DIR Doing Their Thang!

[GDI]

I haven't found where it addresses backplate and wing setups or bungeed backups. Seven foot hoses seem to be missing too.

No BP/wings. Heck No BCD just a horse collar if you were lucky to have one, Dbl's well they were secured to you by straps hooked onto the tank bands. I have a old book

 

[GDI]

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

It is just that when talking to a GUE instructor (sorry no names here but the guy is a good diver and I believe he works out of Extreme Exposure) We had noticed that much of the training in "fundamentals" was being lost on many of todays divers. I believe this to be more of a instructional fault vs a agency. Instructors do have the choice to exceed standards. In our discussion there was many things and principles that he was doing which reminded me of how I was trained. I have brought much of that training forward in the teaching of my own students right at the open water level. I always am willing to learn ways to improve me personally and as a instructor. I encourage my students to ask "WHY?" not just to accept it. If this the premise to which DIR instructors teach BRAVO. Are they mixing the best of the old with the technology of new I'm all for that. I don't think DIR instructors are military like in their appoach. Any class I take will only improve me, even when it is a bad class, because I ask "WHY" and I reason it out. Could a class in DIR-F help me why would it not. I try not to teach at the base standard of any agency. I have not attended any "official" DIR classes taught by any GUE instructors.

 

[detroit diver]

GDI,

I'm a bit confused. I first though you were telling us that the DIR F class was rigid, etc. Then I read below that you feel training by the agenies (my take) is inadequate.

What is the actual issue here?

It is just that when talking to a GUE instructor (sorry no names here but the guy is a good diver and I believe he works out of Extreme Exposure) We had noticed that much of the training in "fundamentals" was being lost on many of todays divers. I believe this to be more of a instructional fault vs a agency. Instructors do have the choice to exceed standards. In our discussion there was many things and principles that he was doing which reminded me of how I was trained. I have brought much of that training forward in the teaching of my own students right at the open water level. I always am willing to learn ways to improve me personally and as a instructor. I encourage my students to ask "WHY?" not just to accept it. If this the premise to which DIR instructors teach BRAVO. Are they mixing the best of the old with the technology of new I'm all for that. I don't think DIR instructors are military like in their appoach. Any class I take will only improve me, even when it is a bad class, because I ask "WHY" and I reason it out. Could a class in DIR-F help me why would it not. I try not to teach at the base standard of any agency. I have not attended any "official" DIR classes taught by any GUE instructors.

 

[Charlie99]

It is just that when talking to a GUE instructor (sorry no names here but the guy is a good diver and I believe he works out of Extreme Exposure) We had noticed that much of the training in "fundamentals" was being lost on many of todays divers. I believe this to be more of a instructional fault vs a agency.

I feel it is neither an instuctor problem nor an agency problem. I see it as a result of the attitudes and goals of the students and divers in general.

Some divers take skills and preparedness very seriously. Many others however, are content with the minimal skill set needed to dive in good conditions, under the supervision of a DM.

This is their choice. To criticize their (usually unconscious choice) makes no more sense than criticizing casual dayhikers for not having a full set of navigational and wilderness survival skills.

The only divers that scare me are the ones with minimal skills that dive beyond their skill level.

 

[Don Burke]

No BP/wings. Heck No BCD just a horse collar if you were lucky to have one, Dbl's well they were secured to you by straps hooked onto the tank bands. I have a old book

Then where did you come up with the statement about "a revisiting of the things that scuba classes use to do years ago"?

 

[ddown]

Do it right or do it wrong--I was blest with a super fine excellent instructor.. Our ENTIRE class was so comfortable thaqt our first open water dive was 54 minutes and thats at 47' MAX depth, We had honed our skilsl and become one with the water colunm. I Agree what I'm seeing around where I live now is like Diver-Mills similar to a puppy mill.

My current dive buddy took me almost 30 dives to get him aclimated to diving as it should be.It's not about toys, equipment , or my regs better than yours. It about being underwater-safe, relaxed and enjoying your surroundings. If you do that your doing it Right in my opinion. I've dove with DIR folks who were good divers but I've dove with a lot of Non-DIR divers who were much better (and enjoyed the dives more).

 

[fgray1]

About DIR. They do this recreationaly and are out there to enjoy themselves.
Drivers that take the DIR course do so not to just improve their diving skills but so they can say " ANYTHING YOU CA DO I CAN DO BETTER" It's an ego trip for them. You can tell the DIR divers a mile away. Their the first one to give you that look or that backdoor remark If they think what your doing doesn't meet their standards.
It's not the training and the skills that you get taking the course it's the attitude you come away with that upsets and turns other divers away.

Fred

 

[John C. Ratliff]

One of you earlier wrote:

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.

Actually, proper buoyancy control is not that old. I experiemented with it in the 1970's on equipment manufactured by Bill Herder of Newport, Oregon. We actually had a better design that the "wings" currently in vogue by making the back of a wet suit a bladder. It was more streamlined than current BCs, and did essentially the same job. The reason that the New Science of Skin and Scuba Diving did not show these things is that they had not been invented yet.

Someone asked if some of us who've been around a while have seen the same types of teaching techniques as currently in the DIR courses. Well, yes and no. I have not taken the DIR classes, and have no current plans no either, so I have no direct knowledge of what they teach. I do remember that NASDS was very closely tied to Scubapro and the AtPak, and that there was an attitude that if you weren't diving those, you were somehow inferior; I see this kind of attitude being hooked to DIR now. I'm not sure who is doing the hooking either, but I suspect it is a combination of the DIR instructors, students, and sometimes a reaction to them too.

I will tell you that the DIR class probably doesn't hold a candle to the U.S. Navy School for Underwater Swimmers course that I took in 1967 (again I'm not certain, but it's not too conceivable that it is that intense). I don't hear of DIR students doing pushups with twin 90s on their backs, or face-up flutter kicks on top of their tanks with a facemask full of water, or running for an hour, or swimming 1500 yard compass courses, or doing the "pool harrassment" typical of the U.S. Navy, but perhaps they do. I'll tell you though, to graduate from that course, you had to be fairly comfortable in the water.

Hopefully, dive instruction is not so "military" as that described above; but I would like to have students who are comfortable in the water, and can handle themselves. Maybe that is what DIR is all about.

SeaRat

 

[DFC5343]

The text book for my O/W class back in 1976 was "The New Science of Skin and Scuba Diving" . I still have it.

I still have mine as well!

 

[detroit diver]

About DIR. They do this recreationaly and are out there to enjoy themselves.
Drivers that take the DIR course do so not to just improve their diving skills but so they can say " ANYTHING YOU CA DO I CAN DO BETTER" It's an ego trip for them. You can tell the DIR divers a mile away. Their the first one to give you that look or that backdoor remark If they think what your doing doesn't meet their standards.
It's not the training and the skills that you get taking the course it's the attitude you come away with that upsets and turns other divers away.

Fred

Hey Fred,

When you're done stuffing everyone into a pigeon hole, give us a call. In the meantime, we'll ignore you. You should get together with Painter and Cincy. You'd make a great team.