Really Bummed

[b1gcountry]

:tongue:

If we're not off topic, we're not trying.

 

[Cerge]

Hi Cerge,

No reason to feel bad, and it is pretty common not to get a pass on the first try.
Did you feel like you learned from the experience? Do you feel like you know why you didn't pass, and what you need to improve on?
If you want to continue down the DIR path, just keep diving, have fun, dive with other DIR divers, and practice what needs to be brushed up. Don't get caught up in the bad feelings and think you are in some kind of race or mission to pass. Putting that kind of pressure on yourself serves no purpose.
Good luck to you.

Great feedback, thank you. I feel so much better with all the support all of you have given me. That is what makes GUE and DIR so great, it's all about the team....

 

[Cerge]

If you are an instructor, then you have the perfect "laboratory" in which to practice these skills on a regular basis - the pool sessions for your classes. An additional benefit is that some of that same attitude towards becoming a better diver will no doubt rub off on your students, probably making them more competent as well.

Great point - anyways, what is the hurry really.

 

[Cerge]

It took me six months to get a Rec pass from Fundies, and another year to get a Tech pass.

What's cool is that you now know where the bar is . . . It's an eye-opener (or was for me) to find out that ordinary people CAN be that precise and controlled and aware in the water. And you can do it, too, if you practice. I guarantee it, because I can, and I'm about as horribly untalented a diver as ever took to underwater. The key to gaining these skills is being willing to put in the work to get them, and having good buddies to do the work WITH. And if you are in SoCal, you won't lack for the latter.

And the good news is that the practice you need doesn't require devoting whole dives to drilling (although we all fall in that trap a bit, I think). Every dive you do, you can work on your trim, work on being still in the water, use your back kick (or keep trying, anyway), try to hone your awareness and your communication, use those kicks you learned . . . And, most importantly, you can debrief. The debrief is one of the most powerful things in the DIR canon, because the feedback you get is SO useful in directing the practice you do.

It's very easy to look at DIR instructors and think, "Oh, they must be special people, and I'll never look like that." But it simply isn't true. They all learned it, and so can you.

Thanks so much!

 

[Cerge]

I think it's harder for more experienced divers to pass Fundies than less experienced ones.

Don't feel bummed ... I took Fundies after becoming a NAUI instructor. At the time I had almost 1,000 dives, and had been diving with DIR types for a few years.

I still got a provisional.

I eventually passed, but it took some practice to reinforce behaviors I wasn't used to.

Stick with it ... if your experience turns out anything like mine, you'll look back on it later as a great learning experience.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

This post was very encouraging for me.... Thanks.

 

[gxsr_sarge]

Maybe this should be split out into a different thread, as in danger of getting to far off topic???

OK.... So then what's the best way to attach an argon bottle....

 

[Bismark]

Cerge, consider this: If you are partway through building a skyscraper and you realize that the foundation won't support the rest of the building, what do you do? Do you keep right on building a skycraper that is resting on a shoddy foundation? Or do you revisit the foundation and then continue building, knowing that the remaining construction will be built upon a foundation that will support it?

Seems to me like you realized that you needed to revisit the foundation, and that in itself is a huge challenge for a lot of people, and one too many people ignore and press on, building upon a shoddy foundation. As others have said, you know where the bar is now, and most importantly, you know what you have to do to get there. It won't take you that long but if you don't mind another metaphor, one step backwards will provide you with many steps forward. You already did the hard part in that you recognized you had a problem. Now you are doing the logical thing and correcting that problem. That is how we all learn. The real value in Fundamentals is in showing you where the bar actually is, and providing you with a road map to get there. You need several things to plan a journey, and your starting point is one of them. It is neither good nor bad, it is just "there".

Good luck.

 

[Mike Manthe]

Cerge, if you feel real bad just watch the DSAT TecRec Equipment Setup and Skills DVD. Lots of skills performed while kneeing on the floor, poor trim, etc. After watching the DVD I'm sure you'll find that your performance was much better....

Even after 2k dives and TMX-trained through several agencies I found the Fundamentals course worth every cent. It was not the big "Aha" but a fine tuning of skills and team awareness.


@gxsr_sarge: Just come over the pond. In our divecenter you'll look like any other instructor

 

[sam1]

Two weeks ago, I was in High Springs, FL taking the Fundies class. There were three of us in the class. All were experienced divers, albeit with different levels of experience. One had some prior experience with the DIR gear configuration, one had none, and I had done 15 dives with the BP/W but had no experience with with the long hose or paddle fins. None of us passed (not even provisionally). On the second day of diving we were pretty discouraged; the third day we had improved, but not enough to pass (or even to try all of the skills).

 

[gxsr_sarge]

Two weeks ago, I was in High Springs, FL taking the Fundies class. There were three of us in the class. All were experienced divers, albeit with different levels of experience. One had some prior experience with the DIR gear configuration, one had none, and I had done 15 dives with the BP/W but had no experience with with the long hose or paddle fins. None of us passed (not even provisionally). On the second day of diving we were pretty discouraged; the third day we had improved, but not enough to pass (or even to try all of the skills).

Was that with Doug?