Right off the bat from the docks I walked to the hotel in Avalon with longraven and her significant other (not yet a member on the scubaboard). Then later for dinner (before class) Mo2vation and Ziggys_Friend and I went out to dinner. Everyone was so cool we all looked out for one another throughout the whole weekend.
Hopefully, the other folks who were there can post details on the training. I myself learned a lot about gear configuration, gas mixes, physiology, in-your-head calculations and mnemonics for mid-dive contengency planning. I learned I need practice on my backwards kick and helicopter turns. I learned that as MHK said "you're a great individual diver but not a team player". I'm going to work on team a whole lot more. But instead of breaking the weekend down for everyone I have a few different tacts for my report:
I was really happy to have had the opportunity over the last 2 weeks to finally meet some folks from the board. We really have a great group. It was cool to hear during the weekend MHK and his videographer/assistant talking about Scubaboard being the best board for scuba on the web today. Scubaboard Rocks!
Of course like many before me I learned about D-I-R (I promise to stop pronouncing it "Dur") right here on our board. SPEEDSTER helped me get configured so other than diving the class without the BP & wings and a "depth timer" - I was preparred for our weekend.
Instead I'll take some time here to explain something very important to me about my take on the weekend. I was looking primary at the instruction itself. How the class was presented, how the students were asked to learn, method of delivery, approach to problem solving, function of teacher and student roles, and how MHK used his assistant tleemay and setup the program, line course, briefings. I also had tons of questions. I did like how tleemay was able to catch us at our worst on the digital video he rarely missed a thing. Like MHK he has over 3,000 dives worth of experience.
MHK explained that Jarod Jablonski (president of GUE) being a scientist foremost was making significant changes in the program because the perception of GUE had changed so dramatically from its beginnings. This summer all students will be required to suit up head-to-toe in DIR approved gear - no exceptions. Of course I learned the gear makes sense and clearly the performance requirements are very tightly interwoven with the equipment and philosophy. "You can't separate them" MHK told me a couple of times. MHK's teaching style is to anticipate questions and while raising questions constantly answers the "Why?" question through a series of highly interactive sessions. This is the best approach to instruction IMO. Never force someone to swallow something always answer why. He would call on specific individuals to answer a question he just posed. When looking for lists he would go around the group asking each person to contributed an item. A lot of individualized time. He definitely commanded attention being 6' 2" and deep New Yorker voice. In the end it was a beating session to a large degree as we've all heard about, but said I think with softer words (never using stroke). The origin of which I learned was that George Irvine was getting people who would come up to him saying "I have 3500 dives and I'm a great diver, then they would stroke George's ego and beg him to let them dive with him." The story continues ... they would get in the water and they would suck or nearly kill themselves and everyone with them. So these people became "strokes".
I was (and still am) most interested from a personal perspective in the future DIR BOW class offering. So I spent most of our breaks and tweener time drilling MHK on that program. He said they have all the parts but just haven't sat down to put it together. I raised some issues with their need to comply with the Recreational Scuba Training Council (RSTC) and their minimums. Of course he replied that they will do way above the minimums. So I asked how he will get students to do mask R&R and scuba unit R&R in midwater he said the scuba unit R&R is a complete waste (he's singing to the choir here). But nevertheless, it is a requirement so I asked how he planned to do these things and stay within the DIR philosophy. He just replied we haven't worked out the logistics yet. But I was considering how much difficulty most of our class had with mid-water mask R&R (only two of us did the skill without moving in the water column - perhaps no coincidence we were both PADI instructors LOL)
So I put the question to MHK how will DIR BOW students who have never dove in their life fair in these excercises? He only replied that a DIR BOW might take 9 OW dives and a whole lot more instruction time. But in the end their students would be a lot more solid than any students put out by other rec agencies. From what I saw by way of improvement of the students in my class (myself included) this weekend (after 6 dives) all I can say is I'll reserve judgment till I see it with my own eyes! I mean there is a fundamental difference in strategy by GUE opening up DIR BOW vs inheriting the mess from other agencies. Students seeking DIR at this time realize they need more training and want to see how the other side dives. It's one thing to let all these other agencies go through all the "new student" pains and produce mediocre product then inherit these wide-eyed strokes and turn them into good divers. But to teach these advanced concepts to people who can barely swim let alone fork out 40 bucks for bad rental gear from the local dept store scuba shop.
Hopefully, they will release the program next year sometime. However they plan on "working out the logistics" - my goal long term someday is to be an instructor for GUE and help train the new generation of divers in their BOW course. Now after a wonderful weekend of diving Catalina I have to go back into my garage and break down my entire DIR gear configuration and swap out all the components and hoses and systems so I can show up at my PADI class looking like the proper Stroke instructor <LOL>!
