My 30 day quarantine is over, and I can talk now. I've had 30 days, and a couple of dives, to think about Fundies. As far as posting a synopsis, I think Rick and I did a reasonable blow-by-blow at the time, especially considering that the actual structure of the class has been written up a number of times before. What I want to write is what the class was to me, because it was simultaneously more and less than I expected.
Most people who write the class up talk about how much they learned. When I sit down and tally it, I didn't actually LEARN that much, if learning means you really got something. I did learn the frog kick, and I got a good beginning handle on the helicopter turn, and a little of the back kick. That was truly new learning.
I would have learned a LOT about gas management, had I not learned it already from Bob. His gas management seminar that I attended was basically the gas management stuff from Fundies, so that was already familiar material, but I would never have seen any of it before otherwise. Our instructor only brushed the very surface of deco information, so we didn't get much of that, although what he presented was new and different to me.
The ideas about situational awareness and team skills were not entirely new, but the standard to which they held us was remarkable to me, and it was a troubling realization how much more I needed to perceive than I was able to do. The whole idea of diving "one for all and all for one" is one of the most appealing parts of DIR to me. I also very much liked the concept of debriefing the dive, which of course requires that one invite criticism and then be willing to listen to it, and make constructive use of it. But how else do you progress? And one of the core ideas of this class is that you WANT to progress -- that you recognize that there are levels of skill you haven't reached yet, and it's worth the effort to try to attain them.
Buoyancy . . . ah, buoyancy. Every Fundies writeup dramatizes the difficulty of maintaining one's buoyancy to GUE standards while being task-loaded. But you know what? I don't think anybody can TEACH that. I think you have to LEARN it by repeated trial and error. I mean, what can somebody tell you? Stay alert for early changes in depth; anticipate buoyancy changes and vent/add air early; and be aware of what your breathing pattern is doing to your status. But YOU have to do it, feel it, think about it, manage it. Fundies gives you an opportunity to work on it in structured drills where you are forced to recognize where you fall short -- if you didn't at the time, you will on the tape. Seeing yourself on the videotape is very useful, because sometimes your perception of how you are oriented in the water, or what you are doing, is just plain faulty or incomplete. This is a MAJOR strength of this class, and I think it should be used in more instructional settings. It's expensive and labor-intensive, but SO valuable. And entertaining, too . . .
Skills? Well, we all already knew how to flood and clear a mask, how to take a mask off and replace it, how to remove a regulator and replace it. Again, buoyancy was the challenge here. Long hose deployment was new because the long hose was new. S-drill was new, but I won't say I got it really down, nor did most of my class. My group -- the novice divers -- didn't attempt to shoot a bag or do a valve drill.
So, as I see it, what happened in Fundies was that I was presented with some information and a set of skills. I was shown how the skills should be done, and shown what the standards are for doing them satisfactorily. I did not "learn" them -- that will take time and practice.
I think I ended up in the camp of the people who think this class should be broken up into two pieces -- a workshop to present the skills and ideas, and a second evaluation session. Because I don't think someone for whom the skills are new will ever be able to master them to the required standard in four dives, or even six. And the number of people with hundreds of dives or instructor certifications who don't pass Fundies are confirmation of that to me.
It was a good and worthwhile class. It will make me a better diver (my husband does not believe this). I will eventually have learned a great deal for having taken it. But one does not go into Fundies a mediocre diver and come out on some higher plane. I could only wish, but it takes a lot more time and hard work than that.
The final question . . . was it fun? Yeah, but not like playing Frisbee or going white water rafting are fun. This was the fun of taking three days off from "real" life to concentrate on diving in the company of other people who were taking diving seriously. There was a real spirit of camaraderie and shared suffering, and I honestly had fun teasing Rick Inman and being teased in return. It was time-intensive and tiring, but left me with a good feeling of having accomplished something, and several new friends. My kind of fun.
Most people who write the class up talk about how much they learned. When I sit down and tally it, I didn't actually LEARN that much, if learning means you really got something. I did learn the frog kick, and I got a good beginning handle on the helicopter turn, and a little of the back kick. That was truly new learning.
I would have learned a LOT about gas management, had I not learned it already from Bob. His gas management seminar that I attended was basically the gas management stuff from Fundies, so that was already familiar material, but I would never have seen any of it before otherwise. Our instructor only brushed the very surface of deco information, so we didn't get much of that, although what he presented was new and different to me.
The ideas about situational awareness and team skills were not entirely new, but the standard to which they held us was remarkable to me, and it was a troubling realization how much more I needed to perceive than I was able to do. The whole idea of diving "one for all and all for one" is one of the most appealing parts of DIR to me. I also very much liked the concept of debriefing the dive, which of course requires that one invite criticism and then be willing to listen to it, and make constructive use of it. But how else do you progress? And one of the core ideas of this class is that you WANT to progress -- that you recognize that there are levels of skill you haven't reached yet, and it's worth the effort to try to attain them.
Buoyancy . . . ah, buoyancy. Every Fundies writeup dramatizes the difficulty of maintaining one's buoyancy to GUE standards while being task-loaded. But you know what? I don't think anybody can TEACH that. I think you have to LEARN it by repeated trial and error. I mean, what can somebody tell you? Stay alert for early changes in depth; anticipate buoyancy changes and vent/add air early; and be aware of what your breathing pattern is doing to your status. But YOU have to do it, feel it, think about it, manage it. Fundies gives you an opportunity to work on it in structured drills where you are forced to recognize where you fall short -- if you didn't at the time, you will on the tape. Seeing yourself on the videotape is very useful, because sometimes your perception of how you are oriented in the water, or what you are doing, is just plain faulty or incomplete. This is a MAJOR strength of this class, and I think it should be used in more instructional settings. It's expensive and labor-intensive, but SO valuable. And entertaining, too . . .
Skills? Well, we all already knew how to flood and clear a mask, how to take a mask off and replace it, how to remove a regulator and replace it. Again, buoyancy was the challenge here. Long hose deployment was new because the long hose was new. S-drill was new, but I won't say I got it really down, nor did most of my class. My group -- the novice divers -- didn't attempt to shoot a bag or do a valve drill.
So, as I see it, what happened in Fundies was that I was presented with some information and a set of skills. I was shown how the skills should be done, and shown what the standards are for doing them satisfactorily. I did not "learn" them -- that will take time and practice.
I think I ended up in the camp of the people who think this class should be broken up into two pieces -- a workshop to present the skills and ideas, and a second evaluation session. Because I don't think someone for whom the skills are new will ever be able to master them to the required standard in four dives, or even six. And the number of people with hundreds of dives or instructor certifications who don't pass Fundies are confirmation of that to me.
It was a good and worthwhile class. It will make me a better diver (my husband does not believe this). I will eventually have learned a great deal for having taken it. But one does not go into Fundies a mediocre diver and come out on some higher plane. I could only wish, but it takes a lot more time and hard work than that.
The final question . . . was it fun? Yeah, but not like playing Frisbee or going white water rafting are fun. This was the fun of taking three days off from "real" life to concentrate on diving in the company of other people who were taking diving seriously. There was a real spirit of camaraderie and shared suffering, and I honestly had fun teasing Rick Inman and being teased in return. It was time-intensive and tiring, but left me with a good feeling of having accomplished something, and several new friends. My kind of fun.
