DIR Doing Their Thang!

[LUBOLD8431]

Huh, maybe thats why they call it FUNDAMENTALS????

Because I think alot of Instructors out there (not even going to mention a specific agency) have forgotten about some of the basic tenets of teaching people to scuba dive. Buoyancy is a big one. Air sharing is another. FUNDAMENTALS is like going back to basics. NO, I havent even taken it, if you were wondering...

 

[Uncle Pug]

I'm curious as to why you asked your question(s). Are you wondering if a DIRf would be beneficial for someone like yourself?

 

[ColdH2Odvr]

I’m not an old timer so I can’t speak to your question directly. However, I had always heard of the old boot camp style dive classes and wondered why no one taught that way anymore. Ok, actually I understood why no one taught that way anymore but I felt cheated. I can understand not trying to scare people out of the water but the end result was diving on Prozac… no rough edges, nothing upsetting, diving is all warm and fuzzy. For me the result was not a false sense of security but a nagging suspicion that I didn’t know enough.

Then came Tech 1 (DIR-F didn’t exist yet). Andrew and Nick proceeded to kick our butts up and down Alki Beach. I don’t know how it compared to the old style classes but it was a full contact training event. I was surprised that the first portion of the in-water was just learn how to dive. I was also surprised just how much I needed to learn, no one had ever really held me accountable for how I dive. Problem, solution, practice, repeat (and repeat, repeat, repeat). Fantastic.

I love DD’s comment "What you are going to learn here is in the first 4 pages of the PADI OW manual". It’s hard to imagine anyone claiming to have invented proper buoyancy control, buddy awareness, or even back plate and wings with a straight face. I never got the impression during class that they were showing me something new, quite the contrary this was all stuff that I should have known (proper buoyancy, trim, etc.). I had heard most of it before, it was just buried under a mountain of fluff.

Emphasis on basic skills and student/diver competence isn’t new; it’s just out of fashion.

 

[detroit diver]

I’m not an old timer so I can’t speak to your question directly. However, I had always heard of the old boot camp style dive classes and wondered why no one taught that way anymore. Ok, actually I understood why no one taught that way anymore but I felt cheated. I can understand not trying to scare people out of the water but the end result was diving on Prozac… no rough edges, nothing upsetting, diving is all warm and fuzzy. For me the result was not a false sense of security but a nagging suspicion that I didn’t know enough.

Then came Tech 1 (DIR-F didn’t exist yet). Andrew and Nick proceeded to kick our butts up and down Alki Beach. I don’t know how it compared to the old style classes but it was a full contact training event. I was surprised that the first portion of the in-water was just learn how to dive. I was also surprised just how much I needed to learn, no one had ever really held me accountable for how I dive. Problem, solution, practice, repeat (and repeat, repeat, repeat). Fantastic.

I love DD’s comment "What you are going to learn here is in the first 4 pages of the PADI OW manual". It’s hard to imagine anyone claiming to have invented proper buoyancy control, buddy awareness, or even back plate and wings with a straight face. I never got the impression during class that they were showing me something new, quite the contrary this was all stuff that I should have known (proper buoyancy, trim, etc.). I had heard most of it before, it was just buried under a mountain of fluff.

Emphasis on basic skills and student/diver competence isn’t new; it’s just out of fashion.

To be fair, I think the Tech 1 class is a whole different ball game than the DIR-F class. It is assumed that you know the skills already when you take Tech1. And yes, they throw everything imaginable at you at Tech 1!!

 

[detroit diver]

...........Some DIR instructors and/or divers (and not all are GUE)that I have met .........

I missed something previously.

If they are DIR, then they are GUE trained. Period.

If they call themselves DIR without having taken the classes, well, that is just BS. And even taking the fundamentals class doesn't make you DIR. Kind of like taking a first aid class and calling yourself a doctor.

 

[MikeFerrara]

I missed something previously.

If they are DIR, then they are GUE trained. Period.

If they call themselves DIR without having taken the classes, well, that is just BS. And even taking the fundamentals class doesn't make you DIR. Kind of like taking a first aid class and calling yourself a doctor.

Here I'm not so sure. I guess an instructor may have trouble claiming they're teaching DIR if they aren't a GUE instructor but not all members of the WKPP, OCDA ect are GUE trained but those organizations are certainly DIR.

Members of those DIR organizations are also instructors of agencies other than GUE and issue cards from IANTD, TDI, NACD ect yet their teaching seems very DIR even though they may or may not use the term.

Maybe that's why GUE decided to trademark the term "DIR". As more people dive that way more will teach that way and they don't need to jump through the hoops of switching agencies to do it.

 

[detroit diver]

Here I'm not so sure. I guess an instructor may have trouble claiming they're teaching DIR if they aren't a GUE instructor but not all members of the WKPP, OCDA ect are GUE trained but those organizations are certainly DIR.

Members of those DIR organizations are also instructors of agencies other than GUE and issue cards from IANTD, TDI, NACD ect yet their teaching seems very DIR even though they may or may not use the term.

Maybe that's why GUE decided to trademark the term "DIR". As more people dive that way more will teach that way and they don't need to jump through the hoops of switching agencies to do it.

Your first comment: Good point. My mistake. I was thinking of training agencies and not exploration groups.

I think GUE specifically trademarked that term so that there would be no confusion as to what was or was not DIR.

 

[pipedope]

Halcyon that has trademarked DIR.

I'm sure that there are technical reasons why it was done by Halcyon rather than GUE.

The good thing is that they (GUE) are teaching a 'system' of diving that is well thought out and ballanced. Health, fitness, planning, equipment, skills and development all put together in a coherant way.

The bad thing is the attitude of 'some' of the people out there. You know, when you hear things like, "dead man diving." Or, "you should be using the same equipment configuration for ALL diving."

Now if they said, "A substantially similar equipment configuration works for most sport diving," I would not argue.

A big advantage of GUE training is that you can pick up a GUE trained buddy nearly anywhere and be on the same page with procedures and equipment so things are likely to go more smoothly.
A disadvantage is that there may not be many GUE trained divers near you for you to dive with. If you take your own buddy to classes with you then this may not be so much of a problem.

 

[Don Burke]

Halcyon that has trademarked DIR.

I'm sure that there are technical reasons why it was done by Halcyon rather than GUE.

I suspect the reason is that Halcyon can file Chapter 7 if the effluent impacts the impeller without affecting GUE.

I get the sense that Halcyon and Extreme Exposure, while profit centers at the moment, are expendable. If someone had been making suitable gear at the time, I doubt either would have been created.

 

[GDI]

Your interpretation is odd in that, to a man (woman), almost every person who has been involved with this class will tell you that it was the best class that they have ever taken. Your sense of "rigidity" is not accurate. The criteria are very strict, but the instructors are exceptional in their ability to adjust their teaching methods within the class. Those that have the ability are pushed harder. Those that need some additional help are assisted.

Don't interpret strict criteria for rigidity. This is not a military style operation.

I'm not suggesting that as a global fact, Instructors who are good will be flexible for their students learning, regardless of agency. I also know of no complaints from anyone having taken this or these classes. What I do see is that many of the things being done were done at other times in the past as various agencies guidelines. ACUC as an example required a very lengthy swim test and physical endurance check before you even started the snorkel portion of your training let alone the scuba, at least when I did my OW. No I am for the DIR concept and I don't think it is exclusive to GUE