DIR-F Class this weekend

[ericfine50]

Hi all,
I am taking my DIR-F this weekend in MA. Any last minute tips?

Thanks
Eric

[O-ring]

Watch your buddy skills. That is where we got hammered the most because we basically forgot about buddy and situational awareness because we were concentrating on learning the skills and not watching our team. They don't stress team as much before the first couple of dives, but they hammered us on it and they had a point...regardless of whether or not we had 5 GUE people in the water, we are responsible for our own team...even in a class type environment. If your buddy is doing an S-drill with Andrew, MHK, Dave, JJ, whoever, don't just sit on the bottom and wait for them to come back and take your turn at trying it...ascend with them. Always stay with your buddy team no matter what happens in the class.

Other than that, have a great time and enjoy the class!

[detroit diver]

Don't piss off the videographer!! You'll see what I mean...

Just relax, listen, and have fun. You'll learn a ton. Your instructors are great.

Take sandwiches or something to eat for Sat afternoon. Eat an early dinner tonite before class. Not a lot of time for anything other than dive related for this whole weekend.

Have fun!

[Diverl]

We also got hammered on our buddy skills. The fact that we could not perform the skills perfectly was irrelevant as long as we were trying and paying attention. Lift bag deployment was one of those areas where everything would be going great and then it would go in the crapper really quickly. Everyone would retreat into thier own little world until they had deployed thier lift bags and then look up to find someone missing.

Remeber that your instructors have thousands of dives teaching advanced classes. They are good, really good and you will not be as good. Its not a competition, if you only learn one thing then it is a success.

Have fun!

[divernva]

... go in open-minded and willing to learn. Some of these guys are DRY 30 days out the year. They WILL show you the bar. Accept it and strive towards it.

And all the other stuff people wrote too. Buddy skills, situational awareness, gear properly clipped off, don't piss of the video guy, bring drinks and food...

Definitely, have fun!
Ken

[Joe R.]

The fundamentals class is probably over and sounded really great. I was too late to sign up but start a GUE Tek I on Monday. In Mass. The instructor let me know its going to be 'HARD'. Any pointers? Any success/failure stories. Wish me well!

[detroit diver]

Have you taken the Fundamentals class yet?

If not, may the force be with you. You'll need it.

In fact, I was under the impression that you couldn't take the Tech 1 class without taking the Fundamentals class. I guess I was wrong!

[Uncle Pug]

Have you done an evaluation dive with your GUE instructor prior to the Tech 1 class?!?!

Please keep us posted.

[large_diver]

In our DIR-F class this weekend Andrew mentioned he was going to be doing a Tech 1 starting this week......sounds like you may be spending some time in hathaway's pond like we did this weekend.

I am sure the advice offered above will apply to Tech 1 as well as DIR-F.

The main theme frm this weekend were that buoyancy and trim need to be spot on. Buddy and gear awareness were important as well, but lack of solid buoyancy control was the common thread that seemed to lead to issues. This includes during task-loading (air sharing, valve drills, ascents while air sharing, etc.)

Good luck -- Andrew is an engaging, intelligent and very demanding instructor, regardless of the level you are training at.

[Uncle Pug]

Are you going to give us a blow by blow accounting of your weekend Large Diver???

[large_diver]

UP,

Yes.....but too many things going on at work at the moment. I'll post something over the next few days.

The $0.02 summary is that all of us did a few things right and MANY things wrong......

More to come. I'm sure Eric will have some comments as well.

-Chris

[ericfine50]

Just finished the DID-F class. It was very good to see how things should really look. The video was scary to watch, but know I know what I have to work on and can have a good mental picture about what I should strive for. A lot of information was given out over the 2 1/2 days. LG - wanna pratice anytime soon?

Eric

[ericfine50]

UP.

Lets see, a blow by blow of this weekends DIR-F class. Lecture, grear rigging, dry land drills, dive, video, dive, lecture. We did 2 40 minute dives on Sat. and Sun. with review of the video tape in the evenings.

Gear rigging - We all suited up in our drysuits and undergarments and put our BP one. Then Mike Kane and the other assistants went around to make sure the plates were sized correctly. This took a while and it was HOT standing around in the drysuits.

Dives - All skills
Video - Don't ask :)

Lecture - Review skills, dive planning, team planning, awarness to buddy, enviroment, gas managment.

Overall, a very good class. Gotta go pratice
ERic