Okinawa DIR/F

[WaterDawg]

Sonya Tittle is conducting 2 DIR/F classes here, the first one started on saturday and the second starts on wednesday. The Typhoon set the first class back quite a bit. 2 DIR/F classes plus the handfull of folks here already GUE trained (up Tech1 & RB1, some cave1 also) make Okinawa the "hot spot" in Japan as far as DIR goes.

ALl the folks in both classes are GoatDawgs too!

Ill write a report when the class is done.

 

[Mar Scuba]

Thanks, and we'll be waiting for your report.

You'd be surprised how many people we have going with DIR in the Tokyo area. The only problem is that we don't have a real big group going, only a few small teams. There are also a few separate Japanese factions that I would like to see pulled into the group rather than "competing". But that is also the nature of the tech groups.

We're working on that, and I'm sure that Thomas will add more information when the time is right.

Good luck!

 

[jagfish]

Sorry to hear about the weather...
Looking forward to a positive report...

JAG

 

[WaterDawg]

Ill have a report by tomorrow night. For right now Ill say that Sonya is great...and easy on the eyes.

 

[WaterDawg]

Where do I begin! Ok basic info first:

Sonya Tittle was our instructor; there were 4 people in our class w/ experience lvls ranging from 1200 dives to 100 dives, and the videographer (who was always in the class w/ us) is GUE Tech, RB ,and cave trained.

We started at 2pm on Wednesday and finished ‘round 9:30 went over gear and stuff like that. My gear was already squared away, as I’ve had really good mentors and have been diving this config for over a year. I did do the class on double 80’s and a light can in which I only had 3 dives in prior .

Second day was when the phun began! Land drills, no probs, swim eval, no prob. After lunch we got in the pool and did the different kicks and basic 5. I had been (trying) to dive this way for a little while so I had the kicks down for the most part but there were a few minor adjustments. The hard part was being in fresh water (had no ditchable weight) so I was a bit over weighted, and being between 3 and 7 ft of water. I felt like I was a lil kid learning to dive for the first time! Basic 5 was fun too, lets see first I couldn’t snap off my primary as my snap was stuck and then I couldn’t find the damn D-ring to save my life!!! Mask remove R2 is something I do every dive, and have gotten good enough to even navigate it with it off, but she made us do it w/ eyes closed to simulate a no-viz condition, so again I felt like a lil kid. An Sdrill w/ a light canister can prove to be a lot more enjoyable (on video) than w/ out one… what a Cluster F___!!!!

That night we discussed the TEAM and procedures for being a good team member something that would be put to the test the next day. In all we did 12.5 hours on our second day.

Ill write about the last day tomorrow as Im exhausted and must get to bed

 

[WaterDawg]

The third day we met at the dive site at 0830. We went over what we were going to do on the dive and who was going to be responsible for what.
All but one of us dove doubles and light cans after checks and a small team brief we went down did our drills, first in 2 man teams then in 3 man teams shot a bag and did some more drills w/ it too.
After being grilled a lil bit for our mistakes we went back to our parking lot and briefed the second dive this one w had a few things planed but it was mostly swim along the wall till something happens…Yummy!

On the second dive we revisited valve drills, and S-drills before we went on w/ the dive. During the dive it rained OOA’a , the best was when me and my bud were shooting a bag and someone from the other team went to him for an OOA in the middle of the shoot. The other guys buddy automatically took up the bag while my bud handled his buds OOA, that was great, but then the two divers sharing gas ascended while leaving us to manage the bag (leaving their buddy and gear) so yeah we heard about it later!


The video reviews were great I saw that my technique was sloppy and such, you also get to see how your gear looks in action. One of my divebuds in the class saw how everyone elses Explorer wing craddeled the tank while his Trek did not, he dove one the next day and ended up buying a system that same day. The class would not be what it is w/o the video.

Sonya is great. And despite what you might hear on this board it seems to me that GUE instructors are NOT “high and mighty” she was much less of a DIR nazi than some I’ve seen on here.
We went another 12hrs that second day, sure did get our $$ worth if you ask me. It was a humbling experience to say the least, one day you think your squared away and the other you learn just how much you really have to go.

We all passed in case you were wondering, we had one guy that had a lil bit of probs in the awareness dept, that was my problem too actually.

Today I went diving w/ a regular dive bud who didn’t take the class and saw in a new light the things we (I) had been doing and I know we need to work on it, there are a lot.

 

[jagfish]

Congratulations to all of you...

JAG

 

[WaterDawg]

We all learned that DIR is part gear, part technique but mostly procedures and awarness. and not having the last two can be dangerous.

 

[iflylow]

This was a really good class!

 

[TJO]

Congratulations to everyone in Okinawa and thanks for the report. It would be great to meet up one day and do some diving together. Whenever you come to Tokyo contact us and we will put together something on a weekend. The diving here is really good and we know how to avoid the crowds.

Thomas