills that needed all the help.

My recommendation? Well, I'm no expert (like a lot of these guys), but...

I would rent what I could, ask very nicely to borrow what I couldn't, and take the class. That's the important thing.

What did I decide?

Well, I decided I needed a lot more practice.

I decided I needed to quit smoking.

I decided I needed to change my diet to be healthier.

I decided I needed to expect more from myself and simultaneously pressure myself less.

I decided I needed to accept that I'm not perfect, but to learn more so that I can strive for that more and more every day.

I decided that the person who thought that they were the expert simply didn't know how much more there was to learn.

I decided that I needed to have the consistency of owning my own gear regardless of what kind of gear it was, and that renting was hurting my progress.

I decided that I needed to work out.

I decided that I needed to stop blaming everything else.

I decided that I needed a lot more work.

...And I decided I needed a bp/wing, long hose, Jet fins, and a clue, and that these would far surpass a "tech" BC, computer (and redundant computer), the latest "splits," and a Spare Air and/or integrated octo.

It's about the skills, man. DIR-F won't teach them to you, either... DIR-F will show you where to get them, and point you in the right direction. DIR-F will enable you to understand so that you can practice and obtain the skills yourself. DIR-F will empower you.

Without it, well... You just ain't empowered. You're just missing the big picture. Sure, you can breathe underwater, but you aren't really diving until you get the basic skills... And that's exactly what DIR-F will do for you.

Where's the equipment come into play here?

It's not the equipment's fault.

And when things go right (after lots of practice), it's not the equipment's credit, either.

It's about you, man. It's all about you.

 

[animian2002]

:wavey: Nothing beats the golden words from the instructor himself and those who actually been thru the DIRF class

I'm relieved to hear that there are newbies taking DIRF too. I guess you are all right abt newbies being less exposed to DIR and scuba forum like this.

Guess I'm one of those lucky :newbie: who was introduced to DIR and forum like this since the very beginning when I 1st started diving

I was tempted to take DIRF to improve my skills but like Chepar, I was intimidated by my impression that the people taking this class were all very experienced and skilled divers. Cos with only 25++ dives under my belt, I'm afraid that I might not be able to handle what those experienced and skilled divers had been thru and had a hard time

But I guess like what Big-t-2538 had said that so long one has the long hose , text and a will to have an open mind, I think everyone will do just fine .Afterall the Fundamental class is where one is taught and/or refined the Fundamental basics of scuba

 

[DiverBuoy]

SeaJay thanks for the detail. I read the original story but never paid close enough attention to the detail about MHK taking your rig and working the magic. Conclusion: A great diver can make mediocre equipment look great.

 

[Aquabella]

I'm glad you dragged your story up SeaJay, otherwise I might have missed it! Bravo!

so...much...to...read...can't...catch...up...:read: :worried: pant...pant

Awesome thread.

 

[JustAddWater]

SeaJay,
My exposure to DIR has been only an outsider's curiosity; but your account and elaboration was well said.

 

[jlwagner]

MHK once bubbled...


Gald you liked that one ;-)

If you read SeaJay's trip report you'll see what I'm talking about ;-).. SeaJay is a much better writer then I am so it's best in his own words ;-)

Let me know if I can help any further..

Regards

But you never covered how Chaos Theory plays into this entire topic?? I am personally appalled. What can I say?? Seriously though, sorry I missed you guys this morning, I saw your car there, but you were not at the chamber. Hope you didn't bubble on the plane.... ;-) Talk to you later...James Wagner

jlwagner@nc.rr.com