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The first UK DIRf course. We were the guinea pigs (or should that be ferrets?). The course was in Portland, Dorset. A very popular dive location, although pretty quiet this time of year. The course was run by UK instructor, Andy Kerslake although AndrewG was over get thing running smoothly. In the end AndrewG did almost all of the teaching.
The course was due to start at 8:00 but most of us were staying in the Aqua Hotel so we met up for breakfast. Full English nearly all round. After breakfast we moved into one of the hotel reception rooms and changed into our undersuits while the other people on the course turned up. Two surprises here: firstly Chris Boardman (Olympic gold medallist etc.) arrived to join in and report on the course for 'Diver' magazine secondly the sheer number of people. I was expecting 5 or 6 as this seems to be normal from other reports I've read, but there was 12 of us. This was within the letter of GUE rules as there were two instructors but as most the course was with AndrewG teaching and AndyK assisting it seemed crowded. I think this detracted from the quality of teaching. It was also bigger than any PADI class I've ever seen (I thought I'd mention this as most of the popular agencies got quite a roasting during the course). Anyway, back the course.
We had a quick run through of names and experience. we ranged from around 50 to 700 dives. In our undersuits we did a little stretching and AndrewG ran through how undersuits weren’t designed for diving. We then put on our Drysuits for more stretching and more of AndrewG describing how drysuits weren't designed for diving. Next, we put our backplates on. AndrewG described the proper and improper fit using us as examples. AndrewG and AndyK then helped us on a one-to-one level to get ours set-up correctly. This was very thorough and I think most people found it very useful. Next we added regs (cable tied to the backplate). Andrew took us through the correct configuration and air sharing drills. The proper drill is very thorough and I'd certainly been missing a few steps previously.
During the morning I met up with fellow scubaboarder WetLettuce. I'm sure he add a few comments and correct my glaring errors
Pool availability was a limiting factor and we had to go to the pool a little earlier that AndrewG would have liked. First we got down on the floor while AndrewG ran through the five basic kicks (Frog, mod frog, mod flutter, backwards and helicopter) and proper trim position. These where hard. It didn't take long before there where plenty of aching backs, knees and (especially) ankles. Once we had a reasonable idea of what to do (ie didn't do a backwards kick instead of a frog) we kitted up and jumped in the water in groups of three. Quite a relief as we'd been in the drysuits for a couple of hours, although the water wasn't very cooling.
We did laps of the pool changing kicks every turn under the ever watchful eyes of AndyK and AndrewG. After a lot of laps and more instruction we had to demonstrate each kick in groups of six in front of the camera. We weren't pretty (violation of rule 6) a quite a few backwards kicks involved going forwards (into the pool wall ). My own trim and kicking was way off. While we waited for the second group my group did some air sharing drills. These went much better.
Back to the hotel for lunch. A very British fish and chips for me. I needed the energy boost.
The afternoon consisted of lectures and a review of the video from the pool session; No one was looking forward to that. Fortunately we were all pretty bad. It really was a great leveller for all the experience levels. As AndrewG ran through the video there was much pausing and rewinding. "Who's that?" AndrewG would bellow, each time "me" would be the sheepish response from somewhere on the floor. This was a great learning experience for all. No matter how good you felt in the pool the video showed the truth. Even if you have no plans to take the course borrow an underwater video camera and have someone tape you. You'll be amazed.
We finished around 8pm. Just enough time for a pint before dinner. AndrewG gets a Guinness for each time someone forgets to clip off their primary reg. Fortunately he didn't cash them all in.
Most people sloped of to bed early a little tired and more than a little dejected.
Next morning...
Once again we met for breakfast, more full English.
Wet backplates on for S drills and buddy skills.
Our sea dives were looming. The force 8 never turned up and it was decided that we would dive off the beach at the back of the hotel.
We split into four groups of three. I was buddied with WetLettuce and Chris Boardman (and his two photographers). The water was a cool 7 degrees C (45 F) with around 2m viz (when we started). We dropped to 3m and positioned ourselves above the silty bottom. As we ran through the skills the viz deteriorated and we had to keep moving. I guess our fin kicks weren't quite perfect yet . Somewhere along the way we lost WetLettuce; a couple of people decided against doing the sea dives so the groups were rearranged. My fin kicks and general positioning were pretty poor but I got through the skills with some semblance of buoyancy control. I found it hard in the shallow water especially when I’d lost sight of the bottom and had no visual reference. I have a lot to practice, but at least I now know what to practice.
Out the water, dekitted and broke for lunch.
The second dive was more skills, shutdowns and shooting a bag. I couldn't do the shutdown in my singles rig and no amount of tugging my arm from AndyK could make it work. ChrisB ran through his very smoothly. He also shot the bag with moderate ease (he later confessed to having practiced that a lot). I've never used a spool and have little experience with dsmbs so I found the whole thing very difficult to do while still maintaining good trim, buoyancy and position. After a brief trip to the surface I gave up, another thing to practice. We managed to stir up a lot less silt this time and our positional control was generally a lot better.
More lectures in the afternoon. We mostly covered gas management. This was pretty informative and I found it very useful. Some of the calculations where based on rules of thumb the reasoning was a little bit glossed over. Throughout this AndrewG demonstrated his mastery of the numbers. While the bordered on showing off it demonstrated how using a few simple rules and standard mixes allowed him to calculate and recalculate with ease.
We were finished by 6pm. While I was expecting another half day I'm not sure there was much else we could have covered and my brain was certainly full and my body drained.
Into the bar for a couple of pints before dinner and more Guinness owed to AndrewG.
Overall it was very useful. I don't think it was quite the revelation that it was for some of the others on the course. I have read a lot on scubaboard and other websites and was fairly well informed but this was no substitute for doing the course and experiencing it first hand.
This is not a course for the beginner. Several of the experienced divers said they wished they had been shown some of this stuff years ago but if you are still unsteady in the water then task loading would be a bit much. Anyone who comes on the course needs to expect to be taken down a rung or three. You will be criticised (but mostly by yourself).
I found some of digs at PADI and other mass market agencies and various equipment manufactures a bit unnecessary. Some of the reasons why things are done one way and not another were a bit weak and AndrewG would often change the subject or give a standard response rather than debate a point. This was definitely in the minority, though. Most things where well reasoned and well explained.
It has certainly made me think about my diving, my dive planning and my equipment. I have several changes to make to all of these things and I have a lot to practice but I know where I am heading.
I'm sure I've missed a few things out so I'll add them when I think of them
It was quite a leveller. There was no link between number of dives and how much each person struggled with the skills. Some did better than others but no one did well.
Chris did better than most which made it easier for me. We weren't competing. It was probably a bit unfair on Chris if anything.
There isn't officially a minimum other than primary donation and long hose. That said there is a lot of task loading and someone who struggles to maintian trim and buoyancy when pootling about will find the course very hard and probably not learn much. If you are fairly comfortable in the water then this course is ideal as it shows you what to do next and what areas you need to practice.
Surprised you could keep trim when diving right after a Full English Breakfast. I can never eat that much before diving let alone being stuck in a drysuit with no immediate access to a head.
AndrewG had an English breakfast (Veggie version) we were only blindly following . In fact he was concerned that one of the group, who was only having toast, would make it to lunch. We certainly needed the calories
Will also be looking out for CB's report in Diver as he seems to he doing the rounds at the moment and has been pretty impartial so far.
large_diver = Chris Boardman Olympic Gold medalist in cycling, time trial I believe in Barcelona. He has also held a number of world records and compted (but I am not sure he ever finished) the Tour de France for several years. New job - reporter for Diver Mag in the UK. I think he has done everything from o/w with them to rebreather and now DIR-F.
Yep, I was there, and fully enjoyed it. I was sorry that the course finished so quick, should be a week I think.
Chris Boardman was very cool, we had few long chats, and I can assure you that he had as many problems as everyone else, attempting to headbutt the wall on a backwards kick, concerned about valve drills, 'humping the dog' frog kick !!? He has been interested in DIR for over two years and claimed that of all the courses he has done (a wallet full of c-cards !!) this was the best.
Before the course I had spent a lot of time practicing the kicks, getting my gear DIR'd and learning about others experiences so I was quite ready for the onslaught. Some of the others I think were only doing this as a precursor to Tech1 and hadn't realised how difficult this course is for one's ego. I was lucky ?! to have only 60 dives and only qualified 1 year as there were many with hundreds of dives, instructing divers, trimix qualified, who were shocked at how bad they looked on film and how they could n't do seemingly simple tasks as a frog kick, helicopter turn etc. 'Humping the dog' is an english pasttime I think' !?
Andrew G is totally cool and I don't think the occasional snipe at PADI or BSAC or whatever was out of order. Overall he was the utmost professional and his enjoyment of the subject shone through in his delivery. Inevitably his performance overshadowed AndyK a little although I am sure AndyK's turn will come. I found him also to be totally professional although more english (ie quieter with more subtle sarcasm!!) in his approach.
The openwater stuff was a bit bad because of near zero vis (caused by us!!) in 8 degreesC in only 3 metres depth which meant the tiniest error and you popped to the surface or landed in the mud. I popped to the surface on three occasions, once after taking my mask off and giving it to AndrewG. We were supposed to stay neutrally buoyant until he gave us our masks back. Well, the coldwater on my face meant I was breathing good and hard and after he gave me my mask back I was heading up. You just don't have enough depth to compensate quickly enough. oops !
Because two people had dropped out at that point AndyG sent me to AndyK and a friendly dutch guy called Hens. We dropped down and did S drills. Unfortunately we couldn't get it together and popped to surface on both occasions oops !
Next dive and I teamed up with Hens and we did valve drills with AndyG watching and shot a bag. No problem with them and even AndyG came over afterwards to tell me that my valve drills were coming on well. Cool!!
The only thing I wished we had covered more was the use of computers in guage mode and calculating deco stuff as I would like to know more about that but I understand that it is covered more in Tech1.
All I can say is that when AndyG started the course he said it was a great leveller and it just showed. Unfortunately some people don't take criticism as well as others and if you're one of those people then you might not get as much out of the course unless you treat criticism constructively and use the experience to make you a better diver. For instance last night in the pool I got my back kick sorted (I was the only one to do it on the course! my claim to fame !!) and my helicopter turns spot on, and did some CG (Centre of Gravity) drills. I can already tell that I have improved and know exactly what to practice on to keep improving.
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). My own trim and kicking was way off. While we waited for the second group my group did some air sharing drills. These went much better.
. Somewhere along the way we lost WetLettuce; a couple of people decided against doing the sea dives so the groups were rearranged. My fin kicks and general positioning were pretty poor but I got through the skills with some semblance of buoyancy control. I found it hard in the shallow water especially when I’d lost sight of the bottom and had no visual reference. I have a lot to practice, but at least I now know what to practice.
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