DIRF Class Report

[Cave Diver]

Day 2 of my DIRF class is complete and I am back at home none the worse for wear. Tomorrow is the final day, and we will be practicing the skills at a local lake. I took good notes during the classroom session and requested a copy of the video of our pool session (and hopefully lake).

As soon as I have time after finishing class I will edit this original post and put a full report of the class in. Hopefully I will be thorough and answer all the who, what, when, where, why and how questions, so please wait for the full report before responding.

Once I post the final report I will do my best to answer any questions anyone has, and if I really get bored I may post some of the video clips if I am able to get a copy.

 

[ckharlan66]

I am looking forward to your complete report. I hope all went well.

Chad

 

[jbd]

to your full report.

 

[Uncle Pug]

btw... I had you confused with JoeR... he was the one taking the Tech 1 class...
http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=136148

 

[Cave Diver]

This is the first part of my DIRF Class report. I will attempt to portray the class as objectively as possible and relate as much as I can from my point of view. I will include some basic information about classmates as well, however, out of respect for everyone's right to privacy I will not provide names, etc.

One of our fellow board members was also in the class and I invite him to add any comments, additional perspective, or correct anything I may have gotten wrong.

I apologize for what will probably be a long post, but I am going to attempt to provide as much information about the class as I can. Hopefully this information will help someone decide whether this class is for them or not.

The Doing It Right Fundamentals Class is not a certifying class. You do not come away from it with a C-card, a certificate, or even a t-shirt. What you do come away with is a basic understanding of your strengths and weaknesses as a diver and how you can best improve on them. This class is not for everyone. It IS for those that really want to improve diving skills and dont mind being shown their flaws constructively so that they may improve on them.

There is a "reputation" out there regarding the DIR Diver. A lot of people perceive them as hotshot know-it-all divers who go around shouting how much better they are than everyone else and calling people 'strokes'. There may be a few individual divers out there who go around doing this, but it certainly wasnt the type of behavior displayed by our two instructors, Dave Sweetin and Tyler Moon. In fact, I never heard the word 'stroke' mentioned a single time all weekend. Our instructors were extremely helpful, curteous and always did their best to answer our questions. I can't think of a single question that was asked during class that did not receive a well thought out and worded response that fully answered the question.

Day 1

Our first day started out in the classroom of a local SCUBA shop who was sponsoring the class. We started at roughly 6:30 that evening with introduction to Dave Sweetin. Tyler Moon was flying in from teaching in Helsinky and his plane did not arrive until 7:40.

Until Tylers arrival, Dave took us through what exactly DIR is. DIR is not a diver. It is not a backplate. It is not wings. It is not Scuba Pro Jet fins. DIR is a holistic approach that encompasess equipment, mental attitude and physical training and technique. DIR doesn't ask what, but rather why? Everything in DIR is there for a reason. If there isnt a reason, then it isn't DIR, it's that simple. The Hogarthian approach that DIR was founded on was a way of making equipment make sense. If you don't need it to do a dive, then why carry it?

Having discussed the DIR approach to things, we then went to a power point slide show, which showed us the key points that we would be covering on every dive.

Dive 1

• Balance
• Bouyancy
• Trim
• Propulsion

Dive 2

• S-Drills
• Valve Drills
• Regulator Clear and Removal
• Mask Clear and Removal

Dive 3

• Repeats of Dive 1 and 2 skills
• Out of Air Emergencies
• Horizontal Ascents/Descents

The slide show covered each of these in depth and included videos of both proper and improper ways to do the skills. It also covered equipment configuration. The following day in the pool we would be given a chance to practice these skills on our own. Normally the water sessions are videotaped but the GUE instructors were unable to bring camera's as they were doing some joint project with YMCA and all of their camera's were in use. The LDS however came to the rescue and provided an underwater camera for our upcoming pool session.

The first class session was a laid back atmosphere with Dave actively keeping us involved by asking us to critique the techniques we were seeing during the slide show. We were able to see the right, then the wrong ways to do a skill and we pretty much had an open forum going back and forth with the instructor asking and answering questions.

During on point of our class, Dave asked everyone to introduce themselves and provide a little background. There were 7 students total in our class. There was a NAUI instructor, an SSI instructor, a PADI instructor, an OW student with about 30 dives, a Master SCUBA diver who had not dove in about a year, a diver of about 5 years who had gotten out of the sport and was recently returning, and myself.

Overall the classroom portion provided a relaxed atmosphere while informing us of our upcoming challenges and providing a forum for all of our questions. Our class lasted until at least 11 that night and we were meeting at a different location the following morning to look over our gear configuration, make any recommended changes, then do our pool session.

The biggest impression I walked away from that night was pleasure over the fact that our instructors emphasized WHY things were done or configured a certain way rather than to focus on WHAT way they should be done or configured. By giving us the 'why' it made it easy for us to figure out the 'what' on our own.

Tune in tomorrow for Day 2. Same Bat Time, same Bat Channel.

 

[Dee]

I'm looking forward to you reports. Every report I've read about the DIR-F classes has pointed out how different their experience has been vs the DIR overall snotty reputation that some have caused. I'm glad to see that.

 

[large_diver]

CD,

Thanks for the write-up -- look forward to hearing how the rest of the weekend went.

-Chris

 

[Cave Diver]

After our first classroom session was over, my dive buddy and I decided we would find a motel and spend the night. We didnt get out of class til around 11 and we faced a 2 hour drive just to get home. The next class was scheduled to start at 9:00 the next morning and with a two hour drive each way, we wouldnt have much time to rest.

After finding a nearby motel, we grabbed some food at the local Waffle House, then headed back to the motel. We knew we had to do some reconfiguring of our gear, so we chose to get up early the next morning and do it after breakfast.

Most of our changes involved repositioning hoses a bit and just securing a few loose ends. Going into the class we had already done quite a bit of reading on DIR gear configuration so we had a pretty basic idea of how it would go.

I was already running doubles. This is not a requirement for DIR diving, rather the type of diving they do (overhead environment) usually dictates it. It is still perfectly possible to run a DIR configuration on a single tank setup.

My dive buddy elected to switch to doubles for this class, and this would be the first time he ever used them. Quite a change for him! He also elected to switch from his Transpac II to backplate and harness, but still used his Dive-Rite wings. I also had a harness and backplate, but I decided to use my Transpac II for the class as I was already comfortable and familiar with it. I felt I would get more from the class by being able to concentrate on skills rather than focused on getting used to new equipment.

I should note at this point that there were no requirements for this class other than having a 7' primary hose. You were free to use any equipment that you saw fit. The instructors pointed out the strengths and weaknesses of various types of equipment and they advised you to take their recommendations into account in order to make the class go more smoothly, but ultimately, it was the students decision.

When we arrived in class the instructors had us set all our gear up on the floor. They then started going over various points of the setups. One interesting thing to note is that I was the only person in the room who was not using a backplate. With the exception of my dive buddy and myself, everyone else was also using the Halcyon wings, and it was obvious that most of the equipment was pretty new, I suspect purchased just for this class.

They chose a single tank setup to go over first. It belonged to the SSI instructor and was nicely set up. Backplate and harness, Halcyon wing, long primary hose, and a scout light clipped off to the right shoulder D-ring. As I looked over the equipment I noticed three things right off that I was sure the instructor would point out. The left shoulder strap had a compass clipped to the D-ring with a retractor and the compass was held in place by a piece of innertube. The scout light was secured by an O-ring and a piece of cave line (#24 line such as on a spool) and was using a stainless steel marine snap to hold it to the D-ring. A marine snap is a quick snap that is shaped like a J and then has a spring loaded closer that comes from the top of the J down to the end of the J kind of like this ---> /J. This type of snap is designed that you can just press it against something and it will click over it and hold it in place. They are commonly referred to as 'suicide clips' as they can often lock onto something without you being aware (such as a piece of line or other piece of equipment) and cause you to become entangled. The final point about the backup light was that it still had the wrist lanyard attached to it.

When Dave got to these items, he suggested a wrist mounted compass as the shoulder mounted one could interfere with a second backup light being in the same place. Next mention was made about the light clip and the method of securing it. He suggested that the O-ring be deleted and the clip just be secured with a SS bolt snap and cave line. This would allow a secure connection that wouldnt break accidently and cause you to lose your light, but you would still be able to cut it free from the clip in the event of an emergency.

The method of securing a clip was determined by what the clip secured. Emergency equipment, such as backup lights were secured to the snap with cave line. Easily cut if necessary, but not easily broken by accident and lost. Primary equipment, such as depth gauge was secured to clip with something breakable, like an O-ring. If snagged, it would break the connection easily but still be secure in most circumstances. SS double enders were suggested as the 'underwater duct tape' to fix any minor emergencies that might arise over a missing or broken clip.

Next came the discussion about the wrist lanyard. Dave took the light off of the harness, held it and asked what the lanyard was for. The student replied that he sometimes used it to make sure that he didnt drop the light. Dave slipped the light around his wrist, let go of the light and agreed it was great at keeping the light from falling.

Then he posed this scenario... You have the light in your right hand with the lanyard around your wrist. Your dive buddy comes up and signals out of air. You have to drop your light so you can grab the hose of your regulator (never cover reg with your hand) and pass it off to your buddy. Luckily, the lanyard keeps your light from falling into the darkness. But as you bring your hand up to grab your regulator, WHAM! the light is swinging from the lanyard and you hit yourself in the chin. Kind of dazed you manage to grab the reg and pass it off to your buddy. WHAM! now the swinging light hits your buddy in the mask and knocks it off. So we have an OOA diver with no mask, and our light is just swinging all over the place and we cant see where we need to. Had we not had the lanyard on our wrist, we could have easily just passed the light off to the other hand, managed the emergency easily and been on our way. Remember, it takes time to undo the lanyard (especially in a stressful situation) and in an OOA seconds count.

The DIR way is what? not why? In this situation, what do we need a lanyard for? Because sometimes it might be useful to keep from dropping a light. But, if we just use it sometimes, then it isnt really useful, therefore we should get rid of it as it's problems outweight the benefits. Simple stuff, when presented to us like that and DIR teaches us to examine each piece of our gear to see if we can improve it. It isnt about just looking at the benefit of one item, but looking beyond that item a step or two and seeing how it impacts other situations. Amazing how something as simple as a lanyard provided such a good illustration.

Gotta run for now, stay tuned for the next installment of Day 2.

 

[Cave Diver]

Overall, the single tank setup was a rather nice example of a way that a recreational diver could still use the DIR techniques.

Next, Dave pulled a pair of doubles out to go over the correct setup. There were three of us in the class who had elected to run doubles. Myself, my dive buddy and one more person.
My initial assessment of the third person running doubles was that he was what I termed an 'equipment diver.' He had all the right gear; Halcyon wings, Halcyon backplate, one of the huge canister lights that Halcyon makes that was so new it still had the huge price tag attached to it (almost $1100). He even had the Halcyon life raft that is supposed to be able to fold up and stuff into the pouch on the backplate. Unfortunately, he had all this gear, but none of it was assembled and most of it looked brand new. I got the overall impression (and this is merely my opinion) that he thought by having all the DIR gear, it would make him a DIR diver.

I have run across several divers that seemed to think that having all the newest and greatest stuff improved their diving only to watch a more experienced diver in some ratty old gear held together with duct tape and shoe string dive circles around them. Thus, the origin of my catchphrase 'equipment divers'. But with a pool session looming ahead later in the day, I figured I would have plenty of time to test my theory...

Because equipment diver (Ed for short) didnt have any of his gear assembled, Tyler Moon took him off to work with him privately while Dave continued class for the rest of us.

Since my doubles were the closest to Dave, he used them for his doubles illustration. I knew even before I signed up for this class there were some fundamental problems with my gear setup. First of all, my gear purchases have mainly been dictated by need and cost. Because of this (and due to nasty little backorders) I was using regs and first stages by two different companies. Dave didnt actually have a problem with this, but he did point out that one of the ones I was using was a much better design and a lot easier to work on, and it was possible to disassemble the second stage underwater and told us a nice little story to emphasize why that might one day be important.

I had also elected to use my faithful Transpac II in class. I do have backplate, but had not had a chance to dive with it yet, and I really didnt want to be working with new equipment during the class. I felt I would get more out of it by sticking with what I knew and trusted and just take my knocks for using DIW gear.

However, there really were no knocks. Dave pointed out the quick releases for one of his examples. Upon finding out that I never used them, his first question was 'then why have them?' If it is not useful, then get rid of it. He then demonstrated that the quick releases where rather solid as a complete unit, but if they came unclipped each end of it had some very weak points. And in the event of the clips breaking, or someone cutting me free from the harness in an emergency, the straps where not easily replaceable and likely quit costly. Again, this was not new information, but it did a great job of illustrating the point.

He also did not like my air integrated computer (Aeris 500 AI). He felt that it was too big and bulky and that I would have difficulty keeping it out of the way. I was however able to secure it to me sufficiently to keep him from making any further comments regarding it.

He then started talking about hoses. He showed us the proper way to route our hoses and why. The why was actually pretty simple. All of the hoses should come out of the first stages and point down as much as possible. Any hoses that came out of the first stages and were sticking out stood a chance of being impacted by something and causing them to break off.

We then discussed hose length and how it affected the DIR system. One that we talked about in depth was why the use of a 24'' hose for the pressure gauge. That one was all about muscle memory. A 24'' hose allowed the gauge to hang right where the hip D-ring is. Therefore it is already in the perfect position to clip it off. So anytime your gauge is in your hand, if you just let your hand drop back with your gauge after reading it, it falls exactly where it needs to be to clip off. Soon, your muscles 'remember' that spot and your hand naturally falls there whenever you need to clip or unclip your pressure gauge. Therefore in a stressful situation, it is second nature to find your gauge, no thought will be necessary.

Everything that he did was explained thoroughly and discussed and I never felt at any point that he left any question by the class unanswered.

At around 1:30 we broke for a quick lunch, came back to the classroom and made some of the suggested changes to our gear then headed for the pool to test out some of our new knowledge. The LDS who sponsored the class graciously provided the use of a video camera since GUE had loaned all of theirs out for a special project they were working on.

Next up, Pool Session! Stay tuned!

 

[Cave Diver]

When we got to the pool and started gearing up, Dave and Tyler had everyone take their backplates off of their gear to do some drills.

First off, everyone put on their backplate sans gear so that the instructors could demonstrate how to check for proper fit. After some minor harness adjusting we were ready to move onto land drills.

The instructors zip tied our first stages to our backplates so that we could practice proper techniques of deploying the long hose, etc. Once we all had a chance to do some dry runs it was time to get wet! Dave declared the pool open and told us to get in our buddy teams, get in the water and make circuits of the deep end practicing the various kicks we had been shown on the video. He and Tyler would then pull us off in buddy pairs and have us demonstrate the 4 basic skills (reg clearing, reg removal, mask clearing, mask removal) while maintaining trim and bouyancy.

The first few circuits for my team was time for some adjustments. I had broken my doubles down recently and this was the first time I had dove them since putting them back together. The band positioning was a little off and I noticed immediately that my trim was suffering.

"Perfect" trim would have the diver in a horizontal position with his legs bent at the knees at a 90 degree angle. By extending your legs back you should rotate on your center of gravity to a heads up/feet down position. By bending your legs closer towards your head, it should cause you to rotate into a head down position.

With my tank bands slightly out of position I was having to keep my legs closer to my butt to maintain my trim, and not being used to this, plus this being only my third dive with the heavier Jet Fins, my legs cramped up several times. Ouch! My dive buddy was also having some trouble adjusting to doubles as this was his first dive with both them and his backplate. Overall tho we still managed to keep fairly decent trim going around the pool.

The other two instructors also seemed to be doing a good job controlling trim and bouyancy.

The last team consisted of the other three divers, including ED. ED was having some major issues with the doubles. He was using AL80's (my buddy and I both wore LP112's) and he could not maintain a horizontal plane. He was getting turned and twisted all around by the tanks, often bouncing off the bottom and turning upside down. His huge range of motion was also causing issues for the other two divers in his team, and they seemed to be having some slight problems of their own which were only exaggerated by his problems.

As we continued to swim, Dave pulled my buddy and me off and pointed to a spot on the bottom. He then motioned for us to demonstrate a mask clearing skill. I went first. Hovering an arms length off the bottom, I located my spot, filled my mask, cleared it and *CRASH* into the bottom I went. Oops! One more time, locate, fill, clear, Yaaaaaaay! No bottom crashing! Ooops! that is because I drifted up 2 feet. A few more attempts and I control my range of motion a little better, but it is still more difficult to remain in one spot than it appears. My buddy fared about as well, then Dave sent us off to practice kicks while he worked with the next group.

The other two instructors did fairly well also, and in my opinion the NAUI instructor performed the skill almost flawlessly on his second or third attempt. I gave him a small clap underwater the next time I got his attention.

The buddy trio had quite a few problems. It was obvious from the start they didnt quite have the comfort in the water as the rest of us, and ED seemed to upset the dynamics of the group on more than one occassion. Seems as if my initial evaluation of equipment doesnt make the diver was correct.

Next up, we had to do some OOA emergency drills and swimming while sharing air. The instructor emphasized the importance of taking it slow and easy. Once you donated your hose to the OOA diver, the rest of the focus was on getting everything squared away so we could make our ascent. Once, my dive buddy neglected to clip his SPG off after checking during our OOA drill and it 'mysteriously' ended up wedged under his manifold. Dave then asked him how much air he had, but to his credit, he only fumbled for it for a moment before reaching back to his first stage, tracing the hose and finding it. He never forgot to clip off again.

For some reason, our team got an OOA drill run a few more times than anyone else. The second time they threw touch contact into the mix and the last time we had an OOA drill, Dave removed my mask (gently, not ripped) and put it in my hand. He then had my dive buddy lead me using touch contact and eventually had us surface still sharing air and me maskless. No one else was given this task, so I kind of took that as a good sign that we were doing well.

We spent close to 2 hours in the pool, and after that last drill my team was pretty well left alone. The remainder of the instructos time was spent with the other two teams and the vast majority seemed to go to the trio. My buddy continued to swim circuits of the deep end and we stopped every so often and practiced our skills.

When we got out of the water, we loaded our gear up and headed back to the classroom to watch the video. UGH! A word to the wise, your trim on video is never quite as good as you think it is. As I stated earlier, I knew my trim was a bit off of my usual standard, but I wasnt expecting to see it that far off...

One other thing to note, GUE instructors loveeeee the rewind button. After the moaning and groaning was over, we all decided on a time to meet at the lake in the morning. It is now after 8:00 p.m. and we have a long drive to get home, so we pack up and head out.

We go back to our LDS (my dive buddy is part owner) and make some more equipment adjustments for tomorrow. Tanks are filled, adjustments are made and by midnight thirty I am on my way back to my own soft bed. By now I am hurting from the leg cramps earlier, two hours of swimming around out of trim and the several long days I have had this week. 5:30 a.m. sure is going to come early tomorrow...