wetlettuce
Contributor
Hi
Yep, I was there, and fully enjoyed it. I was sorry that the course finished so quick, should be a week I think.
Chris Boardman was very cool, we had few long chats, and I can assure you that he had as many problems as everyone else, attempting to headbutt the wall on a backwards kick, concerned about valve drills, 'humping the dog' frog kick !!? He has been interested in DIR for over two years and claimed that of all the courses he has done (a wallet full of c-cards !!) this was the best.
Before the course I had spent a lot of time practicing the kicks, getting my gear DIR'd and learning about others experiences so I was quite ready for the onslaught. Some of the others I think were only doing this as a precursor to Tech1 and hadn't realised how difficult this course is for one's ego. I was lucky ?! to have only 60 dives and only qualified 1 year as there were many with hundreds of dives, instructing divers, trimix qualified, who were shocked at how bad they looked on film and how they could n't do seemingly simple tasks as a frog kick, helicopter turn etc. 'Humping the dog' is an english pasttime I think' !?
Andrew G is totally cool and I don't think the occasional snipe at PADI or BSAC or whatever was out of order. Overall he was the utmost professional and his enjoyment of the subject shone through in his delivery. Inevitably his performance overshadowed AndyK a little although I am sure AndyK's turn will come. I found him also to be totally professional although more english (ie quieter with more subtle sarcasm!!) in his approach.
The openwater stuff was a bit bad because of near zero vis (caused by us!!) in 8 degreesC in only 3 metres depth which meant the tiniest error and you popped to the surface or landed in the mud. I popped to the surface on three occasions, once after taking my mask off and giving it to AndrewG. We were supposed to stay neutrally buoyant until he gave us our masks back. Well, the coldwater on my face meant I was breathing good and hard and after he gave me my mask back I was heading up. You just don't have enough depth to compensate quickly enough. oops !
Because two people had dropped out at that point AndyG sent me to AndyK and a friendly dutch guy called Hens. We dropped down and did S drills. Unfortunately we couldn't get it together and popped to surface on both occasions oops !
Next dive and I teamed up with Hens and we did valve drills with AndyG watching and shot a bag. No problem with them and even AndyG came over afterwards to tell me that my valve drills were coming on well. Cool!!
The only thing I wished we had covered more was the use of computers in guage mode and calculating deco stuff as I would like to know more about that but I understand that it is covered more in Tech1.
All I can say is that when AndyG started the course he said it was a great leveller and it just showed. Unfortunately some people don't take criticism as well as others and if you're one of those people then you might not get as much out of the course unless you treat criticism constructively and use the experience to make you a better diver. For instance last night in the pool I got my back kick sorted (I was the only one to do it on the course! my claim to fame !!) and my helicopter turns spot on, and did some CG (Centre of Gravity) drills. I can already tell that I have improved and know exactly what to practice on to keep improving.
Good report Nick. See you anon.
HTH
WL
Yep, I was there, and fully enjoyed it. I was sorry that the course finished so quick, should be a week I think.
Chris Boardman was very cool, we had few long chats, and I can assure you that he had as many problems as everyone else, attempting to headbutt the wall on a backwards kick, concerned about valve drills, 'humping the dog' frog kick !!? He has been interested in DIR for over two years and claimed that of all the courses he has done (a wallet full of c-cards !!) this was the best.
Before the course I had spent a lot of time practicing the kicks, getting my gear DIR'd and learning about others experiences so I was quite ready for the onslaught. Some of the others I think were only doing this as a precursor to Tech1 and hadn't realised how difficult this course is for one's ego. I was lucky ?! to have only 60 dives and only qualified 1 year as there were many with hundreds of dives, instructing divers, trimix qualified, who were shocked at how bad they looked on film and how they could n't do seemingly simple tasks as a frog kick, helicopter turn etc. 'Humping the dog' is an english pasttime I think' !?
Andrew G is totally cool and I don't think the occasional snipe at PADI or BSAC or whatever was out of order. Overall he was the utmost professional and his enjoyment of the subject shone through in his delivery. Inevitably his performance overshadowed AndyK a little although I am sure AndyK's turn will come. I found him also to be totally professional although more english (ie quieter with more subtle sarcasm!!) in his approach.
The openwater stuff was a bit bad because of near zero vis (caused by us!!) in 8 degreesC in only 3 metres depth which meant the tiniest error and you popped to the surface or landed in the mud. I popped to the surface on three occasions, once after taking my mask off and giving it to AndrewG. We were supposed to stay neutrally buoyant until he gave us our masks back. Well, the coldwater on my face meant I was breathing good and hard and after he gave me my mask back I was heading up. You just don't have enough depth to compensate quickly enough. oops !
Because two people had dropped out at that point AndyG sent me to AndyK and a friendly dutch guy called Hens. We dropped down and did S drills. Unfortunately we couldn't get it together and popped to surface on both occasions oops !
Next dive and I teamed up with Hens and we did valve drills with AndyG watching and shot a bag. No problem with them and even AndyG came over afterwards to tell me that my valve drills were coming on well. Cool!!
The only thing I wished we had covered more was the use of computers in guage mode and calculating deco stuff as I would like to know more about that but I understand that it is covered more in Tech1.
All I can say is that when AndyG started the course he said it was a great leveller and it just showed. Unfortunately some people don't take criticism as well as others and if you're one of those people then you might not get as much out of the course unless you treat criticism constructively and use the experience to make you a better diver. For instance last night in the pool I got my back kick sorted (I was the only one to do it on the course! my claim to fame !!) and my helicopter turns spot on, and did some CG (Centre of Gravity) drills. I can already tell that I have improved and know exactly what to practice on to keep improving.
Good report Nick. See you anon.
HTH
WL
