Rec Triox Requirements

If you take the DIR-F course and receive a provisional rating, are you allowed to take the Recreational Triox course, or do you have to wait until you can pass the skills again on the Fundamentals course?

I am going to complete the Fundamentals course in June and I would like to take the Rec Triox later in the summer.

Thank you.

You have to pass the Fundamentals class before you can move on.

ghrousseau:

If you take the DIR-F course and receive a provisional rating, are you allowed to take the Recreational Triox course, or do you have to wait until you can pass the skills again on the Fundamentals course?

I am going to complete the Fundamentals course in June and I would like to take the Rec Triox later in the summer.

Thank you.

Click to expand...

George,

One of the primary purposes of making the DIR-F class a pass/fail class, versus the workshop style format originally used, was to ensure that as students progress to upper level classes that they have the "fundamentals" squared away. Beyond the scope of future GUE classes, "passing" the DIR-F class means little. I tell my students all the time to ignore worrying about "passing" the DIR-F class. The true value of the DIR-F class is the introduction of why we do what we do, how we do it, and the way we break it down for you step by step in order to allow you to properly practice after the class. Consider this analogy, if a golfer had built up a significant amount of bad habits over the years, or was just introduced to the sport, and then spent 3 days with Tiger Woods, would that golfer walk away at the end of the weekend a great golfer? Or would that golfer walk away after that weekend with a new set of skills to practice, and the ability to correct his game?

I start out all of my class [ BTW are you joining us tonight for the opening night ;-)] by saying " In 3 days I can't wave a magic wand and make you great divers. What I can do is teach you how and what to practice".

Hope that helps.

Regards,


Michael Kane

ghrousseau:

If you take the DIR-F course and receive a provisional rating, are you allowed to take the Recreational Triox course, or do you have to wait until you can pass the skills again on the Fundamentals course?

I am going to complete the Fundamentals course in June and I would like to take the Rec Triox later in the summer.

Click to expand...

After you will have taken Fundamentals, you'll know you will have a hard time in *any* GUE course. And if your skills are not good enough to pass Fundamentals, any course beyond that level will practically be impossible.

I am going to register with Marc Hall for the San Diego June fundamentals class. The reason I asked the question was because the GUE website showed the following under prerequisites for Rec Triox:



3. Must have taken the GUE DIR Fundamentals or a GUE Cave, Tech, or Rebreather class


Other classes like Tech 1 show the prerequisites as:

3. Must be GUE DIR Fundamentals qualified

I thought there was a distiction between "must have taken DIR F" and "must be GUE DIR F qualified."

Anyway, I hope your current class goes well, and I am looking forward to my June class in San Diego.

Thanks.

MHK:

George,

One of the primary purposes of making the DIR-F class a pass/fail class, versus the workshop style format originally used, was to ensure that as students progress to upper level classes that they have the "fundamentals" squared away. Beyond the scope of future GUE classes, "passing" the DIR-F class means little. I tell my students all the time to ignore worrying about "passing" the DIR-F class. The true value of the DIR-F class is the introduction of why we do what we do, how we do it, and the way we break it down for you step by step in order to allow you to properly practice after the class. Consider this analogy, if a golfer had built up a significant amount of bad habits over the years, or was just introduced to the sport, and then spent 3 days with Tiger Woods, would that golfer walk away at the end of the weekend a great golfer? Or would that golfer walk away after that weekend with a new set of skills to practice, and the ability to correct his game?

I start out all of my class [ BTW are you joining us tonight for the opening night ;-)] by saying " In 3 days I can't wave a magic wand and make you great divers. What I can do is teach you how and what to practice".

Hope that helps.

Regards,


Michael Kane

Click to expand...

ghrousseau:

The reason I asked the question was because the GUE website showed the following under prerequisites for Rec Triox:

3. Must have taken the GUE DIR Fundamentals or a GUE Cave, Tech, or Rebreather class

Other classes like Tech 1 show the prerequisites as:

3. Must be GUE DIR Fundamentals qualified

I thought there was a distiction between "must have taken DIR F" and "must be GUE DIR F qualified."

Click to expand...

I suspect the reason for any potential confusion is as a result of the fact that the DIR-F class was once a workshop based style class, meaning that is wasn't a pass/fail class. Given the transitional issue GUE HQ felt that it would be inappropriate to, in essence, penalize any students that took the class under the workshop style paradigm. In other words, had we worded the standard that you must have taken, and passed, the DIR-F class, any student that took the class under the workshop style format would not have the opportunity to enter upper level GUE classes. Generally speaking, after you've sat through the class, I hope what you quickly conclude is that what is important isn't the c-card that indicates that you've passed the class, but what is of tantamount importance is the requisite skills that are introduced during the DIR-F class.

Hope that helps.

Regards,

oops, wrong forum. sorry

Reinoud:

After you will have taken Fundamentals, you'll know you will have a hard time in *any* GUE course. And if your skills are not good enough to pass Fundamentals, any course beyond that level will practically be impossible.

Click to expand...

No kidding :11:

When I took DIRf, it was because it was a prerequisite for Tech1, which was my goal. Even though I passed DIRf when I took it, I then realized that my skills were nowhere near good enough for any tech classes. So for the next 5 months I incorporated skills practice into nearly every dive I did. Then when I signed up for Tech1, I managed to talk the best mentor I know of, who's also Tech1 certified, into doing a couple of skills dives with me. Sheesh!!! All that work and I was STILL not happy with my skills

So I did the Tech1 course with Dan MacKay in Ontario and despite struggling mightily, managed to pass. After that, I'm STILL making some effort to make sure I still have those fundamental skills down. I've also been fortunate to be able to hang out with a couple of DIRf classes that have happened up here. They are good refreshers as well as I seem to pick up something good each time. The next one is later this month and MHK has already given me permission to tag along once again

The one thing I've since realized is this - as MHK said here, even though the DIRf class is now pass-fail, it's still a workshop type class. You are shown the very basics and it's explained why they are important. One thing I did not have when I was practicing for those 5 months was a mentor. I'm sure if I'd had one, it would have taken much less time to figure things out and I could have been much more confident in my skills. But at least I knew what I was shooting for.

I still wish I had a Tech1 mentor, even if I had to travel occasionally for a couple "refresher" dives, but ah well.... hopefully on the few occassions I get to do Tech1 level dives with the local non-GUE Tech trained divers nothing will happen that makes them go into "independent diver, leave your buddy to fend for herself" mode :11: