DIR-F is definitely a humbling experience. I cant imagine any diver not learning something in this class. At the time I showed up to class, I thought I had my harness all dialed in after approx 50 dives on it
I thought I had my trim, and buoyancy down, I thought I had many fin kicks down
Boy was I WRONG!!!!
On day two we started off at the dive site learning about trim, fin kicks, etc
once learning all this we had an opportunity to test it in the water. Even if you think you have good trim, you may find you actually have room to improve
I found that when I tried to hold my trim properly, that I now was less stable feeling than before, due to many different reasons (weighting, etc.) I had not been in proper trim previously. I found that I had issues with my feet wanting to sink, and it was a fight to keep them up when I was stationary. I found it also much more difficult to remain stationary probably due to the fact of trying to keep my feet up, I was most likely moving my feet.
My reverse kick was probably one of the better ones in the class, I actually did move in reverse, however even it had room for improvement
primarily, I wasnt pointing my feet downwards.
My harness got a tad tighter, my D-rings got moved a bit, I learned a MUCH easier way of getting in my harness, and clipping off to my D-Rings. I found that I did not have proper technique for the frog kick, I did have the right idea for the modified frog, and helicopter turns, however I used too big a movement. I totally sucked on center of gravity drills (which is tipping your self up and or down without moving in the water column)
In between dives we talked about the next dive which would entail the basic 5 (Reg removal replace, reg exchange, modified s-drill, mask flood and clear, and mask removal and replacement), S-Drills, and Valve drills. Most of this I did know, I learned a few small things about the S-Drill, just in how to manage the team during the drill, and small things about remembering to clip things off (clean up), and signaling. I didnt do too badly on most the skills, during the mask flood and clear, I floated up probably a good 5 feet, during the mask removal replacement, I had trouble, I was back in open water where I had trouble with mask skills, I couldnt breathe, or anything
I choked out some air a couple times and finally finished the skill, gasping for air, and sucking air quite madly for a few mins. S-drills went every which way, we did a few decently good, forgetting a few things, then we did several where one of us went to the bottom, and the other to the surface, it was a mess. Valve drills went pretty good, I had a little trouble in reaching the valve, I may move my tank up a little bit from now on, also hopefully will help with the fin down feeling.
At the end of dive 2, we went to the surface and free-flowed our regs to get our tanks down to 400psi, we then dropped down one by one with the instructors to 10 feet and let them look at our wings
mine was ½ full according to the second instructor (Josh) Which I sort of couldnt believe, yet did
I had a feeling that 37.5lbs total (including wing, canister light, etc) was a bit much for a 6 tall 170-175lbs guy like me
however at the end of dives with 500psi in the tank, I could remain neutral in 10 feet with what I thought was an empty wing
boy was I WRONG again!!!!
We decided to ditch the 4lbs weight I had on my cam bands for the next day.
It was decided that on day 3 we would repeat dive 2, and then go on to do lift bags, etc.
On Sunday (day 3) we started off doing pre-dive briefings, equipment checks, etc
I was the team leader for this dive, and it was pretty good experience
Im currently a DM in training (though Im not sure Ill finish the training) and have yet to have as good a leadership experience as this. I was basically forced to be responsible for the team, to be responsible for the briefing, the equipment checks, and LEADING the team through the skills.
We headed out and went and did our skills
most skills we did better on, the major screw up was we did our valve drill before doing an S-Drill (WHOOPS) since I was the team leader it was my screw up, however the team seamed to recall doing valve drills before S-Drills, and we all agreed upon the order before descending
(Oh well, we have to learn on every dive right?) My mask removal replacement was terrible again, same problem as last time, this time instead of keeping buoyancy I lost it and hit the bottom (better than the surface I suppose? When only dropping 2-5feet) otherwise all went ok
I had my buoyancy get away from me a few times, Im not used to having any air in my feet and I think that was part of the issue, I would let my buoyancy get a little away from me, and then not be able to compensate, especially with air in the feet, I need to work on keeping on top of buoyancy all the time, and very often. Especially important is using the dump valve not the inflator. My feet still felt a little heavy, but not quite as bad as yesterday.
Next we learned how to deploy lift bags.
We then went on to dive 3 where we did OOA ascents, 1min ascent/descent drills (those were fun I think, basically worked like we were doing deco), and shot a bag.
Some of the biggest things I learned throughout the class were about gas, and gas management
Rock bottom was a great concept to know about, its cool to know that I basically had been doing it (with my tank, 1000psi is rock bottom for 60-100feet) we always turned dives at 1000psi, and headed up to 20-30feet and then swam in (at that depth my rock bottom goes to like 600-700psi, I forget, have to look at the chart again)
I found it interesting about CO2 especially in it being more narcotic than nitrogen (WOW) and how easily it can become a problem, especially in the 100 and deeper depth. It was interesting learning about why there are the standard mixes, and why GUE says to use 30% HE bellow 100feet. After looking through my nitrox manual to re-read the section, I see I learned more about pulmonary oxygen toxicity than I did in my nitrox class, the short discussion was much more informative about it than the paragraph basically saying it only happens after hours of exposure to high O2 and wouldnt be an issue inside recreational limits (gee thanks for the info PADI, NOT). It was also interesting hearing why you shouldnt take a convulsing diver to the surface like is taught elsewhere, and hearing about the technique to keep them from drowning (though its not taught till tech 1)
The team concept was great, and one of the best parts of the class in my opinion. Ive thought my dive buddies and I were a pretty good team, but seeing how well we could work as a team even while still learning, in such a short amount of time, makes me think about how I can improve in a team with my regular (non-DIR) buddies.
There is very little in this class that I think anyone could go through it and say, this was not valuable information. I think everyone passed though we were all in agreement that passing was not important, and not why we attended the course. I personally did sort of deep down want a GUE card, and to pass to be able to move on to Tech 1, however I went in fully expecting to fail, and ready to do so, as I went in with the attitude of WHAT can I learn, and what will I learn.
I would highly recommend the class to any diver, even if you dont want to DIR, or agree with DIR, I think anyone can learn a TON from the class, and learn why and how DIR works, and may even decide they need to go more that way
I think ANY and every double tank diver should go through the class, regardless of whether they do tech diving or not, there is some invaluable information to be handed down by the instructors
one of our guys was doing doubles, he had only dove them 3 times before, the most recent being a year ago
by the end of the 1st day he was ready to give up on doubles and do the rest of the class in a single. He showed up the next day still with the doubles, and ready to try again, by the end of the 1st dive, he was off with a non-instructor but GUE certified diver to work on the trim, weighting, etc. of his doubles. By the end he had the tools, knowledge, and ideas of what to do with his doubles to improve comfort, control, and trim. It was evident in listening to his problems, that not having a weight belt is not always a good thing
for some doubles divers a weight belt may actually be needed to aide in trim, and what not.
Everyone agreed the video was an invaluable resource to have, we could see better what the instructors were saying about our diving, they could review our diving better, and we knew what to do to improve.
Over the course of 2 days of diving, there was a significant and noticeable improvement in everyones diving
I cant think of a time where Ive seen myself or other divers improve as much as we all did overnight, without diving, but by simply looking at ourselves on video, and discussing it with knowledgeable instructors.
