DIR Fundamentals & Tech 1 trip report

[mlloyd]

Posted on my website at:
http://mlloyd.homedns.org

Location: Croatia.

Direct link to report: http://mlloyd.homedns.org/croatia.htm

[detroit diver]

Nice review, and great pictures!!

[Campana]

What's your next course?

[Uncle Pug]

....how easy Andrew is on you guys during his travel classes...

Shirts that say "I survived Tech 1" wouldn't sell in Seattle... nobody survives!!!

[Tavi]

my original comment has been deleted, as I didnt want it being taken the wrong way.

:hiding:


why would the same course with the same instructor be easier somewhere else??

edited by Tavi, 3:40, June 16th

[mlloyd]

I have no idea what my next course is. I have so much to apply from this one that it will keep me busy for at least a year or two.

[Uncle Pug]

Originally posted by Tavi
why would the same course with the same instructor be easier somewhere else??
[/SIZE]
... it is because conditions here are so much more difficult that he is harder on the locals so they will be prepared to handle it.

I think it might also have to do with the fact that travel students cannot go out practice for a few weeks and come back for an evaluation.

We have received what I feel is an incredible amount of Andrew's time for the price.

[Tavi]

Makes sense.
It's good to know that there are instructors who tailor the course to the area being dived.


I hope to do DIRF with my son when he gets some more experience.

[Divesherpa]

In the PNW, you don't have any choice but to tailor to the area being dived. I only recently came to the realization that most people in the PNW begin in a wet suit.
I can't imagine putting students in the water in in a wetsuit, especially in the winter.

The conditions are much more intense, so DIRF should be much more intense. When in Alaska, I managed to get a Halcyon dealership, which is why I have so much Halcyon stuff laying around. We attempted to arouse interest in a DIR class, but the people I was diving with didn't want to learn from a PRETTY boy. (Their words, not mine). Deep air is the norm due to the lack of access to Helium. 10 footers are fairly normal and it's not uncommon to surface in 15 footers. PNW is a far stretch from the east coast.
Did I mention 20+ foot tidal changes?

[large_diver]

Actually Sherp, the northern east coast of North America (Bay of Fundy) also has tidal changes that average 20+ feet......

[O-ring]

Was yours the class where the guy toxed because he didn't analyze his back gas and was breathing 50% instead of 30/30 trimix (tanks were marked 30/30)?

I heard Andrew had to rescue him when he convulsed...

[Fetch]

Unless there were 2 classes in Croatia at nearly the same time, that was the class.

The oxtox in question happened to the LDS owner, who also mixed (and recorded as analyzed, even though no analysis was done) gases for the trip.

He flubbed, and got the lead for an O2 tank, and topped his tank with that instead of He.

Thankfully, his was the only tank he mis-mixed, and he recovered after a trip to the local hospital.

quest is a useful mailing list :)

Jeff


Originally posted by O-ring
Was yours the class where the guy toxed because he didn't analyze his back gas and was breathing 50% instead of 30/30 trimix (tanks were marked 30/30)?

I heard Andrew had to rescue him when he convulsed...

[O-ring]

quest is a useful mailing list

I really should get on there...been putting it off...heard this from somebody and wasn't sure it was genuine...

[mlloyd]

Yes, this was the same class. The diver was not a dive shop owner, only the organizer of the class.

[Okiecaver]

Link does not work anymore:(

dive safe
Brock

PS then again, it could just be Okie Paranoia

(gawd, I hate this state!)

[mlloyd]

No, my fault, fixed.

[Okiecaver]

Entered through the "What's New" page.

Dive safe
Brock