DIR-F in KY Class report..

[Big-t-2538]

In one word...WOW...what a weekend.

First I have to comment GUEDiver and his staff for getting this class to run without a hitch....well planned, co-ordinated, and executed....Things really couldn't have gone better...

The instructors & videographers names were....

MHK (still trying to convert to the politically correct kinder/gentler GUE)

Sonya Tittle (the break-dancing queen)

Scott (commonly referred to as Spielberg by MHK for that ability to catch any imperfection on camera, and the occasional shot of just the weight belt.)

Brandon (he has a fascination with pictures...the dude never had less than three cameras on or near him)

Other students ckharlan66, jbd, Gary (my buddy day 1), and Rob (my buddy day 2), and a dude paid in full, but bailed before class even started. [size=1.5]<Gary's name was changed to protect the innocent>[/size]

As for the weekend, I never knew so much quality information could be packed in such a short package. Yeah it's a lot of hours, but the knowledge, skills, and techniques that are used/demonstrated are second to none.

Going in, I had an idea of what to expect as far as class content, but was blown away by the way these guys can really perform in the water. The first day of dives (fin techniques, S-drills, valve drills, buoyancy control) was a littel rough for everyone. Cameras, pressure to perform, and seeing the instructors set a bar outside of any ball park I had ever seen made me nervous. I was diving a totally different rig than I ever had before, and thought I did a "not too hateful" job in the water as MHK and Sonya put it, but there was a lot of ground to cover before being turned loose. I mean my buddy got air on the S-drill, but that was really the only highlight of both dives. Contrary to what ckharlan and jbd might tell you, their group of three looked much more "together" than my group of 2.

The gear fittings and lectures on day 1 were also top notch. One person worked with one student until they were fitted and comfortable in the rig they were going to be diving. We talked about drysuit pros and cons (zipper placement, seems, gators vs no gators, pockets, etc) We talked about pros and cons on the back-plate, argon bottles, hose routing, hose lengths, basically the entire "DIR" rig. To me and for technical diving it all makes perfect sense. Does an OW rec diver need doubles, X length hoses, BP & wings, no, but, it is nowhere near as efficent or effective. (this was the stuff I was most interested in learning by the way)

The video ripping was pretty good on Saturday night. I had never seen myself on SCUBA and video before, so this was really insightful, and is an idea that I want to incorporate into our AOW class. Yeah, there was the usual "Oh my god....I look like a mokey f*ck!ing a football"...and there was plenty of that. Lots of shady "drills" and "kicks" were broken down and some much needed advice was given.

Day 2 started out at the quarry. I was buddied up with Rob and we went through S-drills, valve-drills, different kicks, horizontal ascents & descents with stops, deploying a bag, and a lot of situation handling. They (MHK and Sonya) really drove home the point of team awareness and environment management. Rob and I were squared away much more than we were on day 1, and we got to do some no-mask work and entanglement training with the bag. All in all, the day went pretty well with the exception of the time I wasn't paying attention, and MHK told Rob he was out of air.....damn absent minded Tony....but we survived, and made a vast improvement over day 1. Rob finally learned how to do backwards kick, and I completed a chopper turn....I use the word chopper b/c it was ugly...it doesn't really qualify as a true helicopter....I was spinning, but technique was not pretty....all things considered, we were pretty happy with the way day 2 went.

Other lecture topics covered (and they were covered well I might add) were rock-bottom, NDL-on the fly, team awarement, gas management, gas planning, advantages of standard mixes, and some more, but they escape my mind at the moment.

I am greatly appreciative of the class and the instructors. I had no idea such people could be so passionate about diving. They demand perfection from their students, and point out every detail that wasn't "perfect" along the way. They don't owe myself or anyone else in this clase that kind of dedication....I mean wow...what a first class rate of people. Everything they did that weekend was for us, every question we had was answered....any demo we wanted to see was done. It was a flawless weekend on their part...now if only the students can come up to that bar. I hope when I'm DMing and helping with classes I can instill in the students the drive to be perfect that this group of people instilled in me. Again, I say thank you to MHK, Sonya, Brandon, & Scott, it was a group effort that undoubtedly resulted in some of the best training I have ever had.

[detroit diver]

Tony,

Great report.

I think you might want this moved to the general discussion area, though. It's not really a tech subject.

[jbd]

by big-t. No need to say more about the class but a big thanks to MHK, Sonya & the Scuba Guys(vidoegraphers). Truly a great group to learn from.

Ed & Johnny--great job on the set up and organization of this class.

[Big-t-2538]

the certification issue.

The idea with the certifications is wether or not you can perform these skills. IT is not wether or not you are perfect in the water. It is all about learning the techniques and making progress towards nailing them down.

At the end of the class, we were all offered to receive a card. We all made progress and it was evident that we understood what problems we had that needed to be addressed before we venture into the next level of classes. You have to practice these skills. You have to get bettter. The certification is more of a promise that you are going to do just that.

There was by no means a dumbing down of techniques....yeah, it was a "kinder gentler" class, but that means they don't rip your mask off, they ask for it first. They hammer into your brain anything that went wrong with a skill and clearly communicate that such things need to be improved.

[Whirling Girl]

I took DIR-F from Sonya and RJ in Seattle a few months ago, and it was the same as you described. Video is a GREAT way to learn about diving, because you often can't really tell what you look like or what you're doing in the water. The beauty of that class is that the effects are ongoing; it took a few weeks, it seemed, to really get a handle on the basic stuff, but I'm still feeling the effects of it every time I dive.

I think the best, and perhaps most subtle, aspect of DIR is the communication and buddy skills you develop. I feel so much more connected to my buddies in the water and it makes my diving experience so much better. Last week we had a great 'mid-week tweek' (yes, I know, tweak is spelled wrong but that's how it's referred to, and it looks funny, so I keep it that way) and I dove with two guys who are training for their GUE Tech 1 certification. Viz sucked, and I was nervous because I felt a bit out of my league, but I was having a good time, when suddenly two divers crossed in front of us.

I had enough time to think to myself 'dang, I wish they weren't dragging their fins like that, they're stirring up the bottom for the rest of us' when suddenly I couldn't see ANYTHING. I had a 10w HID light, and unless I put it up against my mask, I couldn't see it either.

I admit that I froze. I knew Mike and Joe were roughly on either side of me, one a bit ahead and one a bit behind, but I couldn't see them or their HID lights, and I didn't want to move or go anywhere until I had a chance to think through the problem. In viz that bad, I figured that if I just swam through and tried to keep going straight until I was out of the cloud, chances were I would lose my buddies. We were at 45 ft. and it was pretty dark as well as bad viz.

Probably no more than 2 seconds passed, though it seemed like an eternity, and suddenly I felt both of their shoulders on either side of mine, and we all pointed our lights at the same spot right in front of us. We kept moving forward slowly, shoulder to shoulder, until the water cleared (translation: the viz went from zero back to ****) and we continued our dive and everything was fine.

It was an incredibly reassuring experience. I know that it was their DIR tech training that kicked in at the right time, and also our buddy awareness that had kept us close together in bad viz and aware of exactly where each of us was when everything went dark. But I was grateful for both.

Glad you had a good experience!

Margaret
Whirling Girl

[Braunbehrens]

Big-t-2538 once bubbled...
In one word...WOW...what a weekend.

This is one case where I don't mind saying it....Told you so!

[MHK]

Big-t-2538 once bubbled...
In one word...WOW...what a weekend.

<snip a very kind and generous trip report>

Big-T,

I want to echo your thoughts about Ed & Jonnie, tremendous organizational efforts made the weekend go off without a hitch. Note to future students, if you really want to score brownie points the cooler full of Gatorade [ fruit punch] AND the Presedential suite goes a real long way ;-)

Sonya and I talked last night on the plane and we both agreed the class was a blast, we enjoyed the hospitality and the Scubaguys sent me an e-mail this morning {Speilberg included ;-)] saying how much they enjoyed the weekend..

I'm glad that you enjoyed the class, and the way that we presented the info, and the video debriefs weren't THAT bad ;-).. I told you JJ is asking me to be kindler and gentler ;-)

Ed asked us to come back for another class and we all look forward to it.. Let me know if you have any questions or if I can be of further help..

Thanks again..

Later

[Big-t-2538]

MHK once bubbled...

Sonya and I talked last night on the plane and we both agreed the class was a blast, we enjoyed the hospitality and the Scubaguys sent me an e-mail this morning [Speilberg included ;-)] saying how much they enjoyed the weekend..

I just can't wait for Ed to post that great group shot we took before heading back for video ripping Sunday afternoon.

[Spectre]

MHK once bubbled...
if you really want to score brownie points the cooler full of Gatorade [ fruit punch]

They brought _Gatorade_???

Man those Kentucky folks just can't get any practical jokes right!

[Big-t-2538]

Spectre once bubbled...


They brought _Gatorade_???

Man those Kentucky folks just can't get any practical jokes right!

Ask MHK about the picture he took for some guy they nick-named jammers...

Chad claims he only brought in a pack of the stuff b/c he "likes" it......after seeing all of his gear, I'm convinced chad has had a little too much of the red-stuff himself.